The Authorities™
by Scott Meyer, 2015
Sinclair Rutherford is a young Seattle cop with a taste for the finer things. Doing menial tasks and getting
hassled by superiors he doesn't respect are definitely not “finer things.” Good police work and bad luck lead him to crack a case that changes quickly from a career-making break into a high-profile humiliation when footage of his pursuit of the suspect—wildly inappropriate murder weapon in hand—becomes an Internet sensation.
But the very publicity that has made Rutherford a laughing stock in the department lands him what could be the job opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to work with a team of eccentric experts, at the direction of a demanding but distracted billionaire. Together, they must solve the murder of a psychologist who specialized in the treatment of patients who give people “the creeps.”
There is no shortage of suspects.
But the very publicity that has made Rutherford a laughing stock in the department lands him what could be the job opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to work with a team of eccentric experts, at the direction of a demanding but distracted billionaire. Together, they must solve the murder of a psychologist who specialized in the treatment of patients who give people “the creeps.”
There is no shortage of suspects.
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The Authorities tries to be sharp, witty, and funny. The dialogue is flat, without the pacing or timing required to make it humorous; I see how the jokes would work in a comic strip or tv show, but they fail in this novel.
The rest of the humor is of the 'point and laugh, painfully awkward' kind, which I despise. The backer is in need of a butt kicking. The rest of the cast is odd but okay, though it takes forever to meet them.
The central plot is ... uninteresting.
Overall, avoid. Try the sample, see if it works for you. The rest of the book doesn't get any better.
The rest of the humor is of the 'point and laugh, painfully awkward' kind, which I despise. The backer is in need of a butt kicking. The rest of the cast is odd but okay, though it takes forever to meet them.
The central plot is ... uninteresting.
Overall, avoid. Try the sample, see if it works for you. The rest of the book doesn't get any better.
My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5 stars) - I did not like it.
