"THE SCARRED MAN" by Keith Peterson (B+)

Keith Peterson is one of the pseudonyms for Andrew Klavan. While my wife had recommended this book as the BEST mystery novel that she has ever read, I would beg to differ. It did start out as one of the best mystery novels that I have ever read, and a book right up there on a par with Peter Spielgelman's "Red Cat." However, sadly, it didn't end up that way. Now, under the force of my objections and the fact that she has recently reread this book after the passage of some 15 years, she admits that it may no longer be the best mystery novel that she has ever read.

EVERY book, and every movie for that matter, demands that you suspend your disbelief to buy into the premise that the author is going to sell you, and so it is with this novel by Peterson. I will buy into almost any construct, literary or cinematic, as long as the story remains true to its logic. It must also not do anything that is so nonsensical, so far beyond the realm of reason and all laws of normal human behavior, as to destroy that bond of trust that has been built up between the author and the reader. In short, a guy can't be a smart, discerning, probing investigator while at the same time also being a blithering idiot. It just won't fly. 

Well, I am being a little bit harsh here, but this is one great read right up until the end when two things happen: the two lead characters make a critical error of judgment that no one should ever be dumb enough to make, or a writer to claim that they could make, without being too many bricks short of a full load. I mean, what they did was against the main rule of every slasher, fright night, and horror movie that has ever been made. I can easily believe that school kids could be this stupid, but not these two reasonably intelligent adults. 

The second problem that I have with this story is that there is a twist ending that ends up being highly unsatisfying and even slightly illogical. Plot holes are created earlier in the narrative because of the twist that is added at the end of the book. This drove me nuts, because the book would have been far better without having the plot twist. After all, why have one if it only detracts from the story? You shouldn't have an ending which exists to answer all of the preceding questions, but in this case only serves to bring up different questions.

To give Peterson, or Klavan, his due, this novel IS a great read! Like Spiegelman, Peterson writes short, succinct sentences that brilliantly convey the thought or the mood of the moment. His descriptive abilities are just superlative. His lines of dialogue flow and the short chapters in his novel beg you to read just one more, and then just one more after that... 

So, Klavan, aka Peterson, adds two unnecessary literary gimmicks to his story that drop it three grade points to a B+. Still a good read, but it could have been so much better.

There are only small moments of great suspense in the book, so that's why it is easy for me to claim that this is as much a story about searching for long lost roots and a sweet romance as much as it is a crime novel. Well, the guy is a probing investigative newsman, which certainly helps, but he is not a hard boiled professional private detective like John March in the Spiegelman stories.

Enjoy, enjoy a good read whenever you can. Carl