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adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
The female editor of trashy gothic romance novels gets a new apartment in a high rise, only to discover she is being watched.
This was an uncomfortably tense suspense novel that had two issues: the ending and being written at the wrong time.
The ending: the heroine makes several references to gothic novels, and indeed the opening of the book is indeed a juggling of "who is the bad guy really" that is the staple of gothics. Things veer in an interesting direction toward the middle of the book, overturning one big gothic trope, but then wrap up in a kind-of gothic fashion at the end, a bit deus ex machina. But there's one element missing: the good guy that the heroine has believed for most of the book to be the bad guy. I try not to "rewrite" books in reviews, but the ending was so weak I had to reread it to make sure I hadn't missed something.
Being written at the wrong time: This doesn't work as a thriller and would have gone over a lot better as a modern domestic suspense novel, with its shifting clues and tangled morality. Call it Girl in the Penthouse, fix the end with a good guy (hey, make it abut a same sex love triangle, why not?) and make sure she inherits the building, sell a bajillion copies, make a movie, cast Sharon Stone as the director character amd give her some good murdery red herrings, PROFIT.
Recommended if you like Gone Girl.
This was an uncomfortably tense suspense novel that had two issues: the ending and being written at the wrong time.
The ending: the heroine makes several references to gothic novels, and indeed the opening of the book is indeed a juggling of "who is the bad guy really" that is the staple of gothics. Things veer in an interesting direction toward the middle of the book, overturning one big gothic trope, but then wrap up in a kind-of gothic fashion at the end, a bit deus ex machina. But there's one element missing: the good guy that the heroine has believed for most of the book to be the bad guy. I try not to "rewrite" books in reviews, but the ending was so weak I had to reread it to make sure I hadn't missed something.
Being written at the wrong time: This doesn't work as a thriller and would have gone over a lot better as a modern domestic suspense novel, with its shifting clues and tangled morality. Call it Girl in the Penthouse, fix the end with a good guy (hey, make it abut a same sex love triangle, why not?) and make sure she inherits the building, sell a bajillion copies, make a movie, cast Sharon Stone as the director character amd give her some good murdery red herrings, PROFIT.
Recommended if you like Gone Girl.
The best one yet as far as a strong, female lead character! Even though it was a bit difficult to read at times. Levin never used identifiers much beyond "she" and "he" when folks were having a conversation. This made it difficult for me to keep up with when the conversation involved more than one he or she. The writing was very matter-of-fact - not much embellishment so there was a lot left up to the imagination. The end was a bit more fulfilling than the other two I've recently read.
Libro que me ha encantado. Con una historia muy truculenta y en la que vas conociendo y sospechándo todo poco a poco y en la que pese a que el final es truculento, tiene sentido
Boring first half, then picks up a bit for most of the remainder before a bit of a flat ending. Funny how the obsession with video surveillance has aged, Pete could have saved on the lab cost and got his rocks off via trawling social media if he'd had the sense to just wait another 30 years. I'll give Levin's more famous works a go in the future but this didn't have me racing to the library
The climax was pretty cheesy, but overall I really enjoyed reading this. I actually listened to it - the Brilliance Audio production is not just narrated but has a full cast. Kind of distracting at first but I got used to it.
It didn't follow the plot I expected it would: I figured the climax would be when Kay finds out the apartment building was bugged. But that's about halfway through. The dung really hits the fan later, when she finds out the building's other big secret.
I heard this was made into an awful movie with Sharon Stone, and now I want to see it.
It didn't follow the plot I expected it would: I figured the climax would be when Kay finds out the apartment building was bugged. But that's about halfway through. The dung really hits the fan later, when she finds out the building's other big secret.
I heard this was made into an awful movie with Sharon Stone, and now I want to see it.
https://lolantaczyta.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/sliver-ira-levin/