Rating: 
Summary: was Hy too noble?
Review: I have to admit never having read any of the other Sharon McCone series, nor have I read anything else by Marcia Muller (if indeed there is anything else). But I do enjoy detective fiction as entertaining reading, and I'm certainly not adverse to female detectives, thoroughly enjoying PI's from V.I. Warshawski to Stephanie Plum.So apart from the expected issues of coming in late in a long-established series (the newcomer can't expect all the characterisation to start from scratch, and relationships and other details are often simply glossed to avoid boring the long-time followers) I had every reason to expect to enjoy this book. A writer doesn't often manage to get to a twenty-second book in a series without being reasonably articulate and entertaining (although Don Pendelton and the Mack Bolan series is definitely proof that this is a very fallible assumption). I'm sorry to report that while McCone and Miller are indeed reasonably articulate, they are certainly not (in this novel) exceptionally entertaining. Plot and characteristation were workmanlike at best, and there simply wasn't a lot here to hold the reader's attention. Miller seemed to be counting on the exotic locale of Hawaii to overcome the mundane story; but the 50th state is hardly exotic anymore to those of us who grew up on Hawaii Five-0 and it's followers. The romantic side-story never quite came together, either. