Monday, March 10, 2008

The Moment of Truth

THE WIRE in a moment, but first, my first big industry review is in... from Publishers Weekly:

Three Vancouver constables—son-of-a-sergeant Craig Nolan, bombshell in the boys’ club Ashlyn Hart, and stolidly antisocial cop Tain—are drawn together as the rapes, arsons and child abductions they’re working on respectively converge. The three, who have a beef over a prior case gone bad, must get over their personal differences and chase scant leads before another raped woman, burned building or missing girl turns up. Ruttan manages to keep the multiple leads and seconds on the same page admirably: she doesn’t drop too many clues in their laps or allow the tension to flag. The child abduction and sex crime aspects of the story are handled without exploitation or kid gloves; the straight proceduralism from Ruttan (Suspicious Circumstances) serves the story well through the rewarding climax.


Needless to say, I'm really happy with the review. I'm glad that they picked up on the delicate balance of dealing with rather serious crimes, and I'm certainly happy that they feel I maintain the tension throughout and that the climax is rewarding.

And now I can breathe a bit easier...


Yesterday was a significant day, as the last episode of THE WIRE aired. I've elaborated on some key points in the ongoing forum discussion but probably in the next few weeks I'll really digest the season as a whole.

I must say, Doquan broke my heart. And more than anything, that will stay with me. The real story to the show is that nothing will be fixed or improved. The truth is, that the institutions are as much responsible for the problems as anything else, and feed the cycle and sustain it.

What will I take away? The trio of replacements - Sydnor is McNulty, Michael is Omar and Doquan is Wallace.

I hope Michael has as compelling a future as Omar had.

A sad day for the show, though. And a strong finish, despite my feelings about the journalism thread.

What did you guys think?

12 comments:

Chris said...

Congrats! You must be breathing easier, now that you've gotten a rave!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the review, Sandra. It's amazing that no matter how many times people say they like us, we always worry about the next reader/reviewer.
Max Collins wrote an interesting piece the other day about how Mickey Spillane, for all his tough-guy bravado and millions of books sold, was still deeply affected by bad reviews.
But as the Celts say, "May all your reviews be good."

Sandra Ruttan said...

Thanks guys - really, it's something about that first review for a book. It takes the edge off a bit. You want a good one... so I'm glad.

Randy Johnson said...

Congrats! As for The Wire, I've seen all the articles on it and never read them because I'd never seen it. My bad luck is that I just got HBO hooked up this morning. Sigh...

angie said...

Yay, you! Veddy nice review for WBW. That's gotta be a huge boost!

As a non-tv person, I'm staying away from all the hoopla about The Wire. I'll watch this last season when it comes out on dvd.

Mindy Tarquini said...

Oh my GOD! That's a wonderful review! You must be dancing on air!

Here - have another exclamation point!!!!!!

Or six.

On The Wire - remember the convos we had about it? Janet made me watch it while on hiatus from edits. I watched the whole first season...

I liked it.

Brian Lindenmuth said...

I think Duquan is the new Bubbles

Also Carver is the new Daniels

Sandra Ruttan said...

Randy, if the show repeats, try to get it from the beginning. It will ruin you for other TV though.

Don't worry Angie - with all the storylines you'll forget it by the time the DVDs are out.

Thanks Mindy. I'm pretty happy! And I'm glad you liked The Wire.

Okay Brian, I'll give you Duquan. You're right. But Carver as Daniels? Do we think (morally) he's come that far? Maybe...

Barbara said...

I told my husband this morning we could throw away the TV now. Nothing else measures up.

Congratulations on the PW review - and surviving the anxiety.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on the great review. I expect you've got a grin from ear to ear.

Daniel Hatadi said...

Great news with that review!

But I can't comment on The Wire and I can't even look at anything about it: I've just started season 3.

Eileen said...

Yay! Good Review. The first, I'm sure, of many more to come.