Fletch #9 (in the stories' chronological order: #2)
Fiction
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
1986
Kindle e-book
256
Overdrive
(Description from the Trade Paperback edition:) After a few delays, it looks like Fletch is finally getting hitched. It’s a small affair, just a few friends, the bride’s parents, the groom’s mother, and, just maybe, his father. Except Fletch’s father is supposed to be dead.
But somebody delivered the letter, signed Fletch (senior) and containing an invitation (and a pair of plane tickets) to visit the old man in Nairobi for the honeymoon. Never mind Fletch and his bride were planning a ski trip to Colorado. No sooner does the couple land in Africa, than the search for Fletch’s father begins. There’s a murder at the airport, reports of the old man’s incarceration, and the hospitality (and evasiveness) offered by pop’s best friend, who flies them across the continent, just a step or two behind (or maybe ahead of) the old rascal.
I really can’t believe I had the patience to make it through to the end. There was a minor twist at the bitter end which was poorly foreshadowed and a bit too predictable. There was no real mystery at all and definitely no “detective” work or journalistic probing which usually moves the plot in Fletch books along. I would almost suspect that the long-time editor of the series died and no one else could reign the writer in to produce something more compelling.
I kept wondering where the plot was going and why I should keep carrying. So far, of the 4 I’ve read in the series, this was, by far, the least gripping book in the series. The dialogue was poorly attributed, if at all, which made reading and understanding things even more of a chore. It also wasn’t as sharp or witty as usual and characters are “off” and unsympathetic. The plot was just generally flat and didn’t pay off despite what could have been an interesting twist with Fletch witnessing a murder well before I would have anticipated as the end of the first act.
I’m hoping that though it was the second in the chronological story timeline of the Fletch canon, the fact that it was one of the last written means that Mcdonald was just getting tired of the formula and trying to close out the series in some stilted way. I still have higher hopes for the others remaining on my list.
In an odd way, the title was interesting from both a character standpoint as well as it being a follow up to Fletch Won.
Reading Progress
- 8/7/16 marked as: want to read; “The Rio Olympics reminded me that I’d gotten Carioca Fletch to read back in the 80’s and never got around to it, so I thought I’d come back and revisit the series.”
- 8/14/16: marked as currently reading
- 8/14/16: 10%
- 8/18/16: 30% “Took a bit to get into the first few chapters, but eventually gets moving along. The plot opens up just days after we left Fletch in Fletch Won.”
- 8/29/16: 64% “I keep wondering where this is going and why I should keep caring. So far this isn’t the most gripping book in the series. Dialogue isn’t as sharp as usual and characters are off. The plot is just generally flat.”
- 9/2/16: 100%
😢
How does he compare to Elmore Leonard?
Matthew Dujnic He definitely subscribes to the Leonard (and grandfather Hemmingway) school of sparse writing. Particularly as it relates to dialogue. You’ve got to pay closer attention to who’s speaking and when and there are never any indications (adjectives, adverbs, etc.) as to how things are said. His dialog is (almost) always sharp and witty though.
I definitely do not recommend reading Fletch, Too first as it’s not representative. I’m most of the way through Confesss, Fletch which is far better and more representative of Mcdonald’s canon. (Mcdonald also wrote Running Scared which got turned into the Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines film which is a better translation of his work into film than the Chevy Chase Fletch which had some of the snark, but was much more comedy-centric and “bigger” than his books.)
Thanks for reminding me that I should go back to some Leonard soon after this though…