B-
Title: Don't Look Down
Author: Jennifer, Bob Crusie, Mayer
Publication Info: St. Martin's 2006
ISBN: 0312348126
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Did the book live up to my expectations? Kind of, but kind of not. Don’t get me wrong: I still enjoyed it, and it’s definitely better than the average bear—it’s just that I’ve come to expect so much more from Crusie. (Can’t tell you what I expected from Mayer because I haven’t read any of his books before.) The action is fast and, unlike the majority of romantic suspense I’ve read, has the ring of authenticity; a former Green Beret really knows his tactics, guns and ammo. Whodathunk? The other elements also work, for the most part; the main characters are likeable, the dialogue is nice and zippy, the comic timing excellent, the action plot interesting and somewhat twisty.
However, the romance itself? That bit didn’t work so well.
Lucy Armstrong, a successful director especially known for her work with dog food commercials, is called down to the Savannah River swamps to finish the last four days of filming an action flick after the original director keels over from a heart attack. Lucy is perfectly happy to direct dogs; dogs are better-behaved and a hell of a lot more predictable than actors. But her sister Daisy, the script supervisor, wants her working on this film, and what’s more, Daisy’s five-year-old daughter, Pepper, really, really wants to see her. And really, nobody says no to the cute kid, especially in a romance novel.
The sinking feeling in Lucy’s gut intensifies when she finds out that her ex-husband, Connor, is also the stunt coordinator for the film. The sinking hits rock bottom once she actually takes stock of what a monumental mess the whole project is. Daisy is almost literally sleepwalking, Pepper is anxious and starving for attention, Connor is acting like even more of a shifty asshole than usual, key personnel have quit, most of the crew doesn’t seem to know or care about what’s going on, the few who do care are actively hostile, and people are strangely reluctant to hand her a complete copy of the script.
And when her lead actor hires his own body double and stunt advisor, a taciturn but OMGHOT Green Beret named JT Wilder, all hell breaks loose—or, at least, key pieces of equipment do, and when you’re on a movie set, that’s close enough.
JT Wilder is on leave when he decides to pick up some easy money by being a nimrod actor’s stunt double. Shit, he’s jumped out of plenty of helicopters into REAL enemy fire; this should be a cakewalk. What he didn’t count on was being dragged into a CIA operation involving international terrorism, money laundering and ancient jade penises. Complicating things even further is the movie director, who looks far too much like Wonder Woman for his peace of mind. And there’s that one-eyed alligator hovering around the swamps surrounding the set….
The whole story takes place over four days. There’s not a timeline so much as a time squiggle that’s then squished into something vaguely dot-like. A LOT happens, and very fast. An inhumanly fast pace isn’t normally a problem with an action book, because hurry-up-and-wait, while no doubt more realistic, makes for a boring read. It’s all very entertaining, but I feel like plot and character development were shoved to the wayside as a consequence.
And for a romance novel, that warp speed isn’t so good. For myself, I really, really enjoy watching the love develop and the tension build. Four days from “Hello, you’re kind of hawt,” to “Happily Ever After”? That’s not romance, folks. That’s creepy. That’s JT-having-to-issue-a-restraining-order-because-Lucy-won’t-stop-stalking-him wacky. The love story is even more strained when you consider that JT and Lucy get almost no time alone at all because they’re both working on a movie set, and the romance doesn’t even start looking like one until about halfway through the book. Yes, JT’s a motherfucking hero, and Lucy gets to watch him do all sorts of hot, hero-ey sorts of things like save the day and shit, but they don’t really get to sit down and interact meaningfully—interaction that doesn’t involve their squidgy bits, at any rate.
This is strange, because reading the book, you get the feeling that both JT and Lucy are, well, sane people who think things through, more or less, before acting. They’re both assertive, organized and logical, which makes some of Lucy’s romantic decisions by the end of the book somewhat puzzling.
