T is for Thriller? Tedious? Tiring? Trespass!

This is not a Gather game, nor is it a book review. I don’t write book reviews, neither in the summer when I devour a novel a day, nor in the winter when I concentrate on heavier reading and slow down to a meaningful book or two each week. However, after spending three months with Sue Grafton’s T is for Trespass, it felt like a life experience deserving of recognition. You might consider this a personal essay about a reading experience, or a transcribed three-month rant.

Ms. Grafton made it all the way to the letter T without tempting me to read her mystery/thriller series. I am almost ashamed to admit what changed my mind. The #1 New York Times Bestseller line on the cover didn’t phase or tempt. I learned to ignore those when I realized #1 means little when every book on the shelf sports it, and when I noticed it often means the author had one book reach that popular designation and from that point on the publishers slap it on every book s/he writes, deserving or not.

Nope, I fell for a new ploy. Instead of being on a shelf at the far end of aisle 4, T is for Trespass met me at eye level in the check out line at the drug store. I was third in line, with nothing to do but imagine that, if each book she wrote got better, this must surely be great. I purchased the book, took it home, read the first few pages, and put it aside. It was not great enough to pull me away from the book I had already started.

Fortunately, T is for Trespass was like a soap opera. When I went back later, I fell right back in place as though I had never been away. Knowing that, I did not hesitate to put it down again while I finished my stack of unread books.

For a while, T was my bathroom book. Unlike some other books, this does not mean that I couldn’t put it down long enough to go to the bathroom so I took it with me. I left it in the bathroom and read it only when I soaked in the tub. Somewhere along the line, it moved from the bathroom to the nightstand, just as it has moved from aisle 4 to the checkout line – for reasons unknown. Fear not. This did not lead to nights of endless reading and no sleep. Instead, it meant I finally had a use for the bookmark the kids gave me for Christmas.

The good news is that, after falling asleep on page 367 of this 372-page thriller, I managed to finish the last six pages in one sitting this afternoon. I did not toss the book across the room after reading the last page. I’m proud to say I did not heave this book across the room one time during the three-month trek. To the opposite extreme, nor was I overcome with sadness, thinking how I would miss the characters (a serious problem I have at the end of many novels). It just ended like taking the last bite of a so-so lunch.

The other positives:

• I have read worse. I’ve read much worse. Who am I kidding, I’ve written much worse. I just hope my twentieth is better.

• The plot and the subplots were entertaining, despite the ones that were not predictable making me wish they had been.

• The main character is well developed in the story, she just doesn’t seem like the person in the prologue or epilogue, and I didn’t like her enough to stay glued to the book and pull for her success.

• There were a few sentences that did not start with the word I.

On the negative side, I had a hard time believing that anyone would be okay with her landlord keying her door the same as his, especially after she discovered that he had given a copy of his key to the crazy neighbor. Nor could I imagine the neighbors, who were keeping a close eye on the suspicious crazy lady not noticing when the suspicious crazy lady sold off a house full of heavy, antique furniture.

In fairness to Ms. Grafton, I might have enjoyed this more if I had read A – S first. If she wants to send them to me, I’ll work them in with my novel-a-day summer reading.