Friday 22 May 2015

book review - Missing Pieces, by Ray Anselmo



This first venture of the author's into the field of romance has, in my view, been a great success. The characters are well drawn and realistic, and each battles a self-image problem which in both cases is resolved with pleasing symmetry. The romantic tale is enlivened by a crime theme.

If I have one criticism of the book it is that the flow of events is a little too smooth - there's little dramatic tension until halfway through the book, and I'd have liked to see the tension ramp up a lot earlier in the work. A few chapters to introduce characters and set the scene is all very well, but I'd prefer to see the main antagonist make its appearance within at least the first quarter of the book.

Over against this, Anselmo's writing is, as always, smoothly competent and despite the move into the romance genre is characterised by his customary restraint. There is no porn in this book, nothing to offend or disgust the most prudish of readers, and I found this a very welcome change from the majority of writers in this genre.

This said, however, I don't believe this genre is where Mr Anselmo's strength truly lies; the book doesn't compare, for example, to the wonderful Slave Auction. In my opinion, the romance genre offers insufficient scope for the exercise of this writer's very considerable talent.

Missing Pieces is available from AMAZON.

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