What disappoints me even more is that previous Crusie novels have featured protagonists who fall in love incredibly fast, and I bought into those scenarios with little problem. Both Manhunting and Getting Rid of Bradley, for example, have the hero and heroine falling in love rather quickly (though not four days fast); however, in those books, the hero and heroine spend significant amounts of time alone together. So, this sort of thing can be done, but it just wasn’t convincing in Don’t Look Down.
Other conflicts in this book, especially the tensions between Lucy and Daisy, were resolved in what feels like a similarly slap-dash fashion. (Be warned: Here Lie Spoilers, so highlight the area for the Supah-Secret text):
One moment, Daisy seems to be nursing a burgeoning barbituarate habit and some very interesting resentment towards Lucy and her heroine complex, and the next, BAM, they’re more-or-less peachy keen. Crusie is usually stellar at handling tensions like these, and to see this go nowhere made me a bit of a sad panda.
The other parts of the book worked quite well. The secondary characters are memorable and worth noting. Pepper, in particular, is adorable and believable, and I’m speaking as somebody who has a pretty low gag threshold when it comes to the portrayal of cute children in fiction.
The action/suspense portion of the book is a blast, and somewhat more convincing than the love story. I know nothing about the military, guns, tracking enemies or killing people, but I have a sneaking suspicion Bob Mayer does, and it shows.
Overall, the book is a rather insubstantial bit of fun, which is a shame because Crusie always managed to sneak a lot of interesting subtext into her books, even the ones I didn’t particularly care for. This time around, there wasn’t sub-text so much as hurriedly resolved emotional issues. It’s still worth reading, and I enjoyed it, but it lacks that punch that makes it a true keeper.
Just wanted to let you know you have another reader here. The “Recent Bitching†sidebar alerted me to your post.
Thanks, LFL! Ah yes, “recent bitching”—that’s me, all right!
Anyway, I too, love Welcome to Temptation and have found her other books to be somewhat uneven. Often it’s not even the romance itself that pulls me in, but the ways in which Crusie investigates friendships and unconventional family situations that sells her books to me. In DLD, there are actually quite a few echoes of Welcome to Temptation, especially in the sister and surrogate daughter relationships (and even in some of the popular music references). Again, you can tell Crusie is interested in this alternative family model (and perhaps Mayer, too, since that book *is* a collaborative effort. There are points where I feel it’s clear who is writing, though, and points where it’s less clear). Although the romance itself is so rushed neither has the time to really massage the nuances of the situation like Crusie does in WTT.
Have you read Fast Women, LFL? It’s the kind of book that would make a very good discussion choice, especially in that it breaks some Romance “rules” and has what many perceive to be a less than HEA ending. I also recommend Strange Bedpersons if you haven’t read that one, because it contains some very interesting commentary on the Cinderlla story AND on political idealism. Anyone But You is probably my favorite short Crusie and is, IMO, just a great romance between a younger man and an older woman.
I think I’d be waiting for something horrible to happen, and that would make me nervous.
So it’s not the violence you object to, but more the suspense, then. Gotcha. Well, there is some of that. Maybe you’d do better with a CD of the book; that way, a reader takes that plunge for you rather than you having to turn the page and take it yourself. Actually, I wonder if the book might have worked better for me with dueling reader voices (I assume that’s what they did with the recorded version, but perhaps I’m wrong) so that I could get into the characters better, especially since there were SO MANY in such a short space of time and pages. I hope for the next book they just follow their instincts and not worry so much about genre or reader expectations, because, as we’ve seen time and time again in the Romance community, you can’t always predict how readers are going to respond, and even if their responses are going to be coherent across a similar demographic. As for the politics, there are fewer overt references to that than there are moments of suspense if that means anything to you. Although JT’s occasional references to other “manly men” were pretty funny.
Have you read Fast Women, LFL? It’s the kind of book that would make a very good discussion choice, especially in that it breaks some Romance “rules” and has what many perceive to be a less than HEA ending.
