Review: "A Psychological Thriller: Half good half so-so"
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 9, 2012
"No Good Deed: Book one of the Mark Taylor Series" by Mary P. McDonald is a fiction novel in the psychological/paranormal thriller genre.  The novel appears to be self published.  From her own biography, Ms. McDonald derives from a large family of siblings, has her own family and aspires to a full time career as a writer.  It appears that Ms. McDonald has completed her second Mark Taylor novel and is working on a third along with an unrelated romance novel.The story is told by an anonymous narrator.  Character dialog is assigned to the person speaking.  The prose is straight forward, not complex and should be viewed favorably by a wide audience.  As many electronic versions seem to have them, this one generates a few grammatical and spelling errors.  They are few and do not detract from the reading experience although they tend to be annoying to readers.It is problematic for many of the self-published authors to have the benefit of an experienced editor who can offer unbiased advice on the composition.  In the case of "No Good Deed" I would have advised Ms. McDonald to avoid projecting her political views into her fictional work (even if it is not uncommon).  Although the topic of psychological interrogation and its effectiveness was presented as a dichotomy, there was no doubt that Ms. McDonald does not approve of the process....for any reason.  I am not passing judgment on McDonald's views, only suggesting that she opens the door for others to do so, detracting from her work.The story in main is about a young man, Mark Taylor, having chosen a career as a photographer and while on a shoot with a friend in Afghanistan, purchases an old camera from a street vendor.  There is something compelling about the camera and an unnatural affinity between it and Mark.  As the story progresses, the reader learns that in the process of taking pictures with the old camera there appears on the developed film still pictures of events that have not yet occurred.  We also learn that Mark has vivid dreams, in detail, of the events so depicted on the film and seemingly can change the course of events before they happen.  The scenario leads to Mark Taylor having had advance knowledge of the events of September 11th and his fruitless effort at trying to get anyone in authority to listen to him.  Of course after that fateful day, Mark becomes a suspect and is whisked away from his life and held as an enemy combatant where he is subjected to interrogation.I thought that the portion of the book that dealt with the psychological aspects of Mark Taylor's incarceration and interrogation was very well done.  The author managed to deftly portray the mental agony of fear and the futileness of innocence manipulated by one's tormentors; guaranteed to raise the hair on the back of your neck and make you sweat.  The book's subsequent and concluding chapters while still engaging lacked the same emotional turmoil - the outcome there thoroughly predictable and possessed of some unlikely circumstances.  For instance, would anyone believe that the FBI or CIA or Homeland Security would not possess the full capability to determine the authenticity of a photograph? Or, if the same security forces thought they had a security breach that they would simply ignore it?With regard to character development, I was not particularly fond of Mark Taylor....there was just something missing.  He was crafted as a peculiar person, with some strange manners and body twitches that left me unreasonably unsympathetic to him. In fact all the characters came across as peculiar exhibiting peculiar attributes and unnatural associations.  I guess it could be said that writing a good novel is more than just making money at it.In spite of my reservations, overall I liked the novel.  I think it could have stood some improvement, but it wasn't entirely bad.  Unfortunately, I wouldn't be inspired to follow Mark Taylor in a sequel; I think the first part of this novel will be as good as it can get.I would rate this novel "pleasurable - not memorable" and recommend that readers add it to their reading list.