Speaking in Tongues Book

If you look up a definition of cliché writing, this book would be one of the prime examples of it. It is as average as average gets.

First of all, I don't read many crime novels but I have read enough to know what is original and what have been overused over time or beaten to death. Second, I have also watched a tons of movies that focus on crimes such as kidnapping (just as this book does) and I also know what is considered a good story and what passes as a weak attempt at story telling.

This is one of those stories. You got a lot of examples of cliché writing such as deviant teenager, parents who got divorced, parents who are too busy to pay attention to their child (why have them if you don't want to raise them??), teenager has anger issues towards parents, a someone you least suspect acting as a kidnapper but also hiding in plain sight, father having powerful job that lets him take advantage of his friends in high places (FBI, police, etc.), and of course, the biggest cliché ever, parents only caring about their kid only when he/she is in danger.

There is nothing new. Parents go from person to person connected to their child, interviewing them, and being shocked when they find out things that they did not know about their daughter. Again, nothing new.

Also, I am not a psychopath or someone who knows a lot about kidnapping, but I think if I was to kidnap someone, I would lock them away in a room where they can use half of the stuff in there to hurt/kill me. I would also chain them up a bit so they can't get away. None of these things the person in the book apparently knows about, yet he can study you for five minutes and know your inner most secrets and personality quirks. I am not buying it that he is this stupid.

Deaver tries to write teenage dialogue as best as he can but it comes out pretty weak. It is full of "likes" (almost every other word is a "like"). It gets annoying.

Weak effort overall but I will definitely read more of Deaver's work. I got his Bone Collector book on my list to read this year.

P.S. The book had a bit of a twist ending but not worth the read.