Review: Mix of Characters and Genres Usually Works
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 25, 2014
Christopher Smith's novella "From Manhattan with Love" resembles my mother's meat loaf recipe. She took whatever happened to be in the refrigerator, kneaded it together in one big lump, baked it, and hoped for the best. With Mom's meat loaf, the results weren't perfect, but they were often surprisingly tasty. Similarly, Smith's novella blends a number of disparate elements into one story that. for the most part, is quite urbane and witty."Manhattan" is actually the third book in Smith's "Fifth Avenue" series, which looks at the lives and intrigues of very rich New Yorkers. The novella takes characters from the first two books in the series and comes up with a way to have them meet in a most dramatic fashion. Even though some of the characters were introduced in Smith's earlier books, readers who haven't read those other works won't have any difficulty following the story line of "Manhattan."The first half of the novella follows two top notch professional assassins, Carmen and Alex, on an assignment together. In a story line that's pretty much borrowed from the movie, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," Carmen and Alex each receive instructions from their handler to kill the other after the current assignment is completed. Unbeknownst to their handler, who are trying to tie up all the loose ends from their earlier assignment, the two have gotten romantically involved and wind up spilling the beans to each other. Carmen and Alex eventually decide to turn the tables on the handler and kill him in a very messy, public manner at a big charity gala.At this point, about halfway through "Manhattan," Smith shifts his focus from the assassins to Leana Redman, one of the guests at the party, and goes back in time a couple of hours to follow Leana's activities leading up to the party. The tone and style of the book change somewhat as well at this point, as "Manhattan" becomes very much an examination of the ugly side of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. For reasons that are explained in the book, Leana is not all that popular with a number of the other party guests, and she winds up engaging in some deliciously nasty, catty exchanges with them, a verbal shootout that is finally interrupted by the physical shootout staged by Carmen and Alex.Christopher Smith is much better at depicting verbal sparring and nastiness than at describing fist fights and gun battles. The setup for the attempted assassination and the various action sequences don't make that much of an impact. These action scenes lack real spark and seem somewhat routine, especially considering the book's familiar central premise. On the other hand, the pages of dialogue between Leana and some of the party guests who despise her are dripping with venom and are a sheer delight for readers who enjoy seeing snooty society types get put in their places. The first couple of chapters in the book, in which Carmen and Alex have to figure out just how much they trust each other while at the same time figuring out a plan for their survival, are also quite well written.The real weakness of "From Manhattan with Love" is its finale, an epilogue that takes up the last fifth of the book. Smith intends "Manhattan" as a bridge piece between his two earlier books and a planned sequel. As such, "Manhattan" ends in a manner that will probably upset a number of readers. I don't want to give anything away here, but the book is not a cliffhanger, per se, because no one is in actual jeopardy at the exact moment the story ends. Instead, "Manhattan" ends with a shocking development that will undoubtedly motivate the events in the sequel. Pulling off this type of ending requires a very skillful writer, and Smith doesn't handle it all that well, in part because there's a lot of physical action towards the end of the book, the description of which, as I mentioned earlier, is not Smith's forte. The end result is a finale that seems more like a forced gimmick than a natural plot development.Although I was disappointed by the ending and some of the action sequences, for the most part I was pleased with "From Manhattan with Love." Smith's style is somewhat reminiscent of Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities," and a longer book by Smith that has more space to explore the often petty nefarious activities of the upper crust is likely to be quite enjoyable. "From Manhattan with Love" is the right length for a long evening or short weekend read and will leave readers in the mood for more of Smith's style and wit... perhaps not to see how the characters react to the contrived finale, but how the upper class reacts in general to the events in their lives.