You Can’t Stop Me, by Max Allan Collins and Matthew Clemens

I purchased You Can’t Stop Me, by Max Allan Collins and Matthew Clemens, when I found it during a random Amazon surfing trip.

Description: After his family is killed, J.C. Harrow gets out of law enforcement and into television by hosting a reality crime show. His real motivation is to find the murderer of his wife and son.

Overall: 4 1/4 Stars

Plot/Storyline: 5 Stars

 The plot in this novel was very intriguing, adding a new slant on the methods for solving cold cases. While I know there are already television shows out there that do this same thing, I hadn’t read this type of scenario in a novel before. It was different from watching the television shows of this type in several ways, the biggest being that we got to see behind the scenes. Another way was the personal stake the main character, J.C. Harrow, had in the main crime, as they were chasing the killer of his family.

The different clues, how they were found and interpreted, were creative and interesting. Unlike many ’serial killer chasing’ novels, none of the clues felt forced or contrived. There was a reason for everything. My only concern was that the group never seemed to find much in the way of red herrings. They zeroed in on every meaningful clue. I was surprised that they never found and followed up on hardly any clues that went nowhere.

The scenes told from the killer’s viewpoint were very well done. I especially enjoyed the dual scene that depicted a previous murder contrasted with a current one.  The killer was believable and had sound motivation, making for a good conclusion.

Character Development: 3 Stars

 The characters were somewhat shallow, even J.C., unfortunately lending an “I don’t really care what happens to them” feel to the story. I would have liked to have had more empathy for the team and even the killer.

Somewhere in the book (I won’t say where or who to avoid spoilers), there is a kidnapped woman. While some sympathy is generated for her while she is beign held captive, the before and after scenes just left me cold. I felt like the author passed up a great opportunity to really delve into one of the characters.

Writing Style: 4 1/2 Stars

The writing style was rather loose and easy going, with the exception of the scenes from the killer’s viewpoint. This was surprising in this genre, but not out of place. The author made it work well. The descriptions were very good, not too flowery, but not too sparse, either. The dialogue was excellent.

The author used sentence fragments to make points qutie often. Unfortunately, it was a little too often, causing me to reread some sentences looking for the subject and/or verb.

Editing/Formatting: 4 3/4 Stars

There were a few editing errors, but they were rare.

The formatting was of professional quality.

Rating: PG-14 for Adult Situations and Murder

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I really enjoyed this novel. I hope there will be a sequel, and that the main characters will develop more throughout the next book. They did have a lot of potential.

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How did you come up with the title?

Our original title was KILLER TV.  Our editor at Kensington wasn’t keen on that, and dozens of titles were tossed back and forth between the writing team and our editor.  The current title is a variation on one that my co-author Matt Clemens and I came up with.  Kensington is very good at marketing this kind of thriller and we trusted their judgment.
 
How long have you been writing?
 
My first novel was published in 1973.  My collaboration with Matt Clemens has been going on for well over a decade.  Matt assisted me on the CSI novels and gradually became a co-author, although his contributions weren’t reflected in cover credit.  In the acknowledgements, however, his role as researcher and co-plotter was made clear.  We’ve written a dozen or more short stories together under joint byline.  I also collaborate with my wife Barb as “Barbara Allan” on the Trash ‘n’ Treasures mystery series, most recent of which is ANTIQUES BIZARRE.  
 
What authors have inspired you?
 
My favorite writers are the classic mystery novelists — Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, among others.  I’ve been honored to finish six incomplete Mike Hammer novel manuscripts left behind by Mickey Spillane.  He asked me himself, just days before his passing, to take on this task.  The first of these, THE GOLIATH BONE, came out in 2008, and the second, THE BIG BANG, will be out this May.
 
Where did you get the idea for the novel?
 
Matt and I had done ten CSI novels (many of which made the USA Today bestseller list), one BONES novel, and three CRIMINAL MINDS.  We developed a style and affinity for the forensics-oriented serial-killer thriller, but wanted to do something of our own, after doing so many using characters created by others.  We began with the idea for a superstar forensics team, and initially thought they would be for hire — high-tech private detectives.  Then it occurred to me that the most popular shows on television were CSI (and its clones) and reality programming.  Matt and I brainstormed and came up with a way to combine the two into something that we hope is compelling, and allows for some social comment and even satire.

Who is your favorite character?

In YOU CAN’T STOP ME, it’s probably Harrow, the hero, although I rather like the shy computer guru, Jenny.  She’s fun to write.  We tried to put together a diverse team that would allow for growing characterization, since we knew we had a contract to do at least two Harrow novels.  We’ve been accused of doing this for political correctness purposes, but that isn’t the case — we wanted different personalities to bump up against each other.
 
Biographical information is available at www.maxallancollins.com.

You Can’t Stop Me, by Max Allan Collins and Matthew Clemens

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