A review of “Devil’s Plaything” by Matt RichtelI received an advance reviewer copy from another reviewer who is in my writer’s group.“Devil’s Plaything” offers an interesting, if somewhat flawed, reading. The basic concept, having to do with the relationship between the minds of computer users and the computers they relate to, is thought provoking and serves as an appropriate warning for our time. The character of the protagonist is well drawn with an exceptional level of depth. The remainder of the characters are less well drawn. This is especially troubling with the character of the protagonist’s grandmother who is key to the story. Several other characters fall into stereotypes which is unfortunate given the importance of their roles in the plot. Specifically the characters of Victoria and Betty Lou need to be fleshed out. Vince’s character is deliberately obscured as part of the mystery, but even in the end, where we learn as much about him as we will know, he deserves better depth to justify his actions.This work contains an experiment in the use of fonts to indicate the source of a comment or note. It almost works. The idea of using all caps for the computer is interesting, but a more “mechanical” font might have been more appropriate. Using the same font with both upper and lower case for Lane’s side of the discussion with the computer deprives her of her humanity. I understand the thought behind this, but it is inappropriate in these conversations. Only when the text is presented in transcript should it be presented in the computer’s font. Even with the changes in fonts, it is not always clear, especially in the end, who is talking and who is reading which transcript.The real missed opportunity with the fonts has to do with the characters of Victoria and Betty Lou. These are interesting women and deserve a font that separates them out from the rest of the characters. A more feminine, perhaps a cursive, font would help illuminate their characters. While Polly is a fascinating character, if she were given a unique font, it would not be as feminine as either Victoria’s or Betty Lou’s.I am not comfortable with the huge data dump in the end. Much of the information included in Adrienne’s final missive should have been deduced earlier. It felt to me that about three chapters before the end, the author got tired and rushed through to finish the story.One last comment, the title has nothing whatever to do with the story. The book is worth reading in spite of its flaws. I picked this book up because it was the iBookstore pick of the week and I hoped I'd be introduced to a new author whom I'd enjoy.I don't think Matt Richtel and I started off on the right foot, though. I just couldn't get comfortable with Nat Idle, his main character. He seemed like a real douche bag, very smarter than thou, standoff-ish, not terribly interesting. And he was meant to carry the entire book. You were supposed to be rooting for him, but between him basically just being a piece of detritus, carried upon a sea over which he largely had no control, and the loving detail spent going over the various neighborhoods and scenes in San Francisco and the valley below it, I just couldn't stomach it. I don't quite get many people's love affair with the city in the book, so maybe it wasn't really meant for me, maybe it's more palatable if you *do* love it.But I do find it hard that anyone is going to find the tone deaf and emotionally stunted main character someone with whom they want to spend a lot of time.Matt writes a page turner well enough, it's just the characters I found really uninteresting, and I think I was turning the pages just to get it over with by the end of the first quarter of the book.
What do You think about Devil's Plaything (2011)?
Nice technology mystery. Good character development and curious plot. Fun to watch the plot unfold.
—darknight
Nice light-weight, page-turning thriller, like a Grisham book. Not much of an ending though.
—kianvw7
Received this as an ARC at the Barnes & Noble where I work.
—ak0000000000
