Singled Out

Yesterday evening, I finished A More Perfect Union (Fatale Afrekening is the Dutch title) by bestselling author J.A. Jance. It's a book from Jance's J.P. Beaumont series, in which a detective named J.P. Beaumont (hence the name ), a rich bachelor working with the Seattle homicide department, gets to solve various murder cases in the district of Seattle.

Beaumont is acting as a technical advisor on a movie when he stumbles across a body drifting in a dock. The case gets assigned to another team led by the ambitious rookie Paul Kramer, whose only goal is to make promotion. Not really trusting Kramer's instincts, Beaumont starts an investigation of his own. When some days later a shocking photo from a woman's fatal fall from a skyscraper hits the front pages of the tabloids, he soon discovers that this womans death is probably connected to body he found earlier, and maybe other cases as well.

The story is entertaining, and progresses at a decent pace, but sometimes I had the feeling the author was rushing out facts and plot twists to keep up with the storyline. The book does however succeed in keeping the reader fairly in the dark about who commited the murders. Even perseptive readers won't quickly discover how every piece fits into the big picture.

Although the book doesn't really take flight, I found myself having trouble to close it and put in on my nightstand till the next day. It's a shame though the author didn't really try (or succeed) to put in any emotion in the book. I can't say I felt sympathy for the main character whenever he got into trouble or got wounded. He may be a gifted cop and somewhat of a charming personality, there's no connection whatsoever with the reader. Too bad, because that is one of the main reasons I love to read books.

A More Perfect Union is a good book, but nothing to special. I's a nice passtime and should get you through a couple of stormy nights.


In other news, seems my car might get here a little later than I had planned.
I've contacted the retailer, and he told me it could take another couple of weeks due to unforeseen circumstances (meaning that Ford isn't able to keep up with the demand). Too bad, but then again, when it actually arrives then, spring will probably have kicked in fully...


PS: My latest review is online since a week, and you can find it here. It's about Keepsake, a nice adventure game which is a bit like Myst or Syberia, although not a mindtwisting.