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Gideons Strijd (2012)

by Douglas Preston(Favorite Author)

3.65 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Luitingh-Sijthoff B.V. Amsterdam

series

Gideon Crew

review 1: I properly enjoyed this book... In fact, as soon as I successfully pass the 'first act' point of a book like this, I generally tend to enjoy them. I like the escapism. I like the moral abandon. I like the being forced to do the right thing.The story gets off to a great start with a nuclear-accident plot that directly mirrors events that happened to Gideon's father, events the child Gideon witnessed, and is haunted by. Then the story goes 'a whole other different set of places' and for that I thank the writing duo. Very well misled.Now the quibbles, "They're all the same, these books," and there's no real sense of satisfaction when it's over, once the three-act narrative has tied as many of the gushing arteries as it considers viable.A 'whodunnit' book (like this) always st... morearts off with Character Analysis, the period where we get to know all the players, with deliberate omissions (or lies) on the part of the writer, misdirection being the more politically correct phrase. I don't even know if books (like this) have to be written like this.They tend to leave a nasty taste in the mouth, a willing con-spiracy against the intelligence of the reader. Some are worse than others, some are (let's say) less blasé than others about the reader-crime they are committing.I properly enjoyed this book, but I did intentionally RUSH the last twenty pages - maybe that's me, but there was no 'reading' (no enjoying of the writing) at the end, just manic artery tying. And I don't know if that is enough for this reader. I kinda wonder why 'writing to character' is abandoned this late in a book's writing arc; surely there's still 'revelation' to be made. The 'reason for the approach' rather than just the painting-by-action numbers.
review 2: I really do love the duo of Preston and Child but for me, Gideon Crew is just not as well-rounded of a character as they normally write. The book was entertaining, but it's not one that I would read again; it just failed to fully pull me into the story. I did like this one a lot more than Gideon's Sword, which I really did not like.This was a decent book but if you are a huge Pendergast fan, this might be a bit of a let down but do not let that stop you from reading this. This is better than the first Gideon book and I am hopeful that the character will continue to evolve and improve. less

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