Post by sturgeon on Feb 2, 2023 14:48:33 GMT
I'll be honest. When I see capital that's north of 10,000 words, my guard goes up. It better be right on pace for the whole length or [Sturgeon makes a guttural sound and runs a finger along his scaly throat].
In the first few pages, this establishes itself as a police procedural cap, with a sizeable cast of characters centred on Deputy Sheriff Nils Gustafsen (or Gustafsens or even Gustafsen's depending on where you look). There's a fatal car crash with the possibility that the vehicle was homicidally tampered with. Strangely, we're told right at the start that the victim's employee did indeed tamper with the car - I feared that this would undermine the mystery while we waited for the cop to catch up, but it turns out to be almost completely irrelevant - the employee isn't even mentioned again for about 15 pages.
The story turns out to be quite complicated. The victim had about twelve jobs with at least three partners, and one of them probably poisoned him (um... so... nothing to do with the car). Except - wait - nope. Even though the story focusses mostly on those partners and the victim's shady past with them, the murderer was a totally different guy who isn't even mentioned until past the halfway point, and it was mostly an accident.
The strengths of the piece, for me, were in how the victim's character was built up, and how we were taken through the step-by-step investigative process of the detective. And the weakness was the inclusion of too much extra information that was irrelevant or too-quickly dismissed. A red herring or two is fun in a detective cap, but this was about 90% red herrings. Guevara, on the Floor, loved it - but I'm afraid I did not.
I vote no.
In the first few pages, this establishes itself as a police procedural cap, with a sizeable cast of characters centred on Deputy Sheriff Nils Gustafsen (or Gustafsens or even Gustafsen's depending on where you look). There's a fatal car crash with the possibility that the vehicle was homicidally tampered with. Strangely, we're told right at the start that the victim's employee did indeed tamper with the car - I feared that this would undermine the mystery while we waited for the cop to catch up, but it turns out to be almost completely irrelevant - the employee isn't even mentioned again for about 15 pages.
The story turns out to be quite complicated. The victim had about twelve jobs with at least three partners, and one of them probably poisoned him (um... so... nothing to do with the car). Except - wait - nope. Even though the story focusses mostly on those partners and the victim's shady past with them, the murderer was a totally different guy who isn't even mentioned until past the halfway point, and it was mostly an accident.
The strengths of the piece, for me, were in how the victim's character was built up, and how we were taken through the step-by-step investigative process of the detective. And the weakness was the inclusion of too much extra information that was irrelevant or too-quickly dismissed. A red herring or two is fun in a detective cap, but this was about 90% red herrings. Guevara, on the Floor, loved it - but I'm afraid I did not.
I vote no.
