More Red Herrings Than a Commuist Cannery
932151
I don't recommend this book. Even though it's a relatively "fun" read, the more I think about it, the more mean-mad I get.

I liked the story. Last werewolf on earth. The Hunt. WOPAC (or whatever). And I sort of liked Jake. But that's about where my liking stopped.

This plot has more MacGuffins than an Irish phone book. Vampires. The journal and the tablet. The femme fatale with the helicopter. Even Grainer seemed like a tacked-on plot device more than a true villain. They're all introduced and are just as quickly abandoned without explanation.

I know Duncan is setting himself up for a sequel, but come on. Jake's a nihilist and a werewolf. We get it. How very clever of you.

Don't bother with this book. Read Troy Tradup's "The Foresaken Boy" instead. It's a much better werewolf novel.&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Forsaken-Boy-a-werewolf-novel/dp/B0046A9V8M/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Forsaken Boy, a werewolf novel</a>
3487696
I really love a good mystery (it's my favorite genre), but this wasn't it.  I found the idea that a Chief of Police anywhere, including the smallest hick town, would allow a former-college-professor-turned-coffee-shop-owner to insert herself into a murder investigation - not only that, but to some extent allow her to DIRECT the investigation - to be absolutely preposterous.

A good who-dun-it provides real clues along the way, often peppered with red herrings to be sure, but still with enough background and evidence for the reader to attempt to solve the mystery. I guess there were some clues, but the motive seemed really illogical and out of sync with the severity of the crime (which was murder).  You really have to suspend logical thinking to follow the leaps in thinking the amateur sleuths make in building their case, starting with their first assumption that the list of suspects consisted of people out to get the accused rather than people who might have been out to get the victim.

So much seemed silly and superficial - for instance, apparently forensics found tea on the murder weapon so they go around baiting suspects to see who drinks tea?  That's just foolishness. I didn't think the cat added anything to the story, in fact, I was distracted from the mystery, thinking about this cat jumping up on counters where food is being served.  How the cat managed to show up at the police station at the end was just another thing that didn't make sense and it seemed irrelevant to the story, except that it gave the protagonist something to direct dialogue towards I guess. And who the heck is Amber?  She suddenly appears out of nowhere to see the protagonist and drop off a clue - but who is she?  How did she know a clue was needed?  I actually searched the book for Amber (thank goodness you can do that with Kindle!) because I thought I'd missed something, some introduction or explanation... but no, apparently that's the only place she appears in the story. There were just too many things that didn't make sense to me to make this a really good story.

Character development was lacking and inconsistent. One example of that is that we are told that Rachel doesn't handle stress well, as evidenced by her response to the murder.  But as far as we're told, she sheds a couple tears the first day and then jumps in to interviewing people for her news story and helping her mother solve the murder... In my estimation, she seemed to handle stress (not to mention grief) pretty darn well!

There are a handful of typos/misspellings and some awkward sentences; not the worst editing I've seen in a book I've downloaded for free, but there is definitely room for improvement in that regard. Overall, it was more frustrating than entertaining and not something I'd recommend to someone looking for a good mystery.
2867253
At times this book seems to have been written by a computer program. The hero is too clichee, too good. The bad guy can do as he pleases. The connections are too easily established without explaining how, thus making it unbelievable. And the end, they just find him and kill him.
951863
It's almost funny, Patricia Cornwell has conned a lot of critics and her pubisher - but the reviewing public here at Amazon sees right through the garbage. Cornwell's theory about poor old Walter Sickert is so full of holes that I frequently found myself chuckling as I read.

Only allowed a thousand words here so I can't tear this book apart line by line. But here's a fun example:  Cornwell points out that Jack the Ripper often used horse racing slang in his letters, even gave the cops tips on the ponies! The tie-in to Sickert is clear she says - the Ripper once referred to "Bangor Street" in a letter and there is no Bangor Street in London. But don't go away now, there is a city called Bangor in Wales which has a racecourse! Stay with old Patty now, here's the clincher, and I quote: "While I have no evidence that Sickert bet on race horses, I don't have any fact to say he didn't".
CASE CLOSED, as the cover says.  Hey, while I have no evidence that Patricia Cornwell wears men's size 12 Bruno Magli shoes, I have no proof that she doesn't either - call Mark Furman.

