Robert Reeves (4)

I did not like this book at all.

The only good thing was the promise the plot had. There just wasn't anything to like after that, and the only reason I kept on going was because I had the silly notion that I had to be missing something when the general consensus seemes to be that this is a decent, if not a great book.

Alas, I have myself to blame for trusting other people's judgement over my own.

What was so bad about this in my opinion?

For instance, the plot had no suspense (a severe lack for a thriller). The characters were flat, unrelatable and uninteresting. The dialogue was artificial and forced. The writing was chopped and overly explained. I don't understand why, for example, the author couldn't just say "'---,' Cole said and laughed." For some reason it had to be something like "'---,' Cole said. Cole and Ann laughed because that was their sense of humor." I mean, what? And don't get me started on "the relationship" between Cole and Cash. There was no relationship, yet there was huge emotional whiplash that came out of nowhere. Bah.

All in all, a painful read that I won't be recommending to anyone. Maybe as warning example of what happens when your editor either doesn't exist or simply doesn't have the heart to do their job.… (mehr)

Agent David Leas has just caused his latest case to go five steps backward, when an outburst against a suspected murderer of a woman and her two children makes his confession null and void. The judge who is presiding over the case has decided that because his outburst occurred minutes before the confession was made, the only logical thing to do it throw out the confession due to fear and intimidation brought on by Leas.

Leas is furious but knows he can catch this guy with the evidence already in custody. The question is, can he do it in the month before the trial?

While this conflict is going on inside his head, Leas is called in for a more recent murder. In the city of Dallas, a man by the name of Tony Patrick was just found dead in his living room. He seems to have been slashed multiple times by a knife and his hands have been cut off. The reason for Leas' presence at the scene, Patrick's murder is a possible link to another killing that took place in New York. A serial killer, perhaps? Or just pure coincidence.

Cole Mouzon is taking a much needed break away from the grind of life, heading back home to catch up with family and friends. However, when his sister is contacted by the FBI concerning a crazed killer on the loose who could want him dead, he begins to fear for his life and the lives of those he loves.

P, or Poinsett as she calls herself, has a past. An ugly past that has haunted her every day of her life since. And because of that past, she has become a killer. Taking away all those she believes should not deserve to live because of what happened to her. She has already taken two down, and her next unsuspecting target could be a goner as well.

These three characters are brought together in a thriller to beat all thrillers. It is a story of pain, retribution, and hauntings of the past.

I was hooked from the very beginning, and could not stop reading until the final page. In this story, the reader is able to experience the entire story. Cop, potential victim, and killer. We get to see how each of them tick, how their individual minds work. Most importantly, we get to know that pasts of each character, so we can better understand how they mesh into the story.
This was a truly enjoyable piece of work, and I cannot wait for more from this author.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)

I decided to read this mystery/thriller as soon as I received it cause I plan to visit Charleston in less than one month, and the chance to read a novel set in the town was too good to let it pass. And I’m glad I did, cause Charleston is as much as a protagonist as Cole Mouzon. The Trees Beyond the Grass is a thriller with a subtheme of romance, and, at least in this novel, the love interest of Cole, Cash Calhoun, will appear well into the plot, even if he is related to Cole since the day he was born. As you can learn in the blurb, the author is planning a series, and I suppose Cole and Cash’s personal story will develop more in the next novels.

Truth be told, not Cole or Cash appear to be the typical thriller heroes, they are more “professor” like than “cop” (Cole is a civil defense counsel, Cash is an Assistant Professor of History), and even their love story is quiet and subdue, played more inside private homes than public venues; nothing is actually typical in this thriller, not even the killer, who the reader knows being a woman. Now, I don’t want to fall into stereotypes, but actually there is always this idea that the very bad ones are men, women tend to be this maternal figure who loves unconditionally; and indeed this figure is present in the novel, in the character of Cole’s older sister and a local police officer in the Town of Mount Pleasant, Jackie. Again a contraposition, a woman is the one with the fitting stereotype of a thriller novel main character.

Even if, until the last few pages, the reader knows the killer is a woman, but they don’t know who she is, knowing the name wasn’t really important; the author gives you plenty of opportunities to know her, her motives, and her actions. Plus, the weaving of the net that slowly entraps Cole is more interesting than knowing that name, more than the apex, what I enjoyed is the mounting of the anticipation.

http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3845329.html… (mehr)