Maura (maura853) -
"Forgotten" thriller writer, who works are being re-issued, prompting some positive reviews. The problem with randomly selecting one out of a life-time's work to sample is that I don't know if this is the best she could do, and a good example of her style and tone, or the runt of the litter. But based on this single, unscientific sample, I'm not sure that I'll be rushing out to get my hands on more of her work.
My problem with Fremlin was entirely with tone and pacing -- first, she seemed to be unable to decide what she was writing. Ghost story? Comedy of manners? Psychological thriller? A bit of all of the above? And the tone shifted wildly, depending on which novel she was writing -- "humor" in the desperately unfunny episodes of the worst family Christmas ever, desperately unscary when she was trying to convince us that the strange goings on might just be supernatural. And the lamest blackmailer ever. Characters were trooped out to do their bit -- funny, scary, threatening -- and then forgotten about for long chapters.
Too bad, because Fremlin could clearly write, and the central concept -- a recent widow, whose husband's sudden death has left her saddled with his obnoxious adult children, ex-wives and lovers, and a persistent (if ridiculous) accusation that she was responsible for his death --- and decidedly mixed feelings about how she feels about her sudden release from this charming monster. But Imogen, wife #3 and the one who has drawn the short straw as Chief Mourner at this overly prolonged funeral, is too unbelievably a doormat to make her situation interesting.
Perhaps if she had settled on what novel she really wanted to write, it might have turned out to be something really worthwhile.
My problem with Fremlin was entirely with tone and pacing -- first, she seemed to be unable to decide what she was writing. Ghost story? Comedy of manners? Psychological thriller? A bit of all of the above? And the tone shifted wildly, depending on which novel she was writing -- "humor" in the desperately unfunny episodes of the worst family Christmas ever, desperately unscary when she was trying to convince us that the strange goings on might just be supernatural. And the lamest blackmailer ever. Characters were trooped out to do their bit -- funny, scary, threatening -- and then forgotten about for long chapters.
Too bad, because Fremlin could clearly write, and the central concept -- a recent widow, whose husband's sudden death has left her saddled with his obnoxious adult children, ex-wives and lovers, and a persistent (if ridiculous) accusation that she was responsible for his death --- and decidedly mixed feelings about how she feels about her sudden release from this charming monster. But Imogen, wife #3 and the one who has drawn the short straw as Chief Mourner at this overly prolonged funeral, is too unbelievably a doormat to make her situation interesting.
Perhaps if she had settled on what novel she really wanted to write, it might have turned out to be something really worthwhile.
