The Lesson of her Death by Jeffrey Deaver

In a month that brought us the staggering news of a Ben Stiller film that I actually found funny, we’ve also struck another anomoly: a Jeffrey Deaver novel that’s really just not very good at all.

The Lesson of Her Death is, frankly, a bit of a mess. Deaver doesn’t know whether to make it a procedural crime novel, a murder mystery, a teen angst book or a soap opera. As a result it doesn’t do any of the jobs particularly well.

It’s a simple enough plot and potentially more enjoyable if one strand (perhaps two) could have been picked and stuck to. As it is, far too much detail is given to what should have been background detail and the whole thing is just too wordy. The pacing is all over the shop with momentum coming in spurts rather than driving the reader on to “just one more chapter” as the other Deaver novels I’ve read.

If you’ve got an urge to read a very simple whodunnit (with a pretty awful, Star Trek:TNG-esque “let’s just throw something in we didn’t bother to mention earlier” ending) wrapped up in a story about a little girl’s learning disabilities (which, although interesting in a way, lend nothing at all to the story in the long run) then go ahead. Otherwise, he’s written countless other books which are far more deserving of your time.