Sesquipedalian Sanders Foists Another McNally Tome on an Unsuspecting Public: McNally's Risk
Amazon says:
Banes & Noble thinks:
|
Author: Lawrence Sanders
Title: McNally's Risk Genre: mystery This is the second McNally mystery I've read... or maybe it's the second time I've read the same one; I can't be certain (as you can see, the first one made a huge impression). But let me try to share with you my reactions nonetheless. Lawrence Sanders has pounded out about ten McNally novels over the last decade -- I guess he ran out of commandments and deadly sins sometime in the early 90s and invented himself a new playmate. McNally's Risk was number three in the series, all of which are named McNally's something-or-other. Who's this McNally, anyway The protagonist is Palm Beach, Florida, playboy Archibald McNally -- a thirty-something clothes horse / skirt-chaser / self-proclaimed aesthete, who dwells in an attic garret at his parents' palatial home and maintains a tiny, broom-closet-like office in Daddy's law firm downtown. Archy (as he prefers to be called) spends his days performing "discreet" investigations for his father and his father's clients, and his evenings visiting a never-ending series of society soirees, expensive bistros, and tasteful little boites. So what's the "Risk"? Archy's been asked by dad to investigate the prospective fiancee of a client's middle-aged son. It seems that Mama is concerned that the young lady -- a creature of preternatural beauty -- is merely a gold-digger hoping to get her delicate fingers on the family's multiple millions. In the course of the investigation, three of Archy's interviewees turn up dead, all with his business card in a pocket or on the desktop nearby. A word of advice: remember this if a guy named Archy McNally ever calls to ask for a few moments of your time... Archy is, of course, immediately enamored of the unsurpassed physical attributes of Theodosia Johnson (Theodosia??!!) and almost as quickly convinced that she and her father, Hector, are indeed scamming for ducats. The first clue, I suppose, could be the alacrity with which the "affianced" Ms Johnson lures our Archy into her boudoir. As the tale progresses and dead bodies collect like flies, Archy is pretty sure that there is trouble afoot. He thusly takes "the risk" in an effort to trap the character he considers the perpetrator of the several unconscionable crimes. Since there are another seven books in the series, we can rest assured that the risk wasn't all that great... In fact, Archy pulls it off without even a scratch. Oh. So, is this a good mystery? No... and yes... Yes: Sanders can write a plot, and why not? He's got a couple of dozen mysteries under his belt. The characters are unusual (and some few are interesting); the plot flows; actions are believable; things are spelled right; there are few if any widows or orphans... (would that be considered damning with faint praise? I certainly hope so.) No: The character of Archy McNally is perhaps the most irritating superannuated teenager I have ever encountered in literature -- supremely hedonistic, unconcerned with the consequences of his actions, and (in his thirties) completely rudderless. Sanders might as well have written a series ofBabysitter Club or Barbie and Ken mysteries. Frankly, I found myself rooting for the bad guys in the showdown! Besides his self-absorption, Archy simply must be color-blind. Consider this description of his mode of dress: I thought I looked rather posh in a jacket of carmine houndstooth checks and slacks in what I considered a muted olive plaid. But during the cocktail hour the guv commented that I looked like a sideshow barker, which I thought unnecessarily cruel. Every time the boy changes his attire, we're treated to yet another description of his sartorial splendor -- and he changes clothes quite frequently. Personally, I'm glad I don't have to open the little fop's closet door and look inside... even Idon't have that strong a stomach. Anything else wrong with the book, sir? I withdrew book from my local library, and it appears that a previous customer was one of those characters who like to pencil in annotations on typos and the like. Right there on page three I encountered his/her first pencil line, under the word "yclept" (apparently he/she didn't have access to a good dictionary). Along about page thirty, the anonymous pencil-wielder gave up on marking strange words as typos, which was just as well. I was getting tired of all the chicken-scratches. The character of Archy McNally might have spent his entire life buried in unabridged dictionaries and glossaries of obscure (and obsolete) slang. I swear that both the terms "gat" and "gam" are used herein! Here's another one of Archy's clothing descriptions combined with obscure (Yiddish, I think) slang (speaking here about his sometime girlfriend, Connie): She was wearing a jumpsuit of burgundy velvet with an industrial zipper from neck to pipik. Archy never talks about his car, he instead calls the red Miata his crimson steed; his father is "the guv," his parents' house "the McNally manse," and so on ad nauseam. The act gets old after about a chapter or two; I can't imagine reading another ten or eleven whole books of this tripe! So, do you recommend the book? Not on your Nelly! all content copyright © 2001-present by scmrak
|