Helpful Score: 3
As a fan of the show, I was really looking forward to getting another story with these great characters in this great setting. The book ends up being very hot or miss when it comes to that.
Goldberg does a good job at first of hitting the beats of the show when it comes to dialogue, pace, and character relationships; but he loses this in different places along the way. Part of this is the internal dialogue of Michael Westin, which we already get in the show, but in the novel is really expounded on, to the detriment of the book. It's almost as if the reason to read the book is to get more insight on the characters and their motivations, but this is what is most distracting.
The attempts at fleshing Westin out, and making him seem more sentimental about his youth in Miami fell flat to me. It did more to distract from the action and plot than add to what was going on.
As far as the plot, for me it again just missed the mark. It starts off with a very good noir premise, but as it comes toward the climax, it becomes very convoluted and difficult to follow what happened and why; especially when it comes to the subplot that the book starts off with.
All this said, the book wasn't horrible, but just not as good as it could have been,which is a shame. This may just be a case of a property not translating as well from it's original medium.
Goldberg does a good job at first of hitting the beats of the show when it comes to dialogue, pace, and character relationships; but he loses this in different places along the way. Part of this is the internal dialogue of Michael Westin, which we already get in the show, but in the novel is really expounded on, to the detriment of the book. It's almost as if the reason to read the book is to get more insight on the characters and their motivations, but this is what is most distracting.
The attempts at fleshing Westin out, and making him seem more sentimental about his youth in Miami fell flat to me. It did more to distract from the action and plot than add to what was going on.
As far as the plot, for me it again just missed the mark. It starts off with a very good noir premise, but as it comes toward the climax, it becomes very convoluted and difficult to follow what happened and why; especially when it comes to the subplot that the book starts off with.
All this said, the book wasn't horrible, but just not as good as it could have been,which is a shame. This may just be a case of a property not translating as well from it's original medium.
