A review by laurenabeth
Whiteout, by Ken Follett
3.0
I had been meaning to read some Ken Follett after my mom read and effusively praised Pillars of the Earth. I honestly don't know how I hadn't read any of his work considering it's right up my alley. I picked up Whiteout from my used bookstore for ~$4 (and the original receipt for $27 from Barnes & Noble was still in the book jacket LOL).
Quick synopsis: In snowy Scotland on Christmas Eve, a family gathers in their father's home to celebrate the holiday. Meanwhile, just a few miles away, a deadly virus goes missing from a secured lab known as the Kremlin.
Whiteout definitely gave me Dan Brown vibes, especially if you crossed one of his books with that show Succession (lots of wealth and ungrateful children). The protagonist, Toni - a dedicated police officer-turned security specialist - races against the clock to contain the virus before it's unleashed on an innocent public. At the same time, she's babysitting the founder of the company, a kind older man with professional and personal drama coming out the woodwork.
I loved Toni, and I actually loved the entire messy Oxenford family. I can't say I understood the purpose of Toni's mom, the puppy, or the unrequited love from the reporter, but I digress. Despite having a large cast of characters, I enjoyed most of them and thought the suspense was well choreographed with so many actors on the stage. There was a fair amount of action, the narration was steady, and the story was compelling from cover to cover.
MINI TINY SPOILER: I only have two complaints:
(1) WHAT IS WITH THAT EPILOGUE?! If you're familiar with my reviews, you know I hate epilogues. There was zero need for that last chapter on the family vacation. It was too on the nose for a story that, until then, had been crafted with a bit more care.
(2) Look, I haven't read enough Ken Follett to know if this is typical of his writing, but I did find some of the descriptions of the female characters to be lazy and offensive. From the "ugly" Daisy, the overweight sister whose body is directly compared to her sister's, to Toni's mother harping on her daughters' doomed spinsterhood, I thought these characterizations could have been done away with. The frequency with which he describes Daisy as unattractive became tiresome about half way through the book. We get it - you think there are "pretty" women who are feminine, and there are "ugly" women who are brutish. What floored me most was Daisy having nice hands and what a SHOCK it was supposed to be. Really? Dainty hands is where we're at? I expect better from someone with such a praised body of work.
Quick synopsis: In snowy Scotland on Christmas Eve, a family gathers in their father's home to celebrate the holiday. Meanwhile, just a few miles away, a deadly virus goes missing from a secured lab known as the Kremlin.
Whiteout definitely gave me Dan Brown vibes, especially if you crossed one of his books with that show Succession (lots of wealth and ungrateful children). The protagonist, Toni - a dedicated police officer-turned security specialist - races against the clock to contain the virus before it's unleashed on an innocent public. At the same time, she's babysitting the founder of the company, a kind older man with professional and personal drama coming out the woodwork.
I loved Toni, and I actually loved the entire messy Oxenford family. I can't say I understood the purpose of Toni's mom, the puppy, or the unrequited love from the reporter, but I digress. Despite having a large cast of characters, I enjoyed most of them and thought the suspense was well choreographed with so many actors on the stage. There was a fair amount of action, the narration was steady, and the story was compelling from cover to cover.
MINI TINY SPOILER: I only have two complaints:
(1) WHAT IS WITH THAT EPILOGUE?! If you're familiar with my reviews, you know I hate epilogues. There was zero need for that last chapter on the family vacation. It was too on the nose for a story that, until then, had been crafted with a bit more care.
(2) Look, I haven't read enough Ken Follett to know if this is typical of his writing, but I did find some of the descriptions of the female characters to be lazy and offensive. From the "ugly" Daisy, the overweight sister whose body is directly compared to her sister's, to Toni's mother harping on her daughters' doomed spinsterhood, I thought these characterizations could have been done away with. The frequency with which he describes Daisy as unattractive became tiresome about half way through the book. We get it - you think there are "pretty" women who are feminine, and there are "ugly" women who are brutish. What floored me most was Daisy having nice hands and what a SHOCK it was supposed to be. Really? Dainty hands is where we're at? I expect better from someone with such a praised body of work.