Originally Posted by Terry Leatherwood
@scifiJoan: M. T. Edvardsson is Swedish, and European tastes in literature don't always make the transition to their intended American audience. Those folks have a different idea about what constitutes tension and compelling stories. For example, I like mysteries by Dick Francis, an English author who apparently knows horses and the racing world in England like the back of his hand. I, conversely, know next to nothing about horse racing save that the tracks are in business to make money, not to make bettors rich. His stories are tight, tense, and full of surprises, yet I still feel a bit of detachment when coming down to the final reveal. I've just read Decider and Driving Force, and they are as different as they could be and still come from the same mind. His protagonists are real people with real problems and real failings, and they are both excellent stories. They both kept me turning the pages, but I still feel as if I read each one with a distance between myself and the endings.

This is not a criticism, just a subjective observation. I'd rather read Francis than many American mystery writers who do a much less complete job with the plot or the characters. He's good, really good, but he doesn't grab my heartstrings like some others do. But that's why we have McDonald's and Burger King and Arby's and Subway and Chick-Fil-A and The Manhattan Club to buy lunch. Not everyone has the same tastes, and that's a good thing. I'd hate to live in a world where everyone ate the same thing, read the same thing, thought the same thing, did the same thing. That's totalitarian, and I'm nowhere near that. Even with that subjective caveat, though, one can learn much about writing by reading his works with a dissecting mind.

My opinion only. Your mileage will almost surely vary.

Excellent points Terry.