Rating: 
Summary: A Great Ride With Green's Most Memorable Characters to Date
Review: Over the course of his last eight books, Tim Green has been getting better and better --- sharpening his plots, honing his characters and taking bigger leaps forward. If there was any doubt that Green had fully arrived with THE FIFTH ANGEL, his last novel, the issue should be resolved with THE FIRST 48.Green's prologue contains some of the best writing he has ever done, setting up this fine tale of a murky bioterrorist plot, a reporter who gets too close to a story and a fallen soul with a final chance at redemption. The latter is Tom Redmon, a former prosecutor who picked the wrong man to go after. That man was Michael Gleason, then the heir of a wealthy family, now a powerful, if not entirely respected, U.S. Senator. When we meet him, Redmon is an alcoholic attorney, haunted by the gentle ghost of his wife and busily jousting at legal windmills with little or no success. His only real joys are his daughter Jane, a rookie reporter for the Washington Post, and his friend Mike Tubbs, a physical and intellectual bear of a man. When Jane begins receiving information from an anonymous source that is detrimental to Gleason, she leaps at the chance to write a story about the man who ruined her father's life. Gleason learns of the story and takes immediate steps to put the skids to it --- permanently. Jane goes missing, and Redmon and Tubbs are galvanized into immediate action. Redmon knows there is a school of thought that holds that if a person is missing, they are, more often than not, dead by the first 48 hours after their disappearance. Green niftily transforms this factoid into a plot device, as Redmon stays conscious of how much time has elapsed since his daughter's disappearance, literally racing against the clock to find her. Jane's trail leads to an isolated island off the coast of upstate New York that houses a mysterious research facility with a secret that has the potential to jeopardize, and save, the entire East Coast. Jane, meanwhile, is either being rescued or kidnapped. Or both. THE FIRST 48 is a great ride. Tubbs and Redmon are Green's most memorable characters to date; Redmon's penchant for appropriately spouting off quotations from history's most famous and successful military leaders is an interesting sidebar to his personality. Fans of John Grisham who have yet to discover Green will be delighted to do so with this novel, and should set aside some time to familiarize themselves with Green's bibliography while they're waiting for his next novel. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Rating:
Summary: Average Green
Review: See book summary above. This was an enjoyable enough novel but Tim Green doesn't quite meet up to his standards this time around.
The story had suspense but it was mostly predictable. The characters seemed thin with not alot of background included.
An average suspense thriller good for a quick read.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but very entertaining...
Review: Since I recently picked up a Tim Green novel and really liked it, I got a copy of his latest book and finished it this morning. The book is called The First 48, and it's a very good crime thriller. Jane Redmon is a newspaper writer, and she's been fed some information from a secret source that could destroy a senator's career. The editors at the paper let her write the story, but before she can hit the deadline she disappears. Her father, Tom Redmon, had his career as a prosecutor ruined by the same senator, and he's now an alcoholic lawyer and just scraping by. But when he learns of his daughter's disappearance, he starts the manhunt himself. The title comes from the adage that kidnappings that go more than 48 hours without being solved generally don't get solved or a body turns up. He has 48 hours to find his daughter, and will do just about anything to get it done. As a story, I liked the writing and pace. The 48 hour countdown did lend a certain urgency to the search, but it was a little too convenient at the end. Some nice plot twists along the way, and you're not quite sure who is good or bad. The alcoholism slant doesn't really come into play much, and it could have been dropped with no effect on the story. Regardless, not perfect, but it is entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but very entertaining...
