1 comments about A Drink of Deadly Wine (Book of Psalms Mystery).

1. What I liked most about this mystery is that Kate Charles doesn't confine herself to the murder mystery genre; the original mystery is, rather, about blackmail. (Though a dead body does eventually show up.)
   The first few pages are hard to get through, for in the beginning Father Gabriel Neville is not at all a sympathetic character.
   This book is full of Anglican "characters" who are flawed and therefore pretty believable and engaging.
   I look forward to reading the other David Middleton-Brown books!

5 comments about After the Fire (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)).

1. This book falls into the category of what I call Grandma or Mothers Day books--probably given as a gift.
   Hyacinth,a quiet,gentle and totally non-sophisticated girl is swept off her feet by a handsome,go-getting young doctor who is quick to seize any opportunities to advance his career.Against the advice of her mother,she marries him and sublimates her budding artistic career to him and their subsequent children.Unfortunately, Hyacinth is too much of an innocent to realise that this monster is "Gaslighting" her into a state of subjugation to the point where he forces her into a divorce and the signing away of her children.He convinces her that she's guilty of a criminal offence which,if brought to light would ruin the lives of her family.I am normally a fairly mild mannered person but I could cheerfully have punched this excuse for a man till he was a pulp! After many lonely years,she meets a new love who sets her on the path to newly realised talents and who helps her to rediscover her self confidence and future happiness with him and her reclaimed children.



2. This is the story of the marriage of Hyacinth and Gerald. Hyacinth is a romantic, naïve, young artist who believes in true love and in the integrity of Gerald; her new husband fresh out of medical school. Gerald has big plans for the future and a need for the society that Hyacinth's family can provide. Hyacinth's needs are those of any wide-eyed young girl who has lived in the shadow of a beautiful mother. She needs only the true love that she doesn't believe she truly deserves.

   The reader enters Hyacinth's world, feels her trust in the man she loves, and lives her heartbreak as the marriage slowly dissolves, taking her children with it in an ugly divorce based on blackmail. We follow Hyacinth as she finds the courage to make her way alone, while grieving for her children and for the comfort and warmth of the home she had made with them. Her intense love for Gerald turns to hate and to a fierce determination to get her children back. In After the Fire, Belva Plain skillfully weaves the tendrils of suspense in a story filled with joy, betrayal, sadness, and ultimate victory!




3. This book isn`t worth the paper it is written on!!It contained nothing of substance.Where did this couple live?What were their last names?What was a day like at home for the mother(Hyacynth)?What were her children like?What was important to her?These are just a few of the subjects not even touched upon by the author.I couldn`t get past the first 100 pages.I hav not read any of this authors other books since Evergreen,which I loved.This book was a waste of my time and money.I will not ever waste anymore money on this authors books.



4. I'll have to reserve a higher rating until I finish this saga. I think I will have to agree with the previous reviewer that gave a low rating. The dialog is so stilted I can't believe what I am reading. I AM a Belva Plain admirer, but her writing here leaves much to be desired.
   Back to this unbelievable couple and their disolving marriage.



5. This has got to be one of the worst books I have ever read. It is too slow. The author tends to drag on each situation. I think the plot is good it was just not well written at all. I am struggling to finish it just because I am curious to see what happens with the children.

No comments about The Consequences of Seduction.

5 comments about Red Cat (John March Mysteries).

1. Peter Spiegelman is a fine writer and this is another fine effort. But it is critical to "getting it" that the reader/listener start reading Spiegleman from his first John March novel, Black Maps and follow with the 2nd, Death's Little Helpers. Otherwise, March's own history will be murky and his family story will be unbelievable, and it will all sound crazy. Read in order, Spiegelman's stories are amazingly creative and instructive.
   Elliot Gould is a fine actor, but there are pauses while he turns the page (it seems), and he's unfamiliar with words like "syrah". But otherwise, he's OK.



2. I didn't give this story quite five stars because of the slow and uneventful pace of most of the book (a lot of the described action is mostly what transpires between John March and his live-in girlfriend). Don't get me wrong, it is still a decent whodunnit book.
   
   March is asked by his brother David to find all he can about Wren, a woman he met on the Internet, had a subsequent affair with and is now being hounded by her (like the woman in Fatal Attraction). When John starts investigating, Wren turns up dead. John must then step-up his almost impossible search before David is tied to Wren by the police. John and David's lawyer (Mike) reason that David will be the likely suspect and the police will just focus on him.
   
