The Thinnest Air
by Minka Kent
We’ve gotten to the point in our literary culture where thrillers themselves actually make fun of other thrillers. In The Thinnest Air, the main character insults a police detective by saying, “Put down your copy of Gone Girl and [get to work]!”
This is a quick read, so if you like the genre, you could easily knock it out in a day or two. I did enjoy the twists and turns of the story, but Minka Kent’s writing style really left me wanting. Completely modern, with incomplete sentences, punctuation that wasn’t correct, and clever adjectives sprinkled in to make a good “sound-bite”, her present-tense writing constantly took me out of the story. I found myself longing for Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, or anyone who understood the English language and how to use it.
If you’re in the market for an “airplane paperback”, you’ll probably be satisfied with this domestic thriller. Alternating timelines and perspectives between two sisters, we trace one’s disappearance and the other’s quest to find her. I wouldn’t read it again, but I am a very hard sell when it comes to this notoriously poorly written genre.
This is a quick read, so if you like the genre, you could easily knock it out in a day or two. I did enjoy the twists and turns of the story, but Minka Kent’s writing style really left me wanting. Completely modern, with incomplete sentences, punctuation that wasn’t correct, and clever adjectives sprinkled in to make a good “sound-bite”, her present-tense writing constantly took me out of the story. I found myself longing for Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, or anyone who understood the English language and how to use it.
If you’re in the market for an “airplane paperback”, you’ll probably be satisfied with this domestic thriller. Alternating timelines and perspectives between two sisters, we trace one’s disappearance and the other’s quest to find her. I wouldn’t read it again, but I am a very hard sell when it comes to this notoriously poorly written genre.