Not bad, although a tad drawn out.
921616
Football star Mark Darrow receives an athletic scholarship to play at Caldwell College in Wayne, Ohio. While there he discovers the corpse of African-American student Angela Hall. The police arrests Mark's best friend Steve Tillman, who is convicted for murdering the coed.

While Mark goes on to law school and becomes a nationally prominent defense attorney, Steve remains in prison insisting he is innocent. Sixteen years since Angela was murdered, Caldwell College is in deep trouble over an embezzlement scandal of a just under a million dollar endowment. Desperate to save the college, Mark's former mentor at the school and current Provost Professor Lionel Farr asks him to return as the school president so that alumni money does not stop. He agrees as a favor for his friend. However, he also looks into the embezzlement that got his predecessor in trouble and the homicide that has locked away his best friend. His efforts has some people wanting him stopped anyway they can even murder.

Fascinatingly the suspense is not driven by action, but by how deep Richard North Patterson enables his fans to know Mark; thus everything that he does or occurs to him is enhanced by him seeming like a relative or close friend. His escapades to learn the truth then and now places the hero in danger from someone who wants the facts to remain interred and if necessary inter the amateur sleuth. Fans will enjoy SPIRE simply because of the dedicated obstinate Mark, who is The Little Engine That Could (die).
3762471
A decent story line although a little draggy in places and numerous omitted words along the way.  The main characters aren't the most likable, but they have their reasons why.  If possible, I'd have given this 3.5 stars but I settled on 4.  I will probably be open to giving this author another chance to impress if the price is right.
3571272
Not bad. Slow start, kind of boring, then just as it picks up, it's over. I liked it, but there was a good 1/2 of the book that was pretty much useless filler.
3511321
I thought the book took a little time to get going, but was certainly worth plugging along through the first 50 to 100 pages.  I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who hasn't read it, but there was one piece of the book (at the very end) that I thought was a bit contrived and not developed as well as the rest of the book. It almost seemed like the author had gotten tired of writing and was just trying to finish.  It was a minor part of the end of the book and certainly didn't impact my overall impression.
11681
Not a bad film; the acting was good and the story was interesting. However, we felt that we must have gotten the 'Director's Cut', as this is a l-o-n-g movie, at two and a quarter hours. It could have been edited down to probably 1:45 and not lost any of the essential elements, and been much more enjoyable to watch.
3928939
It was a pretty good read for the most part. A bit drawn out but so be it. I would recommend it to a friend.
2603557
Not bad, but could have been better.  On the plus side, this does capture the feel of the 1930's and Fascist/German control, in Florence, and starts off with a good, nuanced view of British fascist-leaning politics (which interested a number of highly intelligent and eventually quite anti-Nazi intellectual politicians (I am thinking of Harold Nicholson).  On the minus side, there is a bit much of the romance/sex element for some readers, i suspect.  Not that I'm against that, but the mix -- personal politics, high politics, cloak-and-dagger and sex -- doesnt always work well together.  But if you like this kind of thing, this is the kind of thing you will like -- reasonably accurate, reasonably intelligent.
1157332
I was just a little disappointed in how the story sorta dragged out. The set up for it was interesting.
2584068
Took a chance reading this work of fiction--it was decent. The book was slow to begin, picked up as time went on, and finished well.  This was meant to be a pleasure read, and it was a little too much work.
624139
Not bad for a new author. A few mis-steps and the bondage theme is a little too avidly drawn-out for what is at heart a psychological thriller.

The theme has been done before, back in the sixties, and was made into a film too. I can't remember the title of that earlier and more professional work though, and I'm not suggesting the author read it or saw the movie.

Worth what I paid for it and I did finish it (and wanted to find out what happened at the end) despite those few stylistic mis-steps. That can't be said for about half the self-published fiction I've read in the last year. I think this author shows promise, though a professional editor of worth could have made this so much more than it was.

A four star effort.
2201365
Pretty engrossing.  Got a little bogged down with details in places.
4040037
This wasn't that bad a book. However, it was almost all dialogue, which while it reads fast, can become frustrating. A little more narrative and background information would have created a better balance. But the plot was decent.
481308
Well written although a bit drawn out in some instances.  Almost as if the writer wants to extend the story by adding unneeded verbage.
3694402
It's not bad, and the twist is solid, it just took too long for the main characters to stop being victims.  And there is an issue or two that were never really resolved, but I won't mention specifics to spoil anything.
4087253
It was a good read, but a bit slow and lingering, expected more.
3590236
Some surprising twists in this novel... but for me it was a little too drawn out, although that might have been part of the style for the time period in which it was written.
398222
This is pretty good.  The one issue I had was that it takes too long for the author to explain all the angst the characters seem to have.  Makes it kind of drag at times.