Customer Reviews

There Was a Little Girl

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Being a big fan of Ed McBain's novels, I was very disappointed when reading, "There Was A Little Girl". It just wasn't as good as his other Matthew Hope novels. By putting his main character, Matthew Hope, in a coma I think McBain made a big mistake. True, it was an interesting twist watching his friends and colleagues try to figure out what happened to him while geting a glimpse into his head and learning what happened but, the mystery he was trying to solve was boring. The ending left me feeling empty. I hate to say that it was one of my least favorite McBain novels

but only to have it be over.

Every once in a while -- three years or so --I decide I really should read a mystery novel or two to give myself another chance at appreciating the genre. One of this year's choices was There Was a Little Girl. I hate to beat up on the dead, but this book is deviously plotted, overly descriptive, with one completely pointless character, Matthew Hope's 14 year old daughter, and every other character firmly occupying a genre role -- ex-wife, best buddy, current lover, macho performer, etc, etc.

For me, a mystery should, with inconspicuously planted clues, involve the reader in its solution. That may be an unjust expectation, but here the reader trails around Hope's friends as they go from suspect to suspect, tracking the current crime and -- it develops -- an earlier crime. There are plenty of false leads, but no cleverly dropped information that would enable the perceptive reader to solve the crime. Instead, about thirty pages before the end we get told the Eureka! moment and all the rest is coda.

This wasn't like any McBain book I remember. It was boring, confusing and basically uncool. I think he had written too much by the time he wrote this one. No new ideas, losing the touch. A tired writer.

After reading the summary to "There Was A Little Girl" I couldn't wait to crack into the book.

To my surprise the novel was a little bit like a piece of gum when you first put it in, minty and refreshing. Then as you keep chewing it looses its appeal and then with even more chewing it is completely flavorless.

I also was not impressed by the racism, the judging and the language. Overall this book was a big disappointment.