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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Book Review: To Sleep Gently by Trent Zelazny

After time spent in jail, Jack Driscoll or "Dempster" is picked up by Charlie to do another job.  This time in  Santa Fe, New Mexico, joining others professional criminals he's not sure he trusts to rob the El Dorado Hotel.

While there, though, he hooks up with old friends who are trying to make it, and he falls for Sandra, a young woman who might encourage him to go straight.  However, neither the relationship nor the hotel job go as he'd planned.

The middle sags some, but the beginning and end take up the slack.  The characterization--testosterone-driven male interaction, posturing and bullying--here is spot-on.  It's the impressive kind of characterization that convinces readers of their reality, demonstrating how Zelazny's work has gained a sheen of maturity and power.

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