Average customer rating:
- Not Free SF Reader
- An amazing ride!
- You go John Corey
- Needed a good editor
- very good story teller and suspense writer
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Plum Island
Nelson Demille
Manufacturer: Random House Audio
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Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: 0394583892
Release Date: 1997-06-02 |
Amazon.com
Nelson DeMille's narrative engine is one of the best in the business, and it chugs away in grand style in this story of buried treasure and biological warfare on a tiny spit of land off Long Island. As told by a wry, wounded New York City detective who is drafted to explore a couple of murders, Plum Island is a rich pudding of flavorful (if familiar) ingredients, including a ferocious storm at sea. Other DeMille epics in paperback include By the Rivers of Babylon, The General's Daughter, The Gold Coast, Spencerville, and Word of Honor.
Book Description
4 cassettes / 4 hours
Read by David Dukes
AudioBook includes a personal interview with Nelson DeMille
Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide detective John Corey is laid up in the Long Island town of Southold, home to farmers, fishermen -- and at least one killer.
Fast-paced and atmospheric, marked by entrancing characters, incandescent storytelling, and brilliant comic touches,
Plum Island is DeMille at his thrill-inducing best.
Download Description
Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide cop John Corey is convalescing in rural eastern Long Island when an attractive young couple he knows is found shot to death on the family patio. The victims were biologists at Plum Island, a research site rumored to be an incubator for germ warfare. Suddenly, a local double murder takes on shattering global implications--and thrusts Corey and two extraordinary women into a dangerous search for the secret of Plum Island.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Detective John Corey is on leave, recuperating from gunshot wounds at his rich uncle's joint in Long Island. He is also a smartarse, bigtime.
Two of the friends he has made there are murdered, and they were research scientists at a biological weapons type facility on Plum Island, a nearby piece of land.
He has to work out the reason they were killed, which, despite the biological red herring, turns out to be pirate treasure.
This book drags quite a bit in the middle with a lot of discussion of Captain Kidd, he of the pirate treasure fame, but the end was decent.
An amazing ride!.......2007-08-20
I had about three or four dozen new literary finds stacked up behind me. A friend had come over for coffee and his eyes wandered over the cache of books behind me. We talked about this and that and at one point he said "You know, that book right there is better than all the others combined." I looked a little surprised, but followed his gaze to "Plum Island." I pulled it out of the pile and looked at it with renewed interest. "This one? Really?" With that, he nodded sagely. He had often recommended other books and had never steered me wrong before. And, boy! This was no exception! I think I read it all in one session. At each point when I had planned to put the book down for a bit, something else would pop up that made it impossible. I just KNEW I had the answer more than several times only to learn at the end that I hadn't had a clue. I'm amazed that anyone would feel that these characters were one dimensional and that they figured everything out half-way through. After I was through with it I immediately passed it on to my cousin and she had a similar positive experience with it....as did her friend who read it after her. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a well fleshed-out read with a lot of suspense and intrigue.
You go John Corey.......2007-08-03
DeMille's character of NYPD detective John Corey had me from the beginning. His quick wit and sarcastic humor, even when under his breathe to no one but himself and you the reader will have you laughing out loud as you acompany him on assignments of danger and deception. Plum Island is a masterpiece of writing and will keep you on the edge of your seat and have your brain working overtime to try to "figure it all out" early. I highly recommend Mr. DeMille's works and especially the series in which our tongue in cheek detective will take you on the ride of your life. Kudos!
Needed a good editor.......2007-07-28
Longer than it needed to be. The reason for the murders was explained over and over by the main character. ( We get it, already! ) Cardboard characters I cared little about, with an obnoxious main character. Very llittle to recommend.
very good story teller and suspense writer.......2007-05-07
It was difficult to put this book down, suspenseful all the way. Another demille hit.
Book Description
In all her travels, Vi has never seen any place as exotic and exciting as the Caribbean! But what dangers are unearthed in her exploration of the beautiful island? Vi's faith and courage will be stretched to the limit as she struggles to unravel a mystery that threatens her dearest loves.
Customer Reviews:
My Daughter's Favorites.......2007-01-10
My teenage daughter has read all of the books in the Life of Faith series and number 8 in the Violet series is the latest for her to read. She likes each one she reads more than the previous books. I myself highly recommend the christian worldview put forth in the books. I hope there will be further books or new series to come soon.
Average customer rating:
- A trying time for America
- A Code for Tomorrow
- Alternate History from the surface navy
- Exciting and fun to read
- An Exciting WWII Docu-drama!
