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Marionetter (2000)

by Patrick Redmond(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

9176438511 (ISBN13: 9789176438510)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Månpocket

review 1: Ex Bookworm group reviewAs I mentioned on the list, I read both Patrick Redmond books – his first "The Wishing Game" and Sue's choice "The Puppet Show" – so I think I got a good dose of Redmond's modus operandi. His style was deceptively simple. Lots of his sentences are short and to the point – he did this, she did that, not much character analysis, he leaves you to draw your own conclusions. I wondered whether if I picked up one of the books without reading on the cover (or Sue telling us) that it was "a psychological thriller" it might have been simply boring, but I don't think so. The style itself conveys a sense of foreboding, a build up of suspense, a very ominous atmosphere. You just know something is going to happen. I thought this was well done. The s... moretory of "The Puppet Master" was well constructed. There were a lot of strands woven together and Redmond wove them well. A lot of people's stories were intricately linked and it was interesting how everyone was sucked in and how all their paths (wherever they had come from, wherever they thought they were going) converged – all roads lead to ??? I thought that was well done too. The big problem I had with the book was the plausibility of the plot. Are lawyers (and others) really so gullible? Perhaps Helen can tell us. It reminded me of one of John Grisham's (was it The Firm?) where it just seemed incredible that the main character (also a lawyer) was so easily taken in. Perhaps it is a case of "none so blind as those who will not see" but I didn't find it convincing. Max's motivation seemed inadequately explained, I kept expecting him to turn into a raving homosexual (if homosexuals rave) but without that, I found his obsession with Michael unlikely, even as an exercise in power. Some parts of the story rang very true. The 'in laws' thing with Rebecca's family, the fact that some women, like Emmie, have a deep need to be controlled, the fact that money and power are irrestistibly attractive to some. Some of the parts were good, but I felt that the whole was equal to less than the sum of its parts. I just wasn't convinced that I was reading a believable story and that got on my nerves more and more as it unfolded. It made me question everything, no matter how unimportant. For instance, there was a statement that Rebecca hated chicken casserole. Now who the hell hates chicken casserole, which seems to me such a bland dish that it couldn't engender such strong feelings! (I know you are all going to tell me you hate chicken casserole now!) I'm not sorry I read the books as I find everything interesting, but they were both basically unsatisfying. I didn't come away feeling I had read a story worth hearing. I gather Redmond himself studied the law and was a practising solicitor for many years and I felt insulted that he expected us to believe that because someone said "I'm going to tell the police you did it", someone else (and a lawyer, to boot, who wasn't there and no doubt had an alibi ) would say "Oh my God, in that case, I'll do whatever you want for the rest of my life". It would have been a lot more credible if Michael had run Max over or stabbed him! I did not like this book.
review 2: My first impression: "Crazy shit!".I got it from my mum years ago, never felt like touching it because the synopsis at the back sounded awfully stupid. I have read "American Psycho" a few days ago and this had been utterly boring. This book, on the other hand, portrays a real psycho who does employ various means to spin the world the way he wants.The writing style seems rather simple but that could have been the result of the translation as I have never seen the original work. But that did not repel me. It caught me quickly as it is a book of a genre I normally don’t pick. If a book manages to make me plunge into it, it will result in four stars, usually.The story itself is compelling and offers a few twists, albeit it might have surprised me because I’m not used to the genre. I don’t want to spoil it for future readers, so I won’t write about the content itself. less

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