Some books are just made for mindless vacation reading. MAJESTIC DESCENDING – a debut novel from Mitchell Graham – is one of them. Heck, it’s even about a mindless vacation.
Or at least one intended to be that way. Katherine Adams is a domestic-affairs attorney who’s very good at her job. In what passes for a 50-page prologue, we see exactly how good. But the pressures of work, being a single mom and having only nine fingers (I’ll let you discover the reason for yourself) have taken their toll, and a cruise on the Ocean Majestic with her best friend Beth seems to be the prescription to cure what ails her.
Wrong! Oh, at least it starts out all smooth sailing, with Katherine and Beth being overwhelmed by the posh star treatment they receive, and Katherine enjoying the attention she gets from the hunky cop-turned-professor John Delaney, also on board.
There’s another professor passenger, however, who inadvertently turns the trip into a nightmare. His name is Ellis Stephens, and he’s just made a scientific breakthrough: one that can grow new organs in humans. It has potential to make someone billions, but the high-minded researcher just wants to use the power for good. Naturally, Bad People follow him aboard. Not so naturally, Ellis is carrying the secret to his miracle idea in a briefcase at all times during his vacay.
Ellis isn’t giving it up, so a terrorist act ensues, and the Majestic, well, descends. (Hey, I’m not spoiling anything; that’s right there in the title.) Thousands die, TITANIC-style, but to Graham’s credit, the book doesn’t stay stuck there. By the halfway point, it’s off to other things and locales, notably the countryside in Italy, where danger continues to follow Katherine and company.
For those keeping track, MAJESTIC DESCENDING moves from legal thriller to suspense thriller to romantic adventure and mystery. You may cry scattershot, but at least it keeps you on your toes. This switch in tones grants the novel an episodic feel, as if it were a four-part miniseries. If that were the case, I wish it would have stopped at the first half.
It’s not that the second stretch is bad, but it lacks the surprising excitement and near-breathless readability of the first. More attention is paid to the flirty love banter between Katherine and Delaney, sometimes placing the narrative at a halt. But at least their dialogue is snappy, and both are likable.
I’m not sure the same could be said for Beth; certainly Graham doesn’t expect us to believe there’s a cultured 40something woman who’s never heard the terms “paintball” and “trophy wife.” Oh, and the big reveal at the end? Completely inplausible. And yet, kind of a hoot.
All in all, the novel boasts wide, across-the-board appeal, dipping its toes in a number of genres. It reads like a big-budget, high-concept summer movie – a good thing during these 94-degree days where escape is as treasured as lemonade and sunblock. –Rod Lott
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
You make some valid points and some that seem to be catty just for the sake fo cattiness, if that’s a word. I read “Majestic” and loved it. I found the pace superb and the interaction between John and Katherine really enjoyable. What I didn’t find implausable, as you call it, was the ending. True, it came out of left field and caught me by surprise, but I found it to be set up really well.
Majestic Descending, doesn’t pretend to be the next Da Vinci Code, only an enjoyable, very enjoyable mind you, summer read, and that’s exactly what it was. If an author can keep you entertained, I don’t think they’ve gone very far wrong.
Sophia
Loved Majestic Descending
I just came back from my own mindless vacation, on a cruise ship no less, and took Mitchell Graham’s, Majestic Descending with me. I loved the characters and the exciting storyline helped me while away those tortuous hours sunning myself on the ship’s Emerald Deck.
Some people don’t like a touch of romance with their mysteries. I did. Everything Mr. Graham did worked perfectly. I only hope he writes another book quickly with Katherine and John Delaney. My next vacation is already set for the Springtime!
MAJESTIC DESCENDING is a marvelous book. The plot moved along well and the ending caught me completely by surprise. Cheers for this one–the best mystery I’ve read in the last few months. There is a lot of buzz going on in our (B &N)bookstore about it.