betty reviewed Dead To Me by Anton Strout
Review of 'Dead To Me' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
A potentially interesting book (which seemed vaguely as if it might be a sequel, but I couldn't find out whether or not this was the case) which ended up being disappointing.
The story is told in first person by Simon Candorous, who is an unreliable narrator: and not the literary sort of unreliable, where he tells you untrue things because he's got a secret, or is interestingly deceived, he's just the sort of unreliable which forgets to pick you up at the bus station because he thought that was yesterday, or tomorrow, and anyway, his show was on.
Simon works for the Department of Paranormal Affairs, whatever name it's being called in this book, and is new, and somewhat uncertain in his position, and his interactions with the paranormal. He's a touch-psychic, but he's not really used to foiling zombie invasions. The action begins when he and his partner find …
A potentially interesting book (which seemed vaguely as if it might be a sequel, but I couldn't find out whether or not this was the case) which ended up being disappointing.
The story is told in first person by Simon Candorous, who is an unreliable narrator: and not the literary sort of unreliable, where he tells you untrue things because he's got a secret, or is interestingly deceived, he's just the sort of unreliable which forgets to pick you up at the bus station because he thought that was yesterday, or tomorrow, and anyway, his show was on.
Simon works for the Department of Paranormal Affairs, whatever name it's being called in this book, and is new, and somewhat uncertain in his position, and his interactions with the paranormal. He's a touch-psychic, but he's not really used to foiling zombie invasions. The action begins when he and his partner find themselves dealing with a ghost who just isn't as dead as she should be.
Where the story fell apart for me is that the author doesn't seem aware of the mismatch between what the narrator is telling the reader, and what is actually taking place on the page. For example, at one point Simon says of his 'good cop' role in the partnership, "I knew the routine, something so simple even I could handle it given my limited amount of fieldwork at Connor's side." And then he does it really badly.
Simon finds Irene, the ghost they are investigating fascinating, and the books wants me to believe that he is smitten with her. But their flirtation was so awkward as to be creepy. Here's the passage where I gave up:
"She floated off, laughing, and in that moment, I desperately wished that Irene were alive. Not because of my strange attraction with her, or that she was someone I could picture myself dating, but because it would be easier to strangle her smart ass that way."
Granted, Irene had been performing the obnoxiousness that the author seems to feel counts as flirting (and I guess it was flirting in high school), and I'm pretty sure actual domestic violence is not part of Simon's character. But he just wished that a dead woman were alive so he could strangle her: how am I supposed to like this man enough to keep reading about him?
