In amongst the false starts and partially finished ideas are a few posts that don't quite make it to the 'Publish' button. This review of Michael Lister's intriguing DOUBLE EXPOSURE is one of them.Built into the budget of Bouchercon is some amount of money for books that until I cross the threshold of the Convention floor I have no idea I will be buying. I made two of these purchases, and for the purposes of this review the most important one was Michael Lister's DOUBLE EXPOSURE. As with most of these purchases I had no idea who Michael Lister was let alone that his is a writer of Crime Fiction. That was until Michael Koryta asked Michael Connelly at the Guest of Honor interview if Mr. Connelly had read anything recently that he really liked. Of course he said Michael Lister's DOUBLE EXPOSURE. And, of course, I spent the balance of B'Con finding a copy.
Stylistically, DOUBLE EXPOSURE is unlike any Crime Novel I have read in... well... forever. I can short circuit a number of adverbs and adjectives and can call the style of Mr. Lister's book poetry. Of course saying this conjures up a bunch images, not all good. Flowery language that only hints at their true meaning, brain twisting metaphors, and of course depression. But, let's stop right there. Mr. Lister's prose poetry is a hammer. Immediate without false meaning or evasion. It cuts you to the quick, and challenges the reader to keep up with the spartan prose. The writing of DOUBLE EXPOSURE maybe economical, but every character, every setting, every progression of the plot is as rich, full and powerful as if he had included all of those adverbs and adjectives. Mr. Lister's is not so much writing a story as engaging the reader to come with him on this journey. DOUBLE EXPOSURE is written as a third person narrative, but that is incidental. It reads as a second person narrative challenging the reader at every step. What choice would make? How would survive on the run in the Florida swamps? Do you choose yourself? Do choose those you love? And is surviving actually living? Mr Lister is certainly an author to watch, read, and savor.
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