My whole life I thought sauerkraut was one of the nastiest foods that existed. Then about a year ago I got an urge for a Reuben sandwich. The urge must've been divine intervention, because why would someone so averse to sauerkraut order a Reuben? It was delicious. Now I pile the 'kraut on my hot dogs.
Similarly I couldn't stand onions- especially raw onions. Then at my SuperBowl party when my guacamole was just missing something, it was suggested I up the red onion. That was the trick to an awesome guac'. And now I'm finding raw red onions a great burger topping.
What does sauerkraut and onion have to do with a book review? They are indicative that tastes change. The Twelfth Card was the second disappointing book I've read in the last few months that was by an author whose previous half-dozen or more books I've enjoyed (see my review of
Split Second), and perhaps I can give benefit of the doubt to the authors that my taste in books has simply changed.
The Twelfth Card is the fifth or sixth Lincoln Rhyme story by Deaver. Rhyme is a forensic expert and the books are generally well researched and documented detective thrillers that have generally been more interesting due to the detailed descriptions of forensic tools and processes used than the banal bunch of cops running around with guns action. Think about an episode of CSI turned into a 500 page, well-documented novel with a focus on the science, not the action.
In my opinion this novel took a departure from the formula. It was as if Deaver was on deadline, didn't have enough time to worry about researching and documenting science, and just decided to churn out, well, banal cops running around with guns.
What really bothered me was the authors incorrect use of the slang word "benjamin". I listen to enough hip-hop and rap, and watch enough t.v. to assume that a "benjamin" refers to a $100 bill...which has Benjamin Franklin on it.
Urban Dictionary confirms that assumption which is also consistent with the SNL guys comically referring to a $10 bill as a Hamilton in the Chronicles of Narnia video. So upon reading this excerpt I cringed:
(page 101) "In his pocket he carried a good-size wad of benjamins, mostly twenties, as well as a horn-handled knife...."
What? I cringed more the second time.
(page 105) "He pulled out a roll of benjamins, peeled off some twenties, held them out to Ralph"
I'm the type of person where some inconsistency in the first five minutes of a movie can ruin a whole movie. This horrible attempt at using slang in dialog bothered me for the remaining 470+ pages in the book...especially since the word was used 10 more times. (I didn't count when reading...I just did a search within a book on Amazon). This from an author I previously liked for his research and detail.
(Perhaps I'm wrong and benjamins can be used simply to represent any currency and not just hundreds. If so, someone correct me and I'll add 1/2 star to this review.)
I strongly recommend Deaver's prior Lincoln Rhyme books but I'd only suggest this if you've read them all and want to keep up with the series. There's a new Lincoln Rhyme book out and I'll probably eventually read that to see if this was just an anomaly.
