An Empty Sky [Paperback]

Vengeance only inspires more vengeance. "An Empty Sky" tells the story of neurotic trader Cecil Clemenzi as he digs his own hole of paranoia when he has a rival trader's daughter killed and soon finds himself on the opposite end of the revenge game. Fleeing and starting over are not things easily done, and makes "An Empty Sky" a fascinating and thought-provoking read.

When I began reading An Empty Sky, I was truly intrigued with the premise of a story built on a foundation of greed and revenge. We have the man, Cecil Clemenzi, a young commodities trader whose promising future is supposedly destroyed in one trade and who blames his misfortune on another trader named Kevin Kepler. I say supposedly, because Cecil has rebounded and is not exactly living in a ghetto waiting for his next welfare check to arrive. He is relatively comfortable, which makes his ability to hold a grudge for more than a decade come across as rather immature and childish, and the nature of his revenge against his "enemy" can only be described as over-kill. (sort of like using an AK-47 to eliminate a mosquito that is annoying you.)

Rather than recount the entire story for you let me just outline some of its pros and cons. First, although the story initially draws the reader in, it fails to captivate and hold your interest. While some chapters are compelling and really flow, other portions of the story are choppy and distracting because they are interrupted by scenes which literally have no significance and are not integral to the forward momentum of the tale. For example, Cecil's sexual encounter at the motel seems to have just been inserted just for its prurient value and not because of any viable purpose in advancing the storyline, as were the comments relating to our protagonist moving back to the D.C. area and making visits to the nation's capital to show his support for the President and his policies. (While these feelings may be relevant to the author, they are certainly out of character for the protagonist who up until that point had been only interested in revenge and survival, not politics.) Finally, the epilogue was reminiscent of Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol with the ghost of Christmas past (being played in this scenario by an ex-body guard) giving Cecil a glimpse into the present-day life of one of his victims.

Overall, this first attempt is not really bad - it's just not really good. Mr. Drury has managed to create characters that hit two of the three dimensions required to provide his readers with individuals that are fully fleshed out and believable. I would like to care about the people in the stories I read......love them, hate them, have their actions drive me crazy, produce some sort of visceral reaction. None of the folks in this story got my juices flowing one way or the other and for me that's not a good sign.

A fast paced, well plotted book, An Empty Sky, that keeps your turning pages. Well developed characters - some you love, others you're glad don't live next door. A splendid offering from a new author. James Patterson, watch out. I'm looking forward to Mr. Drury's next novel.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 13 reviews  3.8 out of 5 stars