Review: A Seminal Who Dunnit
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 7, 2013
I rate this novel 5 stars.  I rate it primarily on originality, plot and pacing, and the ability to mask the identity of the culprit to the very end.  This may be one of the most original crime novels ever written.  I'm of the opinion that this may be the first ever "Procedural" type of crime story.  Where the story is revealed bit by bit as the facts become available, and in a logical sequence that doesn't stretch the reader's credulity, while at the same time taking numerous twists and turns along the way.  Anyone familiar with the style of CSI or Law and Order would easily recognize the way the story is built up.  And the surprise ending?  A surprise!  What else could it be.  You won't be able to figure out who the murderer is until the very end.Though written in the third person, there is no omniscience at work in this story, all of the action is seen through the eyes of the main character, or, through what other characters say in his presence.  We follow the main character through the story as he discovers the facts of the case, right up to the very end.  This allows the reader to stay abreast of the story, with no marvelous intuition guiding the story to conclusion.  This isn't Sherlock Holmes, or Hercule Poirot, summing it all up as simply a logical deduction to anyone with the ability to reason it out, no, this is a step-by-step resolution of the crime using clues to the story gathered along the way.This is the best work by this author that I have read.