Kathmandu, June 20 -- Donna Tartt has a remarkable ability to make me read books that, on paper, you should probably hate.

'The Secret History' is a group of insufferable classics students discussing Greek philosophy for hundreds of pages. 'The Goldfinch' follows a boy wandering through grief, art, addiction, and bad decisions for nearly 800 pages. It was substantial, too.

So when you pick up 'The Little Friend', you think you know what you are getting into. A long Donna Tartt novel isn't usually a problem. This time, though, it is.

The novel opens with one of Tartt's strongest premises. Nine-year-old Robin Cleve Dufresnes is found hanging from a tree in his family's front yard on Mother's Day. Nobody knows who killed him. Nobody is ev...