1.5 starsA longer review to follow when I hate this book less; in short however, I fucking hate the character of Det. Langton so much. Had I known where this was going to end up, I probably wouldn't have read it at at time when there was so much "No one will believe you because you're a jilted wife/girlfriend/lover" shit going around in real life too.Also, I don't recall La Plante's writing style bothering me quite so much on my previous experiences with her, but this was bad. --------------Okay, here goes. I'm super sick of the character type of the insufferable-but-brilliant [fill in the blank], of which Langton is a prime example. I realize this character type exists for a reason; people are fascinated by these types in fiction, but I think I'm just burnt out. Langton treats Anna like complete crap for the duration of this novel, and the only thing that Anna can think of to justify her relationship with him (which she must value greatly, given that she keeps returning to it) is that he's a really giving and considerate lover. SERIOUSLY. This is apparently the only area of his life where he is either of these things. SPOILER ALERTNear the end of the novel, Anna figures out that Langton has "taken the law into his own hands" (I hate this overused phrase, of course La Plante used it) and has murdered the man responsible for his major wounding at the beginning of the novel (I don't even want to elaborate on the nature of the attack, it was stupid and kind of racist). Anna confronts him on this, and this is when the whole "No one will believe you because I jilted you" thing comes up. Despite the fact that Langton is honestly the worst person in the world, Anna shortly thereafter has to "remain strong" when he gathers her close because just being near him makes her rethink the decision to end the relationship. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. He has murdered someone, and she knows it. He has also lied to her in denying it, and questioned her competency as a detective for even suggesting it, as well as threatened her. It is wildly problematic that Langton's behaviour seems to be celebrated by La Plante as author while her purported main character, DI Anna Travis, is completely weak and mostly pathetic. Despite the fact that La Plante seems to want the reader to think she's a really great detective, the writing doesn't bear this out, as (in this instalment at least) she's passive and doesn't advocate for herself in any way, either professionally or personally, when dealing with Langton. I hope that further books make clear that Langton is a waste of space, but I can't bring myself to find out for awhile. I think I just need a break from these books, especially since La Plante's writing is... idiosyncratic, to put it nicely. You can definitely tell she's a scriptwriter originally, given that her novels read like conversations with descriptions shoehorned in because she knows the basics of how novels work. She also puts explanation points where they've no business being. For example, when the narrator describes that a bug they've put in a suspect's house sounds muffled, the sentence is structured: "Someone had put a coat over it!" as though it was the dumbest/most shocking/most frustrating thing to have happened. Nope, not necessary and just awkward. Actually, that kind of sums up my experience with this whole novel. Not necessary, and just awkward.
I gave her three tries, the first one was good the second one wasn't but I thought, well she might be having a bad day but no - after reading this - no more La Plante for me. This was a fairly involved and gripping story and it says a lot for the storytelling skill of the writer that I stuck with it. It was over five hundred pages and quite honestly I think that the story occupied about 300 the rest was padding, repetition, info dumping and ranting about the criminal justice system, the probation service and illegal immigrants. Although much of this may be valid comment I don't think that it is honest to put so much into a work of fiction and push it at the reader. Apart from all of that the editing was definitely flaky, there were missing words, words that should have been edited out and at one point we jumped from one setting to another without any of the characters moving a muscle - voodoo perhaps!? I would have thought that with the team at her disposal Ms La Plante would have ensured that the editing was spot on. What a shame.
What do You think about Clean Cut (2007)?
A friend gave me this to return to - who guessed it? a patient library at a prominent cancer hospital in Victoria. Huh! Well, it is very absorbing - takes your mind completely from reality. This read a little too much like a screenplay for my liking - not really a novel as such. And after reading Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann, I realised just how bad these novels can be. However bad this one was though, it was like a delicious lollie - you just had to keep on eating it until you finished it and then allow yourself to feel disgusted afterwards. First in was the murder of a librarian. A children's librarian. Well - what mistakes could happen?? Turns out plenty!! Lots of factual errors - does Lynda ever do any research???!!! This is the first novel of hers that I read so I don't know if her others are of a similar vein. OK - first error. Her colleague, another children's librarian, would not have access to the HR records - the library manager would. The murdered librarian would have worked with countless families - 50+ perhaps as she worked in a public library system in a suburb in London (and we all know how many people there are in London don't we - heaps!!). The local coucil may have had HR records of all the library workers in the system as well. Then the children's librarian may have been on rotation to the other branch libraries - and from 50+ for one library - how many more people added to this number! The murderer could have been any of the men whose children she supervised. So - Travis did not do her work properly in interviewing all men whose children would have been in her care.Thats my rant. So - eariler on in the story I thought - this isn't right, she doesn't know what she is writing about! I nearly gave up there.
—Yrinsyde
As a rule I like Lynda La Plante as an author, but sadly if I am going to be overly critical, on this one, she missed the mark.Without giving away the story, I felt the description of what was going on between Anna and her lover James was poorly articulated, and failed to convince. I also found the rehabilitation and recovery of her lover after a work place injury not at all believable.The criminal storyline which was woven through the events described above, was at best only just passable and I found the ending somewhat disappointing.As I said in my opening sentence, I am being overly critical. On the plus side, it was an easy book to read and there was never a point where I considered not finishing it. Catching up with the characters of this book is always enjoyable for me and Lynda still remains in my Top 10 favourite authors.Happy reading!
—Tracey Bartlett
I don't know if my review will count as spoilers, so read on with care.Within the first few pages, we learn that Langton has been attacked by a man with a machete and is at death's door. We also learn that Langton and Travis have been living together now for 18 months. Travis has a list of pros and cons about living with him, which does not bode well.There are multiple cases in this story and all are intertwined, which bring Travis and Langton together on the same team again.His recovery is not expected, but we know Langton too well, and recover, he does, although he is helped a lot by pills and alcohol. Not only were the cases well developed, but the flaws of Langton and Travis were explored. It was rather like turning over a rock to see what creepy things might be under it.Both parties indulge in unethical behavior. I wonder where La Plante will take them in the next entry of the series.Again, I can't stop at just one of these books. As far as I know, only three of the books have made it to television, and this was not one of them. I now wonder how the Travis/Langton relationship plays out in the television series.
—Jann Barber
