15 April 2008

Writing on Reading: Turning Angel

I've been falling behind on my book reviews, mostly because I've been reading some non-fiction lately that probably would not be interesting to our blog readers. 

Turning Angel by Greg Iles is a thriller about the aftermath of a murder of a girl in a small city. Iles does a great job hooking the reader at the beginning and ramping up tension from chapter to chapter until the climax. I only had two complaints about the book. First, the teenaged women in the book seemed too mature. In the acknowledgments, Iles indicates he spoke to numerous highschoolers to find out what life was "really like" in high school. If so, then high school students today are more emotionally mature and sexually experienced than college co-eds were in the late 80s (when I went to school).  I hope that's not true--especially as the father of two daughters. I realize girls get exposed to mature subjects earlier than ever before, but does that really make them "women of the world" by the time they are seniors in high school?

My second criticism is that Iles left out an explanation of a plot detail that I thought was important. (Or I missed the explanation). 

Overall, however, I'm impressed with Iles and his ability to create a gripping story.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

but does that really make them "women of the world" by the time they are seniors in high school?

Yes.

lesleylsmith said...

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if high school kids today have the emotional and sexual maturity of college kids in the late 80s. Sorry, Dave, you're showing your age!