As If

[poliphilo]

The hero of the thriller I've just read is a man my age- which is to say around 60- who wakes up in a hospital bed to find he's been shot in the leg (the exit wound is the size of a dinner plate), nearly drowned- and that he's suffering from short-term amnesia. So what does he do? Turn over and go back to sleep? Take early retirement? Hell, no; he's got a case to solve. He walks out of hospital with a pocket full of half-inched morphine capsules- and goes haring around London, confronting scary people, getting into fights, defying authority, not sleeping, not eating, exploring sewers, in a remorseless quest for justice and personal redemption.  Yeah, of course he does. 

Comments

[silverhawkdruid.livejournal.com]

ugh... sewers, with a gammy leg? *shudders* LOL

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[craftyailz.livejournal.com]

he is warned about open wounds and wears chest high waders

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, but then he goes back again, entirely by himself and in the dark.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Makes me tired just reading about it and I'm not quite 60!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's one of my beefs about genre fiction- it rarely tells the truth about human nature and/or the limitations of the human body and nervous system.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Well, I know adrenaline can add a lot to what I can do, but it is certainly not sustainable. And you know how active I am, especially given my age.

[oakmouse]

And of course he doesn't get an infection or land up with a backache from all that running about or need a nap midday or have incredible cravings for protein or anything else that would be credible for a seriously wounded man of that age. Am I right?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You're right.

It's not a bad book. I enjoyed it. But if it's realism you're after you'd be better off with Agatha Christie