|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Teddy Ruzak spends the first chapter of THE HIGHLY EFFECTIVE DETECTIVE telling us about all the fictional detectives he emulated as a child. But by the time he starts his own agency he's completely oblivious to the need for training, experience, or a license. This is your first clue that Yancey is putting humor over plot. The unlicensed agency is named The Highly Effective Detection and Investigation Company because Ruzak thinks the acronym is clever -- which clues you in about the quality of that humor. The first client isn't bothered by THE DIC's amateur status because he knows that a more professional agency would refuse to handle his case. He's seen an SUV mow down goslings crossing the road and he wants 'the murderer' brought to justice. With the help of a waitress-turned-secretary and a sympathetic deputy, Ruzak does his best to trace the car. It turns out to be the getaway vehicle in a kidnap and murder case, although for a large portion of the book it doesn't seem as though that crime is being seriously investigated. Both the title and the blurb on the back aim at fans of Monk, "The Defective Detective," so I'm going to go with that parallel. I've watched Monk and you, Teddy Ruzak, are no Adrian Monk. Monk is a savvy and experienced ex-police officer. His quirks might be played for broad humor, but they are also unmistakably portrayed as the problems of a damaged, mentally ill man. Ruzak, on the other hand, is just ignorant and idle. He passively lets things sweep along, "waiting for a break in the case or a break in the monotony of my life." The book is much longer and slower than it needed to be because, as Ruzak admits, "I'm too trusting and maybe a little lazy." Those are terrible character traits for a detective, and the characters around him aren't that sympathetic either. For instance, my interest in Felicia the secretary waned quickly at her many absences and disappeared entirely when she laughed at the description of a crushed, dying bird. In summary, there's barely any action, a blindingly obvious mystery, and a main character who, in his own words "barely possessed the intellectual wherewithal to tie his own shoes."
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, May 2006
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
