Late nights on air

I was disappointed in this book. I found the characters uninteresting, the storyline disjointed, the dialogue artificial, the foreshadowing clumsy, and the metaphors forced (although there was some good imagery). I think the author shows promise, but needs to refine her craft more or needs a better editor.

One example of the lack of editing--unless I wasn't paying close enough attention and missed something--is that sometimes the cafe in the book is called "The Strange Range" and sometimes it is called "The Gold Range." Whether the former was a nickname the characters used for the latter, they were two different places, or this was sheer carelessness on the author's part is unclear to me. There are also many non sequiturs in the book--details that don't seem to add anything to the story and that should have been edited out, in my opinion.

I was also baffled by the whole subplot of the Berger inquiry. It seemed as if the author was shoehorning her own opinion of development in the north into the novel, instead of making it an integral part of the story, since none of the major characters were directly involved. Because the characters were only occasional observers, the whole topic came across as preachy. Even though I am in sympathy with the ideas expressed, and I think the Berger inquiry was important in real life, I found this subplot annoying, and it added to the disjointedness of the whole novel.

Hay needs to learn to show us, by directly involving her characters in the issue, instead of telling us by having them observe and think about or comment on the issues. There would be a greater emotional impact that way.