Author: Robert Littell
Publisher: Penguin
Rating: WARTY!
Today I will review two novels which were turned into TV series, and curiously, in both cases, I like the TV show, but really don't like the novel which spawned it!
Martin Odum is a private detective working in New York City, but there's far more to it than that. He's a retired CIA agent who has had many identities (legends) in his career. He was so good at becoming subsumed under his various legends that he has become consumed by them, and is rather confused these days about who he really is.
In the TV show, he isn't a detective, he's still employed by his agency, but he does have issues regarding his identity. The show makes more sense and is far more entertaining. In both cases, maybe he's not really Martin Odum at all!
In the novel, the story begins with him being sought out by Stella, supposedly a Russian immigrant, who wants Martin to track down her sister's wayward husband, who she thinks is in New York, but curiously, the case takes Martin and Stella back to Israel and then all over the world. Interspersed with modern day activities are flash-backs to Martin's career, and this became so disorganized and so confusing that I lost interest in it and gave up after a few chapters. It was boring to me, and the story appeared to be going nowhere and taking its own sweet time on the trip.
If I want to work for my entertainment, I'll play a sport. I don't want to work-up a sweat reading a novel and trying to figure out what the hell the writer is telling me. Writing is communication. Good writing is effective communication, and Robert Littell's novel is defective communication.
