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I have been a fan of Hugh Laurie since the first time I saw Fry and Laurie on TV. You get a touch of everything. I watch HOUSE all the time and If I didnt know he had written The Gun Seller I wouldn't have believed it. It has charm, wit, murder,and what I think might be a love story. It took me a few hours to really get into it because of the language barrier,but I would reccomend this to everyone. I am totally and completely enjoying it,and I will get and read his other books
While I greatly enjoy Laurie's work in House, I have to declare him a better actor than author. Thomas Lang, the protagonist, is caught up in a tangled skein of assassination, espionage and corporate corruption. He has no idea what's going on and, unfortunately, neither does the reader.Laurie also makes another mistake that can be difficult to avoid in novels with a complex plot. It's just not very good either.The first problem I noticed with this book is that Laurie keeps the reader in complete confusion far too long. He's funny, with unexpected, but pinpoint descriptions of character and the strange situations Lang ends up in. A good writer builds suspense by giving his readers almost enough information, but not quite putting them over the edge. I can't say The Gun Seller is bad. Every chapter, it seems, someone is telling him a different story about why who did what.
To make an analogy, a little kid only finds the things in his room scary when there's enough light that he can see them, but he can't see them clearly or right. When the room is complete darkness, there's nothing for the imagination to play on, and the kid just goes to sleep.Laurie leaves the lights off for far too long. He introduces too many characters too quickly, and by the time I finally straighten out who's who, I no longer care.To his credit, on the small scale, Laurie's writing is good. But the large scale structure of the novel is sorely lacking.I like Laurie as an actor, and since this book was loaned me by a good friend, I wanted to like it, but it just didn't come through.
I just finished the book and I was amazed by something I find fleeting in other recent readings- I actually enjoyed it to the point that I didn't want to lay it down. I am now waiting for the next novel the Paper Soldier to hit the US market, but it looks like it might be a wait for that. If you like a fluid, satyrical, well appointed read then this is a good book to work on. He's definitely one of the best of his generation, and look forward to more wonderful writing in the future from him.
You might also learn a few things about how to avoid bad taste in home decor and fashion. You can relax, knowing it might sound a bit outlandish, might stretch the borders of your imagination just a bit, but if you the listener are like most of us, you welcome the opportunity to get away from the everydayness of your life and listen. Reading this book was like sitting back and hearing a close friend tell you about a really cool dream he had. This book has helped me cope with a bad case of the winter blahs and has whet my appetite for reading other thrillers. You can look forward to relishing the funny descriptions and asides, the beautiful use of language, and the interesting information that you learn along the way about a variety of subjects. Not the mention the suspenseful plot and the delightfully drawn characters. Unfortunately, I think it has spoiled me quite a bit. It will take quite awhile for me to find another thriller of this caliber.
The last sentence, however, is a wonderful punch line that makes up for many of the flaws of this novel. When Lang takes action to protect her, you don't quite understand why.
In a thriller involving rogue CIA officers, murderous gun merchants, and MI-6, this style is a refreshing change from better known authors in the field, and carries you through a good quarter of the book. This is a first novel from 1996 by Hugh Laurie, currently best known as TV's Dr House, and narrated by a character who sounds exactly like House, except he is ex-British military.
House voice, is not real enough for the reader to care what happens to him, and his love interest in not compelling either. Beyond that, however, in spite of action on an increasingly larger scale, there is no suspense or increasing tension.
Thomas Lang, the action hero with the Dr. Not only does the style make the plot unclear at several points, but Lang's almost instant recovery from injury on at least two occasions including a gunshot wound is not credible, especially in a novel that strives for realism everywhere else.
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