The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill (2024)
I guess it's official now......QAnon Krazies have become fair game for mystery-thriller authors. This is the second or third book I've come across populated with those Tinfoil Hat, conspiracy theory imbeciles who feed off the toxic river of disinformation flowing out of social media....and current political discourse. Given that they're both dumb and proven dangerous, it's no wonder they're starting to also infest popular fiction......
These internet whack-a=doodles and their ludicrous tweets serve as the connecting glue holding together the two separate genres that this book unfolds. The first 60 percent sets up a multiple murder thriller set in an American town (Lawrence, Kansas).
But then, for the remaining 40 percent, the story takes a hairpin swerve into some kind of breathless, international action-adventure, with two of the three lead characters hunting down what happened to the other one who disappeared.
I found the Lawrence portion infinitely more gripping and entertaining then the abrupt excursion into a wild, incredibly far-fetched Robert Ludlum-esque whoop-de-doo. The final reveal of what the villainy's all about came close (at least for me) to very wry spoofery.. It really made me wonder if author Sulari Gentill was for real or maybe doing an elaborate send-up of......well, my lips must seal before any spoilers emerge from them.
Yet with all these flaws, I still had a pretty good time with "The Mystery Writer".....I could never resist stories centered around writers,...... those established and famous and those young novices struggling to find their creative voice along with a publisher. Throw in bodies piling up and a baffling disappearance, then you've got me hooked.
Overall, it's a bumpy, lumpy goulash of those two genres I mentioned but I couldn't help but stay for the whole thrill ride. But I'm not comfortable with using the QAnon asylum inmates as window dressing (at and times, comedy relief). I find the mere thought of them as depressing......and given current events, more than little frightening. May they all check in to a padded room with a view....... 3 stars (***)
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