The Man Who Killed Shakespeare

by Ken Hodgson

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247 pages, Hardcover

First published November 14, 2007

Reviews

[Dennis Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ken Hodgson is a great wordsmith. He can make you laugh with just one word in the right place. I snagged a copy of THE MAN WHO KILLED SHAKESPEARE on a whim just because I loved the cover. When I read the flyleaf and the back cover I was hooked.

Ken's characters are vivid and well fleshed. He paints a full picture of a small town in the New Mexico desert of 1931 during the Depression. The few people that inhabit the town are struggling and I was there when Lett and Delight were listening to Amos and Andy. I was there when Wesley bit Sam Ransom; I laughed my head off.

KEN HODGSON knows how to engage the reader. I read this book in just a few days. The book's cover is eye-catching. THOMPSON GALE (also publishers of fiction in large print) do a great job of formatting an easily readable book with a perfect font and bright white paper. The action flows qucking with no useless words to slow the read down. The editing is done well with just a few small errors; you may not even notice them. Ken Hodgson has my vote. I will be reading more of his books. Thank you Ken and please keep on writing!

[Olga Hebert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Set in Depression Era Shakespeare, NM, Ken Hodgson has an entertaining enough story. A con man plans to sell phony mining stock to the local "guppies." There is a true blue hero, a prostitute with the proverbial heart of gold, and a whole cast of small town characters. The con man, Sam Ransom, has always said there is no easier dupe than a greedy man. Of course that is his undoing--he gets greedy.
The problem is that it is poorly written. I imagine that Hodgson wrote the Man Who Killed Shakespeare with The Complete Compendium of English Language Adjectives sitting at his side. I would recommend this book only to teachers of writing who might want to point out examples of bad writing in an instructive setting.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

The front cover said “The most demented writer this side of Carl Hiaasen.” This quote was to a great extent why I chose to read the book. Hodgson does not compare favorably to Hiaasen for me. The book starts out fairly entertaining, but grinds out an almost maudlin ending. Not really zany and a good mystery like a Hiaasen. The characters are clichés for the most part and not sufficiently interesting to recommend the book.

[Debra · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dying mining town, a swindler, a whore with a heart of gold, the barkeep.... the stereotypes just keep on coming. I wanted to like this book but it was predictable enough it just couldn't keep my interest.

[Papalodge · Rating 3 out of 5]

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