|
|
4.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining but flawed, Jun 16 2004
After having been disappointed in David Lindsey's last book, Animosity, I approached The Rules of Silence with at least some trepidation. Was Animosity a fluke or an indicator of a downward trend in Lindsey's writing? The answer was hard to say: on the one hand, The Rules of Silence is a far better book, but it also suffers from some of the same flaws as the earlier book.In this novel, Titus Cain, a wealthy software entrepreneur, is targeted for extortion by a vicious and very well-organized thug. While Cain seeks help from a mysterious anti-terrorism expert named Burden, his friends start dying. As Burden takes over, Cain is caught in the middle, manipulated by both sides: even as the extortionist makes him jump through hoops, Burden - a do-gooder willing to kill innocents if it means elimination a major terrorist - has Cain doing things that grate on the businessman's conscience. Interestingly, the big problem with this book is exactly the same as in Animosity: the protagonist is not a man of action but rather reaction. Cain rarely takes any initiative but merely reacts to the situation. As a reader, I want to see Cain actually do something; instead, it is Burden who is called in to save the day, and Cain is just along for the ride. In a suspense novel, we may expect the main character to try and depend on an authority figure, but we also anticipate that in the end, it'll be the hero who will succeed or fail, not his substitutes. The story itself is pretty exciting although there are very few plot twists. The principal villain is a nasty piece of work, and is probably the most interesting character in the whole novel. The fact that this is a generally fun and fast read goes a long way to offset its critical flaws, and overall, I'd have to rate this as a good, but not great book...a weak four stars. For fans of Lindsey, this is a mixed success, but it is generally an improvement and should encourage readers to try another of his books in the future.
|
