Cicada: A Review
Author: J. Eric Laing Publisher: Self-published Genre: Fiction My price: $2.99 The first few lines of Cicada grabbed me instantly. I mean, what could scream “READ ME!” louder than a tale about a man about to carry out his own suicide? Within the first few pages, we see a glimpse of John’s suicide note—a note that reveals little, except for a big stinkin’ question mark. Who isn’t a sucker for mysteries and long-held secrets?? After just a few short pages, we leave John’s side, and are instead thrust into a long description about the town and its cast of characters. It slows the pace way down, and disconnects us from the action. About a page or two into this descriptive section, I asked out loud “What happened to the suicide?” (Yes, this earned me some weird looks on the train.) Despite this glaring interruption in the action, I kept reading, primarily due to author J. Eric Laing’s, well, way with words. Each turn of phrase reveals so much about the setting and the characters.
