Pact of the Fathers

Rating:
Summary: A flawed but engaging thriller; not quite classic Campbell
Review: I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone - the characters are largely unlikable and the dialogue is painfully stilted. I don't usually leave a book unfinished, but I couldn't see this one through to the end. Luckily, I got it from the library so I didn't spend any money on it.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad...execrable!
Review: I'd like my five hours back. Stilted dialogue, poor characterization and the abovementioned total lack of any surprise thanks to the jacket notes make this the least entertaining novel I've read this year. I wanted to cringe every time Mr. Campbell mentions the main character looking into a mirror. I wanted to vomit when she gets "physical" with the love interest. I was amazed at the number of people in this book's universe who wear t-shirts, and shocked that the author might think that we care about such a thing. Or the minute details of a character's bathing habits. Or the way every thing seems to stab the eyes like a knife. Tired imagery, yes, and cliched and undeveloped supporting characters throughout. Must the author describe the orientation of every female character's breasts?

A novel is about character development in a protagonist. This lacks even that -- Daniella throughout the book is by turns bereaved, confused, apologetic and self-righteous, but never seems to grow out of these things. She remains a caricature of a whiny extra from the set of "Trainspotting" or "Sliding Doors" who is caught up in a conspiracy that she can't hope to expose because she clearly is incapable of understanding it. As is the reader at the end of the novel.

The one plot twist (which would have made O. Henry or Hitchcock cringe) is so blantant by the midpoint of the book that the reader is left waiting for the other shoe to drop. I would expect this sort of unvarnished story-telling in a cartoon spinoff for an action figure, or from a TV movie on a third-rate cable channel. Far from being a great novel, or even a good novel, this is not even a moderately well-crafted novel. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of it comes in the "Acknowledgements," in which Mr. Campbell states that "the greatest strengths of [this book] are the work of my editor," who has clearly been paid far too much.

Rating:
Summary: Schlocksmith
Review: I'd like my five hours back. Stilted dialogue, poor characterization and the abovementioned total lack of any surprise thanks to the jacket notes make this the least entertaining novel I've read this year. I wanted to cringe every time Mr. Campbell mentions the main character looking into a mirror. I wanted to vomit when she gets "physical" with the love interest. I was amazed at the number of people in this book's universe who wear t-shirts, and shocked that the author might think that we care about such a thing. Or the minute details of a character's bathing habits. Or the way every thing seems to stab the eyes like a knife. Tired imagery, yes, and cliched and undeveloped supporting characters throughout. Must the author describe the orientation of every female character's breasts?

A novel is about character development in a protagonist. This lacks even that -- Daniella throughout the book is by turns bereaved, confused, apologetic and self-righteous, but never seems to grow out of these things. She remains a caricature of a whiny extra from the set of "Trainspotting" or "Sliding Doors" who is caught up in a conspiracy that she can't hope to expose because she clearly is incapable of understanding it. As is the reader at the end of the novel.

The one plot twist (which would have made O. Henry or Hitchcock cringe) is so blantant by the midpoint of the book that the reader is left waiting for the other shoe to drop. I would expect this sort of unvarnished story-telling in a cartoon spinoff for an action figure, or from a TV movie on a third-rate cable channel. Far from being a great novel, or even a good novel, this is not even a moderately well-crafted novel. Perhaps the most frightening aspect of it comes in the "Acknowledgements," in which Mr. Campbell states that "the greatest strengths of [this book] are the work of my editor," who has clearly been paid far too much.

Rating:
Summary: Not a review, just a caution
Review: I'm not usually so restrained in my vitriol as I will be today, for I admit I haven't read the entire book. In fact, I couldn't get past the prologue.

The second page features the phrase "...the inside of her skull...", the fourth "...stabilized the contents of her skull...", and the sixth, "...The contents of her skull had almost..."

In amongst this repetitive prose is a fair amount of overwriting. Sentences run-on like an excited child recounting playground exploits. Imagery is too gravid by far. Simply, I couldn't continue any further. There is little to suggest that this is more than a first draft, rushed into circulation to capitalize on the author's name.

Even the opening sentence "...lost count of how many times she'd stopped herself wishing she were somewhere else..." has escaped much-needed editing.

Fans of the author and those new to his work have a right to be suspicious, for it seems they have been treated without resepect: "Give 'em muck" (often credited as a quote from Dame Nellie Melba) seems to have been taken to heart by publisher and author alike.

