A second chance...Perhaps

When I travel I usually read trashy novels. I've been sated for years by the likes of Jackie Collins. Judy Blume's Wifey, also a treasured teen read, was re-discovered in a half price bookstore in Indy during another trip and made for an excellent long layover soothing time.

Leaving the airport in Indy a few weeks ago I picked up Christopher Rice's second book "The Snow Garden." I had read "Density of Souls" out of curiosity when it first came out and, well, it was a first novel. A first novel that probably wouldn't have been published if his last name was Smith. This second book was a much better attempt but his writing still seems to have met the same fate of his mothers, an inability to close a story. Snow Garden takes us through the lives of college students who quickly find themselves embroiled in mysterious deaths, affairs, the pain of molestation, parental abuse and even a little HIV tossed in for fun. In other words, the typical college experience. The character development is fairly decent and the story does draw you in. The last 20 pages or so, meant to wrap up the story, drive fast and hard towards a resolution that makes little sense. The lead characters disappearance feels like it's supposed to be a cliff-hanger in line with "Who Shot J.R."

Chris third book, "Light before day" is now in bookstores. I have yet to read it, but flipped through the Amazon reviews by both casual readers and serious reviewers. (Though "serious" reviewers might be a stretch.) There were mixed reviews but the casual reviewers touched on something I noticed in "Snow Garden." Those of you who are regular Anne Rice readers know that she edits her own books, she and her 'team' of people. This often leads to problems, mostly in grammar and typographical errors. Chris suffers the same flaw though I'm sure he is edited so these problems probably belong more to his publishing house than to him personally. Now I am not the king of grammar, as these writings reveal, but I'm not making money to publish this either. Though I should have marked them so I could pinpoint them to you, gentle reader, but I failed in that task. One reviewer mentioned that a character in the new book is wearing a "Poca" shell necklace instead of a Puka shell. Little things, little annoyances.

Interesting side note, in the acknowledgements Chris mentions Spencer Doody's name in the group of people he wished to thank for helping him make a personal transformation. It's nice to see someone I know be mentioned, so Kudos to you Spencer...