   The more John investigates we find that Wren may not have really been a "fatal attraction" type personality at all and her motives were for a different reason. There are a slew of possible suspects, including two of Wren's boyfriends, some of her artistic "subjects" and possibly even David or David's wife.
   
   What makes this book interesting is the difficulty and the time constraint that John is working under (especially because David is mostly uncooperative and obnoxious)and that the author gives virtually nothing away until John finds things.
   
   The writing style is very good, though I wish it had a little more action.



3. I enjoyed the first John March book, Black Maps, very much. I don't think I finished the second. This one has a very good plot and good detective work by March, which kept me reading.
   
   However, his "tics" are getting to be a drag. He doesn't drink, enjoy food, have interesting hobbies or have any close relationships. A woman, Clare, semi-lives with him in this book, but I can't imagine that anyone would put up with him even for world class sex, and I can't imagine how someone as depressed as March could offer any but perfunctory sex. In the end she leaves. She was a very poorly developed character, to say the lease.
   
   So, Mr. Spiegelman, please lighten up a bit, give March a life or at least a taste for steak.



4. What makes Red Cat so enjoyable to read is that Spiegelman's plotting is just so well done. As you follow March, a private eye, and as he slowly uncovers depths of a mystery, you really get dragged into the story. Primarily, in my opinion, this is because the evidence uncovered by March comes forth through such great effort. I really enjoyed this aspect because in most books the clues fall into protagonists laps. Here however small bits of evidence are brutally carved from New Yorks city streets. This is a meaty gritty novel.
   
   Some things I found annoying were small, but I wanted to air them out anyways. Perhaps most grating in my mind was Spiegelman's need to start a chapter at one point in time, write a few sentences, and then jump back and fill in how March got to there. He does this over and over again. In my mind this is just a cute narrative trick and it took away something from the linear progression of a novel. Secondly, Spiegelman is not yet a master of the pen. His writing is sort of empty. I felt like I was reading one of those very slow English detective novels and thus the suspense was often non-existent. I guess I have a few more items, but they are like the above and thus are rather slight.
   
   I would recommend this book to fellow mystery lovers. It is a joy to have someone searching out and tracking down actual clues for a change. Dont see that too often any more. I totally am looking forwards to reading more of this authors work.



5. PI John March gets an unexpected phone call from his brother, he sounds quite desperate asking for a secret meet, very unusual to hear from any of his siblings John agrees. David March lays it down straight or as straight as he believes he can be, prim in his every day life and very judgmental of others in public he suddenly drops the bomb shell, his been having sexual encounters with women arranged anonymously over the internet, but this time the contact has turned nasty she's got hold of all David's private numbers and has been leaving messages at work and on his mobile phone, of course these messages could now cost him his marriage if this woman tries to reach his home.
   
   David informs his brother to track down this woman and put a stop to his harassment. All John has to go on is the internet codename Wren, he starts to dig around very quietly but stumbles straight into one of the underbelly's darkest world's. How was he going to be able to find and reason with this women but that problem just got solved, Wren turns up dead in New York's East River. John's race now is to find the killer before his brother and him are traced and arrested for a murder they didn't commit.
   
   Thoroughly enjoyed this, it's dark, smart, modern and the writing keeps the pages turning. I loved the way the author Peter Spiegelman has used this novel to explore the relationship between siblings, husband and wives, parents and children, using emotional baggage that one family the dysfunctional March family carry around and it's shown in past and present with misplaced loyalties and simmering resentment.
   
   The dialogue is straight talking, something I happen to love. Characters are nicely drawn out revealing themselves slowly and just when you thought you knew them another complex moment could throw your ideas of that person in a different direction, even makes you asks yourself the question, how well do you think you know you're nearest and dearest?
   
   The Wren character is a complicated twisted piece of work, fantastic in this piece of writing. This book also looks at the Art world and that blurry line between certain kinds of transgressive art and pornography giving you strong psychology that offers up different theories and thought provoking ideas that could deliver more than one outcome.
   
   Fast, sharp, shocking, great reading and Highly Recommended.
   
   Andrea Bowhill

No comments about Blackstone and the Fire Bug (Inspector Blackstone).

5 comments about 52 Pickup.

