Book Details
| Title: | Fletch and the Widow Bradley | |
| Author: | Gregory Mcdonald | |
| Times Read: | 1 | |
| Last Read: | 10.17.24 |
Other Books Read By This Author (4)
- Confess, Fletch
- Fletch
- Fletch's Fortune
- Fletch's Moxie
| Date Read | Note |
| 10.17.24 | The Fourth Fletch book; the first one to take place in the past, notably before the events of the first book. This one finds Fletch back in his reporter days working for Frank and the News-Tribune. The A-plot is that he's fired for quoting memos signed by someone who turns out to be dead. The B-plot is he's found a wallet with 25k in cash that he's having a hard time tracking down. This is the first Fletch book I didn't love. Maybe it leans too hard on a journalistic integrity and standard that no longer exists but I didn't think quoting a dead person was SO terrible that it would be a career-ender and the lengths that Fletch goes to in order to clear his name stretched credulity a bit too far for me. Like how many times does he have to hear that the dude is dead before he believes it? There's a bit of meta-level stuff going on in that we the reader knows something must be up because otherwise there wouldn't be a book to read but the hooks for investigation are just too slight for me. The other big issue involves the ended so I'll save that for the end of my notes. I do find it interesting that the resolution involves a story that both Fletch and the newspaper editor agrees is not fit to print, as if that would ever happen today. I think the big takeaway from this whole series might be how far the fifth estate has fallen in my lifetime. SPOILERS AHEAD So the twist ending is the guy's not dead but instead he had a sex-change operation and is pretending to be his own sister. It's a real Ace Ventura thing that's also a huge reminder of how far society has progressed in some ways. So we have no accountability or truth in media anymore but at least people can transition and not have to stage their own deaths. I guess it works as a reveal circa 1980 but the whole topic reads different in 2024. That makes this the first book where not only is there no murder but there's no death. Perhaps that'll be notable unto itself once I finish the series but right now it feels kinda minor. |
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