Friday, December 04, 2015

Books read in 2015: No. 35 -- The Case of The Foot-loose Doll

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Started: Nov. 29
Finished: Dec. 4

Notes: I've a couple of these Perry Mason paperbacks left behind by my late dad, who wasn't a big reader of fiction, though when he did dip into fiction it was usually detective related. As I've never read any works from this author, this should be a new experience for me.

Mini review: I felt an extreme dislike for the first half of this novel. The writing was so amateur, I had to wonder how this series and the Perry Mason character had ever become so popular. "Repetitive" is the word I used to describe the first half of the book. In one chapter and character will discuss actions he is going to take, then in the next chapter he will take those actions, and finally in another chapter he will go into excruciating detail about the actions he has taken. And this happened more than once. However, the second half of this book was an actual pleasure to read, the portion of the novel which included the courtroom scenes. So, I guess I now see the appeal, though I can't say this author is someone I want to read religiously. That being said, I do have one more of these novels, and I will now turn to it in order to give the author another shot at winning me over.

1 comment:

Charles Gramlich said...

Never read a Perry Mason book. I should pick up one. I used to watch the show on occassion