Official Review: Fair Game Foul Play by Daniel Pascoe
Posted: 14 Apr 2020, 02:43
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Fair Game Foul Play" by Daniel Pascoe.]
Fair Game Foul Play by Daniel Pascoe is the story of Arnold and Tamara Westlake. To all appearances, the Westlakes are a sweet couple, content with each other, and with their quiet country life. Arnie is the village librarian, and Tammy works four days a week in a local coffee shop, where her baked goods are much sought after. But when someone from the past contacts Tammy, why does she feel the need to keep their meetings secret from her husband? And what is her relationship with Ben Pollock, the wealthy, womanizing property developer, who is also Arnie’s golfing buddy? The police must consider all this when Arnie reports his wife missing.
I love the premise of this book, that is, that one never knows what goes on behind closed doors. Pascoe has a good storyline, and I can imagine this book making a great movie. It’s less of a whodunnit than a “can they get away with it,” and Pascoe builds the tension nicely towards the end of his book.
However, pace and characterization were problematic throughout the story. For example, rather than lulling the reader into a false sense of security with bucolic scenes of loving coupledom, Pascoe slams us with the pair’s discord in the third paragraph of the book. While Arnie “resentfully” walks the family dog, he describes his wife as “unrepentant and dogged in her criticism.” From this and more, one gets the impression of a middle-aged, frumpy harpy of a woman, and a grumpy old man. In fact, the couple is regarded as pleasant, and are generally well-liked. That, and that Tammy is a beautiful woman is quite important to the storyline. As it comes out, one has to back-engineer one’s picture of both. My feeling is it would have been more effective if portrayed the other way around, that is if we were presented with the outward appearance and slowly shown the cracks. Perhaps Pascoe received such criticism previously because he starts his tale with “a short note, before we begin…," apparently written by a neighbor, explaining how shocked everyone was when mild-mannered Arnie eventually lost his temper. It's a bit of a cop-out, in my opinion.
Additionally, there was a significant amount of mundane detail that served no purpose. I think a third of the text could have been edited out without being missed. Even Arnie’s hobby of miniature train collecting, while it helped establish his fastidious nature, turned out to have no purpose.
I'm rating Fair Game Foul Play 3 out of 4 stars. I found a few errors, but they didn't detract from the story. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy “cozy crime” along the lines of the TV services “Murder She Wrote,” or British crime stories such as Anne Cleeves’s writing. Arnie's internal dialogue contains quite a bit of profanity, though, so readers sensitive to this should beware. Trimming the word count would increase the book's appeal to a younger generation, I think.
******
Fair Game Foul Play
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Fair Game Foul Play by Daniel Pascoe is the story of Arnold and Tamara Westlake. To all appearances, the Westlakes are a sweet couple, content with each other, and with their quiet country life. Arnie is the village librarian, and Tammy works four days a week in a local coffee shop, where her baked goods are much sought after. But when someone from the past contacts Tammy, why does she feel the need to keep their meetings secret from her husband? And what is her relationship with Ben Pollock, the wealthy, womanizing property developer, who is also Arnie’s golfing buddy? The police must consider all this when Arnie reports his wife missing.
I love the premise of this book, that is, that one never knows what goes on behind closed doors. Pascoe has a good storyline, and I can imagine this book making a great movie. It’s less of a whodunnit than a “can they get away with it,” and Pascoe builds the tension nicely towards the end of his book.
However, pace and characterization were problematic throughout the story. For example, rather than lulling the reader into a false sense of security with bucolic scenes of loving coupledom, Pascoe slams us with the pair’s discord in the third paragraph of the book. While Arnie “resentfully” walks the family dog, he describes his wife as “unrepentant and dogged in her criticism.” From this and more, one gets the impression of a middle-aged, frumpy harpy of a woman, and a grumpy old man. In fact, the couple is regarded as pleasant, and are generally well-liked. That, and that Tammy is a beautiful woman is quite important to the storyline. As it comes out, one has to back-engineer one’s picture of both. My feeling is it would have been more effective if portrayed the other way around, that is if we were presented with the outward appearance and slowly shown the cracks. Perhaps Pascoe received such criticism previously because he starts his tale with “a short note, before we begin…," apparently written by a neighbor, explaining how shocked everyone was when mild-mannered Arnie eventually lost his temper. It's a bit of a cop-out, in my opinion.
Additionally, there was a significant amount of mundane detail that served no purpose. I think a third of the text could have been edited out without being missed. Even Arnie’s hobby of miniature train collecting, while it helped establish his fastidious nature, turned out to have no purpose.
I'm rating Fair Game Foul Play 3 out of 4 stars. I found a few errors, but they didn't detract from the story. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy “cozy crime” along the lines of the TV services “Murder She Wrote,” or British crime stories such as Anne Cleeves’s writing. Arnie's internal dialogue contains quite a bit of profanity, though, so readers sensitive to this should beware. Trimming the word count would increase the book's appeal to a younger generation, I think.
******
Fair Game Foul Play
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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