My first introduction to Nelson Demille's humour and consequently his work was with his novel Gold Coast which had me and my neighbour in the apartment below in crackles of laughter and admiration for the dark drama in this novel.
We concluded that Nelson was an author after our own hearts since his book reflected the culture which we knew as children growing up in Trinidad, the southernmost island in the Caribbean, just seven miles off the coast of Venezuela.
I remained in awe of Demille until I bought an old copy of another book of his, The Charm School, and then, rather unfortunately, lost my admiration for this talented author.
There's little wrong with The Charm School except for my point of view. The concept for this story is good but poorly depicted. In my view there are so many exotic and mysterious scenarios to be made from the idea of a charm school that this wintry place in Russia fades by comparison.
Also the telling of the story is drawn out much too much and there is more than a fair share of attention paid to things of lesser importance.
An experienced thriller writer could have made a super novel of this story but Nelson doesn't. So he disappoints me, and I guess, numbers of others.
It brings to mind the simple fact that most authors do indeed have a few really good books in them and the rest of it is left to his reputation and the gullibility of readers.
I must be honest and say that I haven't read any of his other works but I will do so as time permits.
Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that the glory of one great novel does not mean the inevitability of another.
