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Buried (Mark Billingham)

ReviewReviewReviewReviewBuriedSep 23, '07 12:06 AMfor everyone
Category:Books
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
Author:Mark Billingham
It had a slow start, to be honest with you but perhaps it was due to a busy week and I started out early in the week. So, I literally crawled through the first few chapters relatively uninterested and awkwardly lost in each new character introduced. The storyboard began to bore me and regretted picking up the book as it was a little choppy and the author made it a point to keep everything open-ended…even after a chapter. Maybe I didn’t give this book much chance in the beginning but towards Thursday, as I picked up through the middle of the book, I started asking myself who all these interesting NEW characters were….needless to say, the characters weren’t new at all. By Saturday, I finished the book. This goes to show how the pace picked up towards the end. Ultimately, it’s an interesting storyline with an interesting writing style and ways of ending a chapter or revealing the hidden truth(s). Maybe I have been reading books written by authors who goes right to the point. Like ‘Mark pulls out a gun’, or ‘She ripped his shirts into shreds’ instead of ‘Something metal caught the sun and pierced past Audrey’s line of sight. That was when her heart beat stopped for all of one single minute….a minute that made all the difference’ Did I just write all of that? Wow. Inspired. Anyway, the plot was good, I have to give Billingham that. After all, he didn’t win awards for writing Mother Goose songs. But I have to say that I am a tad miffed with the way it was….erm, concluded. The actual ending ended a little earlier than usual and towards the end of the book, the author closed all open-endings with a single conversation. Hhhmmm…..no KAZAM, KABOOM, WHAM, BANG, BOOM! It sort of exploded near the end and then sizzled in a heap at the very end. Not sure if that’s such a good idea. I don’t know. But the plot was good and he had a lot of conversation going. He dug deep into the characters and made you feel everything they felt. Every arthritic pain and every tear drop, he made you feel for the fictional character. Ultimately a good weekend read. This is my first Billingham book and I’ve been told he can whip an ass from here to the next Milky Way with a good book. This is preliminary and I look forward to my next Thorne (the main character’s name) book. p.s. I still don't understand the title. Buried? Maybe I missed something
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