Christine Falls by Benjamin Black


finished 5/20 ........ literary detective contemp.......... rating 3 .

Benjamin Black is the pseudonym of John Banville, the acclaimed author of Booker winner "The Sea." Someone should tell Banville that detective stories need more than nice prose to keep them afloat.

The story is very simple, a man knows that his friend (foster-brother it turns out) has something to do with the falsifying of the paperwork in a young girl's death. She died in childbirth. You know this from the start. This is not a who-done-it. The reason that he did it was to cover up his affair. This is not a why-done-it. The suspense is what will happen when friend confronts friend. Intricacies abound and there are a few twists, but not much interest. So the story is very slow, and somewhat pointless although we have some gratuitous sex and a corrupt Church clergy thrown in, it never amounts to much. Meanwhile, the reader sounds weary with his deep Irish brogue. It's kind of gross, really.

Posted: Sun - May 20, 2007 at 09:27 PM        

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