Book Review for Eight Miles High by D. B. Borton
Reviewer CountryDamsel
A book is similar to a painting. When painting the artist must lead the viewer through the painting. The artist decides on the purpose of the painting. Then by exaggerating some things and simplify others, the artist shares his vision. The viewer will never perceive this underlying structure. But every successful painting will have it.
This book is labeled a mystery. And so when I picked up the book I expected a story with the elements that would fit into the genre of mystery. A mystery has a plot. A mystery starts with the unknown and unexplained, and ends with the known and explained. Every chapter, character and fact of the mystery is there to move the plot forward. There should be many small climaxes leading to one major climax, followed by a conclusion.
Eight Miles High did not have the elements a mystery. Sure, it started with a lame but real enough unknown. Why were two ladies dead? But then … nothing. For more than half the book, plot was totally and completely forgotten. There were whole chapters where nothing happened. These chapters were stuffed full of facts about WASP and new characters. There were characters upon characters, all of whom seemed to possess two if not three different names. But through it all, not a plot to be found.
In the last quarter of the book, the writer comes back to solving a mystery. But by this point I was so disheartened, confused and disillusioned, it was a chore to be interested. The one thing that would have compensated me for all my hard work of sifting thru reams of words would have been a spectacular climax to it all. Sadly I could not even figure out who exactly the “murderer” was, let alone celebrate his demise.
The author failed to lead her readers thru her work of art. All characters were given equal value. The potential climaxes were not exaggerated. The facts that did not contribute to plot were not simplified. The story therefore was too blurred and distorted to bring enjoyment to a reader and be considered a success.
