A suspense novel that wasn't suspenseful
Aug. 26th, 2004 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperOn a lark I picked up No Escape by Heather Lowell, while I was poking around through the romance section of Third Place Books and trying to spot Gossamer, about which I've posted before. What can I say? She was right on the shelf next to Elizabeth Lowell, and I think a part of my brain kind of hoped they were related or something. So I was willing to give this other writer a shot.
Turns out this book was definitely a mistake, because it made an unforgivable sin: it was a romantic suspense book that just wasn't suspenseful. In fact, it was the least suspenseful romantic suspense I've ever read!
Chapter after chapter featured little more than scenes of conversation--and wordy, laborious conversation at that. (Yeah, I know I'm a fine person to be talking about wordiness--but at least I'm trying to move my plots along even if I'm doing it in a wordy fashion!) Even more annoyingly, a lot of the scenes involved characters telling each other about stuff that happened off-camera and should have damn well happened on camera. In other words, way too much tell, not nearly enough show. And the story wasn't in first person or even third person limited, so Lowell didn't have the excuse of having to limit herself to events only her protagonists could see.
If you want to make me believe that an assistant D.A. stumbles across a young teenager who's just been raped, and buys her story even though it's got some odd inconsistencies about it, then SHOW ME THAT SCENE rather than starting the story off with the assistant D.A. HAVING LUNCH WITH A FRIEND AND TELLING HER ABOUT IT. And don't bloody well handle the rest of the plot the same way, either. Character development should happen through actual interactions between characters, not by after-the-fact conversations with other people entirely!
And while I'm on the topic, let me also add that this was also the least romantic romantic suspense I've ever read, to boot. The cover blurb talks about your basic "upstanding heroine trying to do the right thing must turn to a renegade ex-cop for help" kind of scenario--but apparently, according to Ms. Lowell, "renegade" means "I left the force after I got shot in the line of duty and was cranky about being shunted into a desk job", mostly. He talks big about making the heroine agree to do things his way if he wants her help, but aside from one not half-bad scene where he takes her into a shady part of town so they can question a stripper about the whereabouts of the teen they're looking for, he mostly spends time--wait for it--TALKING. Yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap. You know what, Ms. Lowell? CONSTANT CONVERSATION IN A SUSPENSE NOVEL IS NOT SUSPENSEFUL. Especially from the so-called renegade hero who at least in theory ought to be helping DRIVE THE ACTION.
Furthermore, he annoyed me by calling the heroine "baby". This was NOT ROMANTIC. And especially annoying in conjunction with him actually delivering a line about respecting her as a D.A. and a woman, or some such. It really leads me to wonder whether Ms. Lowell just has that kind of attitude towards men--it's elsewhere in the novel, too. The one character who gets killed off is an older male who was apparently responsible for shepherding our heroine and her best friend in the development of their careers, and he refers to them as "his girls". The heroine makes a big point about talking about how she doesn't want to rely on her father, a former director of the FBI, for assistance in her career--and yet, it's her father that actually gets the hero working with her to begin with, and it's her father that hands the hero insights into her character (read: why she isn't falling into bed with him on the spot, which is to say, she has issues with her father).
In conclusion: bad. Very bad. It's a tough call as to whether it's as bad as or worse than Lady Dragon. Definitely NOT recommended.
Turns out this book was definitely a mistake, because it made an unforgivable sin: it was a romantic suspense book that just wasn't suspenseful. In fact, it was the least suspenseful romantic suspense I've ever read!
Chapter after chapter featured little more than scenes of conversation--and wordy, laborious conversation at that. (Yeah, I know I'm a fine person to be talking about wordiness--but at least I'm trying to move my plots along even if I'm doing it in a wordy fashion!) Even more annoyingly, a lot of the scenes involved characters telling each other about stuff that happened off-camera and should have damn well happened on camera. In other words, way too much tell, not nearly enough show. And the story wasn't in first person or even third person limited, so Lowell didn't have the excuse of having to limit herself to events only her protagonists could see.
If you want to make me believe that an assistant D.A. stumbles across a young teenager who's just been raped, and buys her story even though it's got some odd inconsistencies about it, then SHOW ME THAT SCENE rather than starting the story off with the assistant D.A. HAVING LUNCH WITH A FRIEND AND TELLING HER ABOUT IT. And don't bloody well handle the rest of the plot the same way, either. Character development should happen through actual interactions between characters, not by after-the-fact conversations with other people entirely!
And while I'm on the topic, let me also add that this was also the least romantic romantic suspense I've ever read, to boot. The cover blurb talks about your basic "upstanding heroine trying to do the right thing must turn to a renegade ex-cop for help" kind of scenario--but apparently, according to Ms. Lowell, "renegade" means "I left the force after I got shot in the line of duty and was cranky about being shunted into a desk job", mostly. He talks big about making the heroine agree to do things his way if he wants her help, but aside from one not half-bad scene where he takes her into a shady part of town so they can question a stripper about the whereabouts of the teen they're looking for, he mostly spends time--wait for it--TALKING. Yap yap yap yap yap yap yap yap. You know what, Ms. Lowell? CONSTANT CONVERSATION IN A SUSPENSE NOVEL IS NOT SUSPENSEFUL. Especially from the so-called renegade hero who at least in theory ought to be helping DRIVE THE ACTION.
Furthermore, he annoyed me by calling the heroine "baby". This was NOT ROMANTIC. And especially annoying in conjunction with him actually delivering a line about respecting her as a D.A. and a woman, or some such. It really leads me to wonder whether Ms. Lowell just has that kind of attitude towards men--it's elsewhere in the novel, too. The one character who gets killed off is an older male who was apparently responsible for shepherding our heroine and her best friend in the development of their careers, and he refers to them as "his girls". The heroine makes a big point about talking about how she doesn't want to rely on her father, a former director of the FBI, for assistance in her career--and yet, it's her father that actually gets the hero working with her to begin with, and it's her father that hands the hero insights into her character (read: why she isn't falling into bed with him on the spot, which is to say, she has issues with her father).
In conclusion: bad. Very bad. It's a tough call as to whether it's as bad as or worse than Lady Dragon. Definitely NOT recommended.