Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars


This is the first book by these authors that I’ve experienced.  This one was on audio at my library, so I took the opportunity to read it.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this book was very good.  At the most, it was somewhat entertaining, but the writing was just odd and didn't succeed with me.  Gideon is a strange character.  He never quite comes off as completely competent. Instead, he seems to bumble his way through situations. He is a fast talker and has a way of getting people to tell him what he wants to know, but I didn’t really count that as a significant skill. He's intelligent, but still slow on the uptake at times. I know that as a reader, we often have oversight in a situation that the character lacks, but I like to think that the main character can use the brains the Good Lord gave him. And I hate when the villain continually out-thinks him.

This book has this 'off' feeling that never goes away.  I had hoped things would come together, but it stayed weird, and not in a good way, over the course of the book. I would use the term 'half-baked' to describe this book. Ingredients in this novel could have come to a good finished product, but they just don't.

While I don't like paper tiger villains, I felt that the villain was way out of Gideon's league.  I didn't get this David and Goliath feeling where you have an unlikely hero who has the odds stacked against him and triumphed. Instead, I felt as though Gideon didn't have a chance against Nodding Crane.  I was actually wincing at how inept Gideon was at times.  I really hate being so harsh in my criticisms, but it's how I felt.  I always hope for the best when I read a book, and this book never got to be better.  It's just barely at 2.5 star read.

The saving grace was that I did listen to it on audio. The narrator, well-known actor John Glover, brought this story to life with his clever vocalizations and personifications of the dialogue. This is one of those cases when a good narrator can stave a sinking ship from going down, or mostly.  While this book is not a good one, it was at times entertaining because of the narration.

I might seem foolish, but I want to try the next book, since it is also at my library on audio. My hope is that Gideon does get his act together and has learned something from his experience in this book. I'd like to see that Gideon has something to offer as a hero in future books. Maybe the authors have a better grasp on his character for his next outing.  I'm holding onto my hopes!




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