Review: Challenging, Thought Provoling, Heartbreaking
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 21, 2013
Unwisely, I read the last few chapters of this book while in a hotel room by myself. At night. Douglas Wickard has a gift for creating tension. (In other words, for scaring me.)His descriptive, heart-pounding sentence structure carries the reader swiftly forward, into darkness, evil, danger and terror, along with the characters. The realistic, natural dialogue makes you care about those characters: Sami or Drew or Hutch could be YOU.I don't know how Wickard does it, but he's a master at switching genders. He writes equally as well in a female voice as he writes about the male psyche.A Perfect Setup is brutally honest about the after-effects of abuse and he delves into some very dark areas of the human soul. Personally, I love that. It's challenging, thought provoking, and heartbreaking.Wickard's prose is thriller style, yet with layers of character and description that propel it into a more intellectual realm. Elevated vocabulary, a deep sense of setting and emotional upheaval, and Douglas Wickard is flirting with a literary novel. Not to mention that A Perfect Setup is a Perfect Vehicle for a movie. Plus the end...well, the end will have you emailing Wickard to get that third book finished NOW.I almost forgot to talk about the sex scenes...but I'll let you enjoy those for yourself. Go get A Perfect Setup. Now.