Thursday, August 28, 2008 Cruz Review: Dirty-handed-fun! POST A COMMENT Meg Gardiner knocks-it-out-the-park with her American-debut (and here with her sixth novel), The Dirty Secrets Club. I wrote briefly about this author last week, now After finishing the book, I'll offer ya'll my short review below: Book Genre: Like getting ya' hands-dirty with suspense, crime, and danger, leading up to nail biting climax? -- Then The Dirty Secrets clubs right up your alley. Story Blurb: Police call in Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to sort out a crime; 'the clock is ticking 'cause they have 48 hours before somebody else dies. Page-turner meter, (or the can't-put-it-down factor): On a scale of 1-10, this gets a solid nine. I could almost see a Julia Roberts (or another A-lister) doing twirls in the film version. What I really liked: I'll focus on two things, but there's lots to like here: (1) The villains here could've been flat, but the author smartly went out of her way to make it less of a one noter, which looks at the good and bad inside humanity, as opposed to plain 'ol good guy versus bad guys. (2) Getting back to the suspense level, it's very well plotted. A touch of Alfred Hitchcock mixed with the girls of ABC's short lived legal drama series Women's Murder Club. What I least liked: If I really have to pull something from between my butt cheeks to Pu-pu the fun...'or something that set me off, I got two things (but, I'm nitpicking here): (1) We don't meet our protagonist Jo, until chapter three (around page 14th). Which made my brain work harder to sort out whose story it is, for a brighter person this might be okay...for a slow learner like me I don't like so many obstacles (2) I love those quirky character driven books, but this story's so very very plot by the numbers which never slows down long enough to give me a throw away moment that doesn't tie right into the plot. I know, I know, everything nowadays is story story story, or cut it out...but, I would like to see more small moments for the sake of character in the next book, and nothing to do with moving the plot. For example, for my money the best part of the USA's Monk is less about the crime, and more about the quirkiness of Monk. The Dirty Secrets Club Labels: Critics, Cruz book reviews, The Dirty Secrets Club, what I'm reading posted by Henry Cruz at 4:54 AM 0 Comments: Post a Comment << Home     ARCHIVES October 2005 . November 2005 . December 2005 . August 2007 . September 2007 . October 2007 . November 2007 . December 2007 . March 2008 . April 2008 . May 2008 . June 2008 . July 2008 . August 2008 . September 2008 .