Rating: 
Summary: Stone and Holly together! Awesome!
Review: Stuart Woods' characters Stone Barrington and Holly Barker are amazing forces to be reckoned with independently, but when meshed together in another riveting novel in the Barrington series, they just unglue the seems of sizzle... I mean, awesome! I love these characters together, and I was hoping for this ever since the Stone cameo appearance in Barker series. Way to go, Stuart Woods!
Rating: 
Summary: adequate effort by Mr. Woods
Review: The action, and characters, that populate this latest Stuart Woods book are predictable to say the least. It's expected that the heroes will rule the day, and, as is usual in these books, they (in this case Stone Barrington and Holly Barker) overcome impossible odds (including almost getting killed several times) to get the bad guy. This time, besides fighting the bad guys they have to go head to head with some of the most obnoxious FBI agents ever written (is it necessary that they have NO positive traits??) and get some help from a shady CIA operative named Lance who was just annoying by the end of the book. I'm finding that the tried and true characters of Stone Barrington and Holly Barker (heroes of other Stuart Woods novels) are wearing thin.
What is it about Stone that EVERY woman he meets has to sleep with him, that he always has all the answers and large amounts of money coming at him from many directions? The superman bit with this character has gotten old. Maybe if he were a little more human he might become interesting again. This was a quick read, quickly forgotten.
Rating: 
Summary: Like Stuart Woods, but this book stinks
Review: The dialogue between characters in this book is laughable. It seems little effort was put in to the writing of this novel. Very weak plot.
Rating:
Summary: Good read, but somewhat disappointing
Review: The meshing of two series characters is always a difficult task, and as Stuart Woods' attempt to bring Holly Barker and Stone Barrington together and give them an interesting case to solve falls short of the usual Woods fare. The plot just doesn't inspire much tension or danger. The characters seem even less invested than the reader is led to believe. I got the feeling that Woods couldn't decide which series to write this time out, so he gave in to a misguided idea to give his fans a twofer. Setting up a new job for Holly Barker seems to be the most significant plot point, and even that isn't decided for certain by the end. Stone was simply a tool for Holly's "reckless abandon", also an effort that seemed less than imperative and more just a gimmick to get her to New York. As I read I kept expecting some huge revelation that would tie everything together, but in the end there are more unanswered questions than answered.
Rating: 
Summary: pulls in alot of elements from alot of books
Review: There's definetly a lot going on in this book. As a stand alone story, it's good but I think it's better understood by a long time reader as it pulls in elements not only from the barrington series, but the holly barker series as well. Elements of Orchid Blues, Blood Orchid, Dirty Work, The Short Forever are all melded into this book.
I like that Holly Barker and Stone Barrington were together in this book as i like both of the characters. I'm not sure about how holly was written in this one. She's been written a little different than when she's in her stand alone books. I think to tailor her more to the barrington type of atmosphere.
Anyway, good quick paced read.
Rating: 
Summary: Who wrote this thing?
Review: This book reads like it was ghost written by Ian Flemming and P. G. Wodehouse. (Only not exciting and not funny.) True, there are characters named Stone and Holly. Only, this Stone is emotionless and Holly has become an airhead. Daisy is great, however. Maybe being dumped by Arrington way back when has finally destroyed his capacity for any real feelings. He is now just a cardboard cutout that this reader finds hard to care about.
Rating:
Summary: Reminds me of a Movie Chapter Plays from the 1940's!
Review: This book takes Stone and Holly into non-believable situtations. You sometimes feel Clark Kent and Lois Lane are the main characters as in a Superman comic book. Mr. Woods is simply cashing in on an awful piece of work. The book is so bad compare to his earlier "Chiefs" book that you would think it was written by two different authors. Mr. Woods in recent years has clearly sacrificed quality for quantity. Not only do I not recommend this book but suggest you remove Stuart Woods from your must buy author list. He has crossed the line from, "literature to put my name on it and they will buy it."
Rating:
Summary: Sex, (a really fine '78 Merlot) and Rock 'n Roll
Review: This could also be called, 'you get what you pay for,' 'whatdya expect?' or 'it's still the same old story, a fight for . . . hmmmmm and glory.'
Stone's just not the guy you want to leave alone with your daughter, your sister or your wife. The guy's just unbelievable!
I would discuss the plot now but really, is it any different than the preceding 9 plots? Huh? No.
Mr. Woods writes a compelling novel. The only other author who writes like this, predictably, repetitiously, same characters, is Parker, who churns out Spensers at the rate of one a year. I happen to prefer Spenser because I believe he is imbued with a code of sorts that he can't define but other men admire and seek to emulate. Spenser's an honorable man. Stone is really a good looking, wealthy guy that has the morals of a cat. An indescriminate cat if you will. Which is why Parker usually get a 5 and Woods usually gets a 4. I like Spenser more.
But I'll always read Woods. Like everything else, it's a matter of your mood. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury
Rating:
Summary: time to stop
Review: This is Stuart Woods' most disappointing yet. After starting as a serious writer (Chiefs was brilliant) he moved on to light "beach reading" that I always enjoyed in the car on audiotape. The first few were fun and creative, with interesting characters. He has now destroyed his best two characters, Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, by making them charicatures of their former selves. Not even a sexual relationship involving these two formerly interesting characters can save this attempt to get money from former loyal readers. Woods may live well on the proceeds, but he has lost his audience. As a talented writer, he must now decide whether to continue to fall into disrepute or to suck it up and write something worth reading. I hope he has made enough money to do the latter, because if he has not he will never be able to keep us former fans buying.
On another note, the narrator on the audio version was horrible. He made the lame dialogue of the main characters completely implausible, and especially made the formerly interesting and strong character, Holly, a bimbo. This was a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Worst of the Stone Barrington series
Review: This is the lastest in the Stone Barrington series and the weakest entry from Woods. There is very little plot in this story; mostly talking heads. Credit Holly Barker for taking about three days to seduce Stone, though. Usually the females in the Barrington mysteries jump into bed with Stone in under 24 hours, which is another part of this series that I have never understood. The stories should be strong enough to not have to resort to the unbelievable sexcapades of Mr. Barrington, where women are all to eager to jump in the sack with him and are never sexually satisfied, leaving the poor sexually starved women trying to arouse Stone for yet another round.
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