Mystery Crime Books

I've read most of the Spenser novels, and I think PALE KINGS AND PRINCES is definitely one of the better ones.

In this novel, Spenser goes to a small town to investigate the murder of a journalist, and discovers that the town is effectively controlled by a mysterious drug lord. What follows is the typical Spenser plot: lots of funny dialogue, romantic interludes with Susan Silverman, and exciting action scenes with Hawk.

PALE KINGS AND PRINCES isn't a great book, but it's very enjoyable and far better than the two Spenser novels that immediately preceded it (TAMING A SEA HORSE and A CATSKILL EAGLE). So if you enjoy Parker's writing style, I'm guessing you will find pleasure with this one.

Three and a half stars.

There's no use trying to use a Spenser novel to conjure or cajole the sandman. Similar to TAMING A SEA-HORSE (#13 Spenser); PALE KINGS AND PRINCES (# 14) kept me up a couple hours in the middle of the night, beyond a silly hope of returning to sleepiness through a short time of reading.

PALE KINGS opened again with the standard realism of the detective doing his walk-alone-deal, accompanied by shiftless boredom and justifiable frustration. In this case, since the food in the rural community in which Spenser was detecting was so limp, and the clue extraction so dentally daunting, the private eye was able to drag/push himself through his solitary shuffles for only 1/4 of the plot before he called in Susan for a weekend visit of Salmon Loaf or Polish Platter at the Reservoir Court motel in Wheaton, Mass.

I was intrigued with Parker's feature in this one of how an individual gets himself seen as such, as a person instead of a thing. His technique of having Spenser gradually thaw out Wheaton's finest citizenry seemed similar to me to his methods of drawing readers into Spenser's games. This time, those games were a town's economic rooting into Columbian Coca/Cocaine, and the class spits accompanying the resulting population stew in Wheaton. As usual, I was mesmerized with Spenser's repartee with criminal codgers, which in this case were the top-of-the-food-chain of Colombian Drug Lords. I was especially impressed with the way the P. I. humanized these guys into seeing him as a worthy person, actually more easily than he set the standard-of-his-humanity with Wheaton's police presence, barkeeps, waitresses, librarians, and regular Joe's.

I wondered if that humanizing ability might be one of the mesmerizing character traits which has kept Spenser cozied within the reading hearts of so many faithful fans. Spenser dedicates himself to making everyone see him as a warm-bodied person, instead of as a bloodless character-stick in a plot of a novel.

Especially in the first scene with Esteva, the Columbian King Pin, PALE KINGS solidified for me one of the main reasons for Spenser's appeal. He's real. Duh? He works on each person in his presence (including the reader), until that person sees him that way.

I've noticed several times in this series (and more so in PALE KINGS), that exchanges between Spenser and his dialogue collections had him describing a person looking away, purposely not looking at him, until he wormed that person into his scene. Now I recall how often Spenser has noted the "covert looks" which Hawk draws out of people. Hawk, too, is real; his essence demands to be experienced as a person of potence as well as presence.

Is this part of what charisma is, a person who sees himself as significant, and therefore causes others to see him that way; a person who won't quit radiating and/or badgering, focusing on others until they LOOK at HIM and SEE him? Maybe, charisma also involves a person like Spenser or Hawk actually SEEING everything they look at, which in turn causes the "objects" or persons of their observations to connect to them as human beings as well?

Reading this novel began to congeal some of the illusive reasons I've searched for to explain my addiction to this detective novel series, especially since I've rarely been drawn, by natural preference (in the past), to read even the best examples of seriously authentic, male private eyes. Along with the mutual-personalization-syndrome noted above, and the mesmerizing ability of the literary style and perfectly-paced-plot drivers which keep me reading in the middle of the night; my addiction seems to involve the philosophical strands of golden threads which labyrinth through Spenser's sensual, sensitive, poetic soul. Each book I read brings up the question, "What key about life's purpose might I be surprised by in this one."

