I have never read a Jesse Kellerman book before. I picked up this book in a secondhand bookstore. I read the rear cover (see below) how could I, a simple human, resist such a premise? I couldn’t, so I purchased the book thinking I might have found another author to follow.
The book starts off very dull but sets up the back story well. The short chapters keep you turning the pages wondering what’s coming. It takes quite a while to start. It’s a good idea and the twist about his best friend is good. The ending was as expected and drawn out.
Although interesting, as a thriller it wasn’t very good. And I liked the blurbs at the front of the book for the fake author, especially one from Lee Child. Brilliant.
This book is about a failed writer, Pfefferkon, whose best friend, Bill, ‘made it’ in the publishing field, and married the woman Pfefferkon loved. They haven’t spoken or been friends for a long time. Bill has gone missing and is considered dead. His wife has made funeral arrangements. She offers him a place to stay and they shag. In Bill’s writing room, he finds the last novel Bill completed.
Everything that happens to Pfefferkon seems to have been planned by others.
This book has everything for an excellent thriller. But it fails. It’s long-winded, drawn-out, and dull. The all-important fight scenes are cut out. Usually, a chapter ends, and then you turn the page ’cause that is a tense moment and … nothing. It’s all over with a throw-away comment, “That was brutal.”