No, I have not read Fast Women. When it came out I didn’t want to buy it in hardcover and by the time it got to paperback I’d heard a lot of negative opinions of it, though this may be due to the fact that it breaks the “rules.” I’ll probably read it eventually, though Crusie is an author whose backlist I don’t rush to gulp. I get in the mood for her once every year or two years, and read one then, and other than that, I also read her books when they get raved over, as happened with Welcome to Temptation and Bet Me. Having said that, I’ve yet to read a Crusie I thought was bad or that I didn’t enjoy.
I also recommend Strange Bedpersons if you haven’t read that one, because it contains some very interesting commentary on the Cinderlla story AND on political idealism. Anyone But You is probably my favorite short Crusie and is, IMO, just a great romance between a younger man and an older woman.
Anyone But You was the first Crusie I ever read, and I had heard such wonderful things about her that my expectations were extremely high. I was sort of disappointed, even though I did enjoy the book and liked it enough to read other Crusies, if that makes any sense. My favorite part of it was the hero’s family relationships and his conversations with his brother. I’ll keep Strange Bedpersons in mind for the future, too.
I like her books, but I think other people like them more.
I guess I’m out of the loop here: why did she need to colaborate with another author?
Dunno if it came as a result of the collaboration or caused the collaboration, but I believe Mr. Mayer is Ms. Crusie’s bed-warmer.
“Bed-Warmer?”
Significant other? Man-friend? Lover? Owner of her favorite manroot? Hee. I read on her blog that they’re a couple, put it that way.
In Ms. Crusie’s own words:
2. I Am Not Living with My Boyfriend
(I’m sorry, I just can’t get past Cloris Leachman saying, “He vas my BOYFRIENDT!†I said to Val, “Aren’t I kind of past the boyfriend stage?” and she said, “You’re never too old for a boyfriend,” but I’m thinking there must be a better word. Lover, but that’s probably TMI. Significant Other, but that’s jargony. Guy I spend the majority of my time with, but that’s Bob. Your assignment for today, class, is to come up with a good word for romantic companion for the adult female.)
Assignment, huh? I think the Bitchery needs to help her out.
I think that’s a fab idea. Results should be hilarious!
Hey Ana- which blog of hers did you find the quote? I’ve found, like, three blogs but no quote on her request of assistance!
Actually, from what I’ve read on their blog, both deny vehemtly that they’re a couple. And even in the passage Ana quoted, the “but” in “guy I spend the majority of my time with” seems to suggest that he’s NOT in the SO/boyfriend category.
Now, I will admit to a certain fascination with their status as a pair, because the volatility of their relationship, mixed with the incredible about of time they seem to spend together, folded into the way they both seem to revel in showing how much they understand about the other, DOES make for juicy speculation. But OTOH, I do actually believe that men and women can be platonic friends and colleagues, and share a somewhat intense relationship without any romantic attachment. Plus I thought I read in the blog that Bob already had a live-in SO. So I don’t know, but I’m definitely curious about those two.
Y’know, I interpreted this sentence here: “Guy I spend the majority of my time with, but that’s Bob” as Crusie’s way of saying Mayer ISN’T her boyfriend—she’s rejecting that term because Bob occupies it, instead of her boyfriend.
Now I’m all confused.
You could be right, I was just skimming through. The quote comes from the Things I’m Not II, which is here. http://jennycrusie.blogspot.com/2006/02/things-im-not-part-ii.html
The first Things I’m Not was posted almost a year ago, where she says they’re not a couple. I thought things had changed, as of the the next posting,. I thought the crux of that was was that she wasn’t moving to New York with her boyfriend, not that she didn’t have a boyfriend. Hehe. I thought she was objecting to the designation.
I don’t know anything about Mr. Mayer or Ms. Crusie, apart from those two posts, and it’s not really my business.
You know, Candy, in a second reading, I think you might be right. With a different stress on the word ‘but’ it means something else entirely. Interesting.
I don’t know anything about Mr. Mayer or Ms. Crusie, apart from those two posts, and it’s not really my business.