Yet, thankfully, the philosophical, psychological tapestries in the series do not diminish the dedicated dramatization of the basic detecting lifestyle, with its normal daily routines which are often uncomfortable, deprivation-intense, soul-leechingly boring, and inconvenient ... 90% of the time ... with the other 10% being "hairy" with high risk of deadly harm. In this case, the snow-challenged, dangerous denouement scenes in PALE KINGS were unusually complex and hairy, with Hawk, Susan, Caroline, Juanita, and Lundquist (a fantasticly heroic character) adding race, gender, color, Cause, and Creed to Spenser's righting of wrongs, during which we're privy to mesmerizing details of the process of a psychologist (Susan) doing a therapy catharsis.

Another part of Spenser which I came to understand more precisely here (and which I usually welcome with a whoosh of relief) was Spenser's clean means of sidestepping any character's effort to draw him away from true issues in percolation, into potential-black-hole-passions of politically correct causes. As usual, he sidestepped abruptly and adeptly, without dismissing or undermining the actual values in those causes.

Yeah, I suppose Spenser has it all, at least all that I require to continue following a pair of footsteps, in a process somewhat like a P.I. trailing a suspect or a clue.

Sometimes, I do have one.

Linda Shelnutt

In this entry in the Spenser series, he is hired by a newspaper when an up-and-coming young reporter - Eric Valdez - is murdered while investigating the cocaine trade in Wheaton, Mass - a small town with a big reputation of being the Miami of the North. When Spenser starts asking around, he finds that no one knows nothing and that the police seem to be spectacularly unhelpful - and they, especially, seem to want him gone. They insist that Valdez's murder was due to his sexual peccadilloes and nothing else, pointing to the bodily mutilation as proof.

Of course, when people want Spenser gone - or when they want him to quit asking questions - that just makes him stick around and ask more questions.

When first the sheriff and then the sheriff's son are murdered - after Spenser catches the son smuggling cocaine, apparently for the town's biggest produce warehouser, named Felipe Esteva - the action begins to really heat up.

Was Eric Valdez killed because he was getting too close to the truth about the drug trade in Wheaton? Or because he was having an affair with the wrong woman? Why were the sheriff and his son killed?

This was a multi-layered and very satisfying book. Things that seem obvious turn out to be red herrings - things that appear to be obvious red herrings turn out to be truth. I loved it. Strong recommend from me!

An enterprising investigative reporter is killed in Wheaton, Massachusetts, a town known to many as the hub of cocaine traffic for the Northeast. The owner of the paper the reporter worked for hires Spenser to investigate the murder. He goes to Wheaton and gets nowhere at the start. Local police are obviously being bought off and when he asks questions the universal response is "nobody saw nothin." It is obvious who the drug lord is, so in an attempt to move his investigation forward, Spenser hijacks a major cocaine shipment. The son of the police chief was driving the rig, so his actions are of interest to more than just the drug dealers. Spenser then goes to the kingpin and offers to sell the cocaine back to him.
After the police chief and his son are both killed, Spenser befriends the grieving widow and enlists Susan to help her cope with her losses. Hawk is also recruited to help even the odds against Spenser. There is a final battle with Spenser, Hawk and an honest state trooper on one side and the drug dealers with their corrupted cops on the other. In an interesting twist, Hawk has a battle with a man (Cesar) that clearly was his physical superior, had he not held a small gun inside a mitten on his hand and shot first, Cesar would have killed him with his bare hands.
Once again, Spenser wisecracks his way through danger and remains noble in the completion of his job. When the drug lord kills the son of the police chief after Spenser hijacks the cocaine shipment, Spenser personally confronts his mother and only Susan can console him. She makes him understand that it truly was not his fault that the boy was involved in trafficking drugs and she will do what she can to help the woman. In terms of action and intrigue, this book doesn't have as many exciting moments as other Spenser novels. However, the dialog is excellent as always, which is why it still deserves four stars.

This one is definitely back on the track. Parker's last two Spenser novels just plain stunk. This would be better if he had managed to lose Selfish Susan permanently, but oh well.

So far, it's only 2 books in the series, but I have really enjoyed reading both of them. I love how the author has worked in all the characters and hope for more development among them in future books. I look forward to the next Gray Whale Inn book.

This was a great read .. Am looking forward to more book's by this author .

I enjoyed the first book in this series (Murder on the Rocks) very much. This second offering does a great job of giving more background on the Cranberry Island residents and Natalie herself but the mystery itself falls flat. While the author throws around a lot of suspicion, the outcome itself seems quite random.

