Every once in awhile I use my column to write a book review. I try to find a book I like and then say nice things about it, but that doesn't always happen. Take this week, for example.
I read and reviewed a book called "Demons In the Tall Grass" by James Tipper. Mr. Tipper was in Seward just over a month ago, and I interviewed him while he was here. This book is set in Seward, although he changed the name of the town to Dawson. That was problem number one for me. There is already a town called Dawson in Nebraska, which I guess Mr. Tipper didn't realize. He chose the name because he didn't like "Seward," and "Dawson" has a lot of the same letters, he told me.
OK, I can get past that, even though the details are all Seward (street names, businesses, Fourth of July City, etc.).
Now, I'm a bit of a book snob. OK, more than a bit. I tend to gravitate toward the classics, easy mysteries, sci-fi/fantasies and historical fiction. I stay out of the horror section. I don't read books by Stephen King. Why, you ask? Because the pictures get in my head and I can't get them out. Most of them are not pleasant pictures, either, and I don't want to be haunted by them. I read some ghost stories when I was in about junior high because I was stupid and those images still pop into my mind.
"Demons" didn't sandblast any pictures into my head, but it's not a book I really want to read again. One of my complaints was the language. I don't consider myself a prude when it comes to vocabulary. I used to work as a dispatcher, so I've heard pretty much everything. When swear words are part of a character's vocabulary, I hear the character saying them in my head. (Yes, I read the book aloud to myself in my head.) If a character is swearing, I can deal with that. But there were a couple places in "Demons" where the narration included curse words, and I have a problem with that. The narration is usually in my voice, and I don't swear. So when I come across swear words in the narration, it jars me out of that "suspension of disbelief" you need to keep a reader in the story.
The story follows Clayton Briggle, a former resident of Dawson who left home to make it big in Los Angeles. He runs afoul of some drug dealers and comes back home. On the way, he stops to see his father, who is dying, to see how much inheritance he will get. When he gets back to Dawson with all his baggage, he enlists local mortician Sylvia Blair to help dispose of a body. Blair is not a high-quality individual, keeping secrets of her own and holding what she knows over everyone.
Clayton has to confront his own demons (of course) as he tries to re-find his place in his hometown. His high school friends have their own issues that come out over the course of the book. The touchstone incidents revolve around the parochial school, whose principal took advantage of his position and some of the students. You meet some of the kids he abused and, in one chapter, Tipper changes points of view to tell that part of the story from the principal's perspective. That was another roadblock for me, because the narrator's voice changed. We talked about that in my novel writing class in college. (Yes, I'm a nerd.)
I also found some continuity errors and typos as I read. Typos happen, I know that, but any copy editor worth their salt should have caught the continuity mistakes.
The story's ending was satisfying, which was something Tipper was hoping to accomplish. He told me he wrote the ending that people wish had happened.
So, it wasn't the best book I've ever read. Nor was it the worst. I've tried some books that I disliked so much I didn't even finish the first chapter. My challenge with this review, though, was that I knew the author was going to read it. I really wanted to like the book, the story and the characters, Mr. Tipper. I really did. But I just didn't. That's not to say other people won't like the book. I've been told that others who read "Demons" did like it. I'm glad others like it. It's just not my cup of tea.
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