Though i occasionally felt as if i was trapped
inside a bad-tempered version of a Harry Chapin song, as cab-driver/PI Moody
gets involved in finding the husband of his ex-girl-friend who has Married
Well, over all i greatly enjoyed this first in a proposed series.
Moody's background as a Viet Nam veteran and mental patient is interesting
enough and supplies enough possibilities for both complications and
characterisation that i'm going to watch that aspect with interest to see
if the author can actually do something with it or has been over-ambitious
in setting up his series's "givens".
Speaking as someone who has felt some of the same things, i can sympathise
with Moody's "survivor syndrome" guilts about Viet Nam -- what made *us*
special?
Why did *we* deserve to come home when so many others didn't make it?
That question alone has been enough to break some people of our generation,
and it's only a part of what preys on Moody.
On the other hand, the cab-driver PI bit, for some reason, even with only
two that i know of in the current field, still seems over-crowded, and i'm
not sure why.
Certainly, Moody is about as different from Carlotta Carlyle as it's possible
to get, but one feels right and the other seems a bit forced and i can't
say why.But it's a good, solid fast read for all that, and well worth your
while. |
