Friday, July 08, 2011

The Sentry by Robert Crais



There are a LOT of good reasons to read THE SENTRY by Robert Crais.  It's a Joe Pike novel, which means there's not enough Elvis Cole (there's never enough Elvis Cole even in Elvis Cole novels, so that can't be helped) but other than that it's a terrific read.  Come for the characters, stay for the plot.

But, if you are a writer, really study the prologue. The prologue in this book is brilliant.  Utterly breathtakingly brilliant.  What it does is show character. And it shows character in a way that illuminates every chapter of the book.  It's exactly the reason you would have  a prologue. And since I hate loathe despise skip generally find prologues to be useless crap, that's saying something.

2 comments:

Anne-Marie said...

Love this author, and have read every Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novel out there. Even though it's not a genre I want (or could ever hope) to write, I think his writing is exceptional in how sparing it is. He is one of the few authors I have ever read where I dare not skip a line because he writes so precisely, and with such a knack for dialogue.

Skipperhammond@gmail.com said...

Love my Kindle. After reading this post, I had to read THE SENTRY prologue. Punch it in. Too expensive at $12.99, but the entire prologue, plus almost two chapters, fits in the free sample. I could read it without ever leaving this blog. Tried reading aloud, but, indeed, it took my breath.
Don't know that I can wait till fall, when Ann Arbor Library System has ebooks, to read the entire book.