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A Code For Tomorrow
John J. Gobbell
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0312971427 |
Book Description
As the war in the South Pacific heats up, Lieutenant Todd Ingram gets a new assignment to the destroyer U.S.S. Howell, on which he will serve as executive officer. Thrown into two epic naval battles of early World War II, the Battle of Cape Esperance and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, a young but already battle-weary Todd Ingram is also in the middle of a personal nightmare: his sweetheart, Army nurse Helen Durand, is trapped behind enemy lines, fighting for the resistance on Mindanao. With Soviet espionage activity hindering his rescue of Helen, Lieutenant Ingram is at an impasse. In danger of losing both the woman he loves and a war in which he has fought so valiantly, Ingram puts his life on the line for a world on the brink of destruction....From the whispers of lovers parted by war to the explosive, harrowing naval action in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, A CODE FOR TOMORROW brilliantly portrays World War II and thelives it irrevocably touched....AUTHORBIO: JOHN J. GOBBELL is a former Navy lieutenant who saw duty in the 1960s as a destroyer's weapons officer. His ship served in the South China Sea, granting him membership in the exclusive "Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club." He and his wife, Janine, live in Newport Beach, California.
Customer Reviews:
A trying time for America.......2005-08-01
Can we that were not there ever feel the force of the War on two fronts. Attacked by the Japs and fighting the Germans across the world. Losing constantly through 1942 in the Pacific but starting to correct as this books shows. It was a time of standing up and doing what was right. Of all the great men we lost we will forever honor and also appreciate all that came home and worked hard to make our country what it is today. It is a great book and I could read it again. UHH RAH.
A Code for Tomorrow.......2004-06-25
So now it's several months later, February 1943, and our hero, Navy Lieutenant Todd Ingram, is in San Francisco as the Exec on a new destroyer about to be commissioned. He is still recovering from his Corregidor and Philippine Islands derring-do, and is palling around The City with his old shipmates and a few new characters.
Meanwhile, Army Nurse Lieutenant Helen Durand, who had to be left behind on Mindinao, is into one adventure after another with the very courageous Philippine resistance causing no end of havoc for the occupying and extremely cruel Japanese.
In several sea battles in the Slot in the Solomon Islands, while the U.S. is trying to hold Guadalcanal and vital Henderson Field, big ol' Japanese torpedoes continue to cripple U.S. Navy ships, while U.S. torpedoes wander, sink and go thud.
Todd's life and job as Exec for the new destroyer goes upside down. He meets some big brass, gets the Navy Cross, and is re-assigned as Exec on a destroyer in Noumea. In no time at all he is in the Battle of Cape Esperance, and ends up as acting Skipper when his ship gets hit and the Captain is badly wounded. His ship is ordered to Brisbane for repairs.
U. S. Army Major Otis deWitt, who annoyed Todd for most of the Corregidor-Mindinao-Australia escape, has become a friend (although he is still somewhat insufferable) and is working for General Richard Sutherland on MacArthur's staff. DeWitt is in touch by radio with Helen's guerilla band, and she is ordered home via submarine. The very smitten Todd Ingram knows through the back channel that she's en route to Australia . . . except of course she misses her first pickup and that sub hits a mine and is lost. Despair, then relief, when Todd is ordered to Mindinao by parachute drop to act as beach master for a second rescue try. His arrival is busted, and he gets captured. Can Helen and a small cadre rescue him and escape with Japanese torpedo plans she has stolen?
Keep turning pages, the story is right there.
And so is Volume 3, When Duty Whispers Low.
Alternate History from the surface navy.......2002-04-20
Others have commented on the literary merits of this book, so I'll address its complex intermixing of reality and fiction. The author is pretty accurate on minor (sometimes unnecessary) details, but warps the big picture a lot. A major element of this novel is the outrageously poor performance of US Navy torpedos during 1941-43. In the real WWII, the major impetus for exposing this incredible scandal came from the submarine sailors. The destroyer force seems to have been mostly oblivious to the worthlessness of their major weapons system, even after the unbelievable "battle" against the burning hulk of USS HORNET described in Chapter 39. Yet Gobbell has heroic destroyer sailors uncovering the torpedo scandal. Furthermore, the fundamental cause of the defects was the monopoly on torpedo design and testing held by the Navy's own torpedo factory. Gobbell has invented a private corporation to take the rap instead, for no apparent plot purpose. Loyalty to the old school can be carried too far. Still, the book provides a timely reminder that overwhelming superiority in wealth, science and technology won't win wars unless these factors are converted into viable weapons handled by trained and motivated personnel BEFORE the war starts.
Exciting and fun to read.......2002-03-12
Like Gobbell's first book "The Last Lieutenant," "A Code for Tomorrow" is exciting and fun to read. The story moves at a quick pace and the action never stops. And any book that teaches me more about World War II is, in my opinion, a good book. "A Code for Tomorrow" accomplishes this, as Gobbell places Lt. Todd Ingram at the center of fierce naval battles at Santa Cruz and Cape Esperance.
