The story starts in first person and in
present tense which is a feat that is hard to do well. The book reads like a
screenplay as Tate tells the reader what is happening in a direct and unpoetic
way. I believe this is done to add to the suspense. Afterwards, the story
switches to third person when Eric hunts down his parent’s killers. The text
remains in present tense like in the first part.
At first I found the story hard to get into
as Tate’s straightforward storytelling has a lack of depth to it. What I found
jarring was that most of the text was telling the reader what was happening
rather than showing the reader and allowing them to make their own assumptions.
An example of telling would be – Sarah was nervous. Her knees kept shaking. Here is an example of showing- As much as she
tried she couldn’t keep her knees from shaking. What if they say no? Thought Sarah. A writer has to balance between
showing and telling as they are both important. If you tell too much your story can lack depth. On the other hand, if you
are too descriptive the reader will wonder when you are getting to the point. I
thought there was too much telling in Causality.
Eric
pulls off the freeway and heads into an industrial area about forty-five
minutes south of Sydney. He pulls up to the main gates, winds his window down
and types a pin code into an old rickety control panel and drives through. (Tate, 2012, p. 77).
I did get use to the writing style though.
I found Eric’s vengeance on his enemies to be brutally violent and ruthless but
if you watch horror movies or very violent action movies you should be okay.
Most of the people on his hit list suffered agonising deaths and that was
enough to appease Eric. However, I would have preferred a slow lead up to the
revenge involving months of ruining the person’s social standing or whatever it
is that they most value and then if needed ending in death such as what we see
in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas or the tv show Revenge.
The typical things occur in the revenge,
kidnapping, torture and monologues except Eric also involves hurting innocent
victims associated with his enemies. This makes him into a villain as he does
not feel any pity or remorse for most of his victims believing that they
brought it on themselves. It is only at the end when Eric questions his actions
and where redemption begins. While all this is taking place, Eric leads a
double life. He has a loving fiancé and good friends who have don’t know of his
dark deeds. They know that he hasn’t
been the same since his parent’s deaths but they can’t get him to talk about
it.
What I did like about the book was the reoccurring
theme that family is important and money cannot buy happiness. The book is all
about the love of one’s family and what the loss of it can do. I look forward
to seeing more books written by Jack Tate. He certainly has an interesting mind
and I look forward to seeing development and growth in his writing.
