The Lost Island

The Lost Island by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child was the second book I managed to dig up in my office's trove of book treasures. Reading the jacket cover, I knew that this story was exactly what I was in the mood to read -- following ancient clues that lead to a discovery with global implications.

Right up my alley.

After reading it though, overall it wasn't my favorite of the group of books I read. As much as I love reading these kind of stories, unfortunately I felt I was brought out of the story a few times with thoughts like "really?" or "what?", which often lead to rereading the same passages thinking I misread them. Most of these thoughts revolved around the events of the story. I can get fully absorbed without question in stories where a guy impregnates a girl from a different parallel universe, teenagers fighting to the death for the entertainment of the elites, even purgatory being a fancy bar where people play games to determine whether their souls gets recycled back to the world or gets disintegrated into nothing.

In short, I can be 115% in the world of the story no matter what it throws at me. But only if it successfully carries me there without flipping the boat.

I'm sorry to say that I couldn't stay on the boat with the premise of the story. While I wanted to believe in the miracle plant and the creature that makes a thundering appearance, the different points guiding the logic behind those elements felt a bit feeble. It didn't really help when the beginning of the book felt strong; I was so in on the first heist. Then it took a sharp left turn probably when the allusion to the creature's existence came up.

There was also the issue of the main character, Gideon, feeling more like a supporting one for the majority of the story. I didn't feel compelled to have a stake in his success. In fact I sometimes felt he could disappear and it wouldn't matter.

Probably the biggest reason that brought me out of the story was when it felt like I had been reading one author and suddenly the next chapter felt like a different author. In fairness, I obviously knew there were two authors for this story, so it may very well be that burden of knowledge having an influence. Nonetheless, the chapters that were just about Eli Glinn, Gideon's employer, sounded like it had a different voice than the one just before it, which definitely made me pause.

Still.

In spite of all the above, I read to the end. I read to the end because I wanted to know how it all ended. And there's something to that. Even if the writing at times it felt like there were obviously two different authors writing, I still felt the tension in the characters' mission. And the mysteries surrounding the ancient clues were making me desperate to find out what they were hiding.

Above everything else though, there is at least one reason to read this book: the action scenes. These scenes were probably one of the few moments I was completely absorbed in the moment. My favorite was definitely the sea chase that lead to the shipwreck. I probably will never forget the image of the bullet piercing the woman's forehead or the sensation of extreme thirst as they were floating out in sea. If I were ever to write an action scene, I would definitely refer back to this book for inspiration.

All The Missing Girls

This was my first book after being on a serious reading hiatus. As mentioned in the last post, I picked it up at the office where plenty of books have been donated over the years. I had finally been itching to read something for a bit but wasn't really sure where to start. On the recommendation of a co-worker, I perused the pleasure reading shelves. I figured since this would be my first book in a while, and I was just grabbing some book without having much background knowledge beforehand, there was no need for me to develop a concrete checklist of all the things I wanted in a book. I did at least have the idea of wanting to read something suspenseful that would surprise me in the end but that was about it.

After reading several jacket covers, I came across Megan Miranda's All The Missing Girls. The premise definitely intrigued me, so I felt satisfied that it would at least be an adequate first book.

Talk about really underestimating its value.

First off, as anyone can find online, this story is told in reverse. Crafting a novel chronologically is already feat -- doing it in reverse while still keeping it suspenseful and engaging is a damn miracle. I can't even begin to imagine the level work, energy and creativity that had to go into this story, but it's definitely not one on which the rest of us average mortals are operating. Not to mention the courage you'd need to take such a risk, because there are so many ways that it could have backfired. Yet for some reason as I was reading, it felt natural for the story to unfold in reverse.

As far as surprising me went, I've got to admit that although the resolution to the mystery behind the missing girls wasn't a jaw-dropping shock, the circumstances surrounding it took me off guard. I didn't exactly expect the how of it all, and that was really satisfying. I believe a combination of the circumstances with the reverse storytelling really keeps the reader in a delicate balance of being curious and engrossed. In other words, the pacing felt spot on; I neither wanted to come to a dead stop nor rush to the end. At any given point, I was thoroughly wrapped up in the moment.

Of course, all this was further accentuated by the writing. My heavens the writing. I know I mentioned earlier that there had to be a ton of work (naturally) that went into the life of this book. That said, Miranda undoubtedly has a gift with words matched by few. The voice that I was listening to in my mind as I read along was simply beautiful -- I have no other way to describe it. And now thanks to this book, I have one of my favorite analogies to describe people, which I intend to use regularly:

"People were like Russian nesting dolls -- versions stacked inside the latest edition. But they all still lived inside, unchanged, just out of sight."

I've got to be honest. Other than Haruki Murakami, I rarely pay attention to the way an author writes. I'm usually the type of reader that as long as I'm lost in a story, everything else can just pass by me. Since this book, however, I find myself paying attention to word choices, phrasing and arrangement if only that when a piece of text catches my eye, I'd like to think it's something I would've written though I know it'd have to be from a better version of currently abilities. I'm pretty sure there are a variety of reasons for my attentiveness, but I'm mostly going to chalk it up to my own experience with writing (really the lack thereof if we're being real) and the way in which time has affected it.

In any case, All The Missing Girls has all the right elements going for it -- voice, pacing, language, suspense and a rare kind of storytelling. I'm looking forward to reading more of Megan Miranda's work if only to just take the unique storytelling ride that is special to her. Until then, I'll close out with a simple quote that resonated fittingly with me the moment I saw it:

"[Time] shows you things if you let it."