The Short Forever

Rating:
Summary: A so-so read
Review: While I normally enjoy Woods' novels, I found this to
be a bit lackluster. As Stone Barrington ages, so does the plot. I must have skipped the one sentence in the book that explained what government secret was being sought. I didn't feel the tension and excitement that should accompany an author
of Woods' caliber. Also, Stone Barrington's wandering eye for
women is getting tedious. Sorry, Stuart. This just didn't
make my day.

Rating:
Summary: The Short Forever ... Falls Short
Review: While Mr. Woods mentions in the book's "Acknowledgements" that this is "the first manuscript in my career where an editor asked for no revisions," truth is, he needs a good proofreader. Woods is always entertaining, but smugness is starting to supercede quality.

Rating:
Summary: Yuck, what a waste of time
Review: Woods spends 200 pages building suspense and actually kept my interest setting up a bizarre mystery filled with shady characters and descriptions of London lifted straight out of Rick Steves. The payoff, however, simply never comes. Characters come and go with no consequence, and the whole convoluted plot is resolved in a couple of sentences in the last chapter. There are more good guesses on Stone's part about people's character, motivation, and action plans than is believable, and the bevy of hot women hot on his trail gets a bit silly after a while. What a stinker!