Steve Kistulentz

This novel by Steve Kistulentz is a mixed bag. It builds to a plane crash on New Year’s Eve and the impact on various characters. It reads like the disaster films Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno. There is a frustration as you learn about the individuals. You shouldn’t be mystified as to why there is so much detail about their lives. I kept wanting to skip ahead to the crash. Kistulentz is a talented writer that knows how to use metaphors and descriptive language. Unfortunately the story and plot just aren’t compelling enough to peak our interest.… (lisätietoja)

This book tells the story of the lives of those involved in an airplane crash in Dallas and their families and friends, both before, during and after. It’s New Year Eve, 2000. There’s quite a large cast of characters, including Richard MacMurray, who is a cable news talking head, and his sister Mary Beth and her young son, Gabriel. Richard has just broken up with his girlfriend, Cadence, and is at a bit of a loss without her. Mary Beth has decided to take a short vacation with her boss/lover Mike in the hopes that they can discuss their future together, if any. She leaves her 6-year-old son Gabriel in the care of Sarah, one of Mike’s assistants, at Mike’s home.

The author lets it be known right at the start that there’s to be a crash. My hope in the book was that I would be caught up in the lives of these characters with the dread of the upcoming incident hanging over each chapter. But I never did get very involved in the characters’ lives and actually had a hard time concentrating on the book. There’s quite a bit about Richard’s work and the stories he talked about on TV, but again I really didn’t find much interest in them. I found some of the language and sexual scenes useless and tasteless. The characters I cared the most about were Mary Beth and her son Gabriel. I think the best part of the book was contained in the last thirty or so pages when Richard grapples with the decision of taking on the care of his nephew Gabriel.

I think this author has promise but his debut falls short.

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway and am under no obligation to give a review.… (lisätietoja)