Review of Crime of Passion
1 posts
[i][Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Crime of Passion" by Timothy Bentley.][/i] [rwc=id446791-125]1 out of 4 stars.[/rwc]Like poetry, a good book puts every word to good use. That's especially true with mystery novels; walking the fine line between letting readers play detective and keeping them on the edges of their seats is no small feat. So when I found a book that was less than 20 pages long and contained five short stories, I was equally nervous and excited about what I'd discover inside.
Each of the five stories in Crime of Passion has a different set of characters. "Black Widow" tells the story of Mary, who gets married, has two daughters, and then decides one day to murder her husband. "Spring Break" is about a woman whose daughter is raped and murdered. Because the police are unable to arrest the guilty man for his crime, she decides to take matters into her own hands. "The Nurse" is a story about a woman who saves a baby's life in the ER and becomes a hero, but shortly after, countless babies start dying around her.
I wish I could say that Crime of Passion was a good book. I've always loved it when people challenge themselves to extreme constraints, but the lack of depth meant that I wasn't immersed in any of the stories. It was also impossible to do any deductive work as a reader, which is the most fun part of a good mystery.
Worse yet, there are no lessons or huge surprises in these stories. If we're lucky, we get a few sentences about why someone committed their crime, but other times there's no explanation at all. For example, in "Black Widow," a woman goes from seeming cold and emotionless to murdering her husband. There's no explanation for why: was he secretly an awful man? Was she a sociopath? Did she disagree with his parenting decisions? Was it just a rush having the power to take someone's life?
The lack of any connection to the characters ensured I was never at the edge of my seat. The closest I came to enjoying the book was trying to guess what the twist would be after reading a paragraph or two of the story. I was never right, nor was I ever wrong about who was innocent. You know, the "it would be too obvious if that person did it, I'm sure it's not them" game.
Worse yet, the stories were also rather depressing overall. Tim Bentley, the author of the book, created some painful situations quite well. I felt Mary's pain in "The Obsession" (a different Mary than the one in "Black Widow") the strongest. She had an obsessive ex-husband, a doctor that she sleeps with for money, a boyfriend who she keeps her well-paid affair secret from, and a drug-addicted niece with a temper. Of course, when it seems like things can't get worse, they do.
Between the lack of good twists, the depressing situations the characters go through, the 15+ grammatical errors I found, and the lack of immersion, I didn't have a good time with Crime of Passion. If Tim doubles or triples (at least!) the length of each story, there might be something interesting here. As it is, I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone. I'm giving the book a rating of 1 out of 4 stars. On the bright side, although the book features murder and rape, there's no detailed violence, profanity, or adult content whatsoever. ****** [i]Crime of Passion [/i] View: [url=http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=446791]on Bookshelves[/url]
Each of the five stories in Crime of Passion has a different set of characters. "Black Widow" tells the story of Mary, who gets married, has two daughters, and then decides one day to murder her husband. "Spring Break" is about a woman whose daughter is raped and murdered. Because the police are unable to arrest the guilty man for his crime, she decides to take matters into her own hands. "The Nurse" is a story about a woman who saves a baby's life in the ER and becomes a hero, but shortly after, countless babies start dying around her.
I wish I could say that Crime of Passion was a good book. I've always loved it when people challenge themselves to extreme constraints, but the lack of depth meant that I wasn't immersed in any of the stories. It was also impossible to do any deductive work as a reader, which is the most fun part of a good mystery.
Worse yet, there are no lessons or huge surprises in these stories. If we're lucky, we get a few sentences about why someone committed their crime, but other times there's no explanation at all. For example, in "Black Widow," a woman goes from seeming cold and emotionless to murdering her husband. There's no explanation for why: was he secretly an awful man? Was she a sociopath? Did she disagree with his parenting decisions? Was it just a rush having the power to take someone's life?
The lack of any connection to the characters ensured I was never at the edge of my seat. The closest I came to enjoying the book was trying to guess what the twist would be after reading a paragraph or two of the story. I was never right, nor was I ever wrong about who was innocent. You know, the "it would be too obvious if that person did it, I'm sure it's not them" game.
Worse yet, the stories were also rather depressing overall. Tim Bentley, the author of the book, created some painful situations quite well. I felt Mary's pain in "The Obsession" (a different Mary than the one in "Black Widow") the strongest. She had an obsessive ex-husband, a doctor that she sleeps with for money, a boyfriend who she keeps her well-paid affair secret from, and a drug-addicted niece with a temper. Of course, when it seems like things can't get worse, they do.
Between the lack of good twists, the depressing situations the characters go through, the 15+ grammatical errors I found, and the lack of immersion, I didn't have a good time with Crime of Passion. If Tim doubles or triples (at least!) the length of each story, there might be something interesting here. As it is, I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone. I'm giving the book a rating of 1 out of 4 stars. On the bright side, although the book features murder and rape, there's no detailed violence, profanity, or adult content whatsoever. ****** [i]Crime of Passion [/i] View: [url=http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/shelves/book.php?id=446791]on Bookshelves[/url]
You are not logged in. Please log in or sign up to view members replies, participate in the discussion, and access more features.
