By Kelly Bridgewater
As a young girl, I gravitated toward mysteries as my
chosen genre. Yes, I owned every Baby-sitter
Club and Sweet Valley High or University book when
they came out. But the mystery books in both of their series where my favorite.
Going to the library during the summer for their summer reading program was an
hour bike ride away from my house. My mother would load all three of us
children up on our bikes around nine o’clock once the chores were done, and we
would head to the library. I devoured every single Nancy Drew (there were only
60 when I was reading them) and Encyclopedia Brown book. Returning home, we
stopped at White Castles for lunch and pedaled the rest of the way home.
Arriving at home, I would lie on the floor and absorb the words Carolyn Keene
wrote on the page. Usually by the end of the day, I would have one of the books
done. By the end of the week, I would need to return to the library to check
out more books because I already finished what I read.
This
love of mysteries expanded to my adult life. Working at Light and Life
Christian Bookstore right out of high school, I became more knowledgeable about
Christian authors besides C.S. Lewis, Robin Jones Gunn, Max Lucado, and the Left Behind Series. While working the
late shift at work, the bookstore wasn’t as busy, so we were allowed to read
books while there were no customers around. One of my fellow employees was
reading a book with an interesting cover. It turned out to be The Healer by Dee Henderson. It had just
come out, and he was totally invested in the plot line. Up until that point in
my reading life, I didn’t know there were Christian authors who wrote in the
suspense genre. Another perk of working at the bookstore, we could check out
any book on the shelf, read it, and then return it. Being curious, I checked
out The Negotiator by Dee Henderson.
My love of Christian romantic suspense blossomed. Within a week, I tore through
every single book by Dee Henderson. Still today, I recommend all her books to
anyone wanting a new book.
With
the release of Dee Henderson’s new book, Undetected,
I’m excited to tear into the plot poured on to the page. Unfortunately, after
finishing the 476 page plot, I wasn’t as impressed as I was with her O’Malley’s
series. This book would be better categorized as contemporary romance than a
romantic suspense. Being a writer of romantic suspense, I have studied authors
such as Dee Henderson, Kathy Herman, Colleen Coble, Brandilyn Collins, etc to
learn the craft. There is NO suspense in the entire book. The plot revolves
around the budding relationship between Commander Mark Bishop and Gina Gray. A
suspenseful moment occurs during the black moment, but nothing happens to put
either of the hero or the heroine’s life at stake.
As a writer, one of the first things told not to do
in a story was to bore the reader with back-story or technical jargon or the
author will lose the reader. The first 100 pages are basically filled with
submarine and sonar vernacular. I, however, flipped the pages skimming for
dialogue to show some action happening on the page. Because of this problem,
the story that didn’t center around the romance of Mark and Gina dragged and
had me skimming through the story.
Dee Henderson did a good job at developing their
relationship slowly like a real relationship would happen. But one of other
problems I had with the plot was the idea of Mark Bishop and Daniel, a fellow
sonar Navy man, who was interested in Gina. Mark and Daniel have a few
discussions about their joint interest in Gina. Mark and Daniel talked about
Gina in a polite and non-argumentive way, which I found really, really
unrealistic. I, personally, would have enjoyed seeing Mark and Daniel argue
with each other about who would earn Gina’s heart and, ultimately, her hand in
marriage.
In my opinion, the book should delete the first 100
pages, and be labeled as a contemporary romance with more heat between Daniel
and Mark Bishop as they fight to prove themselves worthy of Gina.
If you have read the book, do you agree with my
review or did other plot points bother you?
Kelly
Bridgewater holds a B.S. in English and a M.A. in Writing from Indiana State
University on the completion of a creative thesis titled Fleeting Impressions, which consisted of six original short
stories. She has been published in the Indiana State University Literary
Journal, Allusions, with her stories
titled “Moving On” and “Life Changing Second.” In fall 2011, she presented her
essay, Northanger Abbey: Structurally a
Gothic Novel, at the Midwestern American Society of 18th Century
Studies Conference. Kelly’s writing explores the ideas of good prevailing over
evil in suspense. Kelly and her husband reside with their three boys and two
dogs.
I loved Dee Henderson's earlier books too and will give this new one a try. As for quality of books with established authors, I often wonder how much the pressure to promote and fulfill contract requirements explain the fading or half-finished craftsmanship. It happens often, I'm grieved to say. Thanks for the honest review Kelly.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary for taking the time to comment on my post. I truly enjoyed Dee Henderson's writing too. She introduced me to Romantic Suspense. Like you stated, she probably became busy that the writing wasn't as good as her fans are used to expecting, but I still recommend her books to people all the time.
Delete