Rating:  Summary: where was the editor??? Review: on page 9, a murder victim's birthdate is given as 6/11/53.
on page 37, this same victim is described as being in his late 30's.
for this to be true, the book would need to be set between 1988 and 1993!! unfortunately, we know this is NOT the case, because on page 35, this same victim is said to have published a book "during the last decade," in 1995.
i absolutely can't stand this kind of sloppiness, especially early in a novel. i immediately put it down for good, despite having loved all of case's previous works.
Rating:  Summary: Crisp, non-stop prose that doesn't take you for an idiot Review: Reviewer 1, CNBC always has the ticker tape on it, so people who are into finance always watch that. I am not and never have. But I thought John Case (with whom I share not only a given name, but a surname) was completely right here. But I agree with your review. John Case's novels are not only plot-driven (like all thrillers), but prose-driven: he (I think it is a man and wife team) really writes such crisp, engaging prose that it is hard to put the book down. Reminds one slightly of Stephen King--but King spoils it with his frequent bouts of pretty revolting descriptions. The plot of this book is formulaic; but what other author would treat you to the word "immured" and expect you to figure it out? Elizabeth George? Maybe.
Rating:  Summary: The Eighth Day read in one. Review: See book description above.A John Case novel never seems to disappoint my reading fix. His scientific thrillers are timely, and once you start reading, hard to put down. One of the main subjects in the book is nanotechnology. This subject has been the theme of several books over the last couple years but Case does a superb job by taking you all over the world on an adventure that includes everything from 'The Contrade' (a brutal horse race in Italy) to the land of the Kurds. There is also talk of Yezidis', Anchorites, 'Black Writing', and more. A well rounded thriller sure to keep you entertained. Highly recommended.
Rating:  Summary: Very Disappointing Review: The Genesis Code and The Syndrome were excellent thrillers by "John Case".....but this was easily one of the weakest reads I've had in a long time. Without getting wordy, the biggest drawback of this book is the main character...he was weak, moronic and uninteresting...and having to follow him for 400 pages was way too much to ask. I'll chalk this up as a bad game and hope "Case" gets back on track his next time out.
Rating:  Summary: Crap in Book-Form Review: The Story:
Danny, a struggling artist (and part-time investigator, of course), is asked by Jude Beltzer to investigate a man named Terio, who Jude claimed was smearing on of his clients in the press. Terio had just committed suicide and sent his computer to Europe. Danny chases after the computer among other things and travels (or rather is chased) all of Europe. Danny quickly finds out Jude has been lying to him and now Jude wants Danny dead.
The Book:
This was the first John Case book I've read. The book had me interested from the minute I picked it up. The cover has blue bricks embossed in the front with a barred window. Behind the window is a swinging light bulb. The pages are uneven in width which can be annoying but makes it look cool. I hate to say it, but the book COVER is the best thing about the book.
The dialogue was sub-par, slow, and, sometimes, unrealistic. The author has many confused names and titles. For instance: Daniel and Delaney (are both characters), Inzaghi (person) and Inghilterra (hotel), Christian who is a Christian and Dolmus (Turkish bus) and Dolmas (Turkish food). Some phases and sentences are repeated throughout the book like: "He didn't know what it meant and it showed" and the words "confided" and "materialized" are used too much. The book is filled with phrases and words from foreign languages which can get annoying. BUT THE NUMBER ONE FAULT THE AUTHOR HAD was that the book should have been written in first person. The ENTIRE book is about ONE person and his thoughts, actions, etc. However, the book is written in third. (oh and "elders" IS spelled with an L!)
In the story, the billionaire is incompetent, stupid, and was an ill-made character. As a villain, the billionaire sucked it up, as well as with finding people. The billionaire gives the guy five minutes head start (of course) then he can't catch him for an entire WEEK! The main character, Danny (whose persona isn't written out quite right), roams rather aimlessly and just gets lucky by stumbling on to things. The plot is about as realistic as tossing a quarter and having it land on the corner. I won't spoil the ending (just in case your reading it now), but really, IT SUCKS. The end is retarded, disappointing, unbelievable.
