Sunday, January 21, 2007

Review of “The Testament”

A couple of months ago, I was asked if I’d review the new novel, “The Testament”, by Eric Van Lustbader.  I agreed, as I love to read, and love a good thriller/mystery novel.  I’ve since hemmed and hawed about writing the review, however, as I just didn’t enjoy the book very much.

I’m drawn to books like “Angels and Demons” because of the mix of familiar history and mystery, and I love puzzles as well.  I’d hoped “The Testament” would be similar, but it’s more of an action/thriller novel.  The opening paragraph, which takes place in a monastary hundreds of years ago, really caught my interest.  When the book transitioned to present day, it lost me.  I thought the idea of assassins running through San Francisco department stores was far-fetched but fun, and I was willing to suspend disbelief for that.  Then the characters started talking, and I could feel my eyes rolling.  The characters spoke to each other in formal, almost stilted English, despite being American.  There wasn’t a single conversation which didn’t seem forced and contrived—the characters didn’t feel natural to me.  The emotional travails of the father and son were also unimaginative and awkward, “Father is emotionally distant, son becomes distant, father wants to reunite with son but hesitates at last minute, father dies with love unspoken”, etc.  I just didn’t care about any of the characters.  I was also irrationally bugged that the main character in the book had the nickname of “Bravo”.  At least the guy in “The DaVinci Code” was a plain old “Robert”.

If you like action novels, I encourage you to read the book, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.  If you prefer something more like a “meaty conspiracy theory”, this isn’t the book for you.  Far be it from me to dissuade you from reading it, however, and I hope you’ll take the time to form your own opinions.  You can buy a brand new copy of the book from Amazon Resellers for about $6. 



Posted by Admin on 01/21 at 10:30 PM
Book Reviews • Permalink

Review of “The Testament”

A couple of months ago, I was asked if I’d review the new novel, “The Testament”, by Eric Van Lustbader.  I agreed, as I love to read, and love a good thriller/mystery novel.  I’ve since hemmed and hawed about writing the review, however, as I just didn’t enjoy the book very much.

I’m drawn to books like “Angels and Demons” because of the mix of familiar history and mystery, and I love puzzles as well.  I’d hoped “The Testament” would be similar, but it’s more of an action/thriller novel.  The opening paragraph, which takes place in a monastary hundreds of years ago, really caught my interest.  When the book transitioned to present day, it lost me.  I thought the idea of assassins running through San Francisco department stores was far-fetched but fun, and I was willing to suspend disbelief for that.  Then the characters started talking, and I could feel my eyes rolling.  The characters spoke to each other in formal, almost stilted English, despite being American.  There wasn’t a single conversation which didn’t seem forced and contrived—the characters didn’t feel natural to me.  The emotional travails of the father and son were also unimaginative and awkward, “Father is emotionally distant, son becomes distant, father wants to reunite with son but hesitates at last minute, father dies with love unspoken”, etc.  I just didn’t care about any of the characters.  I was also irrationally bugged that the main character in the book had the nickname of “Bravo”.  At least the guy in “The DaVinci Code” was a plain old “Robert”.

If you like action novels, I encourage you to read the book, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.  If you prefer something more like a “meaty conspiracy theory”, this isn’t the book for you.  Far be it from me to dissuade you from reading it, however, and I hope you’ll take the time to form your own opinions.  You can buy a brand new copy of the book from Amazon Resellers for about $6. 



Posted by Admin on 01/21 at 10:30 PM
Book Reviews • Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages