The Basement

Once again a cracking read by Mr Leather what's next, can't wait yet love reading his books go man go

Reason for purchasing: This book was a Christmas present. I do not usually read thrillers but as I enjoyed Dreamer's Cat by Stephen Leather so much, I was more than willing to give it a go.Setting: New York.Storyline: Again, the main character is a would-be writer. This is a common theme - refer to Leif Ableman from Dreamer's Cat - however, here the similarities end. Our hero (I use the term loosely as this is the central thrillerific drive of this book), is, by degrees, unveiled as a most disagreeable character. And yet Marvin Waller is frighteningly believable. I love the way he tries everything to get his work before the right people, bypassing the watchdog secretaries and the idiotic door men to get straight to the top even if it means harassment or stalking or other such crimes culminating in the Grand Daddy of all. Incidentally, while Marvin writes, a microcosm of story ideas bubble and boil in his head, which for aspiring thriller writers is worth the price of this kindle book alone. More importantly, the gruesome ideas Marvin settles on as best placed to succeed, seem to be identical to a mysterious serial murderer. This person we see between each chapter and their unknown viewpoint is differentiated from Marvin's first person narrative via use of bold text and the you tense. Forced to investigate whether Marvin is the killer are the good cop bad cop partnership of Detective Marcinko (a plain yet beautiful Irish woman) and Sergeant Turner (a foul-mouthed, bad-tempered coloured man who hates Waller from the off and is convinced Waller is the serial killer). Unveiling the ending will spoil the book. Suffice to say I was kept guessing right to the last page. Brilliant suspense.Style: Short. Sharp. Riveting. I could not put my kindle down all Christmas Day evening and Boxing Day evening.Prognosis: Great value for money, even with the mass of missing/muddled words and the clanger in locations 4012-39 or 63%: the paragraph beginning "She nods. Too eager. Too willing to please. She thinks she can outmanoeuvre me..." This paragraph is in a you section not a me/I section. This authorial/editorial lapse shatters the illusion. Thank goodness there was no Freudian slip as to the killer's identity. I shall endeavour to use the Kindle prowess to share these faux pas with the author/publisher/Kindle community.Footnote: After finishing this book, I visited Stephen Leather's website where I found lots of interesting information for fans, readers and writers alike.Kelvin M. Knight, 27th December 2010

The Basement is a short thriller of just 135 pages. The Basement It is about a struggling writer called Marvin Waller who is trying desperately to get his screenplays recognised in the film industry. Meanwhile, two detectives are hellbent on finding a serial killer and Marvin is their number one suspect.The Book was written from two different viewpoints, first person when it’s Marvin’s scenes and second person when it’s the killers scenes. The second person scenes are intense and can be quite graphic in parts, featuring both violence and sexual descriptions. When the perspective changes, you see a page break and italics and this perspective helps to throw you into the interactions between the killer and their captive. It’s quite clever how Stephen Leather changes perspective like that. It’s quite a shock to the system when it first happens, but for me, it totally works. Stephen Leather has done it well for the most part, it really helps to build the suspense.The Main character, for me is annoying. I disliked him completely. He’s uptight, but he has incredible self-control and only lets people see what he wants them to see. As you read, thanks to the first person perspective, you get an incredible sense of what he’s really like underneath his façade.The story starts off well at first and get’s you wondering from the start where it’s all going, it doesn't last long though. At only a quarter of the way through it started to feel a little repetitive. It’s worth pushing through though as it doesn't last long. The suspense builds slowly through and by three-quarters of the way though the intensity is immense. It is completely riveting and really holds me into the story and makes me see every detail of the story in my mind. It’s a far cry from the book that struggled to hold my attention at a quarter. The intensity continues after this point until the end where my heart was beating through my chest and I was all but screaming at the characters.The ending for me was very unexpected and as I finished my first thought was wow!

There is no simpler way to describe this book other than graphic, very graphic indeed. At times it felt like a violent porn story out of the back of a "top shelf" magazine but at other times it felt like a traditional crime novel, with the bad guy being chased by the good guys. I must admit it kept me gripped the way it constantly switched between the actual hunt by the NYPD and the very detailed sexual exploits of the serial killer.I can see why it has caused such divided opinion but my personal view is that isn't it the detailed description of the crime, which happen to be sexually driven in this instance, that contributes so much to keeping us so enthralled by what will happen next? It scares me to say it but the truth is the way Mr. Leather wrote the sexually motivated attacks, made me feel like I was very much inside the mind of the killer. When one pays for a book surely they want some emotion provoking sensations as well as entertainment, from that perspective this book had both.Finally, it could have been longer hence only 3 stars, at only circa 130 pages it was more like a short story and felt a bit rushed at times, especially the ending. However for someone like me who took a break from reading it was a perfect book to get me back into things, but for a more seasoned reader I can see why they may have been left wanting more, a lot more.