Sad Song.

by Vincent Banville, Bettina Thienhaus (Translator)

John Blaine, Privatdetektiv in Dublin, ist zwar clever - aber weder finanziell noch in der Liebe besonders erfolgreich. Und als er endlich einen lukrativen Auftrag erhält - ein reicher Bauuntenehmer engagiert ihn, die entlaufene Tochter wieder zurückzubringen -, schlägt er sich auch noch auf die Seite der Tochter, gegen seinen Auftraggeber...

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1999

Reviews

[Laney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just bland and not very well written. I THINK it’s supposed to be a detective novel but there’s no real detective work to it, and it reads more like a bad mystery that lacks mystery.

It would also fit on half the number of pages if it were printed in a normal sized font.

[Book_Worm_Jim.83 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another quick read from the Irish Open Doors Series. I've read most of the books from this series now (Currently 6 series) I've enjoyed most of the books I've read bit I felt this one which is a private detective looks is hired by a nasty, rich father to find his missing daughter. But all is not as it seems.

A short story with a thin plotline, I felt it read like a lengthy synopsis or the outline of a story that failed to develop. The plot was decent but did not blossom and the characters were underdeveloped.

[Janie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one novella of a series project designed as material for encouraging adult literacy in Ireland. The project has commissioned works from several popular UK authors of adult fiction. What I love most about this is the idea ([late] literacy is close to my heart) and the solid execution (accessible + meaningful = literary). What I love second-most is enjoying the dialect differences (vis-a-vis ASE). I almost never read pop Brit lit, so for me enjoying the idiom in this medium is fun in a novel way.

Sad Song is a pinch of mystery, a pinch of comfortable philosophy, and several dashes of short story quintessence.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

90 pages...a short story really!...but a homage to Raymond Chandler's Marlowe & the underworld of Irish builders in Dublin...with some pithy on the Liffey!..."Blaine was all done up like a dog's dinner."...it begins...and "Oh, you are kinky!" brings it to a close; between these two book-ends...a small pimple of sins & sinners!

[Wilde Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

A private detective looks is hired by a nasty / rich father to find his missing daughter.

A short story with a thin plotline (which I felt like I’d read before). It read like a synopsis / outline of a story with no real development of plot or characters.

[Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent well wrote short story I loved it and sat down and read it straight through