Review: Interstice

Interstice
by Melissa Santos

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interstice / B003CV7S6I

When Inspector Yoshida is called out to investigate the falling death of the famous Architect, he is certain that the cause is suicide. However, such an important public figure as the Architect will require answers, and he must be careful to leave no thread hanging, or his superiors will make him answer for it, especially in light of the criminal and civil charges being brought against the Architect for faked structural tests. Interviews with the employees and with his daughter have turned up nothing, but who is 'Yukio', to whom the Architect's final words were addressed?

Marked by beautiful yet dense prose, this excerpt is not something that can be picked up and put down lightly. The turns of phrase are evocative and lovely, and a great deal of effort has gone into carefully describing the Architect's building, his daughter, and his state of mind prior to death. In some ways, the writing style feels like an 'instant classic', but in other ways I worry that the density of the prose could serve as a stumbling block for wide appeal. On the other hand, the dialogue is exceedingly well done, and the internal thoughts of the Inspector are handled extremely well - this is a third-person account that manages to insert the reader seamlessly into the characters' minds, and the story telling is superb.

I might recommend a few minor changes to the first chapter to cut through some of the denser flowery language, however if the rest of the novel continues in the same writing style as the second half of the excerpt, then I wouldn't worry too much. A flowery beginning can mark itself on the reader's mind indelibly, as long as the following chapters are accessible.

NOTE: This review is based on a sample excerpt of this book provided through the ABNA contest.

~ Ana Mardoll

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