Its hard to say more without giving too much away (I hate reviews that do that) so I'll finish by saying I would recommend this if you really liked the first one and that I would read a third one if the author chooses to keep the series going.

I stumbled across the previous (and first) book in the "Gray Whale Inn" series -- "Murder on the Rocks" -- when looking at my Amazon recommendations. It looked so incredibly good, that I immediately picked up that book as well as this one (the second in the series). What a hit !!! Amazon didn't steer me wrong.

If you love cozy mysteries, you'll love this one ! I think it is one of the most well-done series I have read in awhile and I compare it to Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse mysteries. The location of Cranberry Island, Maine is what really makes the book. The writing is so descriptive that I expected to see the coast of Maine outside my window when a stopped reading for a moment. The descriptions of the setting are so intriging that I actually spent some time looking on Google for information on the Cranberry Islands --- I was that fascinated!

If you love a good mystery --- If you love the coast of Maine ---- If you love B&B's ----- this series is for you !!!!

Natalie Barnes is facing the beginnings of the off season. With few bookings at her bed and breakfast over the winter months, she's hoping to make ends meet. But that soon becomes the least of her worries. A stranger noise is waking her up in the middle of the night. Is her inn haunted? Her ex-fiancee has shown up as a guest, wanting another chance at making their relationship work.

But more troubling is the death of Polly Sarkes. Polly had lived on the island her entire life and helped with the laundry at the Gray Whale Inn. When she appears to vanish, Natalie goes to her house and finds her dead, an apparent suicide. At least that's what the sheriff quickly rules it, but Natalie isn't so sure. Her friend had too much life. Beside, she was in the middle of packing a suitcase. Natalie quickly learns that Polly was the only hold out in a deal to sell some land for a new development. Was that the motive for her murder?

I enjoyed the first in this series, so I was looking forward to this one. I was glad to join these characters again. After two books, they already feel like old friends. And the recipes at the back sound wonderful again.

On the whole, the plot was great with plenty of twists that kept me turning pages. I do have a couple complaints about it, however. Murder related to development on the island was the plot of book number one. I was disappointed to see that play such a prominent part of this book. Additionally, the ending, while satisfying, was rushed.

These complaints weren't enough to keep me from enjoying the book, however. I'm already booking my next stay at the Gray Whale Inn.

You have to admire someone who thinks (and writes) outside the box. Jasper Fforde takes the realm of children's nursery rhymes and transforms it into a world of mystery and mayhem that's definitely for adults. The list of suspects who could have offed the womanizing drunkard Humpty Dumpty is as colorful as the folks trying to crack the case, so to speak. Though I found some sections a bit hard to plow through (I can't stick with a page- long paragraph)the humor and downright cleverness of the book kept me turning pages. I loved the fact that in Detective Jack Spratt's world, the fictionalization of the investigation for the local rag is more important than the quest for justice. Straight from the newspaper comes the sizzling headline, "Nursery Favorite Dies in Wall-Death Drama." The wildly nutty ending was way over the top in a perfectly wonderful way. A well seasoned story that will really hit the spot.

Jasper Fforde made his name in the literary world with his very popular "Thursday Next" series of books following the eponymous heroine on a series of fantastically convoluted adventures in the world of metafiction. There are some connections between the characters in this novel and characters who appeared as minor figures in one of the "Thursday Next" books, but the "Nursery Crime" series is a distinct animal, albeit though it plays with many of the same metafictional themes. "The Big Over Easy", the first entry in the new series, is a wonderful little book.

The basic story follows Jack Spratt, the head of Reading's Nursery Crime Division (NCD), who has worked for decades in what is considered a career dead-end (one step above the Ministry of Magic's Centaur Office, if you will), handling criminal acts involving nursery rhyme characters (he himself is one, though he doesn't know it, combining Jack Spratt, Jack the Giant-Killer, and Jack and the Beanstalk). He is joined by Mary Mary, a young Detective Sergeant who despairs at being put in the NCD, and really wants to work with Friedland Chymes, the celebrity detective whose adventures she grew up avidly following. The rest of the NCD crew includes a rookie assigned there for two months and then forgotten about, a hypochondriac, and an alien (yes, aliens have arrived, and, as documented in one of the fake newspaper clips included at the start of each chapter, were determined to not be very interesting). The case: the apparent slaying of Humpty Dumpty. The list of suspects is byzantine, and the plot has more contortions than the Gordian Knot, dragging in as incidental figures, among others, Prometheus the Fire-Bringer of Greek myth: he ends up renting a room in Jack's house and romancing his daughter Pandora (despite the 3980-year age difference).

