ThomD reviewed The Demon in the Freezer by RICHARD PRESTON
Review of 'The Demon in the Freezer' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This will be my last Richard Preston book. The story itself is terrifying (because it really happened) and Preston's research is thorough. But it is practically impossible to put up with the amount of fluff in the book. For example, every single character mentioned in the book receives at least a few sentences and sometimes an entire paragraph describing their physical appearance. This is true even if the character is never mentioned again (which is a frequent occurrence).
I don't care what someone's child is having for dinner. I don't care that someone's parents live in a ranch house on rolling hills. It has absolutely nothing to do with the story - there is zero tie in.
If I had to guess I'd say that Preston was pressured by his editor to add more of a "human" aspect to the story. Was the intent to show that these are real …
This will be my last Richard Preston book. The story itself is terrifying (because it really happened) and Preston's research is thorough. But it is practically impossible to put up with the amount of fluff in the book. For example, every single character mentioned in the book receives at least a few sentences and sometimes an entire paragraph describing their physical appearance. This is true even if the character is never mentioned again (which is a frequent occurrence).
I don't care what someone's child is having for dinner. I don't care that someone's parents live in a ranch house on rolling hills. It has absolutely nothing to do with the story - there is zero tie in.
If I had to guess I'd say that Preston was pressured by his editor to add more of a "human" aspect to the story. Was the intent to show that these are real people just like the rest of us? If you can't figure that out for yourself then you probably shouldn't be reading a book like this.
