Review: Fascinating story -- mystery with a supernatural spin
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 30, 2012
P D Richmond's THE MIND MAN is, bottom line, a good story.  In 1984, Adam Henderson, a bullied teenager from a small town in Australia, begins having very unusual dreams.  Twenty-seven years later, Sacramento police officer Ted Farrell begins investigating a series of inexplicable accidents, including a plane crash in which hundreds were killed.  When ambitious London reporter Laura Taylor becomes interested in the same case, the two team up to uncover the identity of a man capable of using his mind to manipulate his victims from thousands of miles away.The concept here is fascinating - I was interested in the story right from the start.  Telepathy and other forms of psychic "powers" have a legitimate basis in science, and the idea of a "mind man" using such arts to manipulate himself into an incredible fortune is fascinating.  Adam is an intriguing character, mysterious, dangerous, but ultimately vulnerable.  Ted is interesting as well, with a backstory that works to flesh out his character - he's not happy in police work, and he dreams of buying a winery with his brother, but his wife Sally is against taking any such financial risks.  Reporter Laura is feisty and headstrong, and she does a fair job with an investigation that takes her from London to the US, Australia, and Paris.  The story is exciting, with a fast-pace conclusion that was both surprising and satisfying.  And there's a nice bit of romance that works without being either cloying or melodramatic.But while the bones of the story are solid, there are still a few problems here.  First, there's the dialogue.  Richmond seems averse to any kind of exposition in dialogue-heavy scenes, and he writes in long strings of uninterrupted dialogue as if he's writing a play.  Not only did I get lost a few times trying to keep track of who's saying what (he never uses "he said," or any other identifier), but there's just too much unnecessary dialogue, making the novel seem overly wordy.Secondly, Ted and Sally don't really seem like Americans to me.  This might be because Richmond is Australian (and he has no trouble writing Australian Adam or Brit Laura), but he uses words and phrases with Ted and Sally that just don't ring true for Americans.  For example, Americans don't refer to their master bathroom as the "en suite," nor do they use the word "hired" for "rented" (i.e. the kids went snorkeling in "hired masks").  And I've never heard an American use the expletive "bloody," nor are American police officers identified as "Police Officer Farrell" - it's just "Officer Farrell" in the States.  It's a picky point, I guess, but it affected the flavor of these characters and of the scenes set in Sacramento.Finally, some elements of the plot just don't seem believable.  I don't want to give anything way, but some characters do things that don't make a whole lot of sense, and there's no explanation for where the money is coming from to finance the global chase for the mysterious "mind man" (especially for Ted, who is portrayed here as having financial problems).  Probably the most egregious is Laura's publication of an article about Adam that is based totally on speculation - she has not one iota of evidence to accuse him of being either a murderer or a telepath, but she does both, and she does it in print.  I can't imagine any legitimate journalist doing this, nor can I imagine a reputable newspaper printing the story without proof (the publication of this story is integral to several subsequent plot developments, so I can see why Richmond did this; but it doesn't make logical sense).All that said, I did enjoy reading THE MIND MAN, and I was always interested in how it would end.  The ending is actually better than I expected it to be, and Richmond leaves his readers with an intriguing finale that sheds new light on both the "mind man" and the facts of case.  This is an example of the kind of novel that could be great with just a bit of professional guidance.  I am very supportive of self-published writers, and I understand the pitfalls of trying to bring your own work to print.  Richmond has talent, and he conceived a good story here.  While the novel itself doesn't quite live up to its potential, it's definitely worth reading.  If this were a professionally published novel, I would have given it three stars.  As a self-published novel, it's earned the extra star.[Please note:  I was provided a copy of this novel for review; the opinions expressed here are my own.]