Review: Effectively Plotted with Many Shallow Characters
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 9, 2013
Brad Ashton returns from a Viet Cong prison camp and finds himself on the run from a false murder charge that he murdered his wife. Like John Tipton in the film, The Marine, Ashton is a taciturn Man of Action for whom expressing feelings is difficult.Ashton hardly works up a sweat when he busts up three thugs with his bare hands, killing one.The book is free of errors in grammar and spelling. If there were any at all, I don't remember them. The writing is journeyman, which I do not mean as an insult. It does what it is supposed to do; it carries the reader forward without giving away the plot. If you are looking for memorable phrases or witty dialogue, you will not find it here.The story is plot-driven with lots of action. The supporting characters can be summed up with a word or phrase:Josie Bostworth -- The love interest. "What a dame."Amanda Pothmore -- Wealthy bail bonds agent, stand-in mother for Brad when he was growing up. "Savvy and motherly."Sgt. Hank Walters of LAPD -- Brad's comrade-in-arms. "Screw the rules; he's my brother. Oooh-rah!"Lt. Randolph Stratford -- Snake in the grass.Jeffrey Walden -- high-priced attorney. "Old smoothie."Willard Tuckman -- Brad's wife's uncle. "Oily businessman."The late Amanda Ashton -- sexually insatiable, cruel, predatory. "What a bitch."As you can see, Central Casting would know exactly who to send for the supporting roles.The plot device I disliked were scenes foreshadowing the murderer. The use of a specific trait to define him was overdone. Moreover, I think the plot would have been even tighter without this.I read this book to the end, so I could see how things turned out. At times, I was a little bored and wished I could read even faster than I do.