Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent Marshall, 17 April 2007
This is not your average crime/thriller read in so many ways. It is a gritty and well paced book, with so many threads, weaving into a complicated tapestry, culminating in a common conclusion. It takes immeasurable talent to be able to write like this.
Our lead character, Jack Whalen finds his simple life shattered by the disappearance of his wife, which brings to light a number of anomalies, he gets drawn deeper and deeper into an elaborate world where nothing and no one is who they seem. You really do feel the poor man is the unluckiest guy in the world by the end of it.
I have read everything from Michael Marshall including those books written under Michael Marshall Smith, and was expecting a conclusion from a great imagination. I don't think we'll ever get a run of the mill crime stories with guns and knives without these twists from Marshall, which are enthralling.
The Straw Men books are excellent, and I don't feel this was the same standard-although I loved it. I only wish he'd write quicker, as I've waited so long for this, but I don't want to compromise on quality.
|
|
|
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A thriller, but maybe a little more, 9 Jul 2007
I find the fact that the Intruders is being marketed as a thriller is a little bit of a cheat. The book certainly is a thriller, and a damned good one, written in a style familiar to connosieurs of the genre and those who read Marshall's Straw Men trilogy. However, there is a quirk to the plot that takes over the book as it heads to its conclusion that suggests there is something more to the tale. And this something more steers us deeply into X-Files territory and the place Marshall used to be when he was writing Only Forward, Spares and One of Us.
This isn't a bad thing at all. I've been looking forward to Marshall returning to his sci-fi horror thriller roots for a while and I think this book delivers on its promise, it's taut, tough and intriguing and written in an eminently readable style in a world weary first person and glib third person narratives. I'd say it's the best thing he's written since the original Straw Men novel (I have to say that I felt that that trilogy seemed an unecessary extension of the plotline with the second novel - ironically, another story which tiptoes into science fantasy horror - entirely superfluous). And given that he is in my top five authors, that's no small thing.
However, if you want an entirely plausible thriller I can't wholeheartedly recommend this book. Yes, an alternate explanation is offered for the more outre elements in the plot, and it may well turn out that if there is a sequel (which I kind of hope there isn't) this will be investigated more deeply, but it doesn't seem to be lent the same level of credence as the more fantastic interpretation.
But that's just a caveat emptor. If you are a fan of Marshall's earlier work and you don't mind suspending your disbelief a little, you're in for one hell of a treat.
|
|
|
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not his best by a long shot, 7 Aug 2007
I really wanted to love "The Intruders", as I'm a massive fan of Michael Marshall Smith, and had heard that this was somewhat of a return to his horror/sci-fi roots that drew me to his writing many years ago.
However, I can't help feeling a little cheated. Yes, the book has a great premise, the twists are there, the familiar first person narration and the endless teasing of the reader with all kinds of unanswered questions...but ultimately none of the good stuff kicks in until nearly 300 pages into the 400 page hardback - and it's a long, hard slog getting there.
"The Intruders" gives the impression that it was a short story or novella the publishers demanded be padded out to full novel size. It often feels like Marshall is just phoning it in, with many of the peripheral characters' voices blurring into one, as sketchy character archetypes come and go almost at random. The protagonist, who is frustratingly "irresolute" (an overused word in the book - a Freudian slip perhaps?) for much of the narrative, never attains the depth of Ward of "The Straw Men" trilogy, for example, or engages the reader like Stark in "Only Forward". Marshall teases the reader for so many chapters, dripfeeding information slower than Chinese water torture, that I eventually stopped caring what the big reveal might be. It was reasonably clear for a long time before my suspicions were confirmed. No great shocks like in "Hell Hath Enlarged Herself", no heart-breaking insights of "Always".
Had this been a short story in a collection, or a significantly shorter novella, things would have been very different.
This book won't turn me off Michael Marshall as a writer, but it has made me anticipate forthcoming works with some trepidation. Let's hope this is just a blip on the radar and not the shape of things to come.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Show more editions and formats
Show fewer editions and formats
by Michael Marshall
by Michael Marshall
by Michael Marshall
by Michael Marshall
by M.M. Smith
