BOOGEYMEN (Mel Gilden) - April 24/12

This is undoubtedly the weakest of the TNG books I've read thus far, as it heavily involves Crusher and features a storyline that's just not interesting. There was some promise early on as Picard and company found themselves trapped in the holodeck, but the prank-like shenanigans aboard the Enterprise eventually just become tedious. I was barely paying attention towards the end, if that's any indication. ** out of ****

THE GOOD FATHER (Noah Hawley) - April 19/12

This incredibly boring book admittedly has a good premise, a man attempts to determine if his son killed a presidential candidate, but Hawley overwrites it to the point where it's mostly just a chore to get through. The narrative has been bogged down with needless paragraphs and interludes, and Hawley's constant use of short sentences eventually grows infuriating. It just feels like he's trying really, really hard to write well, but there's never a point at which it feels natural. The story picks up somewhat in the last 20 or 30 pages, but it's far too late by then. ** out of ****

STILL ALICE (Lisa Genova) - April 16/12

This depressing yet engaging book admittedly does feel a little repetitive at times - eg the tests that Alice undergoes - but Genova does a superb job of offering a first person perspective of Alzheimer's disease. I even got choked up at a few different parts (eg the letter Alice wrote to herself and the ending). *** out of ****

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S - Truman Capote (April 14/12)

This extremely meandering novel has a few decent characters - Holly Golightly, especially - but often feels a lot longer than its slight length might've indicated. There's just no plot here and Capote devotes far too many pages to the rambling of the apparently gay narrator. The inclusion of a few nifty twists - Holly got married at 14 and her "husband" has come to New York to bring her home - keeps things relatively interesting, but yeah, the whole thing is pretty underwhelming. It's a quick read, at least. **1/2 out of ****

Y THE LAST MAN: SAFEWORD (Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra, Goran Parlov, Jose Marzan Jr) - April 13/12

This installment admittedly got off to a rather weak start, as I couldn't help but feeling that Vaughan and company were spinning their wheels for much of its midsection. But the story really picked up towards the end as a couple of characters were almost executed and Hero made her dramatic re-entrance into the story. I have a feeling the next few issues are going to be somewhat disappointing, however, as I'm not even at the halfway mark and I just don't see how Vaughan can sustain this premise for dozens of forthcoming issues. *** out of ****

THE QUIET GAME (Greg Iles) - April 12/12

I'm pretty conflicted with this one. On the one hand, Iles is clearly a talented writer and The Quiet Game is packed with twists and compelling characters. But on the other hand, the book is just unreasonably overlong. Iles devotes page after to page to superfluous elements that eventually become exhausting. As such, the novel is really only entertaining in spurts - with the revelation that Penn might have an illegitimate daughter propelling the narrative right through to the exciting climactic court case. But the book should've been so much better (ie much as I like the characters, I really doubt I'll ever read another Iles novel). **1/2 out of ****

AMERICAN PSYCHO (Bret Easton Ellis) - April 4/12

This shockingly terrible and consistently boring book contains an almost impressive amount of violence and gore - I wholeheartedly believe that some of these passages are more brutal than anything I've ever read - but the thing ultimately feels at least 300 pages longer than necessary. So much of the book involves Patrick describing objects and his surroundings that I wanted to smash my head into a wall, and the almost complete absence of plot ensures that the book is frequently interminable. There are a few decent stretches - Patrick's run-in with a former girlfriend - but for the most part I really did feel like the whole thing just sailed right over my head (ie what's the POINT of all this? I just don't get it). Terrible. Just terrible. * out of ****