1. This was a 5 star thriller that fell apart at the end. 52 Pickup was written in the early 70s, so you have Leonard just as things are really starting to roll for him. Great dialogue, great characters, with crime, adultery, and porn spicing the stew. It's also one of Leonard's most brutal novels. There is one murder that is just shocking, but there is also the suggestion of sodomized rape as part of a kidnapping. You really hate the bad guys in this one. The hero, Harry Mitchell, is standard flawed good guy stuff. He's doing a slow burn while dealing with his problem -- which is his own doing, a twist for Leonard fans. The ramifications of this problem, Harry's adultery, and how it touches (and ends!)so many lives is the effective subtext of the novel. The exchanges between Harry and Barbara, Mitchell's wife, are a good showcase for those that appreciate Leonard's mastery of dialogue. But what makes them a bit different than other Leonard exchanges, is that the topic is adultery, and how a married couple tries to deal with betrayal and damaged love.

   The downside: the ending. It's not just that it's something of a disappointing demise for the main bad guy. (You'd like to see Harry do something with drills and blowtorches.) No, the ending is just clumsy and from a writing view point, and not well executed. And, perhaps worse, just not believable. The exchange (or the obviously ironic "pickup" or payoff), is so clunky, that no bad guy, especially a Leonard bad guy, would of been fooled. But maybe that's the point, there is no neat package of an ending, since Harry's "mistake" was the first domino. He will have to live with the damage he has caused, especially to his wife and his deal lover the rest of his life.




2. Too dark for my tastes. Needlessly exploitive and vulgar. The only redeeming social value was the fact that the protagonist truly suffered the consequences of adultery.



3. 52 PICK UP is, like all of Elmore Leonard's novels, very well written. This book was originally written in the early 1970s, but holds up very well. With a few minor adjustments, it could take place in modern times.
   
   The story essentially deals with a blackmail plot against an adulterous businessman in Detroit. The first half, which is very strong, shows how the businessman is blackmailed, and how he initially responds. The second half, which is far weaker, deals with how the businessman decides to strike back and take justice into his own hands.
   
   The second half of 52-PICK UP is something of a letdown, because it is not particularly believable. Leonard sets up a great, realistic story in the first half, only to resolve the story with an "action movie" type conclusion that requires a major suspension of disbelief.
   
   This novel is further hampered by the absence of any likable characters, with the exception of the wife of the protagonist. Many of the players in this book act in a venal, brutal manner toward one another. I understand that Leonard is trying to be dark and gritty, but the non-stop nastiness does get repetitious and tiresome after a while. This novel lacks the humor of Elmore Leonard's later work.
   
   52 PICK UP is a decent early effort, but I'd recommend trying some of Leonard's later crime books first, or one of his westerns.



4. This novel was definitely entertaining. It served its purpose. It gave me something to read that held my attention. As most Leonard novels, there is plenty of hip lines, drug use, sex, and of course the crime.
   
   I do not generally enjoy Leonard's novels. I enjoy the movies that are made from them. After reading "Unknown Man #89" and being extremely disappointed, it has been a few years since I have even attempted to read one of his novels. I must say that I now know how to read a Leonard novel. Not expecting much!
   
   The story starts off easy enough and runs smoothly. Not a time in the reading did I feel there was anything unnecessary or boring. The plot is not too original, but easy to accept as a possible real situation.
   
   I would suggest this to anyone who is looking for something fun, quick, and easy to read. There is a lot of inappropriate sex and language, so not recommended for anyone under 17.



5. This is the 19th Elmore Leonard novel that I have read and I would class it among the bottom four of those (along with "The Big Bounce", "Pronto" and "Bandits"). This tale of a businessman who is blackmailed after a brief affair and who then turns the tables on the blackmailers is, in many ways, typical Leonard. It has the dumb bad-guys, intelligent females and double-crosses that show up in all of Leonard's books. However, "52 Pickup" lacks the black humour that is what made me love Leonard's novels in the first place. I also found this novel to be way too sleazy for my liking. A lot of this book takes place in strip clubs, nude model studios and dirty movie cinemas, and by page 50, I just wanted the characters to go some place else. Admittedly, even a bad Elmore Leonard novel is better than most books that are out there, but since better Elmore Leonard novels exist ("Touch", "Out of Sight", "Gold Coast", and "Freaky Deaky" are four of the best), why not read one of those instead?

1 comments about Bribery and Extortion: Undermining Business, Governments, and Security.

