Guess it wasn't a consensus opinion after all

So a few little birdies have alerted me to a rather interesting little invective sent over the DorothyL transom by a judge on the Edgar Award committee for Best Paperback Original. In the interests of harmony (and to protect the guilty) I'm redacting the judge's name, but the vitriol and outrage should speak for itself.  The argument isn't new, and I'm sure it'll be one that pops up over and over again, but I do have to question why a judge would so publicly question the merits of a winner -- although I suppose it does demonstrate that someone can hate a book so much and their opinion doesn't end up counting in the end.

Oh yeah, be warned: lotsa spoilers for the book in question as well. Read the full thing after the jump.

Date:    Tue, 3 May 2005 13:25:41 -0500
From:    [Redacted] 
Subject: A Dissenting Edgar Vote

I was on the Edgar's committee for 2004's best paperback original. When my fellow committee members voted for THE CONFESSION to get the prize, I was so appalled by their decision that I lost sleep over it for the next several weeks. The cover art depicted a beautiful woman with her eyes wide and mouth agape in terror is she is about to be strangled with a blue necktie. And that's what the novel is about. The protagonist is a remorseless sociopath who enjoys raping and strangling women, which he does throughout the book and always gets away with it. At the end, he is smirkingly eyeing his next victim.

And that's the story. No mystery is solved here.  No criminal is brought to justice. After the votes were added up and announced among the committee, on January 10th, I wrote my concerns to the other members:

"What constricts my stomach is the concept that fantasies about raping and strangling women are what get rewarded in our field." The other commitee members said they understood my feelings, but believed *The Confession* to be so very well-written that it deserved the Edgar in any case. Yes, the word-smithing was very good.  But at least 12 other PBOs we received were written as well, plus had *real* plots with a mystery, twists and turns, a denouement and closure.  Not just "I killed her, then I killed her, then I killed her, then I killed her..."

Other books had fascinating themes like tracing the geneology of native Americans to establish tribal rights. (JACKPOT BLOOD), ancient Japanese puppetryin modern- day Osaka. (KINKI LULLABY) and the science of arson investigation (WEEPING.) The theme of THE CONFESSION is simply that there's no downside to slaughtering females if you're clever about it.

One member believed it took "courage" for the author to write about "a character who would not be sympathetic". I replied that in a world where men kill their wives and girlfriends every day, and countless others would like to, I wouldn't call writing about someone who gets away with it to be an act of "courage", but rather pandering to the basest instincts. I really believe that if the victims in this book had been black people instead of women, or had been Puerto Ricans, or Jews, or even *alley  cats* then the author's sadistic fantasies would not have been rewarded with an Edgar.  But beautiful women are acceptable targets of atrocities.

Comments

[David J. Montgomery]

Thanks for guiding us back on topic, Dusty. :)

[JDRhoades]

David:

Sorry, didn't mean to be a Topic Cop.
This is what I mean, though...no good comes of getting involved in meta-discussions.

[Keith]

Now we're discussing the meta-discussion.

[JDRhoades]

Not any more :-)

[David J. Montgomery]

Where better than a mystery blog for a Topic Cop?

[The Evil J Winter]

Jean Claude Van Damme IS The Topic Cop

Assumes Van Damme might still have a career

[Keith]

Now we're discussing whether we're discussing the meta-discussion.

[bernd]

I confess: A bit late !

But in my opinion "The Confession" is (in idea and style) an modern remake of A. Christies "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" - and nothing more.

And yes, I found the first part of the book booring. I couldn´t stand J. Danser. At that point I wasn´t shure whether Stansberry dared to rewrite Roger Ackroyd.

But at the end I think, that the book shows that Stansberry is a master of his trade. The way he developes Danser is great.

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