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Title: The Emperor of Ocean Park
Author: Stephen L. Carter
Genre: Mystery/thriller
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: A law professor discovers, after the death of his failed Supreme Court nominee father, that his family's history is darker than he realized.
Thoughts: I love a good thriller, but so many of them are not very good books. Flat, shallow characterization, unbelievable conspiracy theories, ridiculous coincidences, slutty female sidekicks—far too many of them are just plain badly written.
This is an exemplary entry in the genre.
The protagonist makes a number of mistakes, both honest and stupid. But they're the entirely believable mistakes of an intelligent, good man who is completely unused to manuvering in a shady underworld that keeps encroaching on his life. The plot that he discovers is convoluted but not unbelievable. Eventually, all the loose ends and red herrings are wrapped up in a way that makes sense, without being quite so tidy that it strains belief. The minor characters, male and female, and complicated and interesting. Almost everyone lives in various shades of gray, without most of them becoming despicable people.
Another nice thing is that the protagonist and a number of the other characters are black. More importantly, this is a book about people (lawyers, judges, reporters, moms) who happen to be black, as opposed to a book about black people. This isn't a book that's trying to make grand pronouncements about being black in America, but nor is it one in which characters are declared to be of color for the sake of diversity. The fact that these characters are African American strongly informs who they are, but this isn't a collection of stereotypes. We need more books like this, for several reasons.
Author: Stephen L. Carter
Genre: Mystery/thriller
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: A law professor discovers, after the death of his failed Supreme Court nominee father, that his family's history is darker than he realized.
Thoughts: I love a good thriller, but so many of them are not very good books. Flat, shallow characterization, unbelievable conspiracy theories, ridiculous coincidences, slutty female sidekicks—far too many of them are just plain badly written.
This is an exemplary entry in the genre.
The protagonist makes a number of mistakes, both honest and stupid. But they're the entirely believable mistakes of an intelligent, good man who is completely unused to manuvering in a shady underworld that keeps encroaching on his life. The plot that he discovers is convoluted but not unbelievable. Eventually, all the loose ends and red herrings are wrapped up in a way that makes sense, without being quite so tidy that it strains belief. The minor characters, male and female, and complicated and interesting. Almost everyone lives in various shades of gray, without most of them becoming despicable people.
Another nice thing is that the protagonist and a number of the other characters are black. More importantly, this is a book about people (lawyers, judges, reporters, moms) who happen to be black, as opposed to a book about black people. This isn't a book that's trying to make grand pronouncements about being black in America, but nor is it one in which characters are declared to be of color for the sake of diversity. The fact that these characters are African American strongly informs who they are, but this isn't a collection of stereotypes. We need more books like this, for several reasons.
