Sunday, July 17, 2011

Benjamin Black, Christine Falls ** 1/2

Benjamin Black is a pseudonym of the Irish author John Banville, a Booker Prize-winning writer known for the richness of his prose. Benjamin Black is the name he uses for writing thrillers, which Graham Greene would have called "entertainments" as opposed to serious novels.

The prose in Christine Falls is definitely a cut above most crime thrillers, as is some of the character development. Unfortunately, though, the plot is a cut below most crime thrillers. The first problem is that Black lets the reader know about the underlying conspiracy early on, which robs the story of a compelling interest. The second problem is that the conspiracy itself is not very interesting.

Christine Falls is the first of a series of novels featuring the pathologist Quirke. I think I'll skip the rest.

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