The plot is ultimately not that important; Fforde wittily simultanteously employs and satirizes the various tropes of the genre (identical twins, red herrings, culprits who are only introduced toward the end), and the real fun of the book is in the numerous details (though the final resolution is quite fun; the sheer number of plots going on is itself a sort of parody of the standard detective story). Fforde has a dry, very British sense of humour in the vein of Monty Python and such. His depictions of the novel's world are endlessly entertaining; the book is marvelous fun to read. Each chapter begins with a quote from various in-universe sources, mainly newspapers, highlighting and parodying various fictional tropes. The other major theme in the book is Fforde's exploration of the idea of the celebrity detective; Watson loyally documented and published Holmes' exploits, but here we see this concept run amok: publictation has become as, if not more, important than actuall solving the case for many detectives, Chymes most of all. They actively conduct their investigations in order to make them readable and dramatically interesting.

Highly recommended.

Fforde just makes you think too much. There is so much nursery rhyme tie-in that it makes your head spin. It's too much to really concentrate on the story! You spend all of the time piecing together the little bits of clues and subtle allusions to the rhymes themselves, and the story gets a bit lost in the shuffle. It did make me want to look up a lot of information on nursery rhymes, but it was a hard book to follow with all the distractions.

If you get a kick out of those sorts of tie-ins and know a great deal about nursery rhymes, this is probably one of the best books you'll read. The parts I did get were masterfully done. And Fforde has a great writing style, which is normally very engaging. But if you're more like me, and are going to spend the whole book almost getting it but feeling like you're missing something you should know, I'd give this one a miss. His Thursday Next books are far more enjoyable!

I first became enthralled with Jasper Fforde through "The Eyre Affair" and have read all of this books. Resisted "Over Easy" at first since I am not a big fan on mysteries or children's books. I surprisingly loved it and didn't want to put it down. Cannot wait to read "The Fourth Bear." And I loved this book because it was almost as round as Karl Pilkington's head. But much funnier.

I read this book and thought it was extremely clever but I just could not bring myself to give it more than three stars.

The basic plot premis is that the Reading, England, police department has a section called the Nursery Crime Division where Detective Inspector Jack Spratt works. Jack has just finished a case (The Crown v. Three Pigs) which should have resulted in the certain conviction of three pigs in the murder of a wolf. But, in an unforseen development, a jury of the pigs peers acquit them of the murder and his department head is telling Jack that the departmental budgetary meeting is going to result in the disbandment of the NCD. Not a good day for Jack. But things get even worse. Humpty Dumpty is found dead at the bottom of the wall where he liked to sit and think. Was it an accident, suicide or could it have been murder? Jack is assigned a new partner, Sergeant Mary Mary, who has transferred in from Basingstoke in the hopes of working with her hero and longtime contributor to Amazing Crimes Magazine, Detective Friedland Chymes. Jack doesn't want a new Official Sidekick, Mary wants to work with another detective, and Chymes wants to take over the Dumpty case so he can write it up for Amazing Crimes. Let the intrigue begin!

The first book I read by Jasper Fforde was The Eyre Affair with the Thursday Next character. I just fell for the whole concept. I had wanted the Nursery Crimes stories to be as enjoyable for me, if not more so. Sadly I cannot say that it was. Fforde has the most incredible imagination. He has taken a topic which we are all familiar with, nursery rhymes, and turned them upside down and inside out. The characters are all familiar and yet he has given their entire world a skewed slant which makes them totally different from what we would expect. I can give him nothing but robust, appreciative applause for his ideas and concepts. But, I didn't enjoy this STORY very much. There was just too, too much going on in the story for my taste. Mr Fforde put in too many characters, too many situations and too many possible villains for me. He gave me one villain, explained why it couldn't have been that character and took him away (or did he?). He gave me another villain, exposed the falseness of the reasoning for his guilt and so took him away (maybe?). It just seemed to go on much too long. In fact, this is the same problem which I had with the Thursday Next novel, it too went on far too long to completely hold my attention. I wanted this to be over but it just kept plodding along and along and along. And the reveal about the true murderer was just so bizarre that I actually went back and re-read parts of it just to make sure I had gotten it straight. And the parts about the Jellyman and the Sacred Gonga, well, I never got those at all.

