NEVER LET ME GO (Kazuo Ishiguro) - July 26/10

What an obnoxious, dull book. Ishiguro is a good writer, to be sure, but the man just has no idea how to capture and hold the reader's interest. It doesn't help that the entire book is told as a series of stories and recollections by the main character, which ensures that there's absolutely no momentum or dramatic heft. I can't recall a novel where I was only able to read a few pages before becoming so bored that I had to stop. And then there's the illogical nature of the storyline. So they're all clones; why does it not occur to any of them to try and escape? They all submit so willingly to their own deaths. It's absolutely absurd. Why anyone would praise this book is beyond me. (And instead of becoming more interesting as the end nears, the novel gets more and more dull and episodic. I mean, really, WTF.) * out of ****

RELENTLESS (Dean Koontz) - July 18/10

This typically uneven effort from Koontz admittedly does pick up towards the end, but it's a hell of a slog getting there. The storyline - in which a book critic attempts to savagely murder a writer and his family - is simply far too ludicrous to ever completely buy (until the epic conspiracy is made clear, anyway) and Koontz has infused the characters with an unreasonably quirky sensibility (ie the kid is super smart and super sassy, the wife's survivalist family members, etc). I'll admit I was surprised by the sci-fi stuff that cropped up towards the end - the teleporting dog and the time rewinder - but really, I can't help but wonder what it was that I used to love so much about Koontz's work. **1/2 out of ****

LOST (Alice Lichtenstein) - July 11/10

There's a lot in Lost worth liking - including the narrative (revolving around an elderly man with dementia who is lost in the snowy woods) and the characters - Lichtenstein's almost unreasonably flowery prose can be grating and does tend to occasionally negate the book's positives. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that Lichtenstein was best known for writing poetry, as she infuses many of the novel's passages with an overwrought style that's often somewhat oppressive. Still, I liked the characters and the mystery (although it would have been nice to have received a little more closure with Jeff). **1/2 out of ****

FEAR THE WORST (Linwood Barclay) - July 5/10

Though I did have some problems with the narrative - the bad guys are either unreasonably sarcastic or they're talking when they should be killing - Fear the Worst is a very fast-paced novel that kept me reading long after I wanted to stop. I liked the characters, and I enjoyed the little touches that Barclay has included (ie he'll offer a throwaway detail in the first half that comes into play in a big way later on). The book loses a few points for its frustratingly abrupt ending, as it would have been nice to have spent a page or two with Tim and Syd once they're reunited (and wouldn't Tim have been charged with something for killing those two guys and shooting that one guy in the knee?) *** out of ****

THE SHORT SECOND LIFE OF BREE TANNER (Stephenie Meyer) - July 1/10

This addendum to Eclipse isn't even remotely up to the standards of the Twilight series, as the majority of the book follows the plotless escapades of the central character. It's primarily just her either cowering from Riley or hanging out with another newborn named Diego, and it's just not very interesting since we don't have anything invested in her as a character. The book does, however, pick up once that battle in the field arrives and Bree finds herself face to face with the Cullens and the Volturi. That part was quite good, but probably only because it was right out of Eclipse. **1/2 out of ****