Friday, January 17, 2014

Inherit the Dead - Lee Child, Charlaine Harris, C.J. Box et. al.

At first glance, I thought that Inherit the Dead was a collection of short stories from some of my favourite authors. (20 of them to be exact) Upon closer inspection I realized that it was one story, a serial novel,  with each chapter written by  a different author. And that there was a purpose behind the compilation - monies raised go to support Safe Horizon - an organization championed by Linda Fairstein. 

Perry Christo is a disgraced former cop turned P.I. When a wealthy 'uptown' woman summons Perry, he runs - he really needs the money. But the case is odd - Drusilla wants Perry to find her daughter Angel - she hasn't seen her in two weeks, but hasn't bothered with the police either. Christo takes the case, but as he digs, it just gets more complicated - everyone has their own agenda and Angel may have been right to disappear.

I was quite eager to read this as I do follow about half of the authors regularly. The initial chapter sets the stage and from there, each author added their own twist and direction. But, sadly, as the book progressed, I found myself losing interest. I like a good meaty mystery. With the format used here, the flow was choppy and the plot seemed cobbled together. Which it was. You can easily identify the hood or twist that dictates where the plot is headed.  I did have reading each chapter and identifying the style of known authors. And finding some new authors to try. You would think that with so much talent, it would be a great book.  It's a neat premise and a good hook for a fundraiser, but for this reader, it was just an okay read. Here's an excerpt of Inherit the Dead.


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