Official Review: Crossing the Line by Tom Doulis
Posted: 24 Sep 2015, 02:48
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Crossing the Line" by Tom Doulis.]
1 out of 4 stars
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“Crossing the Line” by Thomas Doulis features a whodunit as one of the characters, Jones Andrews, is brutally beaten in the opening chapter of the novel. Lee, the main protagonist, investigates the situation by returning to Andrews’ home state.
The backbone of a novel, in my opinion, is the mastery of characters. In this case, there was an absence of it. It wasn’t until the 34th page that I began to get a better bearing of the plot. It seemed the writing technique was an attempt at character introspection but coupled with the large ensemble of characters, it only led to a lot of confusion. Who was related to who? Who was this character, were they mentioned briefly before? None of the characters were flushed out until a later point in the novel and I had re-read the first 34 pages multiple times. Because I didn’t do this for the rest of the novel, I’m still quite confused to date with the events and each character’s place in the story.
As the plot progressed, the narrative featured an increased amount of flashbacks meant to develop characters and add an air of intrigue. This wasn’t executed properly due to the lack of transition between scenes, especially chapters from Andrews’ P.o.V. In the first few chapters, the dialogue was clever and I could definitely imagine the specific character saying it. This crispness was lost in later chapters as the cast grew. Along with the growing cast, the opinions on government and policies expanded as well, making it difficult to keep track of who thought what.
Along with these obstacles, there were some formatting, punctuation and spelling errors which had me believe that the latter part of the novel was rushed. In comparison, I would say that the beginning had much more care and attention put into but not enough to pull the reader into the book’s reality. For example, in Chapter 1, the investigator in charge of this case spent some time with the protagonist and I could feel the annoying “cop-ness” but his characterization slowly disintegrated. Because of all of these factors, the ending wasn’t as satisfying or appreciated as could’ve been.
I rate this novel 1 out of 4 stars because it strongly feels like an early draft rather than the final. The characters need more attention and presented in a manner that any reader can appreciate them properly instead of being confused by their back story. My recommendation would be to write a few more drafts with the mindset of the reader instead of the author as that makes the difference with understanding. Once it’s been edited a few times, I believe those readers with a great interest in history will enjoy this novel.
******
Crossing the Line
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | Hassle-Free Sample
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1 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
“Crossing the Line” by Thomas Doulis features a whodunit as one of the characters, Jones Andrews, is brutally beaten in the opening chapter of the novel. Lee, the main protagonist, investigates the situation by returning to Andrews’ home state.
The backbone of a novel, in my opinion, is the mastery of characters. In this case, there was an absence of it. It wasn’t until the 34th page that I began to get a better bearing of the plot. It seemed the writing technique was an attempt at character introspection but coupled with the large ensemble of characters, it only led to a lot of confusion. Who was related to who? Who was this character, were they mentioned briefly before? None of the characters were flushed out until a later point in the novel and I had re-read the first 34 pages multiple times. Because I didn’t do this for the rest of the novel, I’m still quite confused to date with the events and each character’s place in the story.
As the plot progressed, the narrative featured an increased amount of flashbacks meant to develop characters and add an air of intrigue. This wasn’t executed properly due to the lack of transition between scenes, especially chapters from Andrews’ P.o.V. In the first few chapters, the dialogue was clever and I could definitely imagine the specific character saying it. This crispness was lost in later chapters as the cast grew. Along with the growing cast, the opinions on government and policies expanded as well, making it difficult to keep track of who thought what.
Along with these obstacles, there were some formatting, punctuation and spelling errors which had me believe that the latter part of the novel was rushed. In comparison, I would say that the beginning had much more care and attention put into but not enough to pull the reader into the book’s reality. For example, in Chapter 1, the investigator in charge of this case spent some time with the protagonist and I could feel the annoying “cop-ness” but his characterization slowly disintegrated. Because of all of these factors, the ending wasn’t as satisfying or appreciated as could’ve been.
I rate this novel 1 out of 4 stars because it strongly feels like an early draft rather than the final. The characters need more attention and presented in a manner that any reader can appreciate them properly instead of being confused by their back story. My recommendation would be to write a few more drafts with the mindset of the reader instead of the author as that makes the difference with understanding. Once it’s been edited a few times, I believe those readers with a great interest in history will enjoy this novel.
******
Crossing the Line
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | Hassle-Free Sample
Like HalcyonFlower's review? Post a comment saying so!
