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The Identity Man (2010)

by Andrew Klavan(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0547243286 (ISBN13: 9780547243283)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

review 1: The Identity Man isn't set up to be the kind of book I'd normally like, but I enjoyed it anyway. Quite a bit.I love dialogue. If you've read a lot of my reviews, you've probably caught that somewhere. The first line of dialogue here isn't until you've read eight percent of this book. That's a long way for narrative to have the entire spotlight. I'm glad I didn't know that going in. Even after, dialogue isn't heavy in The Identity Man. There's a lot of inner monologue here, but strangely, it works even for someone who isn't inclined to like that style. Secondly, that inner monologue is from the point-of-view of a third person omniscient disembodied narrator. That's also a style, in general, I feel keeps me further from the characters, especially in those instances ... morewhere a different POV could've been used with little change to the story. Again, not my typical cup of tea, but Klavan did this well also. He relayed the tension, motivations, and conflict very well with less dialogue and a disembodied omniscient narrator. Thumbs up.Most importantly, the thoughtfulness of The Identity Man is applaudable and why it's such a good story. Whether or not you agree with the subtext of its politics, the characters are battling strong issues and emotions and it all plays out compellingly on the page. The Identity Man plays out in an unnamed town where its characters are hiding behind levels of false identities and motivations, but it's a clear story with sharp emotion. It's easy to see why Klavan has won the Edgar twice. This is a good enough story and he's more than a good enough writer to allow me to enjoy a story that, formatically, isn't one I'm programmed to like.Recommended for thriller fans, especially those who love to contemplate greater questions.
review 2: The first 16 pages of this book are dreadful. The writing style was so different from the rest of the book that it doesn't seem like Klavan wrote them himself.Once you get past the beginning the book gets a lot more interesting. There's still some factual errors but nothing really aggravating. The main character is a likable career criminal, B&E mostly, who gets a second chance at life when things seem darkest--or does he?The plot moves along quickly enough in this short novel to keep you interested. I had no problem reading it in a day. Some of the racial descriptions are troubling but there's enough in the book to make it worth reading.The ending is a little out of place given the grittiness of most of the book, but hell, why not---it could happen that way. less

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