The Dead Key

So I spent my Sunday reading THE DEAD KEY. Long book... and I don't mean the number of pages. I happen to like long books. When I was a regular shopper at my local bookstores, my initial selection was based off thickness (how I discovered Robert Jordon and Terry Goodkind and others of that epic length writing). THE DEAD KEY, however, is largely one single, long wind-up, the pacing not really picking up till well past the last quarter.

Mystery? Treasure Hunt? Gothic Horror? Pretty much all of it, and shows masterful thought and planning to D.M. Pulley's credit. It certainly kept me guessing what the final intent of the book was until that last quarter when the last pieces finally began falling into place- not quite all pieces, though.

To give a basic idea of narrative style, the story is comprised of two intertwined timelines. It rather reminded me of an old horror 16 bit game I still own, where the actions of one timeline directly impacted the actions of the other, and the swapping around of perspectives kept the revelations coming, the "Ah hah!" moments rolling, the suspense tight with wonderment and discovery, simply an exquisite plotline that has made the game a cult classic. THE DEAD KEY largely captures the same engrossing interest, and kept me going, page after page, chapter after chapter, perspective after perspective, within that same sense of driven fascination. But it is also well padded, well padded indeed, with repeating expositional elements.

An incipient alcoholic anti-heroine, whom I didn't find much empathy for, and a naïve, innocent anti-heroine, whose repeated sense of helplessness, panic, and confusion even I began finding a tad tiresome - and I am one of those who relish minutia that others would sigh over. The modern gothic environs, however, are expertly crafted. The tone is psychologically tense with a handful of honest-to-goodness chapter ending cliffhangers. The interlocking aspects never ceased to delight me. And the ending... well, a completion within the same emotional level as Arturo Pérez-Reverte's 1993 novel, THE CLUB DUMAS had concluded with (the novel may be recognized by more as the later movie, THE NINTH GATE).

All in all, enjoyable, yet I do have to wonder how even more fantastic these elements would be if the book was the same 477 pages but made tauter in pacing, richer in action, and, yes, even more deeply layered. Or at least just stronger pacing. I do love narrative minutia, which Frank Herbert and James Clavell being my models of mastery, yet THE DEAD KEY only approaches the cusp of such epic grandeur without quite turning that last key.

The narrative is replete with profanity and contains a couple very minor and glossed past sexual encounters. Also, Prime Members can pick TWO Kindle Selections this month.