Review: Page turner, for sure
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 22, 2014
I really liked this book. On pure technicality, I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did. The technicality? Telling rather than showing.Not that Mr. Wells did not show. He showed amply. In fact, I can’t even make categorical statements about his “telling”, as I never felt “told”. I only noticed, really, when it came to deliberate “showing” in some dialogue - some [not all] of it felt stilted; and there was one line that came through as an “As, you know, Bob,” moment. That was when I noticed Mr. Wells overarching style, and said [actually aloud], “Damn! How brilliant!”I know this reads as a backhanded compliment to the author, but I’m at a loss to convey how fast I turned the pages on this one, and how little I cared about the flaw of stiltedness - which occurred with such little frequency that it barely mattered in any case.  Mr. Wells has a beautifully economical style of which I’m envious, rolling out events and characterisations cleanly and simply, like line drawings that the reader can freely colour in. Have I mentioned I loved it?A Prologue sets the stage with a scam and a murder. Then the main story begins, flashing back to become the Bildungsroman for the protagonist Elaine, tracing her life from birth to adulthood. I won’t give details . . . Mr. Wells tells it much better. Read the book. And if you’re confused about the genre - read the title of it.The novel ends on a cliff hanger - but not the sort that angers the reader; certainly not this one. The novel has completed the necessary arc of Elaine’s story, and it is a logical conclusion that only encourages the reading of the next with excited anticipation.Looking forward to more from this author. He tricked me. Well done.