Skeleton Crew, by Stephen King

Steven King is such a good writer.  I really enjoyed most of the stories in this collection.  In reading these stories, it occurred to me that King excels at three of the six core competencies:  character, concept and writing voice.  He creates characters we care about, he always has an interesting, novel hook, and he strikes just the right balance of writing interesting descriptions without writing purple prose.  These three elements combine to create stories that begin wonderfully, draw the reader in and set up big expectations for the end.  Unfortunately, this is usually where King's stories fall short.  Because the stories aren't planned out with a structure, the endings are hit-or-miss.  Some in this collection, like The Jaunt, The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands and Survivor Type, had great endings.  Others, like The Raft, Uncle Otto's Truck, and The Milkman Stories just peter out without a strong conclusion or theme.  Nonetheless, all these stories are worth reading for their imaginative concepts and characters as well as their wonderful examples of strong writing.

A Cold Day in Paradise, by Steve Hamilton

A Cold Day in Paradise is Steve Hamilton's first novel.  While not as good as The Lock Artist, it was still a good read.

I never cared too deeply about the main character even though he was given a lot of background.  Perhaps it's because he wasn't striving for something.  Rather, he was merely responding to events and trying to solve a mystery.

The ending to the novel also seemed forced.  Perhaps more structure and planning could have helped lead up to the conclusion better.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

[Note at 25% read]  So far, the book isn't drawing me in too much.  It's moving slowly because the author spends a lot of time giving details which aren't relevant.  However, I do like how the story switches back and forth between the current day and the past when the two main characters were kids.

The best thing about this book is the theme which is that a lack of courage to do the right thing can greatly affect other people to the point of ruining their lives.  The book was slow until this theme was revealed, but after that point it was enjoyable.

The book also did a nice job of getting into the two main characters which were flawed but likeable.  However, the author continued to give details which weren't relevant to the story line and which slowed down the narrative.

Blue Heaven, by C. J. Box

Notes while reading:

1)  C. J. Box has a style very similar to what I aspire to with lots of sensory description to get the reader into the scene.  Early on, the author overdoes it and it becomes a distraction.  Probably just one or two sensory descriptions are enough at the beginning of a scene.  This is something I'll have to keep in mind while writing.

2) The first five chapters or so introduced all of the characters without going back to continue the story with previous characters.  This was annoying because it was too much to remember.  I think it would be better to introduce new characters slowly throughout the first quarter of the book rather than all at once at the beginning.  You don't want to choke the crow!

Having finished the book, I now rate this book as one of my top three for 2010 (the others are A Simple Plan and The Lock Artist).  The book built nicely after introducing all the characters.  The writing style also limited the descriptions and was no longer a distraction.

The conclusion wrapped together different story lines in a very satisfying way.  The scene construction was also well done and I can see this book being made into a very good movie.

The Spellman Files, by Lisa Lutz

The Spellman Files does so many things right, good concept, characters and writing voice, it's just a shame the structure was flawed.  First, the things it did well:

Concept:  What if a young woman grows up in the family business of private detective work but decides she wants to get out.  This book has a novel take on the private detective novel which I enjoyed.

Characters:  The main character of Isabel, aka Izzy, is funny and refreshingly honest.  The other characters are also well rounded and well done, including her teenage sister Rae and her boy-friend dentist.

Writing Voice:  Lutz has a good writing voice with a nice balance of introspection and action.  She's funny too.

Unfortunately, the lack of structure was a distraction.  The typical structure is 25% set-up followed by equal parts response, attack and resolution.  For the first half of The Spellman Files, I didn't know what the book was about--it was all set-up.  At around the 65% mark, it finally settled down to the first plot point:  Izzy decided to quit the business but her parents wouldn't let her leave until she did one more case.  Here the book became more of a standard detective novel and it was more satisfying because the main character now had a goal.  However, a second plot point was introduced, her missing sister, which turned out not to be connected to the first goal of solving the old mystery.  This diluted the effect of both mysteries because they were unconnected in the end.


The Spellman Files is a case study in the importance of structure.  It was good, but it could have been great.

Risk, by Colin Harrison

This novel was just okay.  Here are some of the six core competencies:

Theme:  What if the matriarch of a law firm asks one of her employees to investigate her son's accidental death?  This theme led the protagonist into some danger, but it never seemed critical and the stakes always felt low.

Structure:  The book followed a reasonable plot for a mystery, but it was not very intense.

Character:  The main character was just a regular guy and never did too much outside of that characterization.

Overall, this book was only so-so because the concept wasn't exciting enough and the stakes never built up during the story.

The Lock Artist, by Steve Hamilton

This is one of the best books I've read this year.  It's worth breaking down into the six core competencies:

Character:  This is probably the strongest part because the protagonist is interesting and has a secret past.  I liked the character's honesty, especially when it came to the illegal and immoral things he did.

Concept:  What if a traumatized child who didn't talk got sucked into a life of crime?  Would he be able to escape and find a normal life?

Plot Structure:  This book had an unusual plot structure, with one story leading up to the protagonist's entrance into the life of crime, and the other starting from that point and moving forward.  The two stories alternated and the book ended when the two stories linked together.  This structure was interesting but it's not clear that it added anything to the story that a straightforward chronological telling wouldn't have had.

Scene Construction:  This part was well done with the author quickly getting into the interesting part of the scene and keeping the reader's attention.

Writing Voice:  The story is told first person; we get to hear a lot of his inner thoughts which makes it interesting and which makes us care about him.

Theme:  There was no overt theme, and I was okay with that.  The story was really a coming-of-age tale for a troubled boy, and that was enough because it was done well.