Wicked Things by Thomas Tessier (2007, Paperback)

Tessier is a good writer, but this book is nothing short of a disaster that would never have been published if the author was an unknown.

The narrative itself is competent and flows well. Tessier definitely knows how to describe a scene, but the plot is filled with so many holes and errors, it's almost laughable.

You turn the page with over 100 pages left, and suddenly the novel is over (the other pages are an unrelated novella), unresolved, more questions than answers, and you feeling cheated. Imagine the ending to the Sopranos, but they do it halfway through the third season.

Anyway, I think the majority of the blame lays on the editor at Leisure for letting this slip through.

For example:

2/3s of the way through the book, we find out the book is set in 1978, with no previous clues whatsoever to the age and date other than the fact he doesn't have a cell phone. But, AIDS is mentioned when he takes a trip through Penny Lane, and we didn't learn about AIDS until 1984.

The main character's age changes.

The secretary disappears the night of her boss' murder... He drives by the house, sees her car and a cop car there, comes by later and she's gone. Later, the cops act as if they never even got the chance to talk to her, and the main character never calls them on it nor does he think twice about it. It never comes back into play.

There is no explanation _none whatsoever_ for any of the happenings in the town - the lights, the existence of the red light district, the secret society, the disappearance of people, the chanting, the kids in the robes, THE REASON FOR THE DEATHS HE WAS INVESTIGATING IN THE FIRST PLACE. Nothing! It's almost as if he was writing the novel, looked at the calendar, and realized it was due the next day.