Ron Chudley, Stolen

I neglected to remark a few weeks ago about Ron Chudley's suspense novel Stolen. Except that it's set in BC and Alberta, this book is some distance from my preferred reading, but it's got quality suspense. I'm not going to talk about plot details, since I don't want to wreck the suspense or anything, so it's going to be a short review!

The characters recalled all the Western novels I read as a kid, pulled from my dad's shelves. The flawed hero, the hot babe who's tough as nails but soft in aaaalllll the right places, the complex villain with the mysterious past: it felt kind of comfortable, and it made the read even faster than it might have been otherwise. The speed of reading is important, too, because if you slow down, some of the plot details might start to bother you. The plot hangs together well, and the action is tightly focused, so if you like suspense writing, and you're looking for an out-of-the-way setting, this one just might work for you.

Mind you, there were some plot points in the middle that drove me right up the wall ("am I supposed to think this protagonist is an absolute IDIOT?!?"), and I confess that for me the book never recovered. It didn't help that I had a misprint with 45 repeated pages, and I had to go find another copy right after the drove-me-crazy plot points, but to me it damages the novel badly. It's still a good read, if this is your thing, but only if it's your thing.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Not a genre I regularly read either, but I'd recommend Elmore Leonard if you've not already read stuff by him. Suspense in large doses. I guess that McCarthy's 'No Country for Old Men' counts as suspense too.

Btw almost impossible to post this using Firefox, letters for verification didn't show unless I went to preview first.
richard said…
How strange about the verification, Keith - I haven't heard this from anyone else, but maybe they're just holding back.

Nice to see you, btw.
Anonymous said…
It seems fine now, so maybe it was just a glitch with blogger.com.

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