Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Suspense
Approximate word count: 90-95,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Walter
Danley is a retired investment executive.
Description:
“When Tom
Burke dies skiing Aspen Mountain, his business partner, Garth Wainwright, must
find his killer. Burke was murdered and he seeks the reason. Cautioned to leave
the investigation to the authorities, Wainwright won’t let go. His two closest
partners, Tom Shaw and Robert Keating don’t believe his suspicion of foul play.
Searching for the killer, Wainwright uncovers a conspiracy within the company
of millions of dollars embezzled from investors… and some partner involvement
is probable. Whom can he trust?
Suddenly, a
second partner is murdered. The fraud and the murders are connected and Shaw
and Keating become believers and join Wainwright’s search for the killer. The
Tipping Point will be the exposure of the fraud to the SEC, which will destroy
the company; will shut it down. The company’s investors are not the only ones
that will lose. Wainwright is concerned for his personal net worth and his
safety because he knows that one of his partners is a killer.
Wainwright
adds spice to an already flavorful mix when he falls in love with Lacey
Kincaid, a former Boston criminal prosecutor. They devise a plan to smoke out
the guilty partners, without exposing the fraud to the SEC or triggering an FBI
investigation of the interstate homicides. A perilous dance of deception
implements the complicated strategy. The plan forces the killer to surface …
and then … another partner dies.
From the
ski slopes of Aspen to the corporate board room in Seattle, murder and mayhem
follow ten business partners who succumb in four assassinations, one suicide,
and three bankruptcies, leaving Wainwright and Shaw to exorcise greed,
complicity, and fraud in order to restructure the company to its former
acclaim.”
Appraisal:
As I was
nearing the end of The Tipping Point
and considering what my final verdict was going to be, I thought the answer was
clear. It was an okay story with a lot of problems in execution. Then while
reading the acknowledgements I read a section that for lack of a better word
I’ll call a disclaimer. It said:
If you found errors of fact or
location, I would like to hear about them. As for any errors you might imagine
in spelling, punctuation or capitalization, please accept this as the variance
permitted with the existence of many conventions and styles of writing. There
are also times my characters may use incorrect grammar, abbreviations or
misspelled words in their speech, but know this is intentional whether it is to
assign an accent or a way of expression.
The last
part made sense. Sometimes characters do use incorrect grammar and if it fits
the character it shouldn’t be perceived as an error. It was the first part that
threw me, especially since one of the issues I had was what I saw as a
borderline job of proofing. For example, there was the line that started “THE
ASSASSIN HAD been in chicago for less-than ninety minutes …” or the one that
began “THE CAB RIDE to wainwright’s condominium …” These lines start in all
capitals because they are the first line of their respective chapters which is
an acceptable style decision. But what purpose is served by not capitalizing
the proper names (Chicago and Wainwright)? Are there legitimate conventions and
styles that would say this is okay? e.e cummings might say yes, but if so,
shouldn’t Wainwright be sans capital everywhere, which wasn’t the case? I don’t
buy it.
But the
issues I found went well beyond issues of proofing and any disagreements about
what is and isn’t an error in grammar or capitalization. I’ll mention just some
of them. First is repeating back story about a character. One example was
repeating the rationale a character, usually referred to as The Assassin, used
as justification for his career choice. While different wording was used, it
communicated the same thoughts. Another example is a character named Barbara
(or BJ). The reader already had her pegged from previous back story, but then
the author spelled it out for the reader too dense to get it, saying, “She
always managed to be with successful men. Men who thought she was beautiful and
took care of her.” Way too often I’d read a line and say to myself, “I already
know that.”
There are
some of those errors of fact, too. One minor example was saying Lake Tahoe was
in the Mountain time zone (of course, the character may have just been making a
mistake). Another instance is a police detective saying this:
For instance, when we run DNA, we
almost always get a hit. Unless the guy is an alien and just dropped in for a
blowjob, his DNA should be in the system, someplace in the world.
In the US,
databanks of DNA profiles (especially those that are available for searching in a criminal investigation)
are limited to those convicted of certain crimes or at least arrested for one
of those crimes, depending on state law. The laws in a number of other
countries are similar. Chances of a random person or even a random criminal
being in the database are well shy of “almost always.”
Then there
were the things that just didn’t make sense. For example, The Assassin met face
to face with a client. He’d done work for him before and hoped he was going to
turn out to be a “franchise client” (one who provided him enough work to keep
him busy). Then, after the meeting, he decided since the client could identify
him, that he needed to be killed. Part of the justification is that the person
he met with was “only a messenger” acting as a go between with the actual
client. But even if it had been the client (which is who he thought he was
meeting) wouldn’t the same rules apply? It seems illogical that he wouldn’t
have thought of this problem before the meeting.
I could
continue, complaining about rough transitions between some scenes, pointing out
where the wrong character name was used, or nitpicking on other items. But
hopefully I’ve given enough examples to make my case.
FYI:
Some adult
language.
Format/Typo Issues:
A moderate
number of proofing and copy editing issues.
Rating: ** Two stars
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