They have a dual blog, http://www.crusiemayer.com/blog/ on wh,ich they talk about various aspects of their collaboration, travels together, arguments, etc. Sometimes it’s amusing, although mostly it seems to be a gathering place for Crusie and Mayer’s fans (check out the lengthy comments on almost every post). I usually don’t have much time to spend over there, but at times it provides an intersting view on the ups and downs of writing collaboratively.
I will have to take a look sometime. I’m a bit embarrassed that I misconstrued her comment, but I’m sure it’s not the first time such a thing has happened on the Intarweb.
Only now just getting to reading the review & I agree with Candy on most things – except I hated the kid. I was cheering for her to be eaten by the croc only a few pages after meeting her. The whole thing was way too rushed and I think that’s where the ‘romantic’ element falls apart completely. Cruisie and Mayer talk about this being a different genre – “romantic adventure” is I think what they called it – but I don’t see it that way at all; it’s adventure which happens to have men & women in it (gasp!) and the female characters have a bigger role than would normally be in traditional men’s adventure story. If you slow down for the relationship, you lose the pacing of the adventure. If you just throw them into bed fast, then it’s just sex, lust and pure animal attraction, because as you say, they haven’t had any time to actually have a relationship which would constitute a romance.
I like that genre concept btw. Adventures with terrorists, drug lords and art thieves – with some breaks for hot sex; I’d call it sexy adventures (as opposed to adventurous sex which, of course, is a different thing altogether). I think the Bombshell line was supposed to be kind of like that ….. the word romance does imply some sort of credible HEA and apparently Bombshell is struggling because readers are annoyed when it’s not there…..
I love Welcome to Temptation, Bet Me, etc. They’re offbeat and the ensemble casts (friends) are wonderful. The lead characters don’t fall into the hackneyed romance roles: “Girl dreams of princess wedding but dream is crushed by life. Girl meets boy and doesn’t know him well but trusts him to fix her life. Girl wants marriage. Boy isn’t sure. Girl lassos boy anyway.”
Sadly, the last 2 Crusies have had exactly that plot. Betty Neels for the 21st Century. Ack!
A LOT happens, and very fast…. I feel like plot and character development were shoved to the wayside
Character used to be huge in Crusies. Fingers crossed she’ll get it back. The galloping pace… so Clive Cussler. Action galore, kitchen sink plots, emotionally unavailable man of action, a different woman falls for him every night… That style of writing about men and women shoulda died in the ‘70s.
Overall, the book is a rather insubstantial bit of fun, which is a shame because Crusie always managed to sneak a lot of interesting subtext into her books
I usually love Crusie’s female characters. In DLD Lucy is flat and the others are caricatures.
On the joint blog, Crusie says her men weren’t “male” enough (big paraphrase). Well, I used to like that her female characters didn’t act stereo-female. Maybe they even had some “male” (whole nother discussion) traits. Minerva in Bet Me could be a bitch, didn’t want kids, wasn’t all cut up about Cal’s mother hating her (made up for her neurosis about her own mother). Nell in Fast Women had a one-nighter with the hero’s cousin, go Nell.
But again the last 2 books are tired. In Anyone But You Nina was whiny helpless appearance-obsessed. In Don’t Look Down Lucy is helpless passive-aggressive motherly marriage-obsessed. Daisy is even worse. Add the starlet/bimbo and barf-cute kid and there isn’t an interesting female character in the whole book. Wah! Who are you and what have you done with Jenny Crusie?
My problem with the book was that I was expecting one of Crusie’s charming, funny heroes and instead I got Rambo. (hehe…not really). It was a bit jarring, though, to be reading something with Crusie’s name on it and not have that zingy dialogue going on.
Also, and this is something it took me awhile to figure out because it’s usually a symptom of bad TV and movies but I felt like Lucy and JT didn’t have any chemistry. It was like the writers forced them together when they had much rather just be friends. There was just ZERO sexual tension between the two of them.
It wasn’t a bad book, though. Just a little flat to me when compared with the standard Crusie flair.