Papercuts

Papercuts by Colin Bateman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


*** Possible Spoilers ***

I can't say that this is a great book but it's pretty good and worth reading. The plot is pretty simple. A gentleman from a large news organization has been suspended pending an investigation and so is persuaded to take a job editing a small local newspaper that's hemorrhaging money. His job is either to turn it around or kill it. That by itself would be pretty thin but the plot is augmented by the various incidents that he and his reporters investigate and the interesting characters they meet. Some are humorous and some less so. I can't say that I broke into laughter while reading but the story was light and a pleasant way to wile away and evening.

Normally I like my endings nice and tidy but this was an exception. Actually few of the various subplots are resolved but I didn't find that as frustrating as in some novels. One gets the impression that life will somehow continue despite whatever the various characters do. Give it a shot. The author is pretty good at pacing, the dialog is well done and there was never a time I felt I had to walk away in frustration. I doubt it will ever win any literary awards but these days that may be more of a plus than a minus.



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