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A review by lipsandpalms
The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn
3.0
While interesting, this book suffers from many books that take place in a series: setting up plot developments to only be explored in future installments. The love interest, major business merger, drug supply dilemma, the imminent death of the main character, Eddie's culpability in a murder investigation and the mysterious organization using Eddie as a test rat are all presumably resolved when we *tune in next week for the exciting conclusion! *
It's difficult to rate the story without comparing it to the film.The film cuts out much of the fat present in the book. There were whole chapters here describing the location of a new apartment and deliberation about the decor or what street we're on only to turn left here and drive down this street blah blah. We get it: you know where to go in New York.
In the film, Eddie is a creative writer trying desperately to get a story fully formed in his head. The drugs deeply enhance his ability to be creative and coherent. In the book, Eddie suddenly has a revelation on how to rearrange and title a number of historical events and relevant pop culture? While this section is interesting, I felt he was squandering this gift of being a momentary genius.
The film also balances the stress of the merger along with the Russian loan shark much better than the book. In the book, the issue is resolved so quickly you wonder why it took so long to get there. It's the only satisfying conclusion to a problem in the whole book despite this problem getting relatively little attention and downplayed to a minor inconvenience.
The main issue of the book, I'd say, is that the pill Eddie takes is basically a get out of jail free card. Any seemingly insurmountable obstacles are easily resolved with them. The only way to challenge him is to remove the pills and see what he does. Not unlike Superman, where they have to either kill him or give him a weakness in order for the story to have stakes. When it gets to a part in the story where there are no pills left, some appear to save the day.
Overall, a decent read, but I don't think I'll continue the series.
It's difficult to rate the story without comparing it to the film.The film cuts out much of the fat present in the book. There were whole chapters here describing the location of a new apartment and deliberation about the decor or what street we're on only to turn left here and drive down this street blah blah. We get it: you know where to go in New York.
In the film, Eddie is a creative writer trying desperately to get a story fully formed in his head. The drugs deeply enhance his ability to be creative and coherent. In the book, Eddie suddenly has a revelation on how to rearrange and title a number of historical events and relevant pop culture? While this section is interesting, I felt he was squandering this gift of being a momentary genius.
The film also balances the stress of the merger along with the Russian loan shark much better than the book. In the book, the issue is resolved so quickly you wonder why it took so long to get there. It's the only satisfying conclusion to a problem in the whole book despite this problem getting relatively little attention and downplayed to a minor inconvenience.
The main issue of the book, I'd say, is that the pill Eddie takes is basically a get out of jail free card. Any seemingly insurmountable obstacles are easily resolved with them. The only way to challenge him is to remove the pills and see what he does. Not unlike Superman, where they have to either kill him or give him a weakness in order for the story to have stakes. When it gets to a part in the story where there are no pills left, some appear to save the day.
Overall, a decent read, but I don't think I'll continue the series.