I read Fair Game and I read Rough Justice and found them both to be very average of this genre. I did finish both books but thought they were both very easy to put down and without looking at the synopses I can't remember a thing about either one. And that's ok because I don't read this type of book expecting it to change my life.So The Stretch then; I gave up about one hundred pages in and it strikes me as being very lazy writing. I bought the book from a charity stall and the writing is so lazy that had I paid full price for it I think I would have been offended at the cynicism of it.The thing that puzzles me most is that there are a number—a lot even—of women here who are rating it four and five stars. The central character is a woman; the book is her story; she is a shallow stereotype (as are all of the characters so far); she is a female character so obviously written by a man.I struggle to find the motivation to continue with this book and my inclination is to take it back to the charity stall and be content that at least my contribution went to some good cause.
I really hadn't paid too much attention to Stephen Leather until a mate lent me Tango One..... Sure, I'd heard of a couple of the stories that he'd done that had been converted into TV programmes... but I'd never really considered reading him.As I said... I loved Tango One, but would this be as good, or was my enjoyment a one off?ANSWER = NO IT WAS NOT.... The Stretch was very good too... and so started my trawl through all Leather books.In The Stretch the characters are developed wonderfully and appear both interesting and real. Indeed, even simple/mundane conversations have a realistic quality that fit perfectly with the fictional characters. The book is fast-paced as the plot unfolds, never slacking as it builds momentum and suspense