I liked the book, I enjoyed reading it up to a point, but I don't think I will search out the next Nursery Crime book. I'll stick with Thursday.

I've read every book in the entire series and I highly recommend them. They are interesting, entertaining and often make me laugh. This book lives up to the rest. When the next one comes out, I'll be one of the first to order it. Check this series out. You won't be disappointed.

An excellent story just like the previous ones. My only complaint is that Roberts needs to write more, as in, bigger books and more of them ! His characters are not so deep that you feel buried in the persons minutia, yet they are extensive enough that they are not two dimensional. The gradual progression of the main characters career gives you an overall experience of what is was like to travel the 'cursus honorum', and live in Rome during the transition from Republic to Empire. I am looking forward to future books.

Once again John Maddox Roberts has fulfilled the expectation of his loyal readers. The SPQR mysteries may be the most consistent historical novels available as each one balances humor, historical accuracy and unexpected plot twists without banality or cliches.

This is the best pure mystery of the buch and perhaps the best book in the whole series which is saying something. The characters are captivating, the plots hang together and the reading is fun and easy.

The entire series of these well-written historical mysteries has been enjoyable, and this is one of the best yet. The combination of history, humor and mystery is excellent. I particularly enjoyed the way Julia and Decius worked together as a couple. I hope that aspect of their relationship continues to be developed by the author.
It was also fun to encounter characters such as Marcus Tullius Cicero and his friend and former slave, Tiro. I originally got this book at the library, but enjoyed it so much that I have decided to buy my own copy.

The Wheelman kicks butt, from the opening line to the reckless, taking-corners-on-two-wheels ending. It has an almost punk crime sensibility and Duane Swierczynski knows how to turn the dials on the reader's emotions. Read this when you have time to race all the way from cover to cover.

Hard-boiled crime fiction, by which I mean crime fiction from the perspective of law-breakers, from the perspective of people for whom legality is profoundly unimportant, has become very difficult to find. Classic contributions to the genre have dropped out of print, as parlor detective fiction clogs the shelves. "The Wheelman" is not only a welcome hard-boiled novel, but a brilliant one at that. The pace is extremely fast, but, at the same time, Swierczynski manages to find each character's unique voice, and those voices are often hilarious.

I had the privilege of reading Duane Swierczynski's This Here's a Stick-Up: The Big Bad Book of American Bank Robbery, his non-fiction tome of bank robbery facts and figures, a few years back when it first came out. In THE WHEELMAN, Mr. Swierczynski takes fact, mixes it up with a whole lot of fiction, and comes up with a thrilling crime debut that's well worth the read!

We first meet Lennon, a wheelman or get-away driver, waiting outside a Wachovia bank in Philadelphia as his two associates, Bling and Holden, get caught on their way out of the bank with the $650,000 take. Somehow, Lennon, a mute Irishman who knows nothing more about robbery than how to get away, manages to retrieve his buddies and hightail it out of the city. Unfortunately, someone--in the form of a black SUV--manages to stop Lennon and the get-away car in its tracks.

Cue to Lennon, supposedly dead, in the process of being dumped into a pipe at a Philadelphia Children's Museum construction site. Thankfully, Lennon's not as dead as he looks, and he manages to outsmart his two body-dumpers. Not so fortunate for them when they realize what a pissed-off Irish mute can do for revenge.

Suddenly, getting out of Philadephia isn't as easy a trick as it was supposed to be. Bling and Holden appear to be dead at the bottom of said pipe, the $650,000 is missing, there's a few retired ex-cops on his butt, and both the Russian Mafiya and some old-time Philadephia mobsters are after him--and everyone wants a piece of the bank take.

