Review: Perfect novel for the Kindle
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2011
The Defector proved to be a somewhat exciting and well put together nautical thriller written by Mark Chisnell, who is a successful journalist and sailor as well as fiction author.  I was unfamiliar with Mr. Chisnell prior to the offering (free at the time of my download) from Amazon for the Kindle, but I must say that this action packed novel is worth a paid admission.  The first half of The Defector had me entranced and eager to continue reading, but the middle slowed down enough for me to find myself critiquing his writing style instead of flowing with the content of the written words.  At that point, I thought the dialogue which was otherwise very well written, became sluggish and unrealistic for the circumstances of the story.  The narrative moved along, but the words halted me at times.  An advantage to reading this on the Kindle is the ability to investigate the meaning of a word using its dictionary, and I found myself using it for words not typical in American English and some nautical terms.  I am a sailor, so most words were familiar and I was drawn in to the sailing chapters, but there were a few terms which are not typically used in the US and it was easy to decipher them immediately using the dictionary.  The characters were well defined for the most part and I found some more interesting than others, but that's a good thing.  It was difficult for me to understand the attraction of Kate, the sole female leading character, but perhaps any female could have done since this novel was clearly written with the conflict between men as fulcrum, the woman being the sort of vessel by which to separate the men.  In a story that travels the globe, Janac, the villain, introduces Martin, the hero, to a game of Prisoner's Dilemma which Chisnell has described as, "the central metaphor for our interpersonal behaviour."  For his very successful illustration of the Prisoner's Dilemma in The Defector, I would rate this book with 4 stars.  Because of the moments of floating rather than propelling the story forward, poorly defined female character and occasional moments which led me to think, "Yeah, right," I've deducted a star.  As a whole, I liked this novel and have already recommended it to others.  I'm very pleased to have been introduced to Mark Chisnell and appreciate also having the teaser for his next novel included with the Kindle version of The Defector.