It only gets better. Cornwell finds a guest book at some obscure coastal England bed and breakfast. The guest register was defiled and doodled in by a guest Cornwell assumes to be the Ripper many years after the Ripper murders. She points out that poor old Sickert was never seen there (he was semi-famous), and never registered there. But she's happy to spend a chapter assuming that he registered there under an alias, and disguised, decades after the Ripper murders because it was the kind of place he would have liked. CASE CLOSED!

You want evidence of a crime, folks, it's on page 184. Old Patricia found evidence that she thought might point to a London cop, not Sickert. Her reaction: "I was completely unnerved and thought my life might disintegrate right before my eyes."  Looks like Ms. Cornwell had a lot at stake in nailing Sickert. Why Sickert? My guess is because he is the only one of five or six well known Ripper suspects who has no family left alive to sue Patricia Cornwell.

Oh, there's a lot of 21st century psycho babble that he hated women in spite of the fact that he kept marrying the darned creatures (as a child he had an operation on his private parts - so MAYBE he couldn't perform sexually - Cornwell doesn't know this, but she guesses).  Unfortunately she accuses the Ripper of murdering a young boy too, so much for the woman-hater theory. But logic doesn't deter Kay, I mean Patricia.  And there's DNA evidence too, yeah - sure, and let us pray that they're not springing convicted murderers today on DNA evidence this weak.

Listen, I'm an old Kay Scarpetta fan who has seen a huge drop-off in the quality of Cornwell's work in the past few years. I think Pat signed her Hollywoood contract and stopped working hard. The last Scarpetta novel was really bad. I'll bet a Kay Scarpetta movie is coming out soon, and I'll bet her Hollywood backers were screaming for some publicity. Well, they got it. CASE CLOSED.
1878120
After a flowery & belabored beginning followed by a couple of melodramatic initial tales of pioneer women, the author (Fowler) settles down into a more normal style as he relates the ugly story of the ill-fated & infamous Donner party.  Fowler's dates are questionable.  He claims the trek was 1847, but it was 1846-1847.  He had the travelers at the Sweetwater in August, but other sources had them at Independence Rock along the Sweetwater on July 17th.  I found no reference to him as being part of the group.  And his lurid descriptions of cannibalism reveal his true intent, IMO.  To me, this is not a credible history nor reference.  Nevertheless, it reveals a bit of 19th century hyperbole & gullibility.
678544
I was disappointed with Evans Above, because it seemed like Evans simply stumbled upon things rather than having his detective work lead to capturing the right person.  Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of detecting and red herrings galore.  And instead of Evans reaching the conclusion, the guilty party confesses all in the "Mr. Bond, I'm going to tell you everything" sort of silliness.

Though the setting is appealing and the secondary characters show signs of promise, it was puzzling why the author made Evans be from the area but somehow he has no surviving relatives there. Especially in such a small town, it seems unlikely that there are 3 unrelated Evans families.

This was one of those mysteries I found myself re-writing as I went along, and I found my version much more satisfying.
3668758
Buried in the pages of this book are two philosophies which are subtlely introduced and take away from the science fiction theme: The idea that wealth is tied to intelligence and the concept that terrorism comes from Islam.
Both of these philosophies are passed on as a given and not addressed seriously, but they are apparently a basis of the author's own premise in life. I believe that much of the book's popularity is due to these premises, and not to the writing itself.
As far as whether these philosophies are true or not, that is actually much more controversial than fans may want to accept.
The book itself is written more in the mystery genre than science fiction, and it has some redeeming characteristics. Personally, I am turned off by the casual throwing out of philosophies and then distracting the reader with what comes down to magic mixed with science.
111210
Not as well written and formulaic. A lot of recapping of background information
4539871
Bill Sloan, newsman, wrote a fun book here, but unfortunately it is marred by a couple chapters better left unincluded, as they were single-source stories, highly speculative. Additionally, one chapter concerns two newsmen who later died violet deaths, but who had only visited Ruby's apartment, and seemed to pose no threat to anyone.

The book has many merits however, including just prompting memories--it is easy to forget that in 1978 the House held hearings and concluded that JFK was killed by a conspiracy.