Review: Since I recently picked up a Tim Green novel and really liked it, I got a copy of his latest book and finished it this morning. The book is called The First 48, and it's a very good crime thriller. Jane Redmon is a newspaper writer, and she's been fed some information from a secret source that could destroy a senator's career. The editors at the paper let her write the story, but before she can hit the deadline she disappears. Her father, Tom Redmon, had his career as a prosecutor ruined by the same senator, and he's now an alcoholic lawyer and just scraping by. But when he learns of his daughter's disappearance, he starts the manhunt himself. The title comes from the adage that kidnappings that go more than 48 hours without being solved generally don't get solved or a body turns up. He has 48 hours to find his daughter, and will do just about anything to get it done. As a story, I liked the writing and pace. The 48 hour countdown did lend a certain urgency to the search, but it was a little too convenient at the end. Some nice plot twists along the way, and you're not quite sure who is good or bad. The alcoholism slant doesn't really come into play much, and it could have been dropped with no effect on the story. Regardless, not perfect, but it is entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: far-fetched entertainment
Review: This book is a real composite of Tim Green's fiction. It has the fast pace and pretty far-fetched plot of several of his NFL-based thrillers (such as Outlaws), but it also has some of the originality and hook of his more recent legal thrillers (such as The Letter of the Law and The Fifth Angel). The First 48 is not as good as his legal thrillers; it really signals more of a return to the action/suspense stories Green spun in some of his later NFL novels. The style in this book is very short chapters that are episodic, though Green ties them together nicely, that don't really give you much character development. Green starts off strong, as he usually does, but then gets a little carried away with the plot. A couple parts had me saying with a laugh "Oh, come on!" But it's entertaining, and the conclusion is fitting though short. The First 48 is not Green's best effort, but it's still fun.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendously Average
Review: This is my first Tim Green book and I'd have to say that I was not very impressed. The premise of the book intrigued me so I sprung for the $25. Being a fan of Patterson, Grisham, Baldacci, et all, the story here was very light in development and detail. As a father looks for his kidnapped daughter, the first 48 hours of her disappearance are counted down. The premise here is that when someone is missing for over 48 hours that it isn't very likely that they'll be found. After a very short while I found the constant referrals to how much time was left on the clock extremely annoying. In all I figure that 2 of the 48 hours were wasted just talking about how much time was left. I felt the countdown didn't really add any suspense at all in fact. On the good side, the book is a fairly quick read so the pain is somewhat short lived.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendously Average
Review: This is my first Tim Green book and I'd have to say that I was not very impressed. The premise of the book intrigued me so I sprung for the $25. Being a fan of Patterson, Grisham, Baldacci, et all, the story here was very light in development and detail. As a father looks for his kidnapped daughter, the first 48 hours of her disappearance are counted down. The premise here is that when someone is missing for over 48 hours that it isn't very likely that they'll be found. After a very short while I found the constant referrals to how much time was left on the clock extremely annoying. In all I figure that 2 of the 48 hours were wasted just talking about how much time was left. I felt the countdown didn't really add any suspense at all in fact. On the good side, the book is a fairly quick read so the pain is somewhat short lived.
Rating: 
Summary: Tim Green scores big with new novel.
Review: This was the first by Mr. Green that I have read. I am not a fan of Fox or NFL football, so I was ignorant of the author's background before I read it. I seem to me like a first novel, by someone who has watched many action movies, but read little.
Plot was unbelieveable, the bad guys just too bad, the good guys just too lucky. And the editing was not much better. The good guys are running all over the country in a F350 diesel truck. This is the biggest pickup made by Ford. Suddenly their vehicle becomes a Suburban, a much different set of wheels made by General Motors, and then magically it is a dually F350 again. Maybe worth the time to read it, but not worth investing the cover price.
Rating: 
Summary: Thin indeed.
Review: This was the first by Mr. Green that I have read. I am not a fan of Fox or NFL football, so I was ignorant of the author's background before I read it. I seem to me like a first novel, by someone who has watched many action movies, but read little.
Plot was unbelieveable, the bad guys just too bad, the good guys just too lucky. And the editing was not much better. The good guys are running all over the country in a F350 diesel truck. This is the biggest pickup made by Ford. Suddenly their vehicle becomes a Suburban, a much different set of wheels made by General Motors, and then magically it is a dually F350 again. Maybe worth the time to read it, but not worth investing the cover price.
Rating:
Summary: terse suspense thriller
Review: Washington Post investigative reporter Jane Redmond uncovers a very complex abuse and corruption scam that leads back to US Senator Michael Gleason, the same man who destroyed her father Tom. Years ago Tom was a hot shot prosecutor, but powerbroker Gleason smashed his career. Though revenge would be sweet, Jane knows that her story is much more important. However, someone kidnaps Jane while she is jogging. Tom realizes someone abducted his beloved daughter. He knows from his law enforcement days that THE FIRST 48 hours matter in a rescue because after that the victim is dead. So Tom and his partner Mike Tubbs knowing it is late in the fourth quarter take what they believe is the shortest route to her, kidnapping and torturing Gleason. Will he inform them what happened to Jane and where she is or will the senator hold out until time expires? Though typical of a Tim Green suspense thriller, fans will enjoy this terse tale due to an interesting cast. The delightful dynamic duo makes the novel hum as ethic aside they know that the means is irrelevant when the clock ticks on life and death matters. Jane is courageous as she tries to escape her abductees and "Deep Throat" is an interesting character who is a show me the money soul. Though Gleason is too odious and nasty villain and there is a leap of major acceptance, suspense thriller fans will appreciate this exhilarating Potomac quest and counter-quest. Harriet Klausner
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