Michael Marshall Smith - Only Forward
I was sitting stealing words from a Waterstone's the other day when I received a book recommendation. I'd never heard of Michael Marshall Smith before ("Well, you should have!"), but apparently he's a well known British author. I had my doubts, especially when informed that he writes crime fiction, since I seem to have a gut assumption that crime fiction is targeted to the lowest common denominator, and generally crap. And I mostly forgot about it. But in a random passage through a random library later I came across "Only Forward" on the shelf and decided to give it a go.
The first thing that struck me about it was the liveliness of the writing style. I've recently found myself skimming explication in books I read, thanks to my microsecond attention span. This isn't like that. Before anything has actually happened, it's already whimsically gripping. It also has plot. And it's a good plot. One of the better plots I've read in a long, long time. It did steal a page from one of the classics, but it went about it rather backhandedly and to Smith's credit I didn't see it coming.
I'm never convinced by book reviews, seldom by descriptions. Frankly, the only thing that tends to get my attention is respect for the opinion of the person who's shilling for it. Or random chance. That's what got me this time. If you know me, let that be your guide to whether you pick this up or not. If you don't, wait till it catches your eye. Then read it. Because it's bloody good.
P.S. - I was listening to "My Immortal" near the end of it, and it mixed in very nicely.
The first thing that struck me about it was the liveliness of the writing style. I've recently found myself skimming explication in books I read, thanks to my microsecond attention span. This isn't like that. Before anything has actually happened, it's already whimsically gripping. It also has plot. And it's a good plot. One of the better plots I've read in a long, long time. It did steal a page from one of the classics, but it went about it rather backhandedly and to Smith's credit I didn't see it coming.
I'm never convinced by book reviews, seldom by descriptions. Frankly, the only thing that tends to get my attention is respect for the opinion of the person who's shilling for it. Or random chance. That's what got me this time. If you know me, let that be your guide to whether you pick this up or not. If you don't, wait till it catches your eye. Then read it. Because it's bloody good.
P.S. - I was listening to "My Immortal" near the end of it, and it mixed in very nicely.