As things go from bad to worse, with blown-up buildings, lots of gunfire, knife torture, and some really cool close calls, THE WHEELMAN leads us on a chase to find the money from the bank heist and get the heck out of dodge.

Besides being an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat crime thriller, THE WHEELMAN is just pure fun. With interesting facts thrown in--I hadn't realized that it was DilLINger, not DillinGER--and some laugh-out-loud moments--trademark "Scratch-Your-Balls-Until-The-Feds-Arrive"--this is one book you really don't want to miss.

I thought this was a strong crime novel written by a new writer with a very distinctive voice. I didn't pick this out for myself, it was a gift from a friend, and I appreciated it very much. I can't wait to read other books by the same author!

For those of you familiar with Richard Stark's anti-hero thief Parker, Philadelphia writer Duane Swierczynski's Irish mute Lennon may strike a familiar chord. Lennon might not be a riff off of Stark's original, but in many ways he's certainly cut from similar cloth, and that certainly makes him interesting.

Vying with Lennon for top billing in a field stuffed with memorable characters, is the City of Brotherly Love herself. She is a setting lovingly (if unblinkingly) rendered by the Phildelphia native Swierczynski. I love books where the setting comes alive so much so that it is yet another character in its own right. Swierczynski does precisely this in "The Wheelman."

The pace on the novel is good, the supporting characters vividly drawn. I defy anyone who reads this to forget either the college student keyboardist, the corrupt ex-cop, or the Russian don who are all involved to varying degrees in this plot. My only reason for giving it four stars instead of five was that the violence was so over-the-top (and perhaps that was the author's point) that I was not able to suspend belief all the way through it. It seemed to me that Lennon ought to have been either dead or in a coma long before the novel's explosive climax.

That said, this is a terrific book, a tour-de-force first offering, and I can't wait to dive into Swierczynski's next book, "The Blonde."

Parts of this book read like a Stephen King novel yet the work altogether could actually have been written much better. The author admits in the Preface that she could have a much more artistic piece of literature had she listened to some of her mentors.
However, that is precisely why this book is so magnetic. Her sincerity is revealed in her non-perfection. This is an autobiography. The honest approach to describing her experiences with the occult and paranormal are precisely what caused me to endure my initial skepticism.
I couldn't put it down after 3 chapters and enjoyed the sound biblical advice at the end of the book.- Pastor Mauldin

The first half of the book dealt with many scary things, for example how Johanna suffered through demonic attacks for years, apparehtly due to generational curses and (I believe) some occultic items she had around her home, and how she witnessed demonic miracles. I kind of cringed thru those parts, because the author almost makes you feel you are are there yourself.
The second half of the book is packed with useful, very Scriptural, truth about how she escaped, and others can escape, those horrors. Great book. Great read.

Why do people get involved with stuff like this? Shouldn't one use a little discernment? The author, like other authors on this subject seemed to have jumped right into an occultish/newageish type spiritual healing apprenticeship.

After she found out how the guiding spirits could pretend to be angles, Jesus or anything they wanted, she then tried everything she could think of to get rid of them. Of course they just laughed at her when she tried to call upon ascended masters, angles and such, or tried sending them into the Light. The spirits also seemed to think it a joke, when she went to different churches to get prayed over.

It sounded to me like in the end the spirits seemed to just get tired of her persistence and lifestyle change and eventually left on their own accord. So I am left with the nagging question, what can God/Jesus/Holy Spirit or the Church do for a person in a situation like this? Or do they really even exist? And if there is a possibility that they don't exist, then maybe the spirits didn't exist either, and everything happed in her head!? Not saying that they don't exist, I just think too much and this book ended up making me ask more questions than giving me answers.

Of course the author lumps everything that is not understood, and cannot be explained by the bible into something that is evil. Which is another point I would disagree on.

In the end, even after all my complaints, I would still recommend buying the book. And like all books, don't take everything an author tells you at face value. Instead do a bit of research and read something else by an author with an opposite opinion.

I read this book many years ago and really loved it. The author has such an honest, open approach over what was such a horrible set of experiences in her life. I'd recommend it to every christian. As the author states in the back of the book, there is too little understanding of this subject across the church and it's such an essential one.

So glad she found God and such a good relationship with him afterwards. I'd put this in my top ten christian book list.

