Customer Reviews

Kill Flash

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This was a typical trashy mystery, lots of sex, violence and mayhem. The only redeeming feature was Mike and Quin, the detectives. Their relationship and insights were great

When I got to p.18, and 'her nimble fingers were quickly peeling a kiwi fruit' - have you ever tried peeling a kiwi with your fingers? - I had an ominous premonition that this book would be less than compelling reading. My expectations even at that level turned out to be over-optimistic. The book slowly began to acquire characters whose sole purpose seemed to be to play a part in some future unlikely twist in the plot, and when the guy supposedly shooting a documentary about the making of the film, (and using a video camera) replied to a question that he would 'probably shoot 8 or 10 thousand feet of film (in a video camera?), even darker suspicions began to form. She had already made it fairly obvious that she had (has?) approximately the level of knowledge about film-making that one can pick up from a day trip at one of the film studios, but the final exasperations arrived when there began appearing at regular intervals words which no-one outside of lexicographers would ever have come across, let alone use. The list includes: enjambment, p.72; sparges, p.77; the rapacious(?) set of his handsome face, p.80; the big tsunami(?) in the sky(?), p80; impudicity, p.86; chatoyant, p.100; refulgent, p.109; immixed, p.129; spicules p.132; coriaceous, p.142; erubescent, p.155; crescive, p.179; pother, p.185; tristfully, p.211; etiolated, p.248; caligenous p.281; gloam, p.325; exiguous, p.347; pelagic, p.350; perdurable, p.351; and colubrine, p.367. Other gems include Ms. Bedford refusing to answer questions 'unless you've got a warrant,...' (police need a warrant to search, not question) Also a waitress serves reporter Moreno a demitasse of Cuban coffee (p.299). A demitasse? To a hard-bitten reporter? Cuban coffee? In America? Things must have liberalized while I wasn't looking. Ultimately, though, one becomes totally unconcerned with what happens to the cardboard cut-out characters as they pursue their allotted tasks in the rambling rat-maze that has been constructed for them, and all that kept me grimly wading through to the end was the determination not to miss any of the sprinkling of two-dollar words that proves that the author has a well-thumbed thesaurus: unfortunately she is unaware that the gratuitous use of obscure words makes her the literary (if that isn't a too over-complimentary classification) equivalent of a preening and pretentious name-dropper.

When I got to p.18, and 'her nimble fingers were quickly peeling a kiwi fruit' - have you ever tried peeling a kiwi with your fingers? - I had an ominous premonition that this book would be less than compelling reading. My expectations even at that level turned out to be over-optimistic. The book slowly began to acquire characters whose sole purpose seemed to be to play a part in some future unlikely twist in the plot, and when the guy supposedly shooting a documentary about the making of the film, (and using a Video camera) replied to a question that he would 'probably shoot 8 or 10 thousand feet of film (in a video camera?), even darker suspicions began to form. She had already made it fairly obvious that she had(has?) approximately the level of knowledge about film-making that one can pick up from a day trip at one of the film studios, but the final exasperations arrived when there began appearing at regular intervals words which no-one outside of lexicographers would ever have come across, let alone use. The list includes: enjambment,p.72; sparges,p.77; the rapacious(?) set of his handsome face,p.80; the big tsunami(?) in the sky(?), p80; impudicity, p.86; chatoyant,p.100; refulgent,p.109; immixed, p.129; spicules p.132; coriaceous, p.142; erubescent, p.155; crescive, p.179; pother, p.185; tristfully, p.211; etiolated, p.248; caligenous p.281; gloam, p.325; exiguous, p.347; pelagic, p.350; perdurable, p.351; and colubrine, p.367. Other gems include Ms. Bedford refusing to answer questions 'unless you've got a warrant,...' (police need a warrant to search, not question) Also a waitress serves reporter Moreno a demitasse of Cuban coffee (p.299). A demitasse? To a hard-bitten reporter? Cuban coffee? In America? Things must have liberalised while I wasn't looking. Ultimately, though, one becomes totally unconcerned with what happens to the cardboard cut-out characters as they pursue their alloted tasks in the rambling rat-maze that has been constructed for them, and all that kept me grimly wading through to the end was the determination not to miss any of the sprinkling of gratuitous two-dollar words which proves that the author has a thesaurus, and the mistaken idea that the use of long or obscure words indicates scholarship.