...of bad, bad writing. OK, so there are a number of factors working in Whitehead's favor--he's young, attractive, black (yeah, I said it), and he's pretty smart. Not "genius," as the Maccarthur folks would have it, but smart. Nor is he the heir to Ralph Ellison, but he's an OK writer, everything said and done. So why are his last three books some of the most unreadable, bloated pieces of crap I have read in contemporary fiction? The IDEAS are good, and some of the sentences are passable, but take "Apex"--it feels like the equivalent of a morning literary bowel movement, filled with hot air and half-visible, half-felt-for characters. Mostly, it's all characterization. Please, Colson, give us something worthy of your talents.