Wayne Grusza is a man running from a troubled past who decides to settle down in a senior community in order to be an investigative accountant. The seniors there then sweet-talk him into breaching the high security estate of a con artist in order to recover stolen goods. Wayne has no problem with the job, except for the fact that a female lawyer, also with a troubled past, is intrigued with Wayne and follows his every move. He feels himself developing an attraction to her, which is something he cannot afford. On top of this, an angel has appeared to another one of Wayne's clients, warning them of something to come. It will take more than Wayne's analytical brain to figure that one out.
The summary above can describe any and every T Davis Bunn book on the market. Anyone can invent this type of plot; it takes no skill. However, writing this type of plot with originality does take an amount of skill. And believe it or not, T has written a semi-original book. I never knew it to be possible, but he has, and that alone is something to celebrate.
This is a shocker-several of the characters have personalities! Though Wayne lacks a personality, he is an imperfect character! His troubled past is his fault! It's hard to believe that this type of simple originality is coming from an author who has written such cheap suspense in the past.
Surprisingly, All Through the Night is not suspense at all. T does not even force the book to be suspense. It is a normal plot about everyday life and people. However, this book does not come without its flaws. The characters move from one task to another like a fantasy quest, fixing them as they go along. Breaching the high security estate does not fill up the entire book; only about the first fifty pages. From there, Wayne flits around from task to task. While this is realistic, it is not realistic to have every problem fixed in the end. This is the main flaw of the book.
But there are other quirks like the unexplained disappearance of a potentially interesting character and the working out of the inevitable romantic subplot. But with this book, T Davis Bunn has shown that there is hope for even the most unlikely of authors.
So congratulations, Mr. Bunn, on your first Elite book.
4 stars
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