Book Notices | Extraordinary Powers by Joseph Finder / The Good Samaritan by John Marrs

Joseph Finder, Extraordinary Powers

Amazon   I've read a number of Joseph Finder's novels, and normally I'm hooked on them. He writes very good page turners, often weaving in technical or spycraft-y details in just the right measure. This early novel was not as successful. There were exciting parts, and I liked the story overall, but periodically it became bogged down in details that were boring to wade through. There were other issues: the newspaper reports strewn throughout the text were tedious and didn't add much. (The ones at the end were particularly painful to get through. I'd finished the narrative, and now I have to read an article from the New York Times?!) The protagonist seems to be able to do too much after burning his hands. His wife is kind of annoying, whining about being left in the dark about a major reveal toward the end. Anyway, little things, and again, it's an early novel. It won't stop me from reading more by the author.

John Marrs, The Good Samaritan

Amazon   Laura is ostensibly a perfect soul: she's a loving mother to two daughters and a disabled son, she bakes cookies and fixes zippers for her coworkers, she volunteers--a LOT--at a suicide prevention call center. Indeed, it's this volunteerism that is the highlight of her days. Laura has issues. She's pretty good at hiding them from casual acquaintances, but the darker side of this perfect woman unravels for us in John Marrs' unusual story. It's told primarily from the perspective of two people, Laura and a man who calls the hotline seeking her help. I say the book is unusual because I can't remember rooting against a character as much as I rooted against Laura in this book, and seeing events from her twisted perspective is a little disturbing. The story is dark, so it may turn off some readers, but I'm going to look into more books by this author.