Book Review: Hard News

Reviewed By: Luke Croll - RAM

Hard News     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Jeffery Wilds Deaver
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller
Series: Rune
Hodder & Stoughton; 1991 (US), 2001 (UK); £17.99 (English pounds); 408 pp
Classification: Adult fiction (thriller)

After surviving the events of 'Death Of A Blue Movie Star', Rune is now working in a major New York news department. When she sees a video of a convicted killer who claims he is innocent, she believes him and sets about making a documentary to prove his innocence. However, a hitman has come to town with the purpose of killing Rune.

'Hard News' is an interesting thriller, but in this one, the events just did not seem to ring true. So many different things happened to Rune, it simply did not seem possible that all these things could happen to one person in such a short space of time.

Deaver develops the character of Rune and indeed, we do see another side to her. He also refers to events in previous books, but overall, this could easily be read as a standalone novel.

Although it is not a bad thriller, it is nowhere near as good as Deaver's more recent novels. Since this is the first time that the Rune series has seen publication in the UK, Deaver's popularity must be growing. 'Hard News' is testament to how his writing has changed, developed and eventually giving us the character of Lincoln Rhyme. More for curiosity's sake than to read a good thriller, have a look at this.

Luke Croll - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Luke Croll - RAM

Luke Croll - Conference interpreter and translator
http://lukecroll.translatorscafe.com

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