This book was one of many that heralded the insidious rise of the dreaded "New Age Movement" that never materialized. It's a bit humorous to see the author report as genuine nonsense such as "psychic surgeries", which have been thoroughly debunked. Her credulity is striking and colors the entire book. The 1980's were permeated with similar paranoid and ignorant thinking ("subliminal advertising"?, "backward masking"?) A better purchase would be Michael Shermer's "Why People Believe Weird Things"!

I enjoyed this book a lot. It is up to the usually James Patterson standard. If you are a James Patterson fan you will enjoy.

I just couldnt get into this book at all. it starts out okay but then it just plateaus and nothing exciting happens. not worth it.

James Patterson has been writing thriller novels since the 1970s, but didn't become a big success until 1990, when he wrote a novel entitled ALONG CAME A SPIDER featuring a character named Alex Cross. Now he's the biggest thriller writer in existence. I like Patterson's stories, but I don't think his pre-1990 novels are worth reading.

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB is an example of why. It comes across as a pretty mediocre novel, especially if you've read a lot of thriller fiction. The characters are quite flat, and the plot is pretty predictable and filled with silly cliches. The romance, in particular, is not the least bit believable. Unlike Patterson's later novels, this book is also pretty slow paced and overwritten in sections. I found it a chore to read.

I think THE MIDNIGHT CLUB is for Patterson completists only. If you're new to his work, my advice is to try KISS THE GIRLS, 1ST TO DIE, THE QUICKIE, or JUDGE & JURY. Those novels are far more entertaining than what I found here.

This book was what I was looking for and it is a very interesting book.

The über-bad guy who's invincible until the end. The cop bent on revenge. The rogue cop. The secret criminal society a la The Godfather on steroids. Bits and pieces of every thriller we've read are here on display. The bits and pieces fit adequately well, and the plot (the New York Cop and the Intrepid Reporter take down criminal mastermind with the help of the Feds) moves along. It's a decent airport read, but no more than that.

This book made me put off reading for awhile...until I could come back to it and try and finish it later. The book was so horrible I had to skim through the remaining chapters to try and figure out what happened in the end. After reading this novel I am hesitate on trusting the author with any of her newer books. This book is nothing like Carol's mother's books. Yesterday I read "I Heard That Song Before" in one day, and not once did I get tired of reading. I am going to check the reviews of Carol's books before I read another one of them. All book stores should pull this one off the shelf.

Carol Higgins Clark writes like a child who hates writing, but loves the applause at the end. I imagine her writing for indulgent parents who have low expectations of her but who cheer after reading the book. The writing is shallow, the characters are cliche and the mystery is pretty much non existent. Don't bother with these books.

This was a mediocre book. It is not one that screams for a second reading.

Since I can't think of a polite way to express it, I'll just say that this book is terrible.

You pick the category - characters, writing style, word choices, plot, voice, etc. - it is bad, bad, bad.

Don't waste your time if you're over 8 years old. Even if you're 7 or younger, there are far, far better books to read.

This story is definitely intended to be a light-hearted mystery, and the author does a good job of protraying annoying characters.

However, the paperback edition I picked up was filled with typos, which constantly jangled my nerves. Also, Chappy's shouts were always IN CAPSLOCKS! It drove me nuts! Like others have stated, it didn't give a good feel of the music industry (and don't get me started on the extremely dull interview the radio personalities gave...ugh. No wonder their station was doing badly).

I was hooked on the Donovan's after "Amber Beach". After I read "Jade Island" I was ready to walk away. I am so glad I didn't. "Midnight at Rubhy Bayou" takes a little twist away from the ordinary dangers the Donovan family faces by adding a little of the supernatural. It really is a great read.

Very good book higlhy recommend buying it. Dissappointed that shes not writing stories for Justin and Lawe the last two donovan brothers that are twins I might have to boycott buying her books until she comes out with stories for the last two Donovans.

