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The Undertaker
by William Brownebook, 322 pages
Published February 2011 by William F. Brown
ISBN13: 9781617505119
Read October 2011
The Undertaker is definitely a roller coaster ride, complete with the slow standing in line start. Seriously, for about the first third of the book I questioned if it was going to be worth it - just like when you stand in the long line inching forward and you see the ads for the ride and maybe a glimpse of the fun in action on a video screen, but aren't sure the shuffling pace of the line will really be worth it in the end. Boy, am I glad that I didn't hop out of line on this book.
It is a thriller involving the mafia, government, and cover-ups - all the right ingredients for a great read in my book. But there was just something about Peter's character that made it difficult for me to buy into him jumping to the conclusion of a conspiracy or scam. If you follow my Goodreads.com updates you know that I thought Peter must be really stupid for not seeing that it was the witness protection program. While I do still stand by the claim and I did finally jump on the conspiracy bandwagon around the half-way mark and that is when the ride got wild.
For a thriller, it didn't really require much thought to keep up with the story. Brown uses pretty stereotypical characters, which might be why I had problems with Peter. An aeronautical engineer (aka rocket scientist) from California does not scream conspiracy nut to me. Maybe it was the death of his wife, but I would have thought he would have been more logical.
I really liked the supporting characters of Sandy and Gino. It would be cool if there was a book that focused on Gino. Sandy was a bit unstable (I could totally see her jumping to the government conspiracy theory). Her character though served more to reinforce my opinion that Peter shouldn't have gone down that path so quickly/easily.
The Undertaker isn't meant to be a book that you think too hard about. If you do, you just start seeing more problems and lose some of the thrilling fun that it is meant to be. It was pitched to me as a great summer beach read and it definitely would have been if I could have gotten to it this summer. For a reader who doesn't really care to read fluffy chick-lit, but still wants a light read The Undertaker is perfect! (I can say it's a fluffy thriller?)
by Steven Stiles
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