Though the story is exciting and full of intrigue, I could not help but think that Gobbell based it on a James Bond movie. There are too many quick escapes and bizarre coincidences. For instance, a scene towards the end when Ingram and others are placed on a barge to be killed in a Japense torpedo practice exercise. That sounds more like a James Bond movie than anything have to do with World War II.
Still, I eagerly await Gobbell's next book "When Duty Whispers Low." Gobbell has a gift with his story-telling ability and knowledge of naval history. I very much recommend his books.
An Exciting WWII Docu-drama!.......2002-03-08
John Gobbell continues his characters and his premise in this latest book--forming fiction, suspense, espionage, and naval combat based in real, WWII history--and does so with the same flare and catch-and-hold-your-interest writing that can be found in "The Last Lieutenant" (his first book of the series).
As a connoisseur of techno-thrillers, suspense and espionage novels, I think Gobbell ranks up there with the greatest: Clancy, Coonts, Brown, et al. His weaving of actual WWII actions and history with some fictional characterizations is on-target and makes for a fun, can't-put-it-down reading. I highly recommend this--indeed all--of his books to the WWII action buff or general suspense-fiction reader alike.
Book Description
America's hottest teen detectives team up to defuse an explosive scheme.
Nancy Drew and her friend Bess are vacationing in Greece, land of romance, history, and mystery. They befriend Alexis Constantine, daughter of a famous shipping magnate, and are invited to sail on the family's yacht in the Greek islands. But Nancy and Bess soon discover that they are headed into some dangerous waters. Alexis is kidnapped, and after a caller threatens to kill her if the police are notified, Nancy realizes that the young woman's fate is in her hands.
Meanwhile...
Frank and Joe Hardy have come to Greece at the behest of the ultrasecret Network. Their mission: Pursue a renegade American operative suspected of stealing a dozen superpowerful Phoenix missiles from a U.S. military base. Together with Nancy, the Hardys set off on a spine-tingling Greek odyssey across a sea of duplicity, danger, and imminent destruction...
Customer Reviews:
Islands of Intrigue -- Fabulous!.......2003-07-04
Among the rocky coasts, shimmering turquoise waters and ancient ruins of Greece you can rest assured that a mystery lies in wait for Nancy Drew and the Hardy brothers.
In Islands of Intrigue, Nancy Drew, Bess Marvin and the Hardys meet up in Greece by chance. For the girls, this Grecian vacation is nothing but a pleasure trip, but for the Hardys -- it's work. A dozen Phoenix missiles disappeared from a military base near Athens, along with an undercover agent. The Network is convinced that the agent, Terry Brodsky, is going to sell the missiles to another country.
At a smart cafe in Athens, Nancy Drew overhears a man threatening to kill a girl. Nancy offers her help to the young woman, Alexis Constantine, who is the daughter of one of the richest men in the world. Suddenly, Alexis disappears.
Nancy and the Hardys find that their cases are starting to connect...
Islands of Intrigue is one of the better books of the later Super Mysteries. It comes before the series jumped the shark with a bunch of enviromental and animal rights issues in books like "At All Costs," and "Murder on the Fourth of July."
True, you won't find the "Nancy/Frank" stuff in this book, but too much of the attraction actually takes away from the mystery.
The review of Islands of Intrigue.......2000-03-30
As a big Nancy Drew fan I found this book exciting and one of the best books in the Super Mystery series. It has excitment and suspence, not to mention mystery! As Nancy finds herself and Bess( Nancy's best friend) in the romantic islands of Greece she also finds herself a mystery as a new friend of hers,Alexis Canstantine, is kidnapped. Well just as she always does, Nancy sees this as a chance for a much enjoyable mystery. Meanwhile the famous brothers, Frank and Joe Hardy, also find them selves in Greece but for a different reason. They are there to follow a man accused of stealing a dozen of U.S. super powered misiles. I give this book two thumbs up! It was an exciting page turner, you won't be able to put it down!
yeah it was good!.......1999-08-08
When are ya'll people gonna learn that the whole Nancy and Frank thing is utterly and completely over. They kissed how many times two thats right only TWO. Then after that they admitted that it felt very very wrong and very awkward. I mean they say that they LOVE Ned and Callie they just don't love other people they love Callie and Ned. So get out of your head that there is ever gonna be a thang going on between Nancy and Frank!
I loved this book but I do hate it that Nancy ALWAYS DOES get the stupid and almost worthless case. It's been a while since I've read this book so I don't know whats going on but I know she has a crapy case. Like the one where she's in Memphis and she has recover a stolen guitar Puh-leeze!!! Where "The Hardy Boys" are tracking international spies, assassins, terroists etc. etc. It always seems that way no wait it is always that way! Other than all that "other stuff" it was a pretty good book ;)
UGH!.......1999-07-30
Don't waste your money! This book was so boring. It had nothing good about it. The plot was confusing and dull, there was no Nancy/Frank stuff, and once again, Nancy got the small potatoes case while the Hardys were chasing international spies or whatever. Huge disappointment. I had to force myself to read it so that my money wouldn't go to waste with the book just sitting on my shelf.
