| Product: |
First Offence - Nancy Taylor Rosenberg |
| Date: |
29.12.05 (87 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: some tense moments
Disadvantages: mostly bland characters, storyline is unbelievable
Ann Carlisle is yet another one of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's main female characters that has been dealt a bad hand of cards in her lifetime. Not only is she overwhelmed with her ever-increasing workload as a probation officer, but she also has to raise her son David on her own, as her husband disappeared from the scene a number of years ago.
The main issue about her husband's disappearance is that the case never was really closed. His body was never found, leaving both her and her son in the hope that maybe one day he would reappear. Things heat up when Ann is suddenly shot at one evening in a way that first appears relatively random, but then leads to the discovery that danger is lurking around every corner for both Ann and David. Mysterious phone calls are placed to Ann's home and seem to hint that the shooter may be Ann's husband, trying to harm her. Other indications point towards a probationer being the culprit. Ann soon faces a situation in which she almost single-handedly seems has to solve the mystery of the source of the danger.
The storyline is indeed tense and interesting at times - and not always predictable. There are a number of characters in the story that the reader would not instantly be able to label as either "good" or "bad" - as there are surprises lurking in the pages of this crime thriller. But on the whole I found that I really did not care much for any of the characters.
Ann simply annoyed me - for some reason I felt she was unjustified to be dating other men whilst the mystery of her husband's disappearance had not been solved. In addition, I constantly got upset at her putting herself in danger and somehow neglecting her son David. David was rather bland, I kind of expected him to be portrayed in a fashion that would make female readers empathise with him and draw him closer to their hearts - but somehow I never fretted for his safety or cared what would happen to him next. There were a couple of the male characters that I did think were really well portrayed - Ann's lover and assistant district-attorney, Glen Hopkins, is portrayed as the typical power-hungry male lawyer - and in every scene this strive for power is portrayed extremely well. There are also a couple of police officers who used to work with Ann's vanished husband who are likeable - especially in the way they care about Ann almost in a way one would care about a little sister.
I think what really bothered me with this novel were not the characters - it was just the unbelievable storyline. There were many matters that were just absolutely too far-fetched and too many loopholes that would have been easily overlooked in an action-packed Hollywood movie, but jumped right off the page in a book.
Even though there were some tense moments, I never felt the urge to finish this read quickly. It was easy to put down the book at any time - I just could not quite get into it. I even almost gave up on it at some stage.
Nancy Taylor Rosenberg is certainly one of the best crime writers I have come across, however, having read virtually every book she has ever published, I have grown to be a bit more critical of her work. I can clearly identify which of her books are superb, which are below standard and which are mediocre. Sadly, "First Offence" is quite mediocre, bordering on below usual standards. The novel suffers from a distinct removal from the realm of believability, from weak characters and from a plot line that soon becomes forgettable.
***Further information***
Orion Books
Pages: 338
Price: £5.99 (new paperback)
ISBN: 0-75286-230-8
Summary: A boring storyline with bland characters makes this one of Rosenberg's worst books.
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