Also what a whacky vignette in one of the stories: There was a guy in Dallas, named George de Mohrenschilt, who was friends with Lee Harvey Oswald, and who in the 1930s had known the Bourviers (Jackie Kennedy's family) and who Jackie called "Uncle George" and would sit on his knee!  What are the odds of one guy knowing the Bouviers and Oswald? Those two certainly did not travel in the same circles. Mohrenschilt would later write letters to George Bush Sr. complaining about FBI surveillance--and get a personal reply! (that's not in the book, it is on Wikipedia).

Sloan seems to give a little too much credence with anyone with a story to tell. The lead chapter is about a deaf-mute, Hoffman, who went unheard in the days after the assassination, due to his condition. Then, Hoffman is flummoxed, when he is interviewed. Though described as bright it evidently never occurred to Hoffman to write a letter, perhaps with simple map, outlining his experiences on Nov 22, 1963. Instead, his story is seen as evolving over the decades, which it might have, Had Hoffman committed to print his observations back in 1963, there would not be the suspicion today his story evolved to pick up an audience. He claims to have seen gunmen behind the picket fence.

Some of the charm of this book is the feeling you get for early 1960s Dallas, then not such a big city, and with a downtown in which people actually seem to know each other. One man, perhaps slightly injured by a bullet ricochet on the parade route, had a roommate who dated Tammy True, a dancer for Jack Ruby. Reporters knew downtown lawyers, and vice versa. All the cops seem to know each other and Ruby. In short nothing nefarious, but a friendly midwest small downtown.

The book might also benefit from pointing out that one of the home made movies of the assassination (not the Zapruder, but the other one) seem to show many bystanders looking up at the picket fence after the shooting. Accurately or not, maybe people thought the shots came from there.

I have long wondered if Oswald acted alone, but there was an unrelated party behind the picket fence, perhaps lowlife attached to the Mob. Those two gunmen were then executed soon after, gangland style. So no grand plots, just creeps like Oswald and mobsters.

It turns out that anyone surveying JFK's parade route would pick Dealey Plaza for the attempt, due to the open sight lines, layout and ease of getaway. And in fact, Oswald got away by bus (!) and with the slightest organization (like having driver meet him somewhere) could have possibly escaped.

But a fun read on an airplane flight or something to that effect.
4775254
Just by the title you can guess what happens. But you don't know how or why or who. The co-coffeeshop owner wants to find out as she feels responsible even though no one else died. Lots of misadventures trying to get to the truth. Lots of lies being told that she and the police need to weed through. Some interesting characters. A couple of terrors of cats too.
1683869
The action and plot are fast-paced and pretty nearly believable given the quality of our elected officials.  However, I wonder how much of a hand Mr. Weinberger had in writing this - as a former SECDEF, he ought to know that Mary Campo, whose rank is LTCOL and is referred to as "Colonel" (pp. 19, 62, and elsewhere), would not wear "gold leaves...on your uniform" (p. 60) - the insignia of a major.  Also, you COULD head east out of DC and arrive in Centreville (p. 152) in Maryland - it's on the Eastern Shore -and a LONG way around to getting to the Shenandoah Valley.  You head WEST out of DC and pass through Centreville VA on Route 29 south of Dulles Airport, enroute to the Shenandoah Valley.  Perhaps having had a personal driver all those years atrophied Mr. Weingerger's geographical knowledge.  It's glaring and blatant errors such as these that reflect poorly on the authors (whoever they may be) and even more poorly on the quality of editorship in our publishing houses, and turn a thriller into a book for the trash can.
2160215
Imagine a place a bit like Stepford peopled by robotic characters where you must conform to the rules of behavior or be ostracized like in high school. That's about all you need to know about Ruth Valley. The missing may be getting the best of the bargain. I agree with readers who point out that all the people in this southern town wouldn't be Catholic. The chances of that are about the same as that they all belong to the ACLU. The writer could have made the church a nondenominational Bible church with a weird pastor and his uptight church secretary to replace the strange priest and sinister nun. That would have been much more believable - not that anything in this vaguely unsettling book is even remotely believable anyhow. If you pass on this one, you won't have much trouble finding a better one. PS: The writer used the word grabbed incessantly.. Just one more stupid mark against the book.
699419
This book needs further data that substantiates what the author is concerned about. It appears the author wants to make more money by having suspense with consecutive sequals. This is not good science nor good reseacrh that can help our history of mankind.
837452
Istanbul. A Mellified man. The secret name of God. Experimental economics. Biological computers. And many more. The Dervish house is so full of research that it could have easily come with a 20 pages bibliography.

