I watched the English language ones and one or two produced for Poland, and of their kind they are better than many, some more than others. Twisty and intriguing, they hook you in from the off.
Of the English language ones I noticed that Quay Studios who produced the English ones did often opt to use the same locations and the same faces often turned up in several in different roles in different series. But, hell, who
As I say, some were better than others as when one or two concluded there might be a loose end or two. But given that the Netflix series were only ‘based’ on Coben’s novels and scripted by some guy called Danny Brocklehurst – an established name in Brit TV, I read – any ‘flaws’ could be attributed to him rather than Coben’s original conception.
In the Netflix versions there were certainly flaws, though perhaps, like beauty, a ‘flaw’ is in they eye of . . . blah, blah. Often a crucial aspect of a ‘plot’ made littles sense – in two series there was a couple of killers, a man and a woman, roaming about apparently at ease.
But I must remind myself that this review is about Coben’s 2025 novel Nobody’s Fool, not the Netflix films.
What Coben attempts in this novel – his signature twistiness and intriguing plots – might strike some as ‘easy-peasy’, but skill is needed to bring it all together and that is where a good writer stand out. So a week or two agao, I decided I wanted to take a look at Coben’s method on the page rather than on-screen.
I chose Nobody’s Fool, his ‘latest’, at random, and bought two copies – one for my daughter, though as the mother of a severn-year-old girl and four-year-old boy I doubt she has much time to read.
From the first sentence, his style – in this novel – is clear: direct, punchy, very simple and with very short sentences, often of just one word or two, and a great deal of skilful dialogue. I suspect dialogue is all-too-often underrated. It can do some heavy lifting but remained inconspicuous.
How Coben writes is not an unknown ‘method’ and some might prefer the description ‘style’ – and it is common. But equally common is that when it is attempted for some reason it can fall flat on its face. One problem I’ve noticed is that is it nat sustained or it evolves in unrealistic ways. That was on aspect of Mick Herron’s Down Cemetery Road which disappointed me.
So using that method or, if you like, adopting that style, provides a great example of one of life’s true enigmas: if it works, it works, it it doesn’t it doesn’t. And no amount of analysis of the kind attempted by some with more time on their hands than is decent is successful in answering the question: why does it work?
Folk with a penchant for trying to find out – and I am not one of them – delve and delve and delve to get nowhere rather fast simply because – if it works, it works! E basta! Not knowing why it works is the sodding enigma itself, mateys!
That kind of earnest ‘research’ – they do the same every now than then at pompous international academic symposia, for example analysing humour – always reminds me of the one to the few snippets of famous verse I know:
In Coben’s case his ‘method’ or ‘style’ works and does so in spades. But it’s better than that: Coben has the gift – and it is a gift and I hope I am not sounding condescending, Harlan, if you ever get to read this – of bringing a a world alive.
Not so long ago I read Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim, and despite, often his extensive descriptions of the plains of northern India, the Himalayan foothills and the Himalayas themselves as well as several potentially colourful scenes, nothing really came to life.
I concede that might have much to do with a – or perhaps the – reader, in this case me. Yet in just a few deft strokes Coben’s novel became far more vivid and protagonists gained shape, character and presence.
What Coben attempts in this novel – his signature twistiness and intriguing plots – might strike some as ‘easy-peasy’, but skill is needed to bring it all together and that is where a good writer stand out. So a week or two agao, I decided I wanted to take a look at Coben’s method on the page rather than on-screen.
I chose Nobody’s Fool, his ‘latest’, at random, and bought two copies – one for my daughter, though as the mother of a severn-year-old girl and four-year-old boy I doubt she has much time to read.
From the first sentence, his style – in this novel – is clear: direct, punchy, very simple and with very short sentences, often of just one word or two, and a great deal of skilful dialogue. I suspect dialogue is all-too-often underrated. It can do some heavy lifting but remained inconspicuous.
How Coben writes is not an unknown ‘method’ and some might prefer the description ‘style’ – and it is common. But equally common is that when it is attempted for some reason it can fall flat on its face. One problem I’ve noticed is that is it nat sustained or it evolves in unrealistic ways. That was on aspect of Mick Herron’s Down Cemetery Road which disappointed me.
So using that method or, if you like, adopting that style, provides a great example of one of life’s true enigmas: if it works, it works, it it doesn’t it doesn’t. And no amount of analysis of the kind attempted by some with more time on their hands than is decent is successful in answering the question: why does it work?
