It's been about ten years since I read my first John Lutz and decided I wouldn't read another Lutz book. Years have passed, some perspective has changed, reading habits altered. I thought I'd give another one a try.Oops! This book reminded me of my reasoning years ago. Though there is a good mystery stuck in the 246 pages, it's a bit tough to get to with all else it's sunk into. This complaint isn't along the lines of my standard complaint of over writing that is common more today than when this was published in 1986. The extraneous story is fine, actually, and fits in the plot. It's just that, plainly, the writing stinks.But, wait, there's more! Far more of a complaint is that Lutz set the story in an area he has little to no knowledge of. I remember this with the last book I read that was set in Florida. Years have gone by and I know my state far, far better now. His attempt to depict Florida is horrendous. Throughout the book most everything about the state, no matter where the plot wanders, has some mention of Disney World. That is a place he apparently knows about, though no part of the book actually is set there, nor could it, knowing how the Disney complex would put a cease and desist involving such an effort.To get around not knowing about Florida, Lutz makes up cities and then drapes around a lot of typical stereotypes that most Snowbirds would know is ludicrous. There are constant drives from a coast in Florida to Orlando that make it appear as if the trip is only twenty minutes long and no traffic issues. Even in '86 there were traffic issues getting from any east coast beach area to Orlando and back again. Then a "relatively short trip" to the University of Florida in Gainesville. that's easily a two hour trip and, even then navigating through the U of F campus is not easy. Not that Lutz had to get into those details, but to shrug it off as a "short trip" is silly.There are lots and lots of examples of ignorance of Florida. The worse may be his understanding of airboats. Airboats are very, very loud. Lutz obviously doesn't know that and it really screws up reading a pivotal part of the book.Even a few phone calls, consulting a map, a peek into an encyclopedia about locations could have solved the mess of location depiction. With this lack of knowledge of location, the descriptions of settings are limited and feel empty.There is a good mystery here. It's just not well written and not a book I can recommend.
