- Paperback: 422 pages
- Publisher: HarperLargePrint; Lrg edition (13 Mar 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0061121347
- ISBN-13: 978-0061121340
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.4 x 2.5 cm
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30 reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
A Stephen King blurb is money . . .
2 May 2006
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Ordinarily I'm pretty cynical about blurbs, but when Stephen King recommends an author, I'm all ears. I think he actually reads the books he recommends; he's never let me down yet.
Peter Abrahams is a suspense novelist, but he spends more time developing his lead character than most. Ivy Seidel is a very compelling character. She's an MFA graduate working as a bartender. When her friend sells a screen play to Hollywood, she agrees to take over his creative writing class at Dannemora. She promptly falls for one of her students, Vance Harrow, who seems to have more talent than she does.
A subplot deals with a story Ivy is trying to sell to THE NEW YORKER, entitled "Cave Man." Abrahams makes this jell when we're introduced to her caveman class. They include gang members and thugs who also seem to have a lot of innate talent, but they're incredibly violent. One of her students is a white collar criminal named Felix Balaban who has incited the wrath of Luis Morales, a gang member who feels Felix has disrespected him.
When Ivy investigates Harrow's background she discovers he was involved in a Casino robbery, but she's convinced he's innocent. She sets out to prove it.
I'm usually a slow reader, but I read this story in a couple of days. However, it has a couple of drawbacks. For one thing, the police officers who help Ivy investigate Harrow's background go way out of their way to help her. She's a fiction writer, not an investigative reporter. And she's never published anything. Certainly she's attractive, but that's not enough motivation. There's also a scene where she needs an extension ladder. The ladder reaches all the way to the third floor of a hospital. She drives a little Saab upon the roof of which she ties the ladder. She also crawls up that ladder like a Chinese acrobat, all the way to the last couple of rungs. But those are just minor quibbles; what really got my hackles up was the ironic ending. Arahams settles for clever rather than appropriateness.
I was all set to give this book five stars until I ran up against that disappointing ending, but that won't stop me from ordering another Abrahams suspense novel; he's written fourteen others, including OBLIVION, THEIR WILDEST DREAMS, and THE TUTOR.
Peter Abrahams is a suspense novelist, but he spends more time developing his lead character than most. Ivy Seidel is a very compelling character. She's an MFA graduate working as a bartender. When her friend sells a screen play to Hollywood, she agrees to take over his creative writing class at Dannemora. She promptly falls for one of her students, Vance Harrow, who seems to have more talent than she does.
A subplot deals with a story Ivy is trying to sell to THE NEW YORKER, entitled "Cave Man." Abrahams makes this jell when we're introduced to her caveman class. They include gang members and thugs who also seem to have a lot of innate talent, but they're incredibly violent. One of her students is a white collar criminal named Felix Balaban who has incited the wrath of Luis Morales, a gang member who feels Felix has disrespected him.
When Ivy investigates Harrow's background she discovers he was involved in a Casino robbery, but she's convinced he's innocent. She sets out to prove it.
I'm usually a slow reader, but I read this story in a couple of days. However, it has a couple of drawbacks. For one thing, the police officers who help Ivy investigate Harrow's background go way out of their way to help her. She's a fiction writer, not an investigative reporter. And she's never published anything. Certainly she's attractive, but that's not enough motivation. There's also a scene where she needs an extension ladder. The ladder reaches all the way to the third floor of a hospital. She drives a little Saab upon the roof of which she ties the ladder. She also crawls up that ladder like a Chinese acrobat, all the way to the last couple of rungs. But those are just minor quibbles; what really got my hackles up was the ironic ending. Arahams settles for clever rather than appropriateness.
I was all set to give this book five stars until I ran up against that disappointing ending, but that won't stop me from ordering another Abrahams suspense novel; he's written fourteen others, including OBLIVION, THEIR WILDEST DREAMS, and THE TUTOR.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
not convincing as it proceeds
6 Oct 2006
Format:Hardcover
This novel starts out okay, with a likable, pretty heroin in an unusual situation, and good writing too--but the second half of the book is a far reach, way beyond what can be convincing. The key bit that has her haul around a long, heavy extension ladder and then climb it to the third-story window of a hospital with a two-foot bolt cutter tucked in her belt would be a feat worthy of Wonder Woman. Then to expect the bad guy to come to a desolate meeting point alone and unarmed is the height of naivety. And those are just examples of why I became so disappointed in what promised to be a good read.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Never gets off the ground.
30 Sep 2006
Format:Hardcover
I don't understand why some supposed "thrillers" get such wonderful reviews. This book has a good set-up, but the protagonist's actions are so insipid, they're unbelievable. The ending is almost as bad as Donna Tartt's equally overhyped "The Little Friend" ...that is to say very uninspired, lazy, and ultimately a huge disappointment. If you want a great thriller about a writer, with terrific character development and a non-stop plot that actually has you caring about what happens, get John Colapinto's "About the Author" and you'll have a much more satisfying read.
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