Wendy Perriam

The Tender Murderer. Wendy Perriam. 2017. I thought this was going to be an above average Kindle book, but ultimately it was disappointing. A classy upper-class British financial wheeler dealer comes home unexpectedly and finds his wife in bed with a another man. The men exchange blows and the other man falls, hits his head, and dies. So our Anthony ends up in prison, and it is even more horrible than he expected. Eventually he meets a young man, Darren, who wants him to write letters to his girlfriend. Anthony and Darren form a friendship and Anthony teaches Darren to read. We follow both of the as the get out of prison and try to adjust to life outside. At the end, the book turns into a lecture on the evils of the British Penal system which was just more than I wanted to know.… (altro)

The blurb of this book claims some people will love its central character, Eric, but also warns that some people will want to shake him for his passivity. Having read the thing, I suspect most people will chose option three: put the book down and never return to it because it lacks a compelling story.

So, Eric. An idealogical Librarian. Some things happen - he goes on a date, he sets up a prison book club, he expects his daughter to visit from the US. Some other things happen - he eats soup, he rides a bike, he recounts his childhood. Then some other things happen. Then some other things than that happen.

Although well written if rather old fashioned in Eric's language, it never manages to recover from its own lack of direction. The final chapters in particular are poor, the dialogue stilted - it could have worked beautifully as a punchline, but it's played straight and is, for my taste, unbearably naff.

1.5 stars because it's well written and some of the chapters are good.… (altro)