Book #48: The Plantation
I've admitted it before: I greatly enjoy conspiracy thrillers. A few years ago, I would have laughed at somebody who said that, but now I feel ashamed of that sentiment. After reading Dan Brown, I searched and searched for another good conspiracy writer. I've found one who's right up there with him, but I'm not sure this guy has enough experience quite yet to top Dan Brown.
The Plantation is the third book I've read by author Chris Kuzneski. It happens to be his first published work. After reading two of his more recent thrillers, the fact that it is the first is noticeable, but it's still pretty good fiction. I was a little bogged down near the end by details (details, details, and even more details). That being said, for a first time work, I wouldn't have expected any less.
What I loved about The Plantation was the attention to character profiling. In his later works, Chris Kuzneski sticks important details into the narrative without much showing (due to the fact that his conspiracy thrillers follow the same men, Jonathan Payne and David Jones, ex-military MANIACS), but in this first book, the reader gets to jump into the characters and understand them on a deeper level. Kind of like knowing someone since birth vs. knowing someone for a week. My favorite character is definitely Payne. He's such a cocky son-of-a-bitch who has this startling sense of levity in very serious situations. In real life, the guy would tick me off to know end, but on paper, he's hilarious. He also has a talent for manipulating people. He uses it to his advantage, but what he does is always for the good.
This is definitely not Kuzneski's best work. However, the attention to character detail is stunning and really makes the book, at least for me!
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Kelly <3