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Title: Formulaic crap from a former master
Review: Yeah, I read the whole thing, even gasped several times. But as the plot contrivances began to pile up, I just got depressed. The whole thing is a series of cheap coincidences, manipulative character "development" (oh gee, the evil policeman takes care of his invalid wife--he can't be ALL bad!) and transparent obstacles the plucky young heros must overcome. There's never any doubt what's going to happen, so you slog through all these tedious plot-delay tactics, yearning for an actual surprise.Bottom line: Creaky, crappy, and mechanical. And this from a man who wrote some of the best books of the genre. I'm beginning to suspect he's created a computer program to plot his books--he just feeds in the old storylines and clicks commands, in this case, "Norwegianize!"
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