1. Alexandra Wrage's work on cross-border bribery and corruption comes at a pivotal time. Nations around the globe are joining together to form international compacts to combat the bribery of government officials. The United Nations has adopted an anti-corruption convention that compels its members to adopt national laws to prevent corruption. Enforcement agencies vigorously prosecute multinational corporations that use bribery to pervert free competition to their own benefit. The World Bank now denies lucrative development contracts from companies that have corrupted foreign officials. The tide of global sentiment appears finally to be turning against the corruption of foreign officials and the distortion of the free market, and Alexandra Wrage has been at the forefront of that fight for more than a decade. For this reason alone, her book is important, informative, and timely.
   
   Alexandra Wrage's book addresses what I describe as the sordid underbelly of international business - companies that seek to win business from foreign governments by bribing influential officials, and foreign officials who abuse their positions and extort business and private citizens in the performance of their duties. Wrage is the president and founder of TRACE International, a non-profit organization dedicated to combating these distorting practices. TRACE interacts with many constituencies, from corporations conducting international business, local sales representatives, consultants and distributors who promote products in their home jurisdictions, government officials and NGOs. In her unique position, Wrage has become something of a sounding board - or perhaps therapist - for those who have personally faced bribing corporations and corrupt local officials. She has collected more than a decade's worth of anecdotes in "Bribery and Extortion." As a someone who has practiced law in the anti-corruption field for fourteen years, I thought I had seen or heard it all, and still found myself sitting, mouth agape, as I read Wrage's book. The tales will shock, produce outrage and evoke sadness. But while Wrage acknowledges that the topic is serious and its impact devastating, she seeks to capture the absurdity of those seeking to do wrong by setting a light-hearted and wry tone. To the extent that a book on such a weighty topic can be delightful and funny, it is this one.
   
   Wrage's work, however, is not simply a collection of humorous, absurd and wretched tales. Rather, Wrage introduces a systematic way of talking about the twin problems of bribery and extortion. She provides order and categorization to the patterns of criminal behavior and to its corrosive effects. In this way, Wrage's book serves as a guidepost to those of us who combat corruption - compliance officers, counsel, government officials and NGOs. Knowing and understanding the many forms that the doppelganger of corruption can take is perhaps the most valuable tool to fighting it.
   
   I highly recommend Wrage's book This is a must-read for businesspersons, lawyers, scholars, students and anyone interested in cross-border business and it's challenging dark side.

5 comments about The Franklin Affair: A Novel.

1. Simply had little to do with Ben Franklin. Wanted a historical tale of intrique and got little of any interest. Do not want to ruin it for those that have not read it, but if you are looking for anything of any content about Ben Franklin, this is not the book. Left a few things open, lets hope it is not for a sequel.



2. At once a mystery in the conspiracy (i.e., "DaVinci Code") mode while also being a gentle and fond poke at academia, "The Franklin Affair" is an old-fashioned, fun read that only misses the mark slightly by leaving a few loose ends dangling. It's rare that a book these days leaves you wanting more, but this one does. In particular, it leaves you wanting a definite resolution to the central mystery. On the other hand, since the premise of that mystery is rather shocking, maybe the ambiguity is wise. No matter, "The Franklin Affair" is a brisk, clever, playful page turner that is sure to give a particular chuckle to American history buffs, who will recognize that nearly every character is named after a signer of the Declaration of Independence.



3. 
   A nice story for a Sunday afternoon, particulary if you're the type to enjoy Colonial Williamsburg or Phila. streetscapes. Very nice if you have some first or second hand knowledge of professional historians.
   
   I could not help but think of Rebecca Lee as an Ann Coulter with black hair, and kept envisioning Jim Lehrer, like affable Wally morphing slowly into Ben Franklin with age. I will read another Lehrer novel for sure.



4. Jim Lehrer has written an entertaining little novel around a group of Ben Franklin scholars. It begins with the death of the oldest member, Wally Rush. Upon his death, R. Taylor, his protege and fellow Franklinite receives a letter from him, allegedly from the late 1700's accusing Ben of a crime. As Taylor conducts a low key investigation, we find out more about R., Wally and the rest of the Franklin "crowd". Intriguing, but not a "real" mystery.



5. Sewn into the hem of an eighteenth-century cloak stored away in a museum, curators in the early twenty-first century discover twelve pages of handwritten notes, in code. When eventually deciphered these pages seem to indicate that shortly before his death, Benjamin Franklin paid an unemployed dock worker a sum of money to murder, thereby silence, the lowly-born woman who had given birth to Franklin's illegitimate son William. The notes are apparently the minutes kept at a sort of judicial hearing attended in secret by Washington, Hamilton, Adams, and Madison, in order that the question of Franklin's guilt or innocence, and what to do about the accusation, be decided. Are the pages a modern forgery, an eighteenth-century hoax, or did one of the most beloved Founding Fathers truly spill blood to preserve his reputation? I wish I knew. After finishing this novel, I still don't. Lehrer wastes his first eighty pages on flimsy character building, then it's true he finds his stride for about the next hundred, but the trouble is, I'll tell you now, the ending is one of those variety that makes your head hit the table, because it's so frustrating. Books that fail to answer questions are rudely-composed. Why write what you don't finish?

