So, I just finished Eleven Hours by Paullina Simons. And I mean "just" - like just five minutes ago.
Eleven Hours is a novel about an abduction in modern day Texas. It's only some 300 pages long and it's kind of "real time" written. There are two parallel time lines, and it is quite suspenseful. Reading it feels as if you're at the movies, or watching an episode of Without a Trace, it's very graphic, or at least turns very graphic in my head.
It's Paullina Simons, which means there is this incredible way to write that feels like thought fragments. Hard to describe. It isn't a first person novel, but the way she writes is still digging into the minds of the heroes and into the one of the reader. I totally love this "raging mind" style, it's making Paullina's books special to me.
Then again, it's not The Bronze Horseman, which became one of my favorite books this year (actually the whole trilogy) and which I'm certainly going to review in some time. It's not this absolutely breathtaking, life changing, amazing book that you cannot put down and which looks like an old beloved teddy bear with time (like TBH). But as I guess is typical for Paullina, the characters are believable, although a little too nice, not really edgy. The way Paullina writes, it's forgivable though.
Desdemona - Didi - Woods is happily married, homemaker, mom of 2 girls and nine months pregnant with the couple's third child. She lives in Dallas with her family, her husband - Rich - is working for a Christian publisher, where she met him being his assistant.
On a hot July day she gets abducted by a complete stranger, who lost wife and son - and his sanity, too. While she tries to free herself and survive as long as possible, her husband Rich is getting help from the F.B.I. and frantically tries to find her...
Being a huge fan of Paullina Simons' TBH-series I have to admit I began the read expecting an amazing and exceptional book. I didn't get this, but Eleven Hours is still a solid thriller to read on a nice afternoon. It's suspenseful and entertaining, it's fast-paced but it is no masterpiece. What was a little annoying to me personally were the excessive references to religion - they sound a little overdone. But here too, I guess they're forgivable - cause they seem to fit the characters.
To end this uninspired blog entry, I'll just put it in a nutshell: A good read (if you're not pregnant!), but not life changing.
The Solitude of Prime Numbers
14 years ago
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Wo-hoo! A book review! :)
ReplyDeleteWe both share our love for Paullina Simons and her books. And I very much agree with you on the way Simons writes, it's drawing and emotionally intense, it's so unique and original.
I haven't read Eleven Hours, but what I have done is read many interviews with the author regarding the novel. So as to the over-references to religion, I understood from the interviews that Didi is extremely religious, so it can be forgivable as you've written.
It's very hard to compare The Bronze Horseman trilogy to other books by Simons or even other books in general. The vibe, the passion, the suffering, they all transfer so beautifully into the pages it feels like you're in the middle of it all.
Have a great day!
There'll be another book review soon, as I've finished reading The Pillars of Earth, but haven't been in the mood for a review yet.
ReplyDeleteYes, the over-references to religion were just a little unnerving to me personally, I understand it's very related to the main heroine, just as you say.
And I'm afraid I'll never find another book which I can enjoy that much as I did with TBH ;). Paullina has spoiled me for life.
I look forward to read your future book reviews! :)
ReplyDeleteHmm.. Yes. That's the only downside of it. No book will be as enjoyable and as engrossing after you've read The Bronze Horseman. Even Outlander series. (Many TBH fans said it's "AMAZING!!!")