Resenhas - The Quickie

Cílio Lindemberg 16/12/2020

The Not-So-Quick Quickie
PATTERSON, James; LEDWIDGE, Michael. The Quickie. Little, Brown and Company, 2007. 368 pp.

Co-written with Michael Ledwidge, The Quickie is a novel by the American best-selling mystery writer James Patterson, published in 2007, which tells the story of Lauren Stillwell, a New York Police Department (NYPD) policewoman married to Paul Stillwell, whose uncovered lie makes her believe he has an affair. That is the key-event that leads to the ‘quickie’, which designates the act of having a quick sex relation with somebody, a hookup; and disentangles the web of occurrences in this book.

Narrated by Lauren herself in the first person voice, the book comprises 117 very short chapters, each varying from two to five or six pages, at the most, being the whole of it divided into three parts: (1) The Quickie, when Lauren decides to have her own affair with Scott Thayer, a NYPD co-worker, who is, as she witnesses, murdered by her own husband, whose loose tracks she manages to cover; (2) Complications, that goes from when Lauren finds out she is pregnant with Paul’s child to when, while still covering up for her husband, she learns some of Scott’s life secrets; and (3) The Washington Affair, in which they move to Connecticut, where Paul’s job has sent him, only to get caught in another web of lies into Washington DC, where Lauren, following her husband, unravels disturbing mysteries from which she finds no alternatives for keeping her marriage.

Averting a too formal and too detailed storytelling, Patterson allows informal English language features to ‘take over’ the whole plot, providing also some language patterns from the usage made by police officers, such as the code-based use they make of both departments’ names and their own professional operations. Writing in a straightforward way, the writer gives Lauren the opportunity to make use of irony based on her own life issues all over the narrative. Even though irony becomes the widespread tone, as well as the suspense employed, bringing a comic, horror or reflexive atmosphere to the story, Patterson also makes use of foreshadowing as a literary device so as to show the readers a small glimpse of upcoming consequences. In addition, he focuses on matters of police corruption, extramarital relations, lies, blackmail, and trust issues not only within marriage, but also in work relations.

The combination of these themes reflects the results of dealing with truth and lie while trying to maintain: a balance between the two of them, a job, a marriage, and all things in their supposed-to-be place under the circumstances. Nevertheless, as the novel progresses, the main character has to make choices as to what to risk or even what to sacrifice, which itself imposes a problem to the steadiness issue expected. Echoing the very ends of someone’s lawless actions, the novel demonstrates how and what the most inoffensive of beings could do to protect who they love, despite of their unnatural deeds, whereas trying to stop things from falling apart.

Although not the first detective/mystery story that I have read, The Quickie was the first Patterson book that I read. I was already aware of his using short chapters (a practice also made by Herman Melville is his Moby Dick) which induces readers not to put the book down until the very last page. Though the constant use of police abbreviations or codes might have been a little confusing at some point, the novel does not lose its value and power as a great detective and mystery book, being even more appealing, for instance, to police officers themselves, who might identify with the topics and problems a police officer faces at home and at work, be them at the NYPD or not.

Luna 17/06/2021

difícil parar de ler
Quando comecei a leitura do livro achei bem entediante, mas foi literalmente por um só capítulo. depois que a história pega embalo ela vai descendo e não para mais. Foi isso que me prendeu no livro, além de ter uma história muito boa é narrada de um jeito que aproxima o leitor do personagem, fazendo sentir a emoção de Lauren durante todo o caso.

Lilinha 06/05/2011

Sinceramente, só não gostei muito do final do livro.
Tudo começa muito bem, cheio de ação, com assassinatos e investigações, e o clima continua quente por praticamente todo o enredo. Mas não gostei do jeito como o autor decidiu explicar as coisas (o pq do assassinato e etc).
Imaginei motivos bem mais elaborados, e não o velho clichê dos problemas na relação quando a mulher, devido sua profissão, aparenta ser mais forte que o homem.