5 comments about Volpone (Dover Thrift Editions).

1. The langauge of Volpone is didatic and witty; no internal motives so much as external stimulus. It is almost the opposite of Shakespeare interior worlds, yet, it is unfair to discount Ben Jonson's comedies as modern scholars have tended to do.

   The language is crisp, the puns are sharp (especailly if you have a working knowledge of latin animal names), and the conceits are timeless. I know this originates in the Latin comedy tradition, but so do sitcoms and only if sitcoms has this sense of wordplay. The rhetoric is amazing.

   While the characters... even the fun Mosca . . . are flat, the language pops and after a second read one can understand why Jonson was considered so great for his day. It blows some of Shakespeares lesser comedies ( "Alls Well that Ends Well" or "comedy of errors" for example) out of the water because its plot is more artifical but less contrived.

   Hopefully, the scholarly opinion of Jonson as a writer, not just a critic, will be on the up and up again.




2. This comedy is so entangled that a fox would lose his cubs in the multiple loops and traps that are conjured up by all the characters. It reveals how the rich are greedy and want to become richer at the expense of their fellow richmen. It exposes how the politicians are nothing but windbags, would-bes as Jonson calls them. It points out how some women are nothing but flytraps that know everything, that say anything, that have the last word at any time ever. It also shows how a conjurer of tricks aiming at trapping others and taking possession of their goods needs a helper and that the helper can learn even faster than the master, especially if this helper is a parasite by nature. It also shows how men are lecherous and only think of taking the wives of their neighbors because these men, this society is deeply misogynistic and consider that women are harlots, and some other nice words, by nature. There is thus a wide spectrum of criticism of this society, maybe a little bit too wide and too complicated. Due to the names of the characters, the crow, the raven and even the fox are the final victims of the plain fly that is nothing but a parasite sucking the gold of the others. The ending is moral since Bonario and Celia do get some justice from the court, but it is also perfectly immoral because Mosca keeps his unethically gained fortune, in fact the fortune he has stolen from Volpone who wanted to steal the riches of everyone else. It is moral in a way because the immoral and greedy plotters are all punished but it is immoral because the main sorcerer's helper gets his hand on the loot. The sorcerer's apprentice is thus more or less the main benefactor of the moral decision of the court. This leads to another level of reflexion : the court, that is to say the ruling body of Venice, is not so much interested in morality and justice as in the necessity to prevent any event that could rock their boat, endanger their power. Who profits of this decision is not their problem provided it does not stir any discontent among the people. The play thus becomes a strong criticism of justice as blind as long as its interests are not at stake and as opening their eyes only when their power may be disturbed by the crime brought to their attention. We will note in the end that Ben Jonson's style is witty but not really poetic. His poetry is more clichés in the garb of witticism.
   
   Dr Jacques COULARDEAU



3. Well, I liked this a LOT more than I thought I would. I assumed that Jonson would write plays like Shakespeare, and I am very selective about which Shakespeare plays I really enjoy (namely, 'Othello'). But this, this is such a good book. I don't even usually like reading plays. Let me explain why it is so good:
   Firstly, although Volpone is caught out at the end, the whole of the play is a gloriously satisfying dance of mind-games andpure hedonism. For vicarious living, it's great. I, for one, wish I was as clever as Volpone. For those who take delight in the sheer style and talent of people who thoroughly enjoy life, this is a play for you. Admittedly Volpone is a completely amoral character, but the satisfaction in his plots comes because those who he is punishing are immoral themselves. I have to admit, perhaps I wish I was so amoral because of the consequent enjoyment.
   Secondly - I love how many levels this play works on. It is simultaneously both a homage to and a mockery of traditional morality plays - everything seems to have worked out by the end, but when the results are thought through, the end is not satisfactory. Good has not triumphed over evil as in traditional morality plays; evil has sabotaged itself, a subtle but important difference. Celia seems to have been let off, but in that era it is likely that her tripled dowry will be owned by her father and she will become a disgraced divorced woman.
   Thirdly - Peregrine is wonderful. He is the dry, cynical person who knows exactly what's going on and has sussed every plot - this character should be in every play.
   There are two very small, insignificant reasons why I have not given this 5 stars. Firstly, I wish that Volpone had gotten away with his schemes. Secondly, I dislike a few occasions involving Sir Politic WouldBe when the scenes just get too ridiculous for words (tortoise shell!). But otherwise, this play is a laugh - but also clever enough to work on many different levels (spot all the parallels and opposites in the play e.g. Lady WB and Celia) and to be taken seriously if need be.



