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Title: A particular stereotype of gloomy contemporary fiction
Review: While I thought this book was well-written in some ways, I found it very predictable and not suspenseful at all. You can often see the author behind the words, thinking "okay, this sentence is the one that'll suggest that what this character is doing is a mistake, and things will get even worse. It seemed very contrived and obvious. The violent scenes were predictably ugly, the white-trash female character had predictable sex scenes, the right wing military man was predictably conflicted, and the cop was the usual type of "good boyfriend" character--gruff (he's a cop) but of course sensitive-that always comes up in this sort of fiction written by soulful writers. This book could have used a sense of humor about itself. It has none. Plus, I heard the author on the radio and he's some kind of reformed, ex-macho bar fighter who sounds like he's keeping himself in check from referring to himself in the third-person royal.
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