This Doesn't Happen In The Movies (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
I liked this book. I don't think that it's a great book that I'll come back to again and again, but I liked it enough to buy the next book in the series.Despite being set in our own time, complete with cell phones and Google search, "This Doesn't Happen in the Movies" reads very much like a Raymond Chandler novel, but without the world weariness of Marlowe's character. Ferguson is the complete opposite to Marlowe, even though that's who he would like to be: Marlowe had been around the block a few times, and could look after himself; Ferguson is almost puppy-ishly optimistic, and a bit of a wimp.But Renee Pawlish does have a Chandler-esque way with dialogue and 1st person narration, "This Doesn't Happen in the Movies" is a very easy book to read, largely because Pawlish succeeds in capturing the lyrical style of Chandler's prose. The book also has a nice line in humour, and I hope to be reading more about the Goofball brothers in the next one. Ultimately, however, the plot is thin: Ferguson never has to keep several plates spinning, or balls in the air (select metaphor of choice!). There was a point about half-way through where it looked like Ferguson might be getting out of his depth, and a satisfyingly complex dilemma looked like it might materialise, but it never did, and the ending was pretty underwhelming. Not your typical private detective story. The characters are fairly well developed, the story line both plausible and believable. What I didn't find was a lot of depth to either the characters or to the story line. The plot was thought out well, with a few interesting turns, (no real surprises), but all in all, it was just a decent story, a good time filler, but nothing to write home about. There is a lot of potential to both the main and sub-characters, as this book ends with a developing relationship and leaves you hanging as to the involvement of a set of three brothers, especially the oldest. All this baits the question, was this book, the development of the theme, characters, and story line for the continuing series. The possibilities and the potential is there. I was pleased, but not engaged. I was not disappointed, but I was not enticing and thrilling. I will have to read the second book to give this story and the series a chance.
What do You think about This Doesn't Happen In The Movies (2000)?
Quick easy read! It was very fun and hope to read another one in this series soon!!!!
—anakuka1
I like noir, and parts of this made me laugh. Amusing.
—christen
A fun read - nothing special - simply entertaning.
—Jess