THIS BOOK IS A BAD MIX OF:
History, art, technology, foreign countries, big cities, small towns, chase scenes, torture, murder, religion, investigation, and money. If you like a category, chances are you won't like the rest. It's like you read a book with each chapter about a different subject but all in the same story. DO NOT BOTHER TO READ THIS BOOK!
The Rating:
If this was a math paper, it would probably get a D. Just below average. Poor writing, mixed characters, confusing names, a so-not-worth-375-pages ending...makes this book almost F-worthy. The reason it isn't, however, is because the author DID put forth effort. He did do his research on small foreign towns and religions (etc). HE DID HIS HOMEWORK BUT FORGOT IT NEEDED MORE THAN JUST FACTS WHEN HE WROTE IT.
If this book were a movie, it would be rated PG-13 for STRONG language (which doesn't seem to belong), a scene of violence, and some sexuality. There are many chase scenes but little violence. Sex is barely mentioned.
The Title:
"The Eighth Day". To me that's a cool title. I mean that's an AWESOME title. It's just...the eighth day has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE BOOK. Some people believe in the eighth day of the week, but it's not main-plot. John Case YOU ARE A GENIUS! I like his style. In that case, deer hunting shoulda been called mints because the first hunter had mints in his pocket. That makes sense right?
THIS BOOK ISN"T WORTH A QUARTER!
~T*R!N 5lbscatfood.blogspot.com
Rating:  Summary: Insulting Review: This book was insulting to the average intelligence. There was no plot, the author(s) borrowed material from previous works and pasted it all together in hopes of creating another best seller. I was terribly disappointed in this book and hope in the Future the John Case writing team will be more concerned with producing a fine product than spitting out clap trap in order to meet a publishing deadline. I expected much more creativity, imagination and professionalism from this author team.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent thriller Review: This is a very good thriller and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The plot is fast-moving and well constructed. I felt a lot of sympathy for the main character, Danny Cray, because he is not the typical hero, in fact he is what you might call an anti-hero. He often lacks self-confidence, he is a hesitating if clumsy man and so the identification reader-hero is all the more easy. I would compare Danny Cray to Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's "North By Northwest".
Rating:  Summary: reveiw from a BIG John Case fan Review: Well, I had read that this book was coming out in Jan., so I preordered from Amazon[.com], and there it was, on my doorstep a few days ago. So...I put down what I was reading (actually I was rereading Pride and Prejudice) and eagerly attacked this new John Case novel. I was not disappointed. The technology is a little involved in this book, so I'll just let you read the Amazon[.com] description of this book and just give you my critique! Exciting story, fast read because you want to know what happens next, and if this is your first John Case book, keep in mind that this is not his best. Great book, but not his best! Read this one, but definitely read his others too. I do have two complaints to Mr. Case. First of all, although I really liked your main character, how naive can one be? You know, that old saying, if it looks to good to be true, it is...? And second of all, Mr. Case, MSNBC is news, not fincance. The fincance station as we all know is CNBC, so that was a glaring error in the flow of the story.......but, I loved the book anyway!
Rating:  Summary: PHEW! Not Your Run-of-the-Mill Thriller! Review: What a wild ride! This was one of the most intriguing, fast-moving, exciting, enigmatic plots I've read in many years. Artist and part-time P.I. Danny Cray takes a job doing a little investigative work for the devil, I mean, a mysterious billionaire in order to make some quick cash. But as he gets deeper and deeper into his investigation, he realizes that everyone connected with this man has either committed suicide (one guy by entombment) or been murdered. The plot is thicker than cajun gumbo and covers the globe, from the Middle East to Norway. I highly recommend this well-written book. Just be prepared to lose some sleep because it's unputdownable. Fabulous story, Mr. Case!!!!!
Rating:  Summary: Dont Bother Review: While the other books by "John Case" have been entertaining, this book is an amalgam of different ideas crammed into one senseless story. The book started off great, but the full potential was never realized. The villian made absolutely no sense in realtion to the story. Unfortunately, I would not reccomend this book. If you really want to read something by "John Case", try the First Horseman or the Genesis Code.
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