The Man Who Put on a Dress and Could See Through Walls, Oliver Trusler, JAN2024 LTER
Talk Reviews of Early Reviewers Books
Join LibraryThing to post.
1LyndaInOregon
There’s not much to say about this book that won’t violate the Reviewer’s Code. Suffice to say, if you read it, prepare to be disappointed with the ending. In fact, the ending is 100% the reason I gave it a 2-star rating.
However, in case you are the kind of person who insists on touching items marked with a “Wet Paint; Do Not Touch” sign, here goes.
Trusler does notify the reader, in the forward, that The Man Who Put on a Dress and Could See Through Walls can be read as a stand-alone (questionable) or “as part of The Truslerverse”. The title pretty well tells you everything you need to know about the plot.
Dan Green is the aimless heir to a great deal of money inherited when his wealthy parents die suddenly. (The text gives two different reasons for their demise – Trusler needs to hire someone to tech edit his manuscript in order to avoid this and one other blooper involving the colors of a pair of hippopotamus statues. Don’t ask. Really. Because other than bringing them on scene for one specific purpose, they’re never otherwise explained.) At any rate, he gets heavily into the drug scene, to the point where his only living relative stages an intervention and shuffles him off to rehab. In an attempt to escape the locked facility, he comes up with the notion of disguising himself as a woman – and that’s when his unexpected power reveals itself. Yes, when he puts on a dress, he can see through walls.
Trusler might have gone a number of different directions here. What happens when a hitherto normal (if unmotivated) human suddenly develops a superpower? Does he control it, or does it destroy him? Is he going to be a superhero or a supervillain? Does some kind of social responsibility automatically come with the granting of this power?
Or does he just use it as a toy and snoop around in other peoples’ lives? (If that was your guess, you’re right.) The story drifts on, and he realizes there is a secret organization functioning within an office/apartment complex he now owns, and the rest of the book is devoted to his attempting to figure out what The Sunshine Corporation actually does.
This isn’t a bad beginning to a book, or even a for a series. The problem lies in the ending, which is where that pesky old Reviewer’s Code rears its ugly head. The only honest thing I can recommend is to give this one a pass. Maybe when Trusler works his way into a complete novel, with a beginning, middle, and end, aficionados of the superhero genre would find it amusing.
However, in case you are the kind of person who insists on touching items marked with a “Wet Paint; Do Not Touch” sign, here goes.
Trusler does notify the reader, in the forward, that The Man Who Put on a Dress and Could See Through Walls can be read as a stand-alone (questionable) or “as part of The Truslerverse”. The title pretty well tells you everything you need to know about the plot.
Dan Green is the aimless heir to a great deal of money inherited when his wealthy parents die suddenly. (The text gives two different reasons for their demise – Trusler needs to hire someone to tech edit his manuscript in order to avoid this and one other blooper involving the colors of a pair of hippopotamus statues. Don’t ask. Really. Because other than bringing them on scene for one specific purpose, they’re never otherwise explained.) At any rate, he gets heavily into the drug scene, to the point where his only living relative stages an intervention and shuffles him off to rehab. In an attempt to escape the locked facility, he comes up with the notion of disguising himself as a woman – and that’s when his unexpected power reveals itself. Yes, when he puts on a dress, he can see through walls.
Trusler might have gone a number of different directions here. What happens when a hitherto normal (if unmotivated) human suddenly develops a superpower? Does he control it, or does it destroy him? Is he going to be a superhero or a supervillain? Does some kind of social responsibility automatically come with the granting of this power?
Or does he just use it as a toy and snoop around in other peoples’ lives? (If that was your guess, you’re right.) The story drifts on, and he realizes there is a secret organization functioning within an office/apartment complex he now owns, and the rest of the book is devoted to his attempting to figure out what The Sunshine Corporation actually does.
This isn’t a bad beginning to a book, or even a for a series. The problem lies in the ending, which is where that pesky old Reviewer’s Code rears its ugly head. The only honest thing I can recommend is to give this one a pass. Maybe when Trusler works his way into a complete novel, with a beginning, middle, and end, aficionados of the superhero genre would find it amusing.
