Novels written in the present tense

[Blaze]

Does anyone else hate this as much as I do ?

It's supposed to give a sense of urgency, to make the reader feel he/she's on the spot. I hate it and now check carefully before buying.
I read some of Patricial Cornwell's books years ago and enjoyed them but I gather she's fallen by the wayside and now writes in the present tense.
The worst are those written in the first person in the present tense.

I recently bought a French novel, a detective story set in Brittany, and thoroughly enjoyed it. So I bought the next 2 in the series without looking at the contents. Blow me if they aren't both written in the present tense, so I shan't be buying any more of that writer.

[demi]

Yes, yes, yes. I agree with every word you say (are saying.......... .

And it ain't often I ever say that!

[DominicBest]

I look carefully at the tense in every French novel I’m interested in. Too many are written in bizarre livery tenses that are way beyond my reading age.

[Blaze]

I look carefully at the tense in every French novel I’m interested in.

I certainly do that now though I've never had a problem with the past historic and associated tenses.

Whilst disliking books written in the present tense, I prefer reading a good old-fashioned narrative style novel to one that hops from plot to plot before coming together at the end. You're just getting into one plot when it changes scene to something different - it been current for quite a while in English language thrillers. I'm happy to say I've found some French authors that conform nicely to my desires. That said, one of them likes to use two different languages : one is straight forward French, with some useful slang, the other sometimes uses words you won't necessarily find in Collins-Robert !!