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Above Suspicion

StirlingStirling
edited January 2009 in - Reading
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1111608/ITV-faces-huge-fine-probe-launched-graphic-brutality-La-Plante-thriller.html

I tried reading the book several years ago on holiday, and I didn't make it past chapter one with it's maggot infested body.

I think there is a distinct line between 'gritty' (which I take for realism) and being gratitious. I think this is blatantly gratitious (and I read horror fiction!) Now I've written things like this, but I've pulled back now because it's just bad writing subsituting for plot/story problems.

Comments

  • dorothyddorothyd
    I thought I'd read all of La Plante's books but don't recognise this title or storyline. It does sound extreme.
  • StirlingStirling
    Let's think. I bought it as a paperback in 2005.
  • heatherheather
    It was very graphic, which didn't bother me as much as the female detective being such a drip!

    I didn't think it was too much for TV, but there is an issue with post watershed TV now being available on the internet at any time of day with no restrictions. Yes, parents should police what their chidren do on their computers, but it can't be easy.
  • CarolCarol
    Apparently is was called 'Above Suspicion' -according to the article.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0743483758/ref=sib_rdr_dp (this is the 2005 release.)

    it's has also had a 2008 release too. The link above will allow you to read the first couple of pages- which look mild compared to what the article says.
  • StirlingStirling
    I can't remember how far I got in the book.

    I combination of a cliched drip of a heroine and 'urgh' that is disgusting!
  • Col BCol B
    I've read, heard and even seen a lot of bad stuff and I must say, having watched the the first episode, it was somewhat gratuitous regarding showing the bodies in a decomposed, maggot-ridden state. Just a glimpse would have sufficed, but they (La Plante & co) seemed intent on shocking viewers more than usual. Like you, Stirling, I like a good horror and I'm not particularly squeamish, but this was rather O.T.T.

    Heather, I thought that supposed 'leading lady' was a buffoon, too!

    Maybe La Plante wanted to take a different approach and experiment...?
  • StirlingStirling
    I learned something interesting in reading a book on Gothic. Horror [and terror] works on a psychological level. Terror is the emotion experienced in that split second before the act happens; horror is the emotion afterwards. Something gratuitous hower isn't enough to produce terror/horror; instead it repels us.

    I think she should read some psychological novels. I was reading a Guardian Blog the other day and the writer criticised her for her dated characters (i.e a woman trying to make it in a man's world - the police force)

    When I tried out for the Police in 2002 and I wouldn't describe the police force as 'a man's world.'
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