Review by Odette Chace -- Shifting Sands
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Odette Chace
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Review by Odette Chace -- Shifting Sands
[Following is a volunteer review of "Shifting Sands" by Barry Litherland.]
One night, when Winston is supposed to be Benny’s getaway driver, he witnesses a naked man walking through the country, his arms outstretched like a zombie, moaning desperately for his Bunny. Understandably perturbed, he leaves Benny high and dry and hightails it out of there. He recounts this story to Phil Tyler, his longtime friend and journalist at The Evening Post. For lack of anything better to cover, Phil starts digging into the story, expecting nothing to come of it. However, the more he unearths about the transformation of rundown Westleigh Hall into a state-of-the-art clinic for the wealthy, the more he is certain that Logrum Research, the owners of the facility, have hidden, sinister intentions.
Shifting Sands by Barry Litherland is a gripping thriller. I didn’t want to put the book down, and as it’s just under 250 pages, I was able to get through it in one day.
My favorite aspect of Shifting Sands was its humor. The book features quite a bit of British banter and the characterization of Phil’s overzealous editor, Liz, was simply perfect. From the cover, I thought there would be some elements of horror in the work. However, nothing was scary. The work frequently pivots back and forth between scenes of intense suspense and more light-hearted dialogue. This kept the book from becoming too serious and made me more forgiving of its lack of a true mystery, despite its label as a mystery novel. The culprit behind the dastardly deeds is no secret and it is easy for the reader to figure out what Logrum Research is really up to.
Another aspect of the work that I particularly enjoyed was Phil’s character. He is a reluctant hero, only driven to action by the distress of other people, which I could personally relate to. Under pressure, he is capable of great deeds. On the other hand, he is a sucker for a sob story, which makes him an easy target. Phil would gallantly leap into action, showing the strength of his convictions, but then become putty in the hands of all the women around him, which was highly amusing.
Unfortunately, in order to keep the work suspenseful, very little is revealed about the villain of the story until the climax of the novel. Thus, his motivations were commonplace and underdeveloped. However, the drama of the plot kept the climax from falling flat, so the shallow villain did not impact my enjoyment of the work.
I noticed five errors in the text while I was reading, but that did not significantly detract from my enjoyment of the book. I only had one minor complaint about the underdevelopment of the antagonist, so I am happy to give Shifting Sands a score of four out of four stars. There were a few instances where sexual intimacy was alluded to, but there were no graphic details. Therefore, I feel comfortable recommending this book to all fans of funny thrillers.
******
Shifting Sands
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
One night, when Winston is supposed to be Benny’s getaway driver, he witnesses a naked man walking through the country, his arms outstretched like a zombie, moaning desperately for his Bunny. Understandably perturbed, he leaves Benny high and dry and hightails it out of there. He recounts this story to Phil Tyler, his longtime friend and journalist at The Evening Post. For lack of anything better to cover, Phil starts digging into the story, expecting nothing to come of it. However, the more he unearths about the transformation of rundown Westleigh Hall into a state-of-the-art clinic for the wealthy, the more he is certain that Logrum Research, the owners of the facility, have hidden, sinister intentions.
Shifting Sands by Barry Litherland is a gripping thriller. I didn’t want to put the book down, and as it’s just under 250 pages, I was able to get through it in one day.
My favorite aspect of Shifting Sands was its humor. The book features quite a bit of British banter and the characterization of Phil’s overzealous editor, Liz, was simply perfect. From the cover, I thought there would be some elements of horror in the work. However, nothing was scary. The work frequently pivots back and forth between scenes of intense suspense and more light-hearted dialogue. This kept the book from becoming too serious and made me more forgiving of its lack of a true mystery, despite its label as a mystery novel. The culprit behind the dastardly deeds is no secret and it is easy for the reader to figure out what Logrum Research is really up to.
Another aspect of the work that I particularly enjoyed was Phil’s character. He is a reluctant hero, only driven to action by the distress of other people, which I could personally relate to. Under pressure, he is capable of great deeds. On the other hand, he is a sucker for a sob story, which makes him an easy target. Phil would gallantly leap into action, showing the strength of his convictions, but then become putty in the hands of all the women around him, which was highly amusing.
Unfortunately, in order to keep the work suspenseful, very little is revealed about the villain of the story until the climax of the novel. Thus, his motivations were commonplace and underdeveloped. However, the drama of the plot kept the climax from falling flat, so the shallow villain did not impact my enjoyment of the work.
I noticed five errors in the text while I was reading, but that did not significantly detract from my enjoyment of the book. I only had one minor complaint about the underdevelopment of the antagonist, so I am happy to give Shifting Sands a score of four out of four stars. There were a few instances where sexual intimacy was alluded to, but there were no graphic details. Therefore, I feel comfortable recommending this book to all fans of funny thrillers.
******
Shifting Sands
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Everyday Pocket Poetry by LoAnn Twedt
