betty reviewed Don't Look Down by Jennifer Crusie
Review of "Don't Look Down" on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
This book's main problem is that it is actually two decent books with the exact same plot, cut up and interleaved to produce one rather mediocre book. Crusie co-writes this one with [a:Bob Mayer|19006|Bob Mayer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1437136106p2/19006.jpg], who may write a decent manly-men with manly-weapons adventure book, (on which subject, remind me later to mention the one point of I-believe-unintentional hilarious homoerotic innuendo) but whose ability at writing a fluffy romance hovers at slightly above zero. I actually attempted to discover if this was because the book was being pushed in two markets, but as near as I can tell, it has only ever been published with the cover you see. On the basis of the cover given, one could be excused, I believe, for expecting a fluffy and amusing romance, not a tale of heavily armed men having shoot-outs in swamps.
Mayer writes the sections that are from the POV of …
This book's main problem is that it is actually two decent books with the exact same plot, cut up and interleaved to produce one rather mediocre book. Crusie co-writes this one with [a:Bob Mayer|19006|Bob Mayer|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1437136106p2/19006.jpg], who may write a decent manly-men with manly-weapons adventure book, (on which subject, remind me later to mention the one point of I-believe-unintentional hilarious homoerotic innuendo) but whose ability at writing a fluffy romance hovers at slightly above zero. I actually attempted to discover if this was because the book was being pushed in two markets, but as near as I can tell, it has only ever been published with the cover you see. On the basis of the cover given, one could be excused, I believe, for expecting a fluffy and amusing romance, not a tale of heavily armed men having shoot-outs in swamps.
Mayer writes the sections that are from the POV of the male protagonist, and Crusie the sections from the POV of the female protagonist. The result is that Lucy, the woman, seems likable, charming, and competent, and J.T. (I don't think we ever learn what that stands for,) seems to like guns and sex. Not that these are not satisfactory interests, but they really failed to make me care if he he lived or died.
I had to force myself to finish this book, and I don't think I so much as chuckled, which for a Crusie book, is a massive fail. Oh, homoeroticism! I think I chuckled at that. One moment, while I find it: damn, cannot find it, but, at one point, J.T. does think fondly of his days with the army as "Manly men doing manly things with other manly men," if I have the quote right. I laughed at that.