Review: Deep, Dark, and Dangerously Good
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2014
I think that Patterson has a real talent for setting a scene and building tension that grows and swells throughout a book, but his timing can be off at times, and sometimes there are stumbles in the prose when it is properly building that can take you out of the story. I wish that it was a bit more....tight? 90% of the novel is great and I completely lose myself in the characters, as well as the subtle horror that grows in the pit of this tangled narrative, but the other 10% can be challenging to get through, as it shows some cracks in his ability. I think that with a good editor and a bit of feedback to slim down excessive sections and re-direct some digressions, it could be a real knockout novel.That being said, I can absolutely forgive the small slips and editing gaffes, because he is a masterful storyteller, which is the bottom line of good writing. Mirroring the small-scale events of individuals with the epic, ancient evil of the Gwonchin was a stroke of genius, and it feels like each chapter peels back another frightening layer of the story that makes it impossible to put this down until the horrifying and white-knuckled conclusion. Looking forward to the next one, but I hope it is tightened up a bit. At that point, Patterson will really jump to the next level.