A good book.......1998-08-27
This book was very cool - and is a good read if you're the type of person who is into "international mysteries/James Bond-ish" stuff. I found it to be one of the better of the Super Mysteries. It is fast paced and the literary style is especially remarkable. However, the frequent shifts in the narrative voice, characteristic of all Supermysteries, is quite annoying.
Customer Reviews:
A fast-paced romantic suspense.......2002-10-04
Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
Sarah Cutter has lived a life of silence since an explosion that took her hearing when she was five years old. Both of her parents were killed in the explosion, which was caused by one of her father's experiments. She was raised by her Godfather and learned to adapt to her new life, void of all sound. When her hearing is restored by an experimental surgery, developed at Coastal Island Research Park (CIRP) where her father once worked. CIRP is a compound dedicated to scientific research of many kinds and she is thrilled to receive the treatment there, which gives her the opportunity to hear what she had been missing for so long.
Adam Black is a Savannah cop, tough as nails and one of the best. His parents died when he was young and he raised his younger sister, Denise, entirely on his own. Except for her, he has spent his life alone, ever since the woman he loved, a witness in one of his cases and under his protection, was killed. Adam blamed himself, swearing to never get involved with a woman again... until Sarah comes along.
The very day Sarah awakens from her surgery, sounds she hadn't heard in many years bombarded her, bringing her joy, short-lived though it is. She overhears something no one should have - the sounds of a woman being abducted from the hospital where Sarah is recovering. No one at the compound believes her, so she takes her fantastic story to the police. No one there believes her at first either, but Adam finds himself intrigued by the attractive young woman. When he realizes Denise, who happens to work at CIRP, is missing, he begins to take her story more seriously.
In the midst of their investigation into Denise's whereabouts, they find out about suspicious deaths of other researchers at CIRP, ones who were about to have breakthroughs that would have had a huge impact on medical science. However, someone else knows what Sarah heard was real, and they will do whatever it takes to silence her - permanently. Now Adam and Sarah are racing to find Denise before it is too late for her... and Sarah. He is drawn to her through it all, even though he is terrified that history will repeat itself for him.
This story is a captivating look into the dark side of medical research, giving a "What if" feel in many ways, where research for the advantage of everyone can be capitalized on for the benefit of a few. Unfortunately, the rising body count as suspects are killed off, makes it appear that perhaps Ms. Herron did not know what to do with the characters. The false leads the killer tries to set may fool some readers, but this reviewer wasn't taken in; having had the murderer figured out, almost from the beginning, though not the motive.
Nonetheless, it was a gripping story to keep one engrossed and awaiting the next book in the series.
I found this book not only interesting but quite enjoyable........2002-06-25
I found the book not only intriguing but very enjoyable. The plot came together very nicely and I liked both of the main characters.
With new developments in modern medicine, making the deaf hear is very real. This may not be a great classic but it was very well written and very enjoyable.
Silent Surrender.......2002-04-25
After taking a leap forward in her last Intrigue "Saving His Son," Rita Herron takes a huge step back with her latest, "Silent Surrender." Sarah Cutter has been deaf since the fire that killed her parents twenty years ago. Now she has received a hearing implant through an experimental technique. When she first wakes up after the surgery she hears more than she expects: the screams of a woman being kidnapped. The doctors tell her she was dreaming or that the device was malfunctioning. Sarah knows what she heard. Her search for answers leads her to Detective Adam Black, whose sister has disappeared. Denise was a research scientist on Nighthawk Island. Did she hear his sister, and can they work together to find her before it is too late?
The editor's letter inside the front cover claims this story is "truly innovative." It's not. The basic idea is the same that Herron did in an earlier Intrigue, "Her Eyewitness." In that one, a blind man received a cornea transplant and saw a murder. In this one, a deaf woman receives a hearing implant and hears a kidnapping. This book does make better use of the gimmick. While "Her Eyewitness" only used it in the beginning and end and told a regular story in between, "Silent Surrender" has Sarah "hear" the woman throughout the book. However, like "Her Eyewitness," this is a story where I knew who the villains were early on and was left sitting through all the filler until that predictable ending came along. The villain may as well be given horns and a pitchfork, this person is so obviously baaaaad! And both books are about the cutthroat development of medical products. "Her Eyewitness" has pharmaceuticals. "Silent Surrender" has medical research. It's an interesting idea, but this book isn't innovative at all. It's a retread. I would recommend "Her Eyewitness" over "Silent Surrender." It was a better book.
