A Simple Plan, by Scott Smith

A Simple Plan is simply one of the best books I've read in a long time.  It's got great pacing, in-depth characters and a good theme.  This book was so good it's worth analyzing it in detail according to the six core competencies.

Plot Structure:  The plot was constructed very well with suspense building through-out the book.  The first plot point, at 22%, was when Hank killed Pederson, his first criminal act to keep the money.  The mid-point (at 51%) was when Hank and Jacob tricked Lou into confessing which led to the blood bath where Lou, Nancy, Scooter and Jacob all died.  The second plot point (at 75%) was when they figured out the FBI agent was really the killer who had taken the ransom money.  What I really liked about the plot was that it built up logically and gradually, with each step plausible from the last.

Characterization:  The first-person narrative was perfect for getting into Hank's head and learning his inner motivations and rationalizations.  Hank was also a very honest narrator, which I always like.  The characters of Sarah and Jacob were also well developed through their actions and conversations.  None of the characters were perfect, but they were sympathetic to me because of their honesty.

Writing Voice:  Scott Smith gives just the right amount of detail to make a scene come alive but not so much that it slows it down.  He also has a nice mix of dialog and introspection which draws the reader into the conversation.

Concept:  What if a small-town accountant found four million dollars in an undiscovered plane crash?  This is a nice concept which everyone can identify with and it's easy for the reader to put himself in the protagonist's situation.  Hank's initial reaction to turn in the money sets up a beautifully executed transformation to cold-hearted killer.

Theme:  The theme is that self esteem for being a good person is more important than money in the pursuit of happiness.  The book also demonstrated nicely the hazards in rationalizing away immoral actions.

Scene Construction:  Each scene had a purpose, either moving the plot along or developing the characters of Hank, Jacob or Sarah.  I never found the scenes slow in starting or dragging on too long.

A Simple Plan shows how enjoyable fiction can be when all six core competencies are executed well.

The Serialist, by David Gordon

For the first half of this book, I thought it was the best novel I'd read in ten years.  Unfortunately, the book turned into a grisly murder mystery in the second half, which I didn't enjoy as much as the first half.  Gordon is a wonderful writer, and I think I would have enjoyed a murder mystery if it had been set up as one.  But the change in tone halfway through was disconcerting.

But isn't this the usual case with good books that start off strong--they rarely live up to expectations?  In a sense, it's almost better to not promise too much in the first part if you can't deliver in the end.  The only book I can think of that payed off on a strong start is Atlas Shrugged.  Other books that I thoroughly enjoyed (The Keeper's Son, A Simple Plan) didn't promise as much and so I wasn't disappointed.

Here are some quick notes on the six core competencies:

Plot Structure:  well done with major plot twists at the right places.

Character:  well done with a lot of inner dialogue which brought the protagonist to life.  The character of Claire was also very interesting and could have been expanded on.

Writing Voice:  Gordon is a very good writer with a poetic and witty style.

Scene Construction:  The book is fast paced and the scenes move the plot along.  The only distraction are the excerpts from the protagonist's serial fiction which don't seem connected to the story (stories about vampires, porn and science fiction).

Concept:  What if a serial writer gets sucked into a murder mystery?  Is this the problem I have with the book?  What if the story had been about the writer having to decide between fame and his conscience about getting rich off of a serial killer?

Theme:  The book didn't really add up to a theme, and perhaps that's my hang-up with it.  The first part made it seem like it was more than just paint-by-the-numbers genre fiction, but didn't the second half turn out to be just that?

Timeline, by Michael Crichton

Crichton is the king of concept.  Jurassic Park is still one of the best concepts ever, and Crichton has gotten rich off of his brilliant What If's.  The concept in Timeline is:  What if a company secretly developed a time travel machine and an archeology professor got trapped in the 14th century.  It's not bringing dinosaurs to life, but it was good enough to get me to buy the book after reading the Kindle sample.

Unfortunately, once the time travel takes place, most of the book takes place in the 14th century, with battling knights, political maneuvering among the royal class, and a castle siege.  I don't like renaissance faires, and I wasn't interested in the details of the 14th century which Crichton seemed fascinated with.  But the real problem with the plot in the medieval time was that I didn't care about the characters.  Character development has always been a weak spot for Crichton--I can't think of a memorable character from any of the Crichton novels I've read.  Timeline had plenty of action, but without characters to care about, it was tedious to wade through page after page of chases.

Perhaps the problem is that we never get an honest look inside any of the characters skulls.   We see some inner thoughts, but they are superficial without any deep introspection, like "I really like that girl, I wonder if she'd go out with me." Or:  "Why is she laughing at his stupid jokes--probably because he makes more money than me."

In the end, Timeline was a disappointment; it was a great concept which didn't live up to its potential due to a lack of character development.