Rating: 
Summary: Tongue Tied
Review: Deaver's skill at weaving a crafty and intriguing suspense story is sound. He has the bare bones of the work down to a science, and when it comes to most of his tales, the bones themselves are strong, hearty, and glistening white.
In this case, however, those bones have virtually no muscle.
This tale is about Tate Collier, his ex, Bett, and their kidnapped child, Megan. The villian for this tale, a slick-tongued psychiatrist named Aaron Matthews, is a man of such skill that he can talk virtually anyone into anything, a talent that rivals that of our protagonist, Tate, a lawyer who once wielded the same verbal weapons in the courtroom.
As I said, the story itself has some intriguing twists and turns, as all suspense tales should, and it offers up satisfying obstacles and the usual mysteries, but they fall flat for a number of reasons.
1. When the crux of your tale lies on creating characters of uncanny persuasive abilities, the heart of your novel must lie within the dialogue those characters utilize. In this case, neither Matthews or Collier ever speak convincingly enough, in my opinion, to warrant their being labelled as men who "speak in tongues." And although a lot of interpretation must be allowed for the written medium, it still doesn't seem like Matthews' talent for conniving others is as plausible as the novel would like it to be.
2. The book falls prey to a pretty major pitfall for literature of this type, and that is over-elaborate explanations for key motives and behavoirs. We even get treated to a cliched moment of having the bad guy reveal his whole plot to the good guys before actually going through with the plot.
3. Implausibility. There are some areas of the book that are downright laughable, aside from the already mentioned superhuman talent at persuasiveness some of the characters possess.
4. My biggest pet peeve: Deaver cannot write dialogue for teenagers. In an attempt at creating authenticity, Deaver peppers their dialogue with an abundance of "like"s and "way lame"s so that they sound like rejects from some B-grade rip-off of a Dazed and Confused remake. I understand that kids still occasionally talk like this, but Deaver's use of these trite bits of characterization is so liberal it becomes intrusive and annoying and ludicrous.
If you want to try Deaver, check out The Devil's Teardrop or the Bone Collector. This is not worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh...
Review: I usually like Deaver's stories, but I actually only made it through half of the book...then tossed the thing. I am not crazy about the subject matter when it involves children (even if they are at the teen stage). Should have paid more attention to the info at the back of the book. And I definitely don't need to have obscenities every sentence. My mother always stated that people who swore constantly had nothing of interest to say. I find this to be true, even in my choice of literature. My time on this earth is too short to waste reading this type of material.
So I am a prude...
Karen Sadler
Rating: 
Summary: Suspenseful
Review: This book held my attention from beginning to end. It goes to show that sticks and stones will hurt you and so can words. The battle of wits between the attorney and the psychologist was interesting. An enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: Another feather in the cap of this gifted author. Jeffrey
Review: Deaver again succeeds in presenting the reader with a taut, well-written, exciting and convoluted novel. The title is well-thought out and apt for the story line. Tate Collier in his pursuit of a legal career seemingly neglects his wife, Bett and his daughter Megan. When Megan is three Bett and Tate divorce and Tate's contact with his daughter is minimal. At sixteen, Megan is kidnapped setting off a series of events that will keep you captivated. The adversary and Lawyer Tate, assisted by Bett, are pitted against each other in intigueing circumstances,and with far more intrigueing results. And Megan herself , while imprisoned in a closed hospital, rises to the occasion and in a brave medlay of moves tries to outwit her captor. The reason for the title of this gripper is slowly but clearly brought to light as we find a battle of words among the principal players. On the cover page, a quote from Henry Miller reads:
"In the beginning was the Word. Man acts it out. He is the act, not the actor." Amazingly fitting for both the plot and the unraveling of same in encapsulated scenes that will have you holding your breath waiting for the next word. This is not just a casual read, but an enjoyable, tense novel from one of today's top novelists. Leave yourself time for this one because you will not be able to put it down! The ending is a superb surprise that is not likely to leave your thoughts for some time to come.Good Job, Jeffery and keep those books coming, please!
Rating:
Summary: A Turning Point
Review: I've begun reading some of Deavers earlier works lately. I had already finished Praying for sleep and really wasn't that impressed. I did however, like Speaking in Tongues. Had alot of Deaver's signature style. I would say that this one is the turning point from his older stuff to the better newer stuff!
Rating: 
Summary: Kept my attention
Review: Summary:
Tate Collier is a retired prosecuting attorney that has mastered the art of rhetoric. When he convinces a jury to put the son of a famous but mentally unstable psychiatrist, Aaron Matthews, into prison for life he sets off a chain of events that will ultimately change his career, his relationship with his daughter Megan, and his ex-wife Betty; and not all of the changes are for the better. The book begins as Aaron kidnaps Megan during a supposed therapy session. However, Aaron isn't after a ransom; he's out for revenge. Having meticulously studied the lives of all of those near and dear to Tate, Aaron then begins a reign of havoc that ultimately results in a number of deaths and near deaths ranging from dog attacks to car wrecks and arson. But in the end it all boils down to rhetoric and manipulation - who is the master of the tongue. My Comments:
I listened to this book on CD on a road trip. The story kept my attention and was admittedly well thought out - setting up all of the right information to allow numerous twists and turns later in the book. Two of the main characters, Tate and Aaron, seemed convincing, but I was never really able to understand and imagine Megan, the other main character. Connie, a secondary character, also seemed to be well-developed, but Betty, Tate's ex-wife, wasn't convincing and ultimately played a smaller part in the story than her character warranted. The story itself had enough surprises to keep it interesting, though it was pretty implausible and required a substantial suspension of belief (which is fine with me but I always like to mention it). It also seemed as though the author had some points he wanted to make about the power of words, kind of an odd point to be made by an author, or, well, maybe it isn't seeing as how words are his livelihood. I guess if he can convince his readers of the power of words he can continue to convince them to buy his books. Anyway, some of the messages seem overt and some of the dialogue is a bit over the top. Overall, the book has a great story structure that doesn't necessarily keep you guessing but does keep you wondering what morbid thing is going to happen next. Most of the characters are well-developed, but some are pretty enigmatic and don't work very well. The book kept me entertained for the five hours that it took to listen to, but I can't speak for the text version. Not a bad book to take on a road trip; I'd recommend it.
|
