Fake ID by Sorrells

Walter Sorrells is an Edgar Award winner, meaning he got a prize for writing a rip-roaring great mystery. I'm pretty sure Fake ID, the tale of a mother-daughter team on the run, wasn't it. The beginning is clunky. The author spends a great deal of time setting up the pair's "running away rituals," which is all fine and good. The problem is that when Chass's mother disappears, it feels more like business as usual than a huge crisis. Chass's mother ran away. Isn't that what she's supposed to do? I'm more surprised that Chass is worried by the disappearance than I am by the town's ho-hum attitude about it. The story itself is solid. "An old secret and an older enemy haunting a pair of plucky, beautiful, talented women until one fateful day when disaster strikes!" You know the drill. It's an old formula, but it works. My main beef with this book is that the characters are so flat. Most of the adults operate at one of two speeds: caring or angry. The male friend Ben is a mere feather of a boy, tossed around by a wind of his own. Who knows why he does what he does? As for Chass herself, the author seems to confuse profanity with character development. The narrative voice just doesn't sound like it's coming from a high school girl. Manipulative middle-aged man, yes. High school girl, no. Once you let the stereotypical characters slide under the radar, it's not a bad read for a brain candy novel. The writing is about a 6; the story is about a 7.5. Great for a midday snack, but definitely not a literary meal.