Caskett in Death discussion

A couple of thoughts I just want to share. I sometimes find her use of similes a bit jarring. Like that particular simile is just not working for me; seems a bit off somehow.

BUT .... The writing of dialogue. GENIUS!! And not just between/ among the main characters. She captures natural speech just perfectly imo.

Her dialogue is great. Yes. She does capture speech patterns well. I literally hear the Irish lilt whenever I read Roarke’s dialogue. I haven’t had any problems with her similes. Sometimes I might scratch my head at one or need to read it again to make sure I’d read it correctly the first time, but not to often.

Yeah, I think the similes issue might just be idiosyncratic to me, and not necessarily a fault.

Another thing I like, and this is probably a strategy rather than a style, is the way the books are not really formulaic at all. Some are lighter than others. Sometimes we get the murderers pov, sometimes not. Sometimes Eve and/Roarke are in danger, sometimes not. Sometimes we don't find out 'til the end who the killer is, sometimes we know right away. I have abandoned more than once a writer of a successful series because I realized a few books in that I could practically write the rest of the book myself once I was in a few chapters. That never seems to happen with "In Death."

I hadn't realized how important the non-formulaic aspect of the series is to me, until you wrote this. I can think of 2 long book series that I stopped reading, because it felt like I was reading the same book wearing different makeup each time.