Sunday Salon: Kyle Mills, Darkness Falls

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Currently reading: Kyle Mills, Darkness Falls

Comments: Another Sunday and, unfortunately, it's the Sunday before Christmas. I had to make a trip to the grocery store to stockpile provisions and it was thronged--as I'd figured it would be. So I cursed Christians my whole way through the overflowing aisles for this abhorrent holiday, my bitterness growing with every step.

I'm a little better now, but not much.

Right. So, today I'm finishing up Kyle Mills' 2007 novel Darkness Falls. (For once I haven't been tracking my time spent reading, so I'm not sure where I stand on that.) I'm about forty pages from the end now. It's a fast read--or would have been for me if I'd had more time for reading this week and if I hadn't kept falling asleep as soon as I lay down all week. But in theory it's a fast book. The story is that a gang of ecological terrorists have developed a means to cut off the world's oil supply, which has far-reaching consequences the end result of which will be that a large percentage of the world's population will die and civilization will be pushed back a thousand years.

The good guys are a sort of ecologically minded genius scientist whom the Feds suspect of running the scheme, his girlfriend, and the guy who's in charge of tracking down the terrorists.

The book is entertaining and interesting enough. Reading it, though, I've been trying to figure out why it's not great. Ken Follett can write thrillers that, while I know he's manipulating me, have me on the edge of my seat, reading into the night. You care about his characters. You're scared for them.... I guess where Mills falls short is that I don't care very much about the characters, so I'm entertained by the story but not gripped by it. They're not bad, but they're not compelling. The only other negative is that the book can be a little preachy about its enviornmentalism--or the characters can be, at least.

It's easy to imagine Ken Follett having come up with precisely this plot, too. I wonder how he would have done it differently.

Tags: The Sunday Salon

Comments

[Clare D]

1.

Yes, I keep trying to analyse why some books seem to work for me more than others. Not come to a ny great conclusions yet, though! It's difficult and wondering if it is something to do with hooks dragging me on.

My sympathies with the shopping. We too ventured out yesterday - put our 'essentials' in the basket then saw the check-out queues snaking half way round the shop, decided we couldn't face it, put everything back and came home again.

[Debra Hamel]

2.

Oh, God, I pity you. I must say, our scan-as-you-go system was much appreciated yesterday as I zoomed through the checkout. I had a carriage full of stuff, and the guy in front of me had just a few things he was bagging at the end, and I was ready to leave before he was.