Animosity

Rating:
Summary: Texas, Hitchcock-style
Review: David Lindsey has a very good reputation, as far as I'm concerned, as a mystery writer. His books are moody, slowly paced, wonderfully written, and very quirky and atmospheric. When he started he concentrated on a detective in Houston (I think) named Stuart Haydon, but recently many of his books have been about other characters, and some (notably Mercy) have been true masterpieces of the mystery genre, and very good as literate novels, to boot.

Which brings us to the present book, Animosity. This isn't really a mystery novel at all, at least in so far as there's a mystery involved. For the first half of the book, the plot follows Ross Marteau, a commercial sculptor who has had a particularly nasty breakup with his girlfriend in Paris, and moves back to San Rafael, Texas, where he is from. There he is approached by two sisters in a roundabout way. The younger of the two, hauntingly beautiful but deformed by a hunchback, wants him to make a nude sculpture of her. The other of the sisters he begins an affair with. Suddenly things derail, and with the change in the story, the whole thing turns into a rollercoaster ride.

I won't tell you anything further except to tell you that the plot is very Hitchcockian, or perhaps Cohen Brothers, in flavor. Lindsey is so good at forming pictures in your head that it almost plays as a movie.

I had two complaints about the book. One, I didn't like the ending. I can't tell you what the ending is, or why I didn't like it, but I didn't. The other is that the story takes a bit long to get going. I was beginning to wonder if anything ever would happen when it did.

Given that, this is a good book, and worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: A well-written mediocrity
Review: David Lindsey has established himself as a pretty good mystery writer over the years, telling dark tales that usually are good if not exceptional. His gift for description gives his stories a quality that with other writers may be thought of as slow; with Lindsey, however, this novels do not move slowly, but serenely.

In this story, sculptor Ross Marteau has just returned to his Texas home from Paris, where his most recent relationship has ended rather badly. Soon, he gets involved with a pair of sisters, one beautiful and mysterious, the other suffering from a deformity that takes away from her own beauty. It is obvious that the two women are out to manipulate Marteau, but he blindly allows himself to be drawn into their web.

Although Lindsey's descriptive abilities are as good as ever, his plot is weak and not very original. There are story elements here from a number of works, including Body Heat and the Grifters. The truly clever plot twist that I kept longing for, the one that would say that these plot cliches are about to be turned into something new and delightful, never comes. Add to that a main character who rather densely allows himself to be manipulated and rarely takes action (until the end of the story), and there is a little to be desired here.

I have always looked forward to Lindsey's books, which makes this book all that more of a disappointment. While his talent offers some redemption, this is barely a two-and-a-half star work, rounded up only because of his past successes. This one is for Lindsey fans only...all others can find better material elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Animosity from girlfriends creates appalling results
Review: Ejected from his latest tortuous relationship when she stabs him, famous reclusive artist Ross Mateau escapes into hypnotic monotony of moulding flattering sculptures of trophy wives. His creative eye is revitalised by the arrival of two beautiful, enigmatic (though decidedly weird) sisters. Intrigued, he accepts their commission to sculpt the stunning but deformed Leda.

Lindsey enchants with his expertly crafted details of Ross's well-ordered life in San Rafael and convinces with the specifics of the artistic process. The triangular dynamic between Ross, the sculptor; Leda, the troubled, hunchbacked model of his newly testing sculpture; and Celeste, gorgeous lover with her lurking problems of a grievous marriage, appears to settle into a predictable, if awkward routine.

Then, all is shattered by the brutal murder of his lover's husband and it becomes clear that Ross's life will never be the same again.

Lindsey continues to prove that he is a superior thriller writer in this departure from the routine police/murder investigation that provides the bread-and-butter plotting of most thriller writers. His imagination, characterisation and plotting yet again earn him the acclaim, if not the popularity, that he deserves.