Right now I'm reading two books. One by James Patterson & friend and one by Lee Childs. I'm struggling with the Patterson book. The internal dialog of the characters is weirdly feminine for a NY cop and the external dialog is stilted. Then there's the tags. The main character is a hardened NYC detective. Okay, so this guy should be kool under pressure but half the time he's freakin out. He's screaming and yelling in people's faces and otherwise acting like he's never seen any action before. He's such a girl! Even the female FBI agent working with him isn't as feminine.
Now the Lee Childs book is a Jack Reacher book. This is a character that's often seen in Lee's books. I'm only a few chapters into this book and I totally forget that I'm reading. Lee Childs pulls me into the story with such skill I can feel the snow swirling around Jack as he sets the flares out on the road. I'm shivering and worrying and so far into the world Childs created that I'm late for work.
When I finally left the house I was trying to think what it was in Lee Childs book that yanked me in to his world and left me forsaking the clock, the fact that the roads are an icy mess and I intended to get an early start and the dogs who are waiting patiently for breakfast.
I know what Reacher's wearing, where he's been for the last few days and why he got on that bus. I could see it, feel it and hear it.
Lee Childs is a master. I want to write like him.
I haven't finished either of these books yet but I'll have more when I'm done with them.
2 comments:
I've yet to read a Lee Child although I have one on my Kindle and will get to it before long. I'll never read another Patterson, unless I go back and read his very first couple of books. I read one of his collaborative books recently, "The Quickie," and it was one of the godawfulest excuses for a novel I've ever seen.
I read the Quickie. Worst book of all time!
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