Review: First Time Mayne Reader, Definitely Not the Last
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 12, 2011
I grabbed The Chronological Man out of the Kindle bargain bin thinking, "For a buck? What've I got to lose?" I'm here to say, I've paid 10 times more on several occasions for books to go on my little e-reader and not been nearly so entertained or pleased with my purchase. This novella does what many vast tomes never get around to: it entertains. Mayne has a writing style that is terse and spare. He doesn't spend a lot of time orating or postulating, and he doesn't need to. His prose is crisp, and his dialogue is sharp. Smith is a captivating, mysterious pseudo-hero. Several reviewers have compared him to a mash up of various TV personalities, literary icons and super heroes. They're right. He's similar to many, but identical to none. The first half of the book was intense and swirling with questions, but in a good way. A lot of those questions have yet to be answered by the time the book ends, but that I'm still intrigued rather than irked is a testament to the author. The back half was spent pursuing the monster in the mist. The action is fast and loose, but was well enough conceived that I wasn't punching holes in the choices made by Mayne's characters. April is a heroine with grit and brains that men and women alike can appreciate. Several other characters are introduced and none of them are fleshed out, but I know what I need to know and am not really bothered by it. The fact that there are so many loose ends just screams sequel (or hopefully sequels) to reveal more layers of the mystery. I will be one of the first in line.