[martin_fierro]

LOL just beat me to it.

[Bernard Marx]

I've watched this happen with several best-selling authors: Alistair McLean and Stephen King, to mention a couple. When the Big Bucks start pouring in they forget the critical importance of Editors and let their prose slop into self-indulgent wordy overkill. McLean's early works were the tightest, tautest action thrillers I've ever read. But after the Hollywood success of "Ice Station Zebra" and a couple of others, he went completely to hell. King retains the old spark at times but nothing compares with his first 3-4 novels.