Unfortunately, "Silent Surrender" contains none of the elements that made "Saving His Son" strong and too many of the ones that made her earlier Intrigues weak. Gone is the gritty writing and strong heroine of "Saving His Son." The worst part of "Silent Surrender" is Sarah. I can't even call her a heroine. There is nothing heroic about her. Sarah is so fragile she comes off as pathetic. She seems to do nothing in this book but cry and sob and have tears in her eyes. This is her reaction to her first, very brief sexual thought about the hero: "Shaken by her own thoughts, her legs threatened to buckle so she clutched the wall for support." (Page 39). What a ninny. A regency heroine might be able to get away with being such a delicate flower. What modern woman reacts to one little sexual thought like that? Oh no! Sex! I'm going to pass out! Her absolute lowest moment comes when Adam and Sarah break into an apartment to search for clues. Sarah feels tired, so Adam tells her she can take a nap. She does! He searches for clues. She lies down on the sofa and falls asleep! Why did she come along and commit a crime in breaking into the place only to take a nap? That's a good indication how useless she is and it's when I officially gave up on her. I don't know what the author has against strong heroines but it's women like Sarah that give romance heroines an bad name.
Adam isn't that much better, the kind of self-pitying, self-sacrificing mope whose routine lasts only long enough to delay the happy ending. "Silent Surrender" is readable, though one jaw-droppingly awful moment revolving around Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" had me laughing out loud. It's the kind of forced sappy moment that is unforgivable. Herron does keep the action coming at a constant rate, so the story at least passes quickly and isn't boring. She's also one of the few new Intrigue authors who tries to provide a mystery her heroes, if not her heroines, investigate. If only her villains weren't so easily identifiable.
"Silent Surrender" looks to be the first in a new series about Nighthawk Island. Hopefully the author will be generous enough to give the heroines of those books some spine.
Average customer rating:
- Atmospheric Mystery Jaunt
- Death in the High Arctic
- Bear Island: Mystery on a Remote Island
- All the same
- Northern Comfort
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Bear Island
Alistair Maclean
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Contemporary
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When Eight Bells Toll
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ASIN: 0449200361
Release Date: 1982-09-12 |
Customer Reviews:
Atmospheric Mystery Jaunt.......2007-01-29
"Bear Island" may be long on atmosphere and short on plot, but that is a far from fatal situation with author Alistair MacLean employing some of his crispiest dialogue and most descriptive prose. If you like mysteries that use humor and suspense in near-equal amounts, this 1971 novel will entertain you most of the way through.
Dr. Marlowe is the ship's doctor aboard the Morning Rose, a converted trawler presently being used as a kind of private yacht by megalomaniacal film director Otto Gerran. The ship is plowing the icy Barents Sea en route to Bear Island, an arctic Norwegian territory of steep and rugged coastline where Gerran plans to shoot a movie. En route, people begin dying mysteriously, a situation that continues after they make landfall. Dr. Marlowe has his hands full finding out who's responsible.
Right away, MacLean sets the book's tone of black humor, not only with the varied reactions to the opening murder but the backstory involving a somewhat inept movie production replete with more cattiness and fragile egos than "All About Eve." No one has a kind word about Otto, for example, even as they cheerfully avail themselves of his private stock of Scotch.
MacLean at times seems to be channeling Joseph Conrad, what with the narrator's name and his writing of a sea swell, "black and veined and evil," that breaks across the Morning Rose's beam at a dramatic moment. His writing is that good, especially early on. Bear Island comes alive less as a setting on account of the near-constant October darkness, but one gets a feeling of being here as well at odd times, with beetling cliffs that plunge straight down into icy waves, offering shelter only for the hardiest sea bird.
"Bear Island was black," he writes, "black as a widow's weeds."
MacLean also gets good mileage from his characters, not only Marlowe with his double-sided persona but Otto and the many others along for the ride. Everyone seems to have a secret or two, and for once in a MacLean novel, this actually amps up the story rather than detracts from it as being too contrived. One of my favorite lines in that vein could almost be a song lyric: "She gave me a little smile but there was a touch of winter in it."
Though it loses steam near the end, and is wrapped up with MacLean's customarily overneat quickness, "Bear Island" is a solid showcase for what makes the author so much fun.
Death in the High Arctic.......2006-06-10
"Bear Island" is a solid thriller by master story-teller Alistair Maclean. A converted fishing trawler carries a movie-making crew across the Barents Sea to isolated Bear Island, well above the Arctic Circle, for some on-location filming. En route, members of the movie crew and ship's company begin to die under mysterious circumstances. The ship's medical officer, one Doctor Marlowe, finds himself enmeshed in a violent, multi-layered plot in which very few of the persons aboard are precisely whom they claim to be. Dr. Marlowe's efforts to unravel the plot become even more complicated once the movie crew is deposited ashore on Bear Island, seemingly beyond the reach of the law or any other help.
This novel is a closed house murder mystery with the added twist that the scene of the crimes is the high Arctic. The murders continue ashore, and Dr. Marlowe discovers they may be related to blackmail and to some forgotten events of the Second World War.
