I’m a little worried that an e-mail from Ann Rule is going to pop up in my inbox any minute.
Why would I be getting an e-mail from Ann Rule, you ask? And why would that worry me? Well, it’s like this: The other day, I turned in a review of “But I Trusted You,” the fourteenth and latest volume in the Seattle true-crime author’s “Crime Files” series. It’s being published on the Reading Local Seattle web site. It wasn’t, shall we say, lavish with effusive praise for the book. In fact, I devoted nearly 2,700 words to exploring why the book wasn’t very good. In my opinion, of course.
And I said these things even though I made clear in the review, more than once, that I have the utmost respect for Rule and for the majority of books she’s published in her long career. I wasn’t pulling punches, wasn’t trying to have it both ways, either. It’s really what I think.
And I said what I said because I also think it’s important to be honest, and I don’t think there’s enough honest book criticism out there these days.
Publishing, as my colleagues at 1st Turning Point (where I also publish essays) often remind me, is a business of relationships. And, in their view at least, we should be careful to avoid saying anything negative in public because it’s bad business, because word gets around and the opportunities to develop the kind of relationships I need to make deals could disappear as a result.
I think that mentality, correct as it may be, often kills quality book criticism. (I’m not saying mine’s all that, though I will defend this review to the death as well-thought-out and informed by comprehensive knowledge of the author’s oeuvre … oh, and most importantly, backed up by my real name).
Most reviewers these days, in my observation, seem to subscribe to the “If you can’t say something nice about a book, don’t say it at all” mindset, and either post relentlessly sunny reviews or criticisms so diluted that they’re difficult to pick out of the text. To do otherwise, they seem to be saying without saying anything of the kind, is to somehow hurt their own standing in the literary community (many, it seems, depend on relationships with authors or booksellers).
Honesty should be inside books, not about books. I guess that’s the message.
To me, that sort of thinking is as useless as the thinking of those who would lob Molotov cocktails of corrosive criticism on Amazon or Goodreads from behind the cowardly safety of anonymity. (Anything worth saying, good or bad, is worth saying with the coin and credibility of your name.) That’s why I was dismayed to see all the good-riddances from the literary community when Kirkus Reviews — well-known for its abundance of negative reviews — ceased operations in December. The good-riddances were misplaced, in my view, because they focused on the mere fact of negative criticism, and not at all on whether the criticism might be accurate or well-informed. Instead, all the chatter was about how rude those reviewers were, as if that’s the worst thing a person in the literary community could be. (Funny how not that long ago, when literary lions like Norman Mailer and Ernest Hemingway and Truman Capote roamed the earth, it was the best thing a person in the literary community could be.)
But the reality is that there’s a lot of crap out there these days — more so, it seems, in this time of pared-down editorial staffs at most publishing houses — and someone needs to say so. Someone who knows what they’re talking about.
I don’t know everything about everything; I wouldn’t be the right person to review, say, the latest novels by Jodi Picoult or Philip Roth or V.S. Naipaul.
But I do know about Ann Rule.
I’ve read Ann Rule books for nearly 30 years now, back before I knew I was reading Ann Rule books. (Her first published tomes were written under her true-detective-magazine pseudonym, Andy Stack.) She lives in the Puget Sound area, just as I have most of my life, and writes largely about crimes of the Pacific Northwest (which happens to be my area of professional interest). I have a tremendous amount of admiration for how she built herself up into the publishing powerhouse she is today — from being a disabled former Seattle cop to a single mom of four who freelanced for true-detective magazines on the side, building up her name and her game until she could land her first book contract. Since then, she’s knocked out upwards of 30 books, most of which are well above average for the genre, and continues producing at a fearsome pace well into her 70s. I don’t know her well, but I’ve corresponded with her a few times, attended several of her public appearances and spoken to her after those events on a handful of occasions. Like everybody else, I like her. And I wouldn’t object to getting to know her a lot better.
So why am I saying that her book isn’t very good?
Because … well … hmmm. Because it just isn’t very good.
I’m sorry. I wish it wasn’t so. And I felt an obligation to say so, given that there’s virtually no outlet that I can find for coherent, informed criticism of true-crime books. Mass-market paperback originals, especially, fly almost totally under the critical radar.
