Rating: 
Summary: An excellent, fast read!
Review: This book hooks you quickly and doesn't let you go. The story is a little hard to believe, but you don't care because it moves you into the action so fast. The characters are sufficiently sympathetic & interesting that you do want to find out what happens AFTER! My hope is that Joseph Garber will write a sequel; the book does seem to leave an opening for that to happen (I'll be lining up to buy!) .... I understand the movie rights were purchased for "Vertical Run"; it'll make a great movie, if they can capture the way Mr. Garber sustains the escalating fear of the first few chapters and the subsequent response of the main character. Good reading!
Rating: 
Summary: A great thriller if you read for plot and action
Review: Dave Elliott is trapped in the bowels of a New York high-risewith everyone close to him trying to get him dead. And hehas no idea why. His military training comes back to serve him well; it's just like riding a 9mm. If you like action, there's plenty of it, with great shoot-em-up scenes, urban boobytraps, and snappy dialog. The plot has enough twists and turns so you won't even need a bookmark. There's enough mystery to keep you reading up until the very (very!) last page, which you might miss if you're not careful. Garber seems to be of the Clancy school, where plot and action is all, and we must make do with two-dimensional characters. Even if you're willing to suspend disbelief, there's a romantic interest angle that defies any concept of reality except maybe that of a daydreaming mercenary. A man who can think salacious thoughts of a perfect stranger when he's married and in immediate fear for his life, not to mention exhausted, bruised, and hungry, is a bit over the edge. This reminds me of a Clancy character who falls in love in about 20 minutes, then spends the rest of the book avenging her death. But set your expectations properly and you will love this rollicking ride with intrigue and action, all wrapped up in an ingenious ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre writing
Review: I'm a huge fan of Stephen Hunter and James Garber was recommended to me as an author who is a close second to Mr. Hunter--WRONG. This book has an extremely linear plot, ridiculously one-dimensional characters, and absurd stilted dialog. I couldn't believe how silly some of the characters sounded. Scott Thatcher talks like a cartoon character. David's wife is a horror that makes you wonder what he was thinking to hook up with her in the first place. Ransome is supposed to be an intimidating villain but is just predictable and boring. There are no surprises in the plot. This is the second book I've read by Mr. Garber--there won't be a third.
Rating:
Summary: Skilled, suspenseful writing makes this book a quick read
Review: When a friend of mine loaned me his copy of this book, I admit, I had my doubts. After reading such adventure novels as Clive Cussler's insipid Dirk Pitt series, I couldn't see what made my friend rave so much about the book. I tossed the book aside for weeks and only read it to kill time while I waited for spagetti to boil one night for dinner. The only reading break I took for the next three hours was to turn of the stove when the pot boiled over! While there is relatively little room for creativity in this genre, the author's fast-paced, seemless prose easily compensates for this intrinsic flaw. He uses suspense to enhance his story line far better than any of his contemporaries, and possibly even better than masters like Poe. While, this book screams to be made into a blockbuster movie, I can only hope that the movie stays close to the book.
Rating:
Summary: A great thriller if you read for plot and action
Review: Dave Elliott is trapped in the bowels of a New York high-rise
with everyone close to him trying to get him dead. And he
has no idea why. His military training comes back to serve
him well; it's just like riding a 9mm. If you like action, there's plenty of it,
with great shoot-em-up scenes, urban boobytraps, and
snappy dialog. The plot has enough twists and turns so you won't even need a bookmark. There's enough mystery to keep
you reading up until the very (very!) last page, which you
might miss if you're not careful. Garber
seems to be of the Clancy school, where plot and action is
all, and we must make do with two-dimensional characters.
Even if you're willing to suspend disbelief, there's a romantic interest angle that defies any concept of reality
except maybe that of a daydreaming mercenary. A man who can
think salacious thoughts of a perfect stranger when he's
married and in immediate fear for his life, not to mention
exhausted, bruised, and hungry, is a bit over the edge.
This reminds me of a Clancy character who falls in love
in about 20 minutes, then spends the rest of the book avenging her death.
But set your expectations properly and you will love this
rollicking ride with intrigue and action, all wrapped
up in an ingenious ending.
Rating:
Summary: Vertical Run
Review: Vertical Run is a pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thriller that leaves you hanging at the turn of every page. Joseph Garber has hit a grand slam with this book that I would consider one of the best fiction book I have ever read.
As the protagonist, David Perry Elliot is finding out, there is a reason as to why the mercinary Ransome would like him dead. After his boss tries to kill him and he survives a fire fight in the hallway of his executive suite at Sentrex Corp, he manages to make it to the second story dining hall. But that is where he meets Ramsome and this time is able to get a pot shot with a pistol he got from one of Ramsomes team to land in Ransome's leg. He is able to leave Sentrex after waiting until the cover of darkness and then proceeds to go to Marge's house. Marge is a lady he meets after his run in with Ransome in the dining hall and she does give him the utensils to make a disguise. But do you really think that Mr. Elliot, being an ex green beret, just left without preparing for a return? He does set up booby traps that help him when he eventually returns after finding out the truth.
There is one way that helps the reader tap into David's thought process and makes it possible to figure out why it is David is wanted dead. Flashback. Flashback is when an author will stray from current happenings of the book to go to an event in the past of a character. Not only does it go back for a few days, but it goes back all the way to his days as a Green Beret in the Vietnam war to help him survive.
If one is a careful, attentive reader, you may pick up on the little hints the author drops to hint the truth. These little hints are called foreshadowing. These hints did help me find the reason why he is wanted dead, but only one page before Mr. Elliot himself finds out.
I would suggest this book to anyone who likes a book that will leave you winded even five minutes after the book has been closed. If you want a book where by the end there are no secrets, this is the book for you. If you want a book that is dull, boring, poorly written, and a book to put you to sleep, this is not the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Fast, Fun and only Semi-Furious
Review: I always read the bad reviews and some folks really hate this book. Funny thing is, as I read their negative reviews I thought to myself that "these are normally things that I'd hate too". But, and I do mean but...I enjoyed it. This might be because I listened to it on audio and maybe presented that way, it was better than reading it. In any event, I had fun with it and would also recommend that yopu seek out "Rascal Money", the author's only other work.
Rating:
Summary: Fast paced action
Review: In a manner not unlike the young Australian author, Matthew Reilly, Garber has set out to write an action novel which doesn't let up. Well, Ok, it would let up for a paragraph here or there... The story is largely set in a high rise building in New York but what initially keeps you turning pages is how absolutely everyone seems to have turned against the our hero - The enormous "Why?" combined with non stop action means its about half way through the book before you can even pause (to go to sleep?) before resuming and galloping to the finale. Although I felt the story unfolded in a standard non-stop 'action' way, comparable to the moronic bits of fluff Hollywood calles 'blockbuster movies' nowadays, I was impressed with plot - it was quite rich without stepping into the unbelievable until the final page (yes folks, don't read the epilogue...). Its a cracking read so if you are feeling like some 'blockbuster' reading, you can't go far wrong with this book!
Rating:
Summary: Streamlined Thriller
Review: This book is just straight, streamlined thriller: no romance, no political agenda, no religious agenda, a little tip of the hat for a sadistic shoulder angel (Everybody's got to love him!) And that's it you'll be-bang-right out of your reading chair up through the roof on the Vertical Run! BUY IT!!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best thrillers ever!
Review: If you like non-stop action and plenty of plot-twists, this book is for you. This was so good I have been expecting it to become a movie and am disappointed that it hasn't. I keep a constant look out for more works from this author to no avail. There is definitely a sequel here if he wants there to be.
|
