Starts out great, then doesn't measure up.
594800
I found that this book, although promising a fresh look at the age old problems of adult children of abuse, falls short in the long run. Adults who experienced abuse as children are usually well aware of that abuse. This book deals with uncovering the abuse, and then takes, in my opinion, controversial steps at therapy. Those steps include a "reconstruction of the past" in essence fabricating lies and letting those lies replace the truths of the abuse. I, for one, was looking for a way to defeat the anger I feel, not reconstruct my past into some idyllic existence. For me, living a lie where I remember parents who never existed would only be compounding the problem.

So, I cannot recommend this book as part of an affective regimen of therapy.
1999238
The first couple of chapters are absolutely stellar. Johnson writes about being Blackand Whitein this country with honesty, irreverence, guffaw-aloud humor, smarts and a refreshing fearlessness of the muzzle of a mass-market strain of political correctness that silences productive, respectful dialogue around critical issues of race and identity. But after those first chapters, the novel degenerates into a silly romp with characters, relationships and situations that require far too big a leap of faith. Still. Read the beginning.
272387
I loved the first half of the book. It seemed to get off track a bit in the second half.
1667863
The book started out quite well. Intriguing premise has portals to hell opening up all over the world. Hey, who doesn't love that? Well probably a lot of people, but from the perspective of someone who enjoys a good horror story it's a great starting place. Unfortunately it ends up falling down in places. Mr. Wright introduces a lot of characters, not that I view that as a problem. I've enjoyed plenty of books with huge casts, but quite of few of them don't seem to serve a purpose, or if they did then their purpose eluded me. Sure their stories were interesting but they didn't necessarily add to the overall storyline, IMO. I'd elaborate but I loathe when people place spoilers in their review, and as such I will not. And the ending just seemed   well bizarre. It doesn't that everything wasn't resolved, as I am aware that this is the opening book in a series, but the end of the book was odd in that it suddenly introduced a whole bunch of new characters and told their stories quickly, which seemed pointless as these characters had no connection to any of the other characters we'd been following through out the book. Interesting story that just doesn't quite hit the mark for me. At some point I may pick up the next in the series
44257
Started off great, but I lost interested about half way through.
937666
"Think of a number" starts out fine: An interesting premise, some surprising twists, intriguing riddles. Unfortunately it can't sustain this momentum: The subplot about the investigator's marriage sometimes feels forced and pointless, some later riddles are very easy to guess yet the police takes forever to figure them out, and parts of the plan only work because the policemen in the book never pursue some avenues real-life investigators would. Furthermore, the finale feels a bit drawn out, "revealing" things long after the reader already figured them out.

Still, it kept my attention until the end, even if it left me a little bit disappointed. It's a solidly written freshman thriller, and the first and second act work very well.
2680040
This one seemed quite good at the outset and gradually petered out. The concept is great good fun, a perusal of our cultural attitudes toward life and death, birth, childhood, adolescence, sex, love, senescence and dissolution from the starting point of a Milton Bradley game. But, despite some fascinating historical tidbits, some thoughtful insight, a good measure of humor ... the thing fell flat.

I'd call it a wonderful effort. But still, an effort.
487062
The first 1/3 or so of the book was really good, but it felt like the author stopped there and either finished it years later or the rest was written by someone else as the rest of the book wasn't nearly as compelling as the beginning.
576735
This story starts of with great potential and then seems to lose it at the end .....I think there could have been more thought given to the conclusion of the story to make it clear and concise to what the writer means to convey.
620064
Well, I suppose I feel that something slipped here. I'm not one that believes that his best work ended with the fall of The Wall (Single & Single is excellent), but there's a certain ... diffusion ... here that doesn't work for me.
The first half of the novel is excellent, but as Justin moves forward, it loses focus and steam.  The character becomes frozen, unlike the best Le Carre characters, who develop right up to the end.
Perhaps I'm just disappointed. It's still an excellent book, and the first half had the makings of one of his best.  But that promise is not fulfilled.
1936056
The first third of this book was great: on par with Perfect Chemistry and way better than the blueprint copycat Chemical Attraction.
The middle third of this book began to get muddled. It veered off course from its promised good boy versus bad girl setup and started forcing in that old tired gang subplot.
The ending was hurried. The original good boy versus bad girl idea was completely abandoned, and the prose felt wholehearted.
Still, the romance itself is a worthwhile read and I don't regret the purchase.
3087177
The concept is great...but for me the story fizzled out in the second half,and the ending was a little disappointing.
473783
It started out GREAT, then it wandered a bit.  It also varied in its dialog.  Sometimes it slipped into more contemporary dialect than Roman.  Overall, though, it was a good read.
2200570
Lawyer Frank specializes in the fine print, so it's not surprising that he chooses to tell the story of his recovering memory with addendum's, explanatory breaks and occasionally dense, and often terse, language. Stymied by accident-induced amnesia, Frank works to piece together his life, and soon finds it might not quite be as wonderful as everyone keeps insisting.

The digressions, footnotes and language games start out clever, and contain several laugh-out-loud one-liners and poignant reveals, but as Frank fills in more and more blanks, the tone shifts from funny and lighthearted, with an edge of black humor, to just plain black and, eventually, fairly boring.

I really struggled between three and four stars on this one, but as much as I liked this one in the beginning, the final third just dragged for me, with none of the wit, charm and clever banter on display for, especially, the first half. As Frank's life is revealed, and then, kinda-sorta redeemed, the tone of the book turned droning and my interest in trying to follow the convoluted storytelling style faded.

Basically, it's a clever, initially engaging and smart premise, that is just stretched to the point where it finally breaks. The pitch and pace of the early going can't be maintained, making this a hard one to recommend.
1471430
Terrific start, grabs you but can't hold the momentum and ultimately ends up fairly predictable.
338996
For the first half of the book, it was five stars all the way.  Beautiful writing, lifelike description, great sense of place, mood and character.  Excellent dialog.
The needy "friendship" of a 50-something year old man with a couple of snotty punkish louts is pretty hard to swallow, but, well, maybe if the narrator really had some huge defect in his personality; a major gap in his own maturation process...still, a stretch.
However: at least, finally, I was thinking, a book with a gay narrator that deals with more of life than just gayness.  But suddenly the book bogs down in endless, detailed description of student life with his pals; the momentum grinds to a hiccuping halt, and gayness takes center stage.  Sorry, that's just not enough, any more than romance novels are enough to hold one's interest.  From the midpoint on, it's mostly a matter of getting to the end.  Fortunately, the final pages return to the novel's early force and the net result is a good, if marred experience.
5 stars for the writing; 2 stars for the inability to maintain the larger perspective; overall effect 3.
3514500
Starts out incredible and then becomes rather boring a little more than halfway through. Some truly great tracks in that first half though. An overall fun and enjoyable mix nonetheless.