This is the 4th book in EL's Donovan series, and like the other 3 this is a book that is hard to put down. It has plenty of action and the relationship between Faith Donovan and Owen Walker is developed slowly but tantalizing enough to keep you turning pages to see what will happen next between them. I liked Owen a lot. I don't think it mattered that he was a less educated and a smaller man than the other heros in the first three novels, namely Kyle, Jake, and Archer. He was just as smart, just as intelligent, just as sexy,just as honorable, and just as deadly. It says a hell of lot when Archer Donovan trusts you to take care of his little sister. Archer's trust was not misplaced as we find out in the development of the story as he comes to Faith's aid again and again. One of my most favorite scenes was when he met up with Faith's obnoxious and much larger ex-boyfriend. It was hilarious and very well written.

As far as heroines go, Faith was somewhat lacking when compared with the other Donovans. However, she was intelligent, gifted, and sweet; not quite a hot head as her other siblings. However, I think that rich girl Faith did very well for herself with Owen. A guy that put her needs first, in and out of the bedroom. Cudos to EL for bringing us a heroine who needs a little help in achieving fulfillment in the bedroom. After all, I think that most women do.

Why this one didn't get 5 stars you may ask? Mostly, because I didn't like the way EL ended the love story between Faith and Owen. Owen felt very strongly about being reponsible for others; also, I think that he had some reservations about his much lower socio-economic background. I would have liked EL to take them back home and let us in on some real soul searching for Owen before he came to the conclusion that he was ready for being responsible for a wife and family.The rest of the Donovan guys could have helped him along.It would have been a perfect ending to an otherwise great story.

Had to read this book after reading Pearl Cove and enjoying yummmmmmmmy Archer Donovan and his love Hannah. Faith Donovan the youngest sister and jewelry designer and Owen Walker best friend and Ruby expert goes with Faitn Donovan to the Bayous for her best friends wedding and to present her a beautiful Ruby Necklace. But, the Heart of Midnight a giant ruby is lost and a Russian is trying to find it and murder anyone who gets in his way and Faith may be next. I really enjoyed this one. I would like her to write about their twin brothers and the Emerald trade,but I highly doubt it. Looking forward to reading Color in Death by her and all about Sapphires. Read this book it's highly recommend.

Lowell just doesn't let her readers down with the lovable Donovan clan. Recommendation: Start with "Amber Beach" and then work your way to this one. See her complete book list and the order in which they go at: www.elizabethlowell.com

Dostoevsky has crafted a monolithic work of literature in every respect here. This book contains all the elements of vintage Dostoevsky--unforgettable characters, a gripping plot, layers of meaning, captivating style and poignant sprinkles of humor. The book is broad in its scope, exploring numerous themes--alienation from society, criminal psychology, poverty, benevolence, confession, spirituality, redemption, love and more. As typical of Dostoevsky, however, it is the spiritual journey of one character that provides the central focus of the narrative. If you don't know much about Dostoevsky, I advise reading some about his life before beginning this novel (a good starting point is wikipedia.org/wiki/Dostoevsky). This novel will take you on a thought-provoking journey about the human heart and experience that you will not forget. Highly recommended.

The book arrived in excellent condition. I have not read it yet, but am anxiously waiting to read it. I am very happy that it had arrived in plenty of time.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is one of the greatest novels of all times. I love this book!

Raskolnikov, the main character in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, is presented as a pure nihilist. Dostoevsky, through his telling of Raskolnikov's inner struggle and his first encounter with love and compassion, is clearly rejecting nihilism. The murder committed by Raskolnikov might be an act related to utilitarianism, but the great agony and guilt that the main character suffers is Dostoevsky's idea of real punishment that leads the final conclusions that good beats evil, religion beats atheism, and right overpowers wrong.

Granted, Crime and Punishment is considered great literature devoted to the psychology of criminals and their imprisonments within their own guilt. However, the novel is an immature way of stereotyping criminals and simplifying a very complex human puzzle. Dostoevsky attempts to show us that only love, redemption and righteousness will rule, but he over simplifies and generalizes.

Crime and Punishment is another way that Dostoevsky tried to resolve his feelings about chaos and corruption in his society, and solve all dilemmas and conflicts by turning to God, or accepting Christ as Dostoevsky did in reality.

Truly one of the greatest books of all time. This is definately something that is useful in almost everyday life. The struggle between the grand and the ordinary is something that most of us can relate to on an individual level. The translation left a little to be desired but do not hesitate to read this work you will be glad that you did.