I am afraid however that the research is much more interesting than the 6 stories themselves. The reader can not really care for any of the characters (with the possible exception of an old professor) and the writer does not seem to realize that all his heroes speak with the same degree of eloquence, vocalizing his thoughts instead of their own.

Furthermore, some twists of the plot are too convenient for the writer but too impossible for the serious reader. There is a 3 centuries/3 continents old mystery that gets solved miraculously in 3 days by one character. There are toy drones with inexplicably miraculous energy resources used by another character, there is something of a stock market techno thriller that gets miraculously resolved by a third character, and so on.

All in all, if the writer had focused on less stories, or even just one (Mellified Man comes to mind) this novel could have been something. Unfortunately, now it isn't. 2  stars.
3573427
Scary, even if it does border on conspiracy theory.  Too many "coincidental connections" to dismiss as utter nonsense.
2090158
Too much minute detail in some ways, in other ways there were questions left unanswered.
4165133
When Asey Mayo and his cousin-in-law Jennie deliver eight buckets of fresh clams to the Whale Inn, they find the place unlocked and empty. That discovery is surprising enough. Added to the dead body they find stuffed in the hotel's phone booth, it's downright disturbing. Especially since they had seen the victim mere minutes before, when they were all stuck in traffic with an Army convoy. What bizarre series of events has descended upon the Cape Cod town of Quissat?

The individuals who gradually surface are examples of the traditional quirky characters found on Cape Cod. The place is owned by the Doanes. Mrs. Doane runs the establishment with an iron fist, while daughter Freddy half-heartedly staffs the desk. Working in the kitchen is Mr. Washington "Washy" Doane, whom Asey recalls as being a cook on his uncle's schooner years before. "Biffer Doane he had been called, owing to his violent tendency to biff over the head with the first object at hand anyone and everyone who disagreed with him. Sometimes, in fact, Washy didn't even bother to wait for any disagreement to take place. Sometimes Washy just biffed." (p. 60) Did one of the Doanes shoot the woman in the phone booth? Or could the murderer be found among the various guests? There's Mrs. Clutterfield, a well-to-do woman with a penchant for speedy but erratic driving. Her own driver and servant, Alfred, is not above bribing officials for the slightest of offenses. Elissa Hingham is a local theater promoter who can summon up a migraine headache on a whim. No one can remember the surname of her second husband Horace, who is also involved in the acting business. Genealogist Jonathan Rankin bends Asey's ear a bit, until Doc Cummings warns his old friend that the man should not be trusted because he hasn't paid his medical bills. And then there's schoolteacher and perennial boarder Olive Beadle, who has been coming to the inn every summer for more than 20 years. Where is she now, by the way?

As usual, Asey Mayo is called upon to figure out not only the identity of the victim, but also the motive for her murder. Jennie and Doc Cummings do their best to help, but the investigation itself belongs to Asey. He finds solace in removing himself from the action and getting away from the incessant inquiries. "[H]e was tired of talking, and of people's if's and how's. Any situation, even one as confused and complicated as this seemed at the moment, simplified itself after you thought about it a little. Usually it was the if's and what's of other people that made it confused in the first place." (p. 183) Asey's biggest quandary comes down to the issue of identity. When someone is murdered while impersonating another, how can we possibly decide which of the two was the true intended target of the fatal shot?

This installment is one of the best ones in the Asey Mayo series, complete with layers of confusion, mistaken identity, and down-home logic. In writing it, Ms. Taylor may have deliberately planned to outdo herself. Most of the action in her previous book, _Deadly Sunshade_, occurred over the course of just one 24-hour period. Here she has narrowed down the timetable to 18 or 20 hours. It seems as if a lot can happen in one day (or less), out on the Cape.