So I'd suggest being very cautious, and read a good 20 to 50 pages prior to purchasing this book. It may pick up after this, but I am unwilling to bet the rent money on it. I was taught, y'see, that you need to grab hold of the reader's imagination immediately and there should be your best writing.

Quite clearly, if this is the case, and the book goes downhill from here, I used my time wisely, by moving to more proefssional, skilled authors.

Rating:
Summary: Not a review, just a caution
Review: I'm not usually so restrained in my vitriol as I will be today, for I admit I haven't read the entire book. In fact, I couldn't get past the prologue.

The second page features the phrase "...the inside of her skull...", the fourth "...stabilized the contents of her skull...", and the sixth, "...The contents of her skull had almost..."

In amongst this repetitive prose is a fair amount of overwriting. Sentences run-on like an excited child recounting playground exploits. Imagery is too gravid by far. Simply, I couldn't continue any further. There is little to suggest that this is more than a first draft, rushed into circulation to capitalize on the author's name.

Even the opening sentence "...lost count of how many times she'd stopped herself wishing she were somewhere else..." has escaped much-needed editing.

Fans of the author and those new to his work have a right to be suspicious, for it seems they have been treated without resepect: "Give 'em muck" (often credited as a quote from Dame Nellie Melba) seems to have been taken to heart by publisher and author alike.

So I'd suggest being very cautious, and read a good 20 to 50 pages prior to purchasing this book. It may pick up after this, but I am unwilling to bet the rent money on it. I was taught, y'see, that you need to grab hold of the reader's imagination immediately and there should be your best writing.

Quite clearly, if this is the case, and the book goes downhill from here, I used my time wisely, by moving to more proefssional, skilled authors.

Rating:
Summary: An Engaging and Suspenseful Ride from a Grandmaster
Review: Ramsey Campbell is one of those authors you can rely upon to give you a great thrill ride when it comes to horror and suspense. One of the joys in reading this author over the years has been his constant ability to surprise and astound by proving to be completely unpredictable. You are never quite sure how a principal character will react to a given situation, even when you think that you've read all forthcoming twists in the plot and can therefore expect those involved to behave in a certain way. Suddenly Campbell's plot takes a wickedly unexpected twist and there go your expectations as you follow the characters pursuing a wholly new complication.

PACT OF THE FATHERS focuses on a heroine whose father dies suddenly. Very soon after, she discovers a group of dark-robed figures engaged in a ceremony at his grave. What is going on with these men? Did her father lead a double-life? Who among his friends and associates - from a police detective to a comedian to a retired film starlet - can our heroine trust? The book moves briskly from one part of England to another, and onward to Greece and back. Campbell's breaks with traditional narrative chronology to heighten the suspense. And that's what 90% of this book is: a study in slow-simmering suspense. More than horror; more than cheap melodramatic thrills; more than anything else, the novel thrives on creating a puzzling mystery with ties to Judeo-Christian beliefs and ages-old legends of cabals and conspiracies. The result is an intelligent modern day novel of suspense.

PACT OF THE FATHERS is a wonderful example of Campbell teasing the reader with a premise that promises to be entrenched deeply in the supernatural but whose power resides more in the solving of a clever mystery. I am reminded of his wonderful (and stronger) novel, ANCIENT IMAGES here. Both books feature interesting heroines digging into the past in order to see how it has come to level gloom and doom on the present and their social circles. However, while ANCIENT IMAGES delivers the supernatural goods more strongly, PACT OF THE FATHERS teeters between psychological horror and supernatural horror. I won't give away the victor (and I wonder if the author really does, in the end) but the book delivers the goods. More than anything else, this is best labeled a terrific suspense novel from a master concocter of such - Ramsey Campbell.


Rating:
Summary: flat and uninvolving
Review: This novel never really shifted into second gear. There were few surprises, much of the plot was painfully obvious, and there were far too many descriptions of insignificant things. There was not much sense of menace or suspense in this so-called horror novel, and the climax felt rushed and tacked on. A major disappointment from this usually stellar author.

Rating:
Summary: flat and uninvolving
Review: This novel never really shifted into second gear. There were few surprises, much of the plot was painfully obvious, and there were far too many descriptions of insignificant things. There was not much sense of menace or suspense in this so-called horror novel, and the climax felt rushed and tacked on. A major disappointment from this usually stellar author.