Folk with a penchant for trying to find out – and I am not one of them – delve and delve and delve to get nowhere rather fast simply because – if it works, it works! E basta! Not knowing why it works is the sodding enigma itself, mateys!
That kind of earnest ‘research’ – they do the same every now than then at pompous international academic symposia, for example analysing humour – always reminds me of the one to the few snippets of famous verse I know:
Our meddling intellect / Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things: / We murder to dissect.The same point is made in the observation with which some might be familiar that ‘vivisection of a frog might be interesting but in the end the frog dies’ – as does the joke, the humour, the intrigue, the wonder and the magic: never ask a conjuror to tell you how a trick is done, because if he does, you will never forgive him.(From The Tables Turned by William Wordsworth)
In Coben’s case his ‘method’ or ‘style’ works and does so in spades. But it’s better than that: Coben has the gift – and it is a gift and I hope I am not sounding condescending, Harlan, if you ever get to read this – of bringing a a world alive.
Not so long ago I read Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim, and despite, often his extensive descriptions of the plains of northern India, the Himalayan foothills and the Himalayas themselves as well as several potentially colourful scenes, nothing really came to life.
I concede that might have much to do with a – or perhaps the – reader, in this case me. Yet in just a few deft strokes Coben’s novel became far more vivid and protagonists gained shape, character and presence.
In this novel there are about ten characters, some making only a fleeting appearance, but they are all oddly distinct. Achieving that is a gift though, once again, I must concede some readers might disagree. Yet but I can’t deny that Coben created a world with some ease where Kipling did not.
I’ve long admired cartoon artists and their ability with a minimum of a few deft lines to convey so much, even emotions, attitude and character. The irony is that it is not the artist and writer who ‘do the work’, but the ‘viewer’ and ‘reader’: the artist and writer simply spark their imagination and the ‘viewer’ and ‘reader’ supply the rest.
For me that is true art: manipulating another’s interpretation to create something which otherwise does not exist.
Certainly, the ‘artist’, of whichever kind is present, will and cannot specify the interpretation – that will be wholly down to the other and that will most probably be wholly personal or, to use, a better word, subjective. But that is unimportant.
Coben has written more than 35 novels and this is, so far, the only one I have read. I shall read only one more because I have only so much time and there is such a backlog of other stuff I should like to get to know. But I have already bought Fool Me Once to see how well his ‘method / style’ does there, and I chose that because I am familiar with ‘the story’ from the Netflix version.
As for Nobody’s Fool, and depending one who broadminded you are you can do a lot worse than getting hold of a copy and reading it. ‘Literature’ as defined by man a ‘celebrated’ critic in our Sunday supplement book reviews it isn’t but given what ‘literature’, often shilled as ‘an important work’, I have endured, I can only say thank the Lord for small mercies. If you like reading the work of a gifted writer, you can do a lot worse with Nobody’s Fool.
I’ve long admired cartoon artists and their ability with a minimum of a few deft lines to convey so much, even emotions, attitude and character. The irony is that it is not the artist and writer who ‘do the work’, but the ‘viewer’ and ‘reader’: the artist and writer simply spark their imagination and the ‘viewer’ and ‘reader’ supply the rest.
For me that is true art: manipulating another’s interpretation to create something which otherwise does not exist.
Certainly, the ‘artist’, of whichever kind is present, will and cannot specify the interpretation – that will be wholly down to the other and that will most probably be wholly personal or, to use, a better word, subjective. But that is unimportant.
Coben has written more than 35 novels and this is, so far, the only one I have read. I shall read only one more because I have only so much time and there is such a backlog of other stuff I should like to get to know. But I have already bought Fool Me Once to see how well his ‘method / style’ does there, and I chose that because I am familiar with ‘the story’ from the Netflix version.
As for Nobody’s Fool, and depending one who broadminded you are you can do a lot worse than getting hold of a copy and reading it. ‘Literature’ as defined by man a ‘celebrated’ critic in our Sunday supplement book reviews it isn’t but given what ‘literature’, often shilled as ‘an important work’, I have endured, I can only say thank the Lord for small mercies. If you like reading the work of a gifted writer, you can do a lot worse with Nobody’s Fool.
No comments:
Post a Comment