Treason
I’m getting a little guilty feeling about Stuart Woods and his Stone Barrington character. Three, four novels per year? I tend to read them voraciously, as the material itself is lightweight, but engaging. Novelist eye for detail, and maybe that’s why I read the books, it’s the details the author selects to describe the scene.
After something like 50 of these, I would get bored, but as serial entertainment? Works well enough.
I liked it better when I could pick them up at Costco, as that seemed to be the least expensive route to take to buy the “best sellers” of the day. It’s either that or the two retail giants, B&N or Amazon. Costco is less, but the other two are always within pennies in their prices.
La vida Buena? So it would seem.
Possible typo, page 261 of the Overdrive version of the novel page 208 in the hardback — that’s exciting for me, the usual prose marred by a single missing letter. One of the reasons I find this canon of work so easily digestible, in a tasteful way, is the unusually high quality of writerly writing. Not fancy, just enjoyable with an absolute lack of style. Damn near error-free. Don’t think there’s been a typo in any of the last dozen or so, if ever.
The last few Stone Barrington novels have had a breakneck, jet-set pace. This was a more leisurely pace, more like a sitting-room drama, in my mind, Victorian in nature. Not as frenetic a pace with more nuanced shading of character. Rogues, villains, rough justice, sure, but a finer, deft yet delicate touch — but maybe only because I have a shelf full of matching hardbacks.
Then, the ending. Ok, so I was not pleased, it built to a timely, complex climax only to suggest — “To Be Continued…”
Why I like the serial nature of the work.
