I don't mind saying if a book is crap, but I do feel bad for the author! They probably tried really hard, gave it their best shot. So I'm sorry, Andrew Gross, I know you are working your way up the mass market thriller ladder, but I thought Don't Look Twice was crap.
There is a new branch of fiction that is mass produced by committee.
James Patterson has been writing very popular thrillers for many years. If you shop at Costco, the latest paperback is usually available on the book table. He must have a team of people around him helping him write, or writing his outlines or something. He has a deal to write multiple new books, the books come out with his name taking up most of the cover, then the title, and below that "with Andrew Gross" (or other co-author). He has become a marketable name, and the publisher wants a new book every few months, so he comes up with a theme, and one of his team writers writes it. Maybe he then goes over it and add a few touches.
I see this with many other authors such as Clive Cussler (he has 22 of his own books as well as 33 other titles in 4 other ongoing action series written with co-authors), and Robert Ludlum (who has co-authored 21 books since his death in 2001 - You can buy new Jason Bourne adventure books with his name prominently on the front cover, next the title, and somewhere on the front the co-authors name).
The one that bugs me the most is Stuart Woods. His early books were exciting and well written, as well as personal, bringing in his love of sailing etc. I waited for and enjoyed each new novel, many with his character Will Lee who I loved watch develop. Some of his earlier books like White Cargo and Deep Lie are solid thrillers. As he won a few mystery writer awards and became a bankable name, there was a new hardcover and paperback out about every six months. The books were lighter and more generic. He has introduced five new ongoing series, each with a different main character - totalling 45 novels in 10 years, and counting. His personal touch was gone and the action was by the book. My guess is he has a team of writers who churn it out and he looks it over before it's published.
Why is this bad? Do we think any of the celebrity memoirs are actually written by themselves? There are always ghost writers around, and that's fine. But when you follow the vision of a writer, you feel you have a connection to them, and when that disappears it's like losing a friend. Sounds dramatic, but instead of looking forward to a new Stuart Woods, I think they are crap and avoid them.
Which brings me to Don't Look Twice. I feel like Andrew Gross was writing with James Patterson and they gave him a break to do his own novel, The Dark Tide. After it was a hit, he did Don't Look Twice. I thought I'd see what his voice was like as a novelist, but from the first page it seemed like it was written by a computer program. Authors need to have a personal imprint, and this read like filling in the sections of a writing plan.
His character is Ty Hauck, who is of course separated. There is a witness to a crime who he has to protect, possibly fall in love with, and there's the corrupt underbelly of Greenwich, Connecticut to expose. You know what's going to happen when, who's good and who's bad. There was no excitement or mystery.
The other crazy thing that bugs me is the speed of the chapters. Some are one or two pages long, so by the time you are 100 pages in, you are on chapter 34 - and there are ninety-four chapters in all(!) Talk about reading a chapter before bed - about the time it took to write this sentence!
Reading reviews online, people like him and this book, but wow was it boring!
The kind of book you might find at the "left behind" table near your resort pool, but after reading a few chapters, you'd put it down next to your towel, and forget about it. I do read a lot of thrillers and beach reads are great anytime, but Don't Look Twice wouldn't keep me awake on the plane.
2009 / Hardcover / 384 pages
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