Letdown

I just finished a novel by an author I won't name who used to be one of my favorite writers. Sure, he wrote the occasional book I didn't care for, but usually I liked his work a lot. But this is the fourth straight book from him that I thought was either mediocre or just plain awful. In fact, this is the worst book I've read in a long time, with ridiculous, unbelievable plot twists thrown in seemingly at random, characters who do idiotic, unbelievable things just to keep the plot going, continuity glitches -- it's afternoon, then night, then afternoon again, then night again, all in one sequence of events -- and incredible coincidence piled on incredible coincidence. I kept reading for the occasional good line and the hope that things would get better, but they never did.

I always ask myself when I dislike a book this much, especially when it's by an author I used to enjoy, if the writer changed -- or if I did. I know that as a reader, my tastes change from time to time. But in this case, I can point to enough specific problems in the book, and in other recent books by the same author, that I don't think it's me.

I may still go back and try some of his earlier novels that I haven't read yet, but I think I'm done when it comes to his new stuff.