october list

Jeffrey Deaver is probably best known for his Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs crime procedural novels. Of course, that's not all he writes. He seems to have another returning character named Colter Shaw, whom I haven't read about, and another one called Kathryn Dance, who I may have read about, but I'm not sure. a quick check of the blog seems to indicate: no And a few years ago he was tapped to write a James Bond novel.

This story seems like a one off, although I guess its possible that we may see Gabriella in another story. Or perhaps the Kepler and Surani duo of police detectives? I guess we'll wait and see. In any case, this is an interesting take on a novel; The October List is sub-titled, A Novel in Reverse (with photographs by the author.) And when you open up, it begins with chapter 36. I don't think I'm giving too much away there, but as you can imagine, the story unfolds backwards, and we learn what we need to know to explain the things we've read, buy the time we get to the beginning.

This is not the first time we've ever encountered something like this, the movie Memento comes to mind right away, and there have been others--Deaver mentions a few more examples in the Foreword, at the back of the book, or course. It seems like a trick to plot out a story that works in reverse, and when successful, as this seems to be, I'm not sure it would work if read chronologically. Oh, I'm sure the story would hang together, it just wouldn't have any suspense, and I'm not sure it would actually go anywhere.

This one took a little while to read, so I wasn't on the edge of my seat, dying to find out what happened, and it was only at the end that the pieces started to drop into place and the pace picked up. The pace is a strange term here, in that speed is distance times time, and in this case, time is a negative number, so the product of that equation is negative speed. So does that mean it sped up, or actually slowed down, at the end?

Beginning?

Math.

devices and desires

Devices and Desires was written by PD James in 1989; I read the first Vintage Books edition, printed in May 2004. The front matter includes information about PD James, indicating that she authored 20 other books, many about Commander Adam Dalgliesh who appears in this one. James won a number of awards including being named Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991. James died in 2014. I think I’ve read something else by James, and after a quick look I find that I read The Black Tower in 2011.

Adam Dalgliesh is visiting the (imaginary) Headlands on the north-east coast of Norfolk. In an authors note PD James adds that “Lovers of this remote and fascinating part of East Anglia will place it between Cromer and Great Yarmouth.”

D & D has a pretty big cast of characters, and James does her job giving us a reason that just about anyone of these characters could have done the deed, leaving us guessing until the end. Now, if you were an avid reader, and were really motivated to figure out whodunit before the end, I guess there may be enough information given for you to figure it out, but I' not that guy. I'm the guy that lets the author do their thing and tell me a story. Trying to figure it out, like a puzzle, is someone else's job, I'm here to be entertained. I was.

This was a slow read, which tells me I wasn't on the edge of my seat, dying to know what happens next. That doesn't mean I didn't have a good time. I'll keep my eye out for other PD James books, I just won't run out and buy everything she's ever written tomorrow.