That said, I don’t kid myself that I will dissuade one person from buying “But I Trusted You.” That’s not the point. Nor is that particularly what I want to do. The point is that I’d like to be a catalyst for a conversation about what we want and expect from books in the true-crime genre, what standards we expect them to uphold, and I don’t see that serious conversation taking place anywhere now besides a on few threads on Amazon.com. (Most conversations about true crime that I can find are more TV-centric, more focused on the cases of the moment in the national and global media. That doesn’t interest me.)
So why then, if I am so convinced that I’m doing something good and worthwhile, am I so worried?
One, because I well know to criticize somebody’s work is to criticize their blood and sweat and tears, to criticize their children. My attack may be professional but I don’t pretend for a second that it won’t be taken personally, perhaps by Ann Rule but almost certainly by some of the more ardent folks among her legions of fans (who she affectionately refers to as ARFs, for Ann Rule Fans). I’m a human being. It was never my intent to hurt anyone’s feelings, even as I knew going in that I might do exactly that. All I can say is that my criticism, taken in context, is constructive and not destructive.
That’s what I hope people keep in mind if there are any consequences, as a result of my review, on my ability to forge and maintain the kind of relationships that will allow me to become a published author myself. I know there could well be, especially in the world of the Internet, where people often react without pausing to think and post slashing, searing rebuttals in the heat of anger.
That I can handle. The idea that people won’t deal with me in the future — people I’d like to have deal with me — because I violated publishing-world protocols of politeness and professionalism would be much tougher to take.
So the question is: Is any literary criticism deemed to be rude by definition? Or, could it be that I’m just fretting over nothing, and that what I say just might be taken by everyone who reads it in the spirit in which it’s intended?
Actually, the idea that I’m fretting about this is kind of funny, given that one of my next blog posts will feature an absolute shredding of another true-crime book released last year — a book so indifferently reported and incompetently written that I think it threatens to undermine reader confidence in the entire genre. A book that Ann Rule couldn’t or wouldn’t write in her worst nightmares. Bet your ass I have something to say about that.
Great post, Jim. Good points all.
Though I haven’t read anywhere near all of Anne’s books, the ones I’ve read, I’ve enjoyed. I have also and been happy to follow her ‘hometown success’ story. Hers are the only true crime I have ever read (until yours come out).
Of course I will never forget reading The Stranger Beside Me in my early 20s, at home, alone, at night….it would be hard to top that one – ever. I’ll be reading your review with interest.
A very heart-felt post, indeed Jim. I respect that you had the professional courage to publish it for all the world to read and criticize. I, too, am an avid Ann Rule o’phile and have read all she has written. I have enjoyed and savored mostly everything she’s put into print, but I do agree with you about “But I Trusted You”. It was like knowing you love meat loaf, looking forward to having it again, then when someone finally makes a meatloaf for you and you dig in, it just doesn’t do it for you like it used to. Something’s missing, some ingredient, but you keep eating it, trying to achieve that “ahhhh” feeling when you are full. And it never happens! That’s exactly how I felt with this last book. It wasn’t even a let-down though. It was more like a couple of months later thinking “now did I read that yet or not?” That’s terrible because I want Ann Rule to still rule; I want that anticipation of the release date. I want that new book smell! And I want the “ahhhh” feeling when I’ve finished reading it. But I have faith that Ms. Ann will come through for us with this next one in June as she has so many times and all will be well. But part of me does hope that she read what you had to say, and took it within to process, not with the chafe of criticism, but with the spirit of learning something about herself. We all teach each other. Thanks for the article. I too still love Ann Rule, always will. Pam C.
Really just a smart, honest and respectable post. Don’t spend so much time defending yourself! Truth is its own best defense, no matter how much bullshit splatters around in an effort to distract.
Well, if I were Ann Rule, I’d wonder, “When is Jim going to post a new blog entry so I’m no longer the immediate subject matter when people visit?”
Hello Jim. I just finished reading Salt of the Earth by Jack Olsen and came across a comment from you stating you are writing a book on the same subject. I wanted to know when I can look forward to reading your book? Once I picked up Jack Olsen’s book, I honestly could not put it down – then when I finished, I wanted more. I hope your book comes out soon!
I mean, sheesh, you listed her on your “About Jim” page as one of your favorite authors!
how does one email ann rule?
I, too, am an Ann Rule fan but I have been disappointed in some of her work. I appreciate your honesty.