Official Review: Executive Compensation by Don Plenter
Posted: 04 May 2014, 23:50
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Executive Compensation" by Don Plenter.]
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It can be argued that original thought is a myth, and that our ideas are simply combinations of influences that possess an almost algorithmic quality. Thus, it is very easy to fall victim to having an idea that countless others have had before you. Executive Compensation, by Don Plenter, desperately grasps for the title of a fast-paced thriller, yet it falls flat. With a predictable plot that seems all too reminiscent of a strewn together screenplay of a movie flop, Executive Compensation fails to captivate its readers, despite Plenter's best efforts to use his stylistic choices to his advantage.
The novel follows Dexter St. James, a banker ripped off by his company. Out for revenge, St. James embarks on an attempt at a heist of $300 million from a foreign bank. Now working in accordance to hit men and murderers, he faces off with the United States' FBI in a piece that seems far too drawn out. Though three sentences may sum up the plot,Executive Compensation holds every cliché and overdone motif known to cheap thrillers. Strewn with cookie cutter characters, from the all American FBI agent to the beautiful yet horrifically promiscuous female protagonist, the plot becomes so predictable that the reader may feel as if they could finish the story for themselves. Nothing about the story feels genuinely thrilling in the least, and it lacks originality and, frankly, pizzazz. However, the novel's lack of substance or believability is not its worst crime.
Where Plenter stumbles is in his stylistic choices. Short chapters are often used in thrillers to create the illusion of a page-turner, and the reader will often get sucked in and finish the novel in one sitting. However, the key to this technique is the use of brevity. Plenter packs in far too great of an attempt at rhetoric. His excessive use of unnecessary details in fairly irrelevant situations is further emphasized by his omission of seemingly important concepts later in the novel. He leaves holes in his plot, failing to acknowledge some of the incredulous concepts that make this novel seem more like a fantasy than a real-world thriller. Additionally, Plenter falls victim to bombastic language, in using an excessive amount of ill-fitting vocabulary words, at times incorrectly.
The piece is also littered with a variety of spelling and grammatical errors that distract from the piece. It should also be emphasized the Plenter only attempts at rhetoric; he fails to achieve it. The piece lacks flow, in that the syntactical structure is somewhat nonexistent. Though trying to use brief chapters to his advantage, the pages are overflowing with an array of sentence structure, lacking parallelism or finesse. It is difficult to immerse oneself in the novel, and it is though the eyes get caught on every misused word or comma splice. Though some may argue that these are critiques of an overly analytical grammar freak, by around halfway through the novel they have grown exceedingly distracting to any reader.
Overall, the book is a little difficult to finish. Overly simplistic and fairly ineloquent, I give the book 1 out of 4 stars. I would not recommend it to readers, as it is far too riddled with clichés and predictability that no edits in grammar can fix. Unfortunately, the book was not enjoyable in the least.
***
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The novel follows Dexter St. James, a banker ripped off by his company. Out for revenge, St. James embarks on an attempt at a heist of $300 million from a foreign bank. Now working in accordance to hit men and murderers, he faces off with the United States' FBI in a piece that seems far too drawn out. Though three sentences may sum up the plot,Executive Compensation holds every cliché and overdone motif known to cheap thrillers. Strewn with cookie cutter characters, from the all American FBI agent to the beautiful yet horrifically promiscuous female protagonist, the plot becomes so predictable that the reader may feel as if they could finish the story for themselves. Nothing about the story feels genuinely thrilling in the least, and it lacks originality and, frankly, pizzazz. However, the novel's lack of substance or believability is not its worst crime.
Where Plenter stumbles is in his stylistic choices. Short chapters are often used in thrillers to create the illusion of a page-turner, and the reader will often get sucked in and finish the novel in one sitting. However, the key to this technique is the use of brevity. Plenter packs in far too great of an attempt at rhetoric. His excessive use of unnecessary details in fairly irrelevant situations is further emphasized by his omission of seemingly important concepts later in the novel. He leaves holes in his plot, failing to acknowledge some of the incredulous concepts that make this novel seem more like a fantasy than a real-world thriller. Additionally, Plenter falls victim to bombastic language, in using an excessive amount of ill-fitting vocabulary words, at times incorrectly.
The piece is also littered with a variety of spelling and grammatical errors that distract from the piece. It should also be emphasized the Plenter only attempts at rhetoric; he fails to achieve it. The piece lacks flow, in that the syntactical structure is somewhat nonexistent. Though trying to use brief chapters to his advantage, the pages are overflowing with an array of sentence structure, lacking parallelism or finesse. It is difficult to immerse oneself in the novel, and it is though the eyes get caught on every misused word or comma splice. Though some may argue that these are critiques of an overly analytical grammar freak, by around halfway through the novel they have grown exceedingly distracting to any reader.
Overall, the book is a little difficult to finish. Overly simplistic and fairly ineloquent, I give the book 1 out of 4 stars. I would not recommend it to readers, as it is far too riddled with clichés and predictability that no edits in grammar can fix. Unfortunately, the book was not enjoyable in the least.
***
Buy "Executive Compensation" on Amazon