Smooth Operator – Stuart Woods & Parnell Hall
In bookstores, now, Stuart Woods’ Smooth Operator
The biggest question, tends to be, whether I buy the book at Costco, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. It gets consumed by at least three of us before I tuck it away on a shelf, so it does get some miles.
The first time I cracked open the digital version, I read the opening chapters, got caught up with the set up, realized, if I read one more page, I would have to finish the book in one sitting. Not really much of a challenge — it’s an enjoyable task, but it does take a small amount of dedicated time.
Tends to be addictive reading, and the books themselves, well–made of good paper, substantial binding, &c.
The other morning, as I walking, I was trying to think of a valid comparison for the way the Stuart Woods books are assembled, and I don’t mean like the paper itself. It’s the absolute lack of style, economical story-telling, characters that I normally wouldn’t care about, all wrapped with an entertaining package. But what always amazes me is the total lack of style.
If he were writing my horoscopes, the scopes would be much shorter. Next to that prose, my horoscopes look positively baroque. Then again, I deal with the nuance of the human condition, such as it is, and times being what they are.
And times being what they are.
More out of curiosity than anything else, from an authorial point of view, I would have to wonder. A recurring bit player from a previous recent novel cycles back up and was this by design? Or did this it just happen?
All I recall was “Learn to drink coffee black.”
Quick paced, marked with fast action, and slight departure from the usual fare, but still a pleasure to read — obsessively. There is a smart, workman-like manner that moves these stories along with an shortness of stylized story that makes it enjoy to read. Fun, too, the almost serial aspect of the material.
Guilty pleasures.
Smooth Operator – Stuart Woods & Parnell Hall
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