"Bear Island" was not Maclean's best effort; the plot seems overly contrived and many of the characters are no more developed than cardboard cutouts. Nevertheless, Maclean was a polished writer and a past master of the twisting storyline; even his lesser efforts are fascinating reading. Readers will be kept guessing as Maclean slowly unspools the clues and frames the story for an exciting ending.
This book is highly recommended to fans of Alistair Maclean and to readers looking for an entertaining story.
Bear Island: Mystery on a Remote Island.......2006-02-19
"Bear Island" is a solid thriller by master story-teller Alistair Maclean. A converted fishing trawler carries a movie-making crew across the Barents Sea to isolated Bear Island, well above the Arctic Circle, for some on-location filming. En route, members of the movie crew and ship's company begin to die under mysterious circumstances. The ship's medical officer, one Doctor Marlowe, finds himself enmeshed in a violent, multi-layered plot in which very few of the persons on board are precisely who they seem. Dr. Marlowe's efforts to unravel the plot become even more difficult once the movie crew is deposited ashore on Bear Island, seemingly beyond the reach of the law or any other help.
This novel reads like a closed house murder mystery, with the interesting twist that the scene of the crimes is the high Arctic. In addition to the murders, blackmail and some World War II events are part of the mix. "Bear Island" was not Maclean's best effort in that the plot seems overly contrived at times and many of the characters come off as cardboard cutouts. Nevertheless, the book makes for fascinating reading. Maclean was a polished writer and a past master at creating a twisting storyline. Readers will be kept guessing to the end as Maclean slowly unspools the clues and frames the story for an exciting ending.
This book is highly recommend to fans of Alistair Maclean and to readers looking for an entertaining story.
All the same.......2005-07-15
If you've read one Maclean book, you've read them all (outside of the very earliest). Same plot used over and over, no suspense, carboard characterizations--and way, way, way overwritten (the books are padded beyond belief--if he wrote cleanly they would be reduced by two-thirds). Maclean himself said that he hated writing, churned out a book in about a month with one draft, and it shows. The later you read in his bibliography, the worse the books get.
Don't bother.
Northern Comfort.......2005-03-15
Hm, I'm a little disappointed in the reviews, here. I suppose everyone expects a classic thriller par MacLean.
Bear Island is less a thriller than it is a mystery, which explains the somewhat slower-than-usual pacing. MacLean brings back Captain Imrie (from When Eight Bells Toll) who is a good guy this time. Rather, he's a sub-character, piloting the Morning Rose to Bear Island. Aboard is a film crew and the producers/directors of the most anticipated film of the year.
And then people start dropping like flies. I love it! It's very reminiscent of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None or William Dietrich's more recent Dark Winter. The classic premise: a bunch of people somehow completely isolated, and it's just not the best week for any of them.
Bear Island is written in first-person (an immediate MacLean favorite), written with that ubiquitous dry wit found in his other novels. Despite the obvious -- more whiskey and scotch downed than there is water in the ocean, and that Bear Island only appears halfway into the book -- I found myself enjoying every page. And it turns out Bear Island is actually a very beautiful island. I recommend Googling for images (see "customer images" for book cover). Don't expect MacLean to describe it too well, since it's dark, cloudy, windy and rainy during the tale.
Average customer rating:
- This One is Well Worth Your Time! I Highly Recommend It.
- Great reading while on recent vacation to Poipu, Kauai.
- "Fatal Paradise" takes you into the eye of a storm!
- Murder, mystery, mystical, & Hawaii - you'll love this one!
- Couldn't put it down.
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Fatal Paradise (Sandwich Islands Quintet Ser)
T. C. Lawrence
Manufacturer: Dark Matter Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Series
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Suspense
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0966300408 |
Book Description
A mystery/adventure novel about a dysfunctional family who come to the island of Kauai to reconcile, but are quickly embroiled in a deadly plot to acquire a vast piece of the island, and entangled in complex relationships with islanders. A literate travelog with corpses, Fatal Paradise is the first volume in a five-part series called the Sandwich Island Quintet.
Customer Reviews:
This One is Well Worth Your Time! I Highly Recommend It........2000-04-13
"Life is not a warrior's spear, said the hula master, the course of which, from the time it is loosed until the point buries itself in the target's dark belly, is determined at the instant of release ---" With those haunting words, with Nature's power suddenly unleased to transform a first class lounge into a death trap of hurtling glass and debris, and with murder by poison in a hotel room in paradise, T. C. Lawrence in his first 10 pages propels the reader and the Chase family into a vacation in Hawaii that, unlike the warrior's spear, follows no expected path.
