The blurb on the back cover of Peter James's
Perfect People defines it
the perfect thriller. But I found out,
as I almost always do, that a reasonably interesting story was
marred by editing errors. Not too many, but enough to annoy me (but then, I am very
easily annoyed...)
| # |
Page |
Description |
| 1 |
2 |
"The deck drops away beneath him, then moment
later is rising, pressing up on his feet like an elevator
floor, heaving his stomach up against his rib cage".
It seems that neither James nor the book's editors have any
notion of Physics. And they have never taken a fast elevator either.
When an elevator quickly accelerates upwards or quickly
stops its descent, its floor needs to exercise an increased
upward pressure on the sole of your feet, which, in turn,
transfer that pressure to the rest of your body. When
your pelvis pushes upwards against your internal organs in order to
make it go faster upwards or slower downwards, you actually
feel as if your stomach were pushed down! It is when
you quickly stop an upward movement or quickly start a
downward movement that your stomach, so to speak, hits your
throat. But in that case, your feet, rather than being
pushed up, might actually come off the floor. |
| 2 |
16/17 |
The first page of a document is marked "Page
1 of 16", but after showing it to Naomi, Dr Dettore states
that the document contains "another sixteen pages".
Well, are they 16 or 17? |
| 3 |
140 |
"Just as silently as they had surfaced and
struck, the Disciple of the Third Millenium seem to have
faded back into ether". Grammar mistake: "seemed"
should replace "seem". |
| 4 |
242 |
John reads and sends emails from his computer
and plays chess with Gus in Brisbane, but, according to
James, "he didn't leave the computer online either here or
at the office". James must know that computers can
communicate with the rest of the world only when they are
online. He probably meant to say that John switched
off the computer or disconnected it from the network when he
wasn't there. But it is an example of very sloppy
writing. |
| 5 |
263 |
"John, she was accusing you and I of being
responsible". Please! Is this how we are
supposed to talk nowadays? Do we also say "she will
kill I" and "she saw I?" |
| 6 |
283 |
Phoebe was writing a Word document on her
computer. Her mother, to stop her, "walked over to the
wall and yanked the plug out". Yeah. The problem
is that Phoebe's computer was a laptop. Laptops have
batteries, don't they? |
| 7 |
290 |
"Was this her way telling them". The
"of" between "way" and "telling" is missing. Or do
people speak like that? |
| 8 |
415 |
While in Rome, "He walked over to the
window. It was a huge, heavy old sash,
double-glazed". Well, I lived in Rome for longer than
30 years and then visited it several times, staying in
several hotels. I can testify that sash windows, new or
old, do not exist in Rome. Actually, I never saw one
in Italy. Perhaps some Americans or British living
there import them to feel at home, but I doubt it. And
in Rome I never saw a double-glazed window either. |
| 9 |
416 |
"You have a reservation on Alitalia flight
1050 to Dubai". But Alitalia flies (and has always
flown) to Abu Dhabi, not Dubai. |
| 10 |
426 |
"...into another elevator. John's
stomach dropped [this is right]. Then, moments later,
the floor pressed up against his feet". Again the
feet pressed up? James and the editor seem
convinced than this is what happens when an upward elevator stops... |
To top it off, the prose was not fluid at all. It was quirky
and dry. It was not a pleasure to read it.
For your reference, here are the links to all past “Authors’
Mistakes” articles:
Lee
Child:
Die Trying
Colin
Forbes:
Double Jeopardy
Akiva
Goldsman:
Lost in Space
Vince
Flynn:
Extreme Measures
Máire
Messenger
Davies & Nick Mosdell: Practical Research Methods for Media
and Cultural Studies
Michael
Crichton
& Richard Preston: Micro
Lee
Child:
The Visitor
Graham
Tattersall:
Geekspeak
Graham
Tattersall: Geekspeak (addendum)
Donna
Leon:
A Noble Radiance
007
Tomorrow
Never Dies
Vince
Flynn:
American Assassin
Brian
Green:
The Fabric of the Cosmos
John
Stack:
Master of Rome
Dean
Crawford:
Apocalypse
Daniel
Silva:
The Fallen Angel
Tom
Clancy:
Locked On
Peter
David:
After Earth
Douglas
Preston:
Impact
Brian
Christian:
The Most Human Human
Donna
Leon:
Fatal Remedies
Sidney
Sheldon:
Tell Me Your Dreams
David
Baldacci:
Zero Day
Sidney
Sheldon:
The Doomsday Conspiracy
CSI
Miami
Christopher
L.
Bennett: Make Hub, Not War
CSI
Miami
#2 (Robert Hornak)
Jack
Greene & Alessandro Massignani
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