Review: Good until the terrible ending
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2011
"Denouement" noun: the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel. From Dictionary.com.Anyone who has seen "The Return of the King" understands what too much denouement means.  The interminable final reel of Peter Jackson's film remained true to the interminable final book of Tolkien's series.  Too much "final resolution," as the characters flew into the sunset, were crowned, rode into the sunset and finally sailed into the sunset.  How many times could one book or movie end?"The Defector" is the polar opposite of my above example.  Climax hits on one page, followed by a half-page epilogue.  That's it.  This good (not great) book, which had held my attention for 93% of the file, was suddenly over.  The author might as well have written "then we got away and got on with our lives" right after leaving us on a cliff at the climax.  I was baffled then disappointed, paging back and forth, looking for more.  Instead, the final 7% was a preview of the next book in the series as (presumably) the antagonist finds another couple to terrify.Too many plot lines left hanging, too many motivations left unexplained, too many "why?" questions remained in my head after reading this book.  I was very happy with the first 92% and thus give 3 stars.  The problem was I thought the remaining 8% would answer these question and tie up the loose ends.  Instead, nothing.  Like writing a sentence without