There are few things more frustrating to me as a reader than a book filed with great ideas crumbling under the weight of the author's poor voice.

I'm about 40 pages or so into "Dead Sea" by Tim Curran and am in love with the subject matter and setting, but I am finding his writing to be mediocre at best.

The story is about a ship of workmen on its way to Guiana, when it is suddenly enveloped by an eerie, fowl smelling fog which may house some sort of creature.

But it's filled with moments in which Curran seems unable to allow the reader to take in any of his descriptions without spelling everything out for them.

The best example (which is indicative of many descriptions in the book) involves Curran describing the unsettling calm that sets over the boat before the rolls in. He spends a few sentences describing how even the sounds of the ship seem to fall silent, and the water calms itself to the point where the boat looks to be floating on a mirror.

Then he has a character's inner monologue say "My god...it's like the calm before the storm!"

Well thank you for spelling that out for me, I wouldn't have gotten the effect of the scene without that.