With murder, intrigue, a Force Four hurricane, and a serpentine plot, Fatal Paradise was more than enough to satisfy my taste for action, adventure, and mystery. But Fatal Paradise is more than an adventure novel. It is as well the story of paradise threatened - by sinister and ruthless forces; and here the author's personal knowledge of Hawaii and its native people comes through to make this aspect of the story particularly poignant.
Fatal Paradise is also the story of a family divided coming together again as a series of life-and-death experiences forces them to better comprehend themselves and each other and to better value their relationships. In this regard, the author has provided complex and believable characters, who deal with the experiences they face as ordinary people might, rather than with the one dimensional aplomb of the heros in a typical adventure novel.
Great reading while on recent vacation to Poipu, Kauai........1999-05-11
Fast moving. Good use of characters, although too many open-ended situations. I got a good feeling for the Island of Kauai, locations, sites and events where well described. I'm looking forward to reading future books in the Sandwich Island series.
"Fatal Paradise" takes you into the eye of a storm!.......1999-02-08
The storm in this thriller has many fronts--ecological, geographical, political, historical and psychological--to name a few. T.C. Lawrence knows how to draw your attention into a tale of suspense located on Kauai, the garden isle of Hawaii, and lets you really feel the envronment through his descriptions, and makes you want to be there, hurricane or not! This is a page turner with surprisingly true female characters by a male author, which is a rarity! Read on and look forward with me to other Sandwich Isle mysteries.
Murder, mystery, mystical, & Hawaii - you'll love this one!.......1999-01-19
I couldn't decide what I liked most about this book: the vivid descriptions of Hawaii or the non-stop action & mystery; luckily I didn't have to choose. The Chases seem to attract trouble like the islands attract tourist; and while both might complain about it, they obviously thrive on it. Mr. Lawrence manages to capture the reader's attention while giving a great lesson on Hawaiian weather, landscape, and race relations.
Couldn't put it down........1998-12-10
Clever juxtaposition of murder, mahem and nature's fury in a serene island setting. Well developed characters truly illicit the reader's emotion. Great story with descriptive passages that put you right there, on Kauai, in the middle of a powerful hurricane, trying to solve a murder mystery plot along with the characters. This one keeps you guessing.
Book Description
Sane people are boring, Sabrina Dunsweeney tells her friends when they try to convince her that she is crazy to travel to tiny, isolated Comico Island to recover from a cancer scare and the sudden loss of her mother.
Sabrina, who has a tendency toward hypochondria and very bad cooking, soon meets Lima Lowry, the tallest tale-teller on the island. He tells her all about the pirate Walk-the-Plank Wrightly, who died two hundred years ago and who has recently made a cameo reappearance in Sabrina's rose garden.
Lima invites her to a campaign fund-raising tea party at the prestigious Tittletott House, where Sabrina is surprised to find the stoic islanders clutching monstrous neon teapots as they begin a mass stampede toward the lone bathroom, spurred on by an unexpected ingredient in the chocolate scones. It seems someone is determined to ruin Brad Tittletott's campaign for the most coveted title on the island: president of the sanitary commission. Everyone is sure it's the crazy Wrightlys, who have hated the Tittletotts for centuries, but could it be a member of Brad's own family?
Then Sabrina finds the ghostnow truly dead in her rose garden and is soon drawn into a maze of deadly island intrigue!
Island Intrigue starts a fascinating new series.
Customer Reviews:
Traditional island goings-on.......2006-03-22
This is a classically framed, traditional mystery. It has everything you need and want in a comfort read. Odd and strange characters, a possible ghost or two, an island community and a flawed protagonist. Nice; nothing to upset one and there's enough mystery and conflict to bring the reader back to the story after you've laid it down a time or two.
Sabrina Dunsweeny is a teacher in a school in Indiana. Her mother has just died and Sabrina has had a cancer scare. So she trundles off to a place called Comico Island. Now Sabrina leans toward hypochondria so she begins to fit in quickly in a place where outsiders are routinely viewed with suspicion. Perhaps because she's a teacher, she manages to get a lot of island residents telling her all sorts of things right away.
One of the residents she meets right away, is Lima Lowery. Lowery is a great story-teller and he is able to explain the pirate Sabrina spies in her garden-a 200 year old fellow named Walk-the-Plank Wrightly. He's also ready to explain just about everything else in the universe, given half a chance. Sabrina has a bird whom she talks to a good deal. There are also a number of cats and dogs and young children around. And a resident drunk and ne're-do-well. If you know about the Hatfields and McCoys, you are familiar with rural feuds. The Wrightlys and the Tittletots are cast in much the same mold.
