David181173
New Member
Jacket notes often compare RNP with Scott Turow and John Grisham, neither of whom I have read. I generally don't go in for the American blockbuster novel. However, I recently heard RNP being interviewed on the radio, and decided his books might be worth a try.
So far I have read his first, the Lasko Tangent, about a young lawyer, Chris Paget, exposing corruption at the highest levels in government. Written in the late 70s the influence of the Watergate scandal is still strong. Next I read Degree of Guilt. A novel written fifteen years later in which Paget reappears, now in his mid 40s. Both were strong on page turning interest and made for entertaining reading on the daily commute. Not that I can imagine ever reading either of them again, perhaps on account of my increasing dislike of some of the characters. The principal female character in both books is cold, calculating and utterly unappealing. This is OK for a single read, since the plot carries you along, but doesn't encourage re-reading.
I've just started Eyes of a Child, the third book in the Paget trilogy. I've just encountered the first attack on the anti gun control lobby, which I gather has become a recurring theme in RNP's work. As a non-American more sympathetic with the gun control side of the argument I really liked the first speech Paget makes on the subject quite early in the book.
I understand that RNP's engagement with this, and other highly divisive issues in contemporary America, have made him something of a controversial author in the US. In my opinion, his willingness to do this is no bad thing. If you disagree, you don't have to read it. The best popular fiction - Dickens being a prime example in my own country - has never been afraid to debate serious issues. I'm still at an early stage in reading his work, but it could be that when he first started to develop his books in this way in the mid 90s RNP became not only a gripping writer, but one for something useful to say.
So far I have read his first, the Lasko Tangent, about a young lawyer, Chris Paget, exposing corruption at the highest levels in government. Written in the late 70s the influence of the Watergate scandal is still strong. Next I read Degree of Guilt. A novel written fifteen years later in which Paget reappears, now in his mid 40s. Both were strong on page turning interest and made for entertaining reading on the daily commute. Not that I can imagine ever reading either of them again, perhaps on account of my increasing dislike of some of the characters. The principal female character in both books is cold, calculating and utterly unappealing. This is OK for a single read, since the plot carries you along, but doesn't encourage re-reading.
I've just started Eyes of a Child, the third book in the Paget trilogy. I've just encountered the first attack on the anti gun control lobby, which I gather has become a recurring theme in RNP's work. As a non-American more sympathetic with the gun control side of the argument I really liked the first speech Paget makes on the subject quite early in the book.
I understand that RNP's engagement with this, and other highly divisive issues in contemporary America, have made him something of a controversial author in the US. In my opinion, his willingness to do this is no bad thing. If you disagree, you don't have to read it. The best popular fiction - Dickens being a prime example in my own country - has never been afraid to debate serious issues. I'm still at an early stage in reading his work, but it could be that when he first started to develop his books in this way in the mid 90s RNP became not only a gripping writer, but one for something useful to say.
