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Elizabeth's Reviews > Charade
Charade
by
by
2.5 stars
The couple in this story could have been more interesting than it actually was, I guess, but beggars can't be choosers. The writing style with regard to characterisation has not aged well, but the energy of the plot (as it is the case in most Sandra Brown books) does make the reader turn the pages without putting the book down.
I guessed the identity of the killer almost from the word 'go' but could not identify the person until towards the end (if you read this book you'll know why guessing 'who' and identifying 'who' are not one and the same thing) a little before Sandra actually revealed the person. This, I suppose, is always a plus in a book of this kind. The background story of the hero could have been given more page space, for it is tragic, sad and interesting (and it would have been quite moving had more time been spent on it), but it was revealed far too late into the story and then only to be treated as a mere plot twist. What a waste of a good tragedy! It is always interesting to me to read, in the romance genre where the norm is for the heroine to (view spoiler) but not so the hero. (view spoiler)
Although the book held my interest throughout, I still have major objections to few of its key story elements. First, when your heroine has a heart transplant it is absolutely vital that you take a few minutes to research the subject and stick to what that research reveals to you. So that you don't end up in crappy representations of transplantee life-styles. You simply cannot merely state that the heroine follows a healthy diet and then show her shoving mountains of junk food down her gob (grease fried thick steaks, french fries, gloops of gravy on everything, fried bacon and eggs for breakfast, fried everything, soda, fizzy drinks and litters of black coffee at every opportunity). Given that in her condition no aerobic exercise is possible, she will be a roly-poly in no time, if a coronary does not kill her first. Second, you don't have your transplantee heroine work long hours in emotionally stressful situations day in day out without any danger to her health (and can you cut all that BS about work being 'therapy' out, please? a), If you have a heart transplant you tire much easier than before (and it is not up to you to decide how tired your body is) and b), those who brag about the therapeutic effects of work don't as a rule work in a supermarket check-out while being paid shit. Third, you don't have your heroine getting by with little sleep and being constantly on edge. Absolutely not. Fourth, you don't declare her contraception-free zone because she would like to have a baby with the hero (who just mentions that it might be dangerous for her. You'd think?). Fifth, if she sooooo wants to conceive naturally and at such great risk to herself and rejects the adoption suggestion then what the f*ck is she doing running an adoption agency? Also, you have to remember this book was written in the early 90s and heart transplants were not only riskier but the aftercare and the medication were not as effective as today's.
But the bewilderingly reckless way a heart transplantee's lifestyle is represented here is not the only faux pas. The heroine suspects she is stalked by someone who may have killed multiple times before, yet she takes no precautions. In fact she displays the familiar TSTL heroine attitude that passes as 'defiance' and 'strength' in the genre (but only in the minds of the writers. The rest of us bang our heads on the wall) and refuses to take even basic precautionary measures, like installing some secure effing locks and a decent alarm system in her house. Especially after the hero easily breaks into her house whenever he feels like it. Similarly, the hero who, supposedly, constantly worries about the heroine does not immediately answer the phone when it rings in the middle of the night (he is at his typewriter). After yet another source of threat to the heroine's life has been added to the list, the hero still debates with himself (for a page and a half) whether he should answer the bloody phone! This scene gets even more outrageous if you remember that the hero only knows two people who could be calling at an ungodly hour. Worse, the hero sees fit to break into the heroine's house in the middle of the night (for some nookie) creep up to her bedroom place his hand over her mouth and start whispering reassuring words to her! All this he does to a woman with a heart transplant and one who spends her days worrying sick about an unknown psycho-killer stalking her!!! I, who so far has not had any heart problems or psychotic stalkers, would have had a heart attack and kicked the bucket on that very spot.
In a funny way, it is to Sandra Brown's credit that although her book has many problems, many points that attract warranted negative criticism, it remains readable. It still gets 3 stars.
The couple in this story could have been more interesting than it actually was, I guess, but beggars can't be choosers. The writing style with regard to characterisation has not aged well, but the energy of the plot (as it is the case in most Sandra Brown books) does make the reader turn the pages without putting the book down.
I guessed the identity of the killer almost from the word 'go' but could not identify the person until towards the end (if you read this book you'll know why guessing 'who' and identifying 'who' are not one and the same thing) a little before Sandra actually revealed the person. This, I suppose, is always a plus in a book of this kind. The background story of the hero could have been given more page space, for it is tragic, sad and interesting (and it would have been quite moving had more time been spent on it), but it was revealed far too late into the story and then only to be treated as a mere plot twist. What a waste of a good tragedy! It is always interesting to me to read, in the romance genre where the norm is for the heroine to (view spoiler) but not so the hero. (view spoiler)
Although the book held my interest throughout, I still have major objections to few of its key story elements. First, when your heroine has a heart transplant it is absolutely vital that you take a few minutes to research the subject and stick to what that research reveals to you. So that you don't end up in crappy representations of transplantee life-styles. You simply cannot merely state that the heroine follows a healthy diet and then show her shoving mountains of junk food down her gob (grease fried thick steaks, french fries, gloops of gravy on everything, fried bacon and eggs for breakfast, fried everything, soda, fizzy drinks and litters of black coffee at every opportunity). Given that in her condition no aerobic exercise is possible, she will be a roly-poly in no time, if a coronary does not kill her first. Second, you don't have your transplantee heroine work long hours in emotionally stressful situations day in day out without any danger to her health (and can you cut all that BS about work being 'therapy' out, please? a), If you have a heart transplant you tire much easier than before (and it is not up to you to decide how tired your body is) and b), those who brag about the therapeutic effects of work don't as a rule work in a supermarket check-out while being paid shit. Third, you don't have your heroine getting by with little sleep and being constantly on edge. Absolutely not. Fourth, you don't declare her contraception-free zone because she would like to have a baby with the hero (who just mentions that it might be dangerous for her. You'd think?). Fifth, if she sooooo wants to conceive naturally and at such great risk to herself and rejects the adoption suggestion then what the f*ck is she doing running an adoption agency? Also, you have to remember this book was written in the early 90s and heart transplants were not only riskier but the aftercare and the medication were not as effective as today's.
But the bewilderingly reckless way a heart transplantee's lifestyle is represented here is not the only faux pas. The heroine suspects she is stalked by someone who may have killed multiple times before, yet she takes no precautions. In fact she displays the familiar TSTL heroine attitude that passes as 'defiance' and 'strength' in the genre (but only in the minds of the writers. The rest of us bang our heads on the wall) and refuses to take even basic precautionary measures, like installing some secure effing locks and a decent alarm system in her house. Especially after the hero easily breaks into her house whenever he feels like it. Similarly, the hero who, supposedly, constantly worries about the heroine does not immediately answer the phone when it rings in the middle of the night (he is at his typewriter). After yet another source of threat to the heroine's life has been added to the list, the hero still debates with himself (for a page and a half) whether he should answer the bloody phone! This scene gets even more outrageous if you remember that the hero only knows two people who could be calling at an ungodly hour. Worse, the hero sees fit to break into the heroine's house in the middle of the night (for some nookie) creep up to her bedroom place his hand over her mouth and start whispering reassuring words to her! All this he does to a woman with a heart transplant and one who spends her days worrying sick about an unknown psycho-killer stalking her!!! I, who so far has not had any heart problems or psychotic stalkers, would have had a heart attack and kicked the bucket on that very spot.
In a funny way, it is to Sandra Brown's credit that although her book has many problems, many points that attract warranted negative criticism, it remains readable. It still gets 3 stars.
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