millinocket's Full Review: Greg Iles - True Evil: Library Edition
I don't have a typical love/hate relationship with the books of Greg Iles. It's more of a really-like/like/dislike/this-annoys-me relationship. When he's "on", I thoroughly enjoy his work. When he missteps, I still don't hate it, but I'm always a little sad that it didn't turn out better. Not sad for him, of course, sad for me - coming to the end of one of his long books and realizing that it just kind of sucked is a drag. True Evil is one of those books - it makes me a little sad.
Alex Morse is a very prototypical thriller heroine. Recently involved in a traumatic and disfiguring event in her role as an FBI hostage negotiator, Alex has also undergone an inordinate amount of personal loss in the year prior to the action in the book. She is among the walking wounded (literally in some aspects). She is also a woman, which combined with her recent external stressors, makes her highly likely to be considered unreliable. Not pretty, but true - in most thriller fiction, women are far more likely to be perceived as "hysterical" than men and Iles does his part in perpetuating that unfortunate stereotype. So when Alex rushes to the side of her gravely ill sister - yet another loss - she is already tainted. When she determines that her sister's death and that of several others was murder - not natural causes despite all outward appearances - she takes her investigation off the books and proceeds on her own.
It is this investigation that brings her to the doorstep of Dr. Chris Shepard. The two become an awkward pair as they try and figure out just how the bad guys are managing to kill their victims with disease. The bulk of the action in the book revolves around identifying both man and method as well as trying to convince someone - anyone - that the crimes are actually taking place. As the story proceeds we get into the minds of the baddies on occasion as well.
This all sounds pretty good - and True Evil does have a pretty awesome basic premise. The murders are scary - much scarier than the run-of-the-mill shootings or stabbings. They prey on our fears of disease and sudden (or prolonged) death from natural causes and Iles makes the most of the situation. Well, I need to qualify that - sometimes he makes the most of that situation. When he's writing the basic story, it's scary. When he's setting the scene in Mississippi - a familiar Iles locale - it's suitably creepy. When he's writing the characters, he trips and falls.
The biggest problem is Alex. I don't get her. Yes, I understand her past and her feelings from the words written on the paper, but I never really feel like I know her. I can't quite picture her recent injuries from the descriptions and I never really feel like she's real. She says and does things that should make her highly relatable and vulnerable, yet the way she's written makes her feel rather stiff and unformed instead. The same is true of all the characters. It's as though they are mouthing words that the characters don't feel - as strange as it sounds, these characters all feel like bad actors.
When Iles isn't mangling his characters, he's digging deep (and long) into his premise. And it is a fine premise - initially. By the end of the book it has become far too convoluted and complicated to carry the same punch as that initial realization that someone is out there giving people terminal illnesses. Between the cardboard characters and the overly complex plot twists Iles simply loses me - loses my interest and my sympathy for any of the characters. By the end of the (long) book I was more or less finishing because I felt like I couldn't abandon a marathon at the 22 mile mark. Even so, I didn't hate True Evil. It has moments of sheer brilliance in concept. Unfortunately the execution of the premise lands with an emotionless thud. So chalk this one up in the "this annoys me" column of Greg Iles books, with the hope that the next one I read climbs the ladder - at least a little.
True evil has a face you know and a voice you trust...A Southern doctor is pulled into a terrifying ring of murderous secrets in this powerhouse thril...More at HotBookSale
Dr. Chris Shepard, a busy young doctor in Natchez, Mississippi, has never seen his new patient Alex Morse before. But the attractive young woman with ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.