The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz review

Andrew Danner wakes up in the hospital with one scar and one murder accusations more; and one brain tumor and several hours of memory less than he used to have. Being left free for reasong of temporary insanity, he'll start an investigation to find the real murderer... who may or may not be him.

With a noir feel to both the prose and the situations, a good cast of secondary characters (stereotyped on purpose many times, but with small quirks and imperfections in the stereotype), correctly injected doses of humor (the ex-professional baseball player who is constantly insulted by the fans of the team he played for works perfectly as comic relief but also as real help in the resolution of the crime) and a main character whose profession (wordcrafter) actually has some effect on how the novel is organized (the main story is interrupted now and then with parts of the manuscript that Danner is writing, which is based on the novel we are reading... meta-novel! Also, it has on the borders the notes of his editor, which are hilarious some times), the novel may feel a little slow, fall many times on similar situations (Danner is arrested like two hundred times) and too free with coincidences, but it's a nice read that will keep you turning the pages and asking yourself exactly how crazy may a brain tumor make you.

The main complain, though, is the ending, which seems a little too easy and even far fetched considering the whole development of the story. Not the big revelation right before the end, which is ok in general lines, but the real ending, the explanation of what happened on that night when Danner lost it.

/ [All_Most PUNK]

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