The story, with colonial historical disagreements, modern feuds, a jot or two of underhanded doings and political shenanigans, with a murder chucked into the mix and you have enough intrigue to last a generation or two. It's all served up with good humor and decent style, but ISLAND INTRIGUE isn't likely to remain long in your memory. No matter.
fascinating amateur sleuth .......2006-02-01
All her life Sabrina Dunsweeney has been under the control of her alcoholic domineering mother who chose her career for her and made it impossible for her to date. After her mother dies she finds a lump in her breast that turns out to be benign. After surviving these two traumas, Sabrina needs some time off to relax and find out who she is. She travels to the small and isolated Comico Island and rents a house from Nellie Wrightly.
Her arrival coincides with the election for the President of the Sanitary Concessionary, a political office that often provides a stepping stone to the state senate. Brad Tittletott is running unopposed even after a fire burns down his office and his childhood friend Rollo Wrightley returns to the island for the first time in years. He left after being accused of committing a crime by Brad and his mother. Rollo wants justice for being railroaded fifteen years ago but before he can reveal the secrets that the Tittletotts want to keep hidden, he is murdered. Sabrina, who met and liked him does some investigating independent of the police in the hopes of unearthing a very disturbed killer.
ISLAND INTRIGUE is a fascinating amateur sleuth tale written by an author who is loaded with talent. Her ability to describe island life and the residents who live there adds an exotic dimension of depth to a fascinating who done it. Sabrina is a person trying to find herself and while doing so make a place for herself with the islanders who come to consider her a friend. This reviewer looks forward to more mysteries starring this multi-dimensional heroine.
Harriet Klausner
Customer Reviews:
Once upon a time, life had been perfect.......2004-08-19
Psychologist Claire Kos had once had a near perfect life. She had the love of her life, Mark Steele, and she was expecting his baby. Then, when she was traveling to see Mark off at the airport when he was deployed to Iraq, she had been in a car accident and lost her baby, her sight, and Mark. Claire was now a workaholic, devoted only to her radio psychology show and her work at a research center. A serial killer, uncreatively named the Midnight Murderer, was calling into Claire's show and taunting her before he killed his victims. Claire could be his next target - and she might also be able to help the FBI catch the man. When FBI Agent Mark Steele, her former love, is assigned to be her bodyguard, though, sparks fly.
Mark Steele had been raised in the military, so he had joined as soon as he could. He had proposed to Claire Kos before he left for Iraq, but she had never showed up at the airport and two weeks later had returned his engagement ring with a brief typewritten note. Stung at her rejection, Mark devoted his life to his men, but an ambush left Mark the sole survivor. Burdened with guilt, Mark returned to the United States and joined the FBI. When he learns that his duty is to guard Dr. Claire Kos, he's both intrigued and hurt. How could she have broken his heart like that? When he learns that she's blind, he wants to help her, but she doesn't want him near her. Once they catch the Midnight Murderer, can Mark and Claire still have a future together if they both survive?
I didn't really like the character of Claire at all. She seemed to blame Mark for everything for half of the book, and then blamed herself for the other half of the book. She was angry that Mark hadn't tried to contact her - well, let's see, if someone didn't show up at the airport to show me off (he had no idea that she had been in a car accident, and she refused to tell him) and then sent my engagement ring back with a one-sentence typewritten note while I was off serving my country in the military, I wouldn't contact that person, either. But, of course, it was all Mark's fault. And then Claire never gave Mark a chance because she just assumed that because she was blind, he wouldn't want an "imperfect woman" (I hate to tell her, but she was "imperfect" before her blindness, no one is perfect!).
Unfortunately, Mark was loaded down with guilt from the ambush that left all of his men dead and himself gravely wounded, so he just tacked on some more guilt when Claire was concerned. Everything bad that happened to her was his fault, according to Mark. I liked the character of Mark besides his tendency to internalize every little thing. It really got tiresome reading about how Claire blamed Mark, Claire blamed Claire, and Mark blamed Mark. Some things just happen, and it's nobody's fault, it's just the way the dice fall.
The book wasn't a total waste, if you can get over how everyone blames everyone else in the book. The identity of the killer is interesting to try and figure out, although I did figure it out pretty quickly once the facts started piling up. It was a pretty decent book, but one that I probably won't re-read.
Average customer rating:
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The Long Suit
Philip Davison
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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A Burnable Town
-
McKenzie's Friend
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The Crooked Man
ASIN: 0142001996
Release Date: 2004-05-25 |
Book Description
Philip Davison's taut, action-packed, emotionally complex series follows the story of a crooked man who desperately wants to go straight. On the second green of a Long Island golf course there are three golf balls and a corpse with a bullet hole in its forehead. The call goes out for Harry Fielding to come in from the cold. With a new suit and a new partner, Harry is back where he least wants to be: playing the deadly games of MI5. It doesn't help that his apprentice, Johnny Weeks, is a troublemaker with the measured diffidence of a French waiter and the volatility of a pit-bull terrier. Harry goes back to the work he hates but does so well, but as his instructions come in and the purpose of his job doesn't get any clearer, Harry begins to wonder if he has been set up—and for what purpose.
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