4. This famous adaptation of Ben Johnson is terrific and still modern in its whole conception, this is a characteristic seal of the masterpieces. Aided by his loyal server Mosca. Volpone makes his friend to believe is dying and convinces to every one of his greedy friends is his heir.
   
   As you can guess, the macabre spell and incisive charm of this play still makes laugh and think to a great audience.
   
   In 1939 Maurice Tourneur decided to make a film about it. The tragic new is this film was released after WW2, but Harry Baur, the most complete actor f the French Cinema by then, wouldn't be present, his mysterious death was attributed to Nazis.
   
   If you are looking for one of the best and most genuine jewel of the Universal literature, go for this one.



5. As some others, I got introduced to this play via "Honey pot", the movie, where Rex Harrison is staging a similar plot. I enjoyed the movie and for years wanted to read the play. Unfortunately, it is not translated in Finnish and not included in our literary studies. Finally I bought this edition and read it last Summer.
   
   I must say the language took some effort at first. But when I got used to the old English, I enjoyed the play immensely. The plot twists and turns, people's greed makes them silly when they think they are cunning, and in the end justice is served - to some extent. People do not change or get much wiser as centuries pass on, do they...? Deserves to be read, definately, and - hopefully - translated for us Finns, too, by someone much better than me.

5 comments about Desert Places.

1. The basic premise of the story was intriguing, but far too often the plot moves forward simply because the "hero" fell asleep or downed a few gulps of booze at the most inopportune moment - as though Crouch wrote himself into a corner from which he could not otherwise escape. This resulted in "oh c'mon" moments that put the brakes on the story when it should have really started chugging along.
   
   As for the gore factor, there is some, but frankly it was not so over the top as might otherwise be suggested. "American Psycho" this ain't.



2. How much of an excuse do you need to write a novel which includes all manner or blood and gore? Dead bodies, mental & physical torture, child rape, blood letting, heart removal, family abattoir. Perhaps a fast read, but so what? Rather than a novel, it strings us along as if but a collection of rambling, disjointed horrors. We diligently follow the scattered trail of mayhem looking for a bit of understanding, but ultimately find none, ending with barely a single character left alive to sort out the forsaken mess.
   The Devil-Ex-Machina climax pops out of nowhere, wipes out everyone left standing, while simultaneously and abruptly changing the writer's narrative point of view to that of a new character we haven't even met prior; only heard about. All this while the main character passes out just one more time.
   Oh, yes. Let's wrap this one up in blood smeared butcher's paper with a fancy bow of liberated entrails and call it a gift.



3. In my life there has been only 2 books that I never finished reading. I always hope that the book will get better if I keep on reading. Guess what??? this one made number three (3). First few pages kept my interest until he met his tormentor. After that, it was just a bunch of trash and gore. A person that can kill its own mother does not deserve for me to finish reading the book.
   Iam sorry that the author debut was not better in my judgement but I hope that his next books are better. Iam willing to give a second chance to his books but not this one or the sequel. I hope this review helps you. Thanks,



4. I read this book in 2 days and i thought it was pretty crappy. It starts when a author gets an anoynomous letter that says he he doesn't follow directions he will be framed. So i thought this book won't be so bad. When the author reveals who the villian is it was pretty lame. With just too many brutal murders and too much information not to mention when the villian kills an old lady.(don't want to give it away)Everyone in this book dies not to mention the fact that this killer has no reason why he is doing this in the first place. The hero gets drugged alot no to mention sleeps alot also. The ending made no sense whatsoever. This book just keeps dragging on and on! i guess if you like books with so much detail and not enough significance this will be a great book for you. Signing off ...



5. I actually read Blake Crouch's first novel, Locked Doors and was so impressed that I had to read his first novel, Desert Places. I couldn't put the book down, really got into it and enjoyed it immensely. Great serial killer/murder/suspense novel.