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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Dan Knight's Journey by Edward F. Smith

Dan Knight grew up a poor Manhattan kid in the forties.  After his parents separated, he switched schools where he was confronted by Robert, a thief, who conned Dan into working for him.  Years later, Dan is embarking on a successful career with two beautiful girlfriends when Robert resurfaces.  He's going to need the help of his old friend, Paddy, to get things taken care of.

I started this book thinking 'Oh, great!  Another coming of age story!' but was pleasantly surprised when it didn't stop there.  I have to say, as a character, Dan Knight is the luckiest son of a gun I've ever heard of.  I'm not saying he didn't have his share of problems, but sheesh!  Good luck just flocks to the guy!  But, I'm not hear to pick apart Dan, I'm here to pick apart the book!

Let's start with editing.  You all know that it really bothers me when I pick up a book and it hasn't been edited.  I'm not the grammar police or anything, it just stops you in your tracks.  You're reading along, happily in the story, when 'BAM' it hits you!  You get pulled out of the world you're in because something's spelled wrong or quotation marks are missing and you have no idea who's talking.  Sadly, there were several errors in the book.  The bright side to that is that I was so into the story that I was able to gloss right over them without giving it a lot of thought.  I wasn't cursing Mr. Smith or anything! 

The storytelling is great.  I was pulled in from the beginning and didn't want to put it down.  About halfway through I started wondering where the story was going.  It seemed like everything was fine and I was beginning to get a little bored, but Smith pulled me right back in.  I was a little confused at the end of the book because I wasn't sure why it was wrapped up in the manner that it was.  Of course, I can't tell you what I'm talking about without giving away spoilers.  I can tell you that after a little investigation, I found that it was ended that way on purpose to pave the way for another book.  It's definitely going on my 'to read eventually' list.

One last note:  It's obvious to me that the sex scenes were written by a man.  Sorry, but it's the truth.  I'm not saying they aren't executed nicely, but there's no romance.  It's all 'Come and get it, Big Boy!'  Honestly, for me, I don't care.  I usually skim them anyway because I don't care about the characters' sex lives.  I think men will find them fun while most women will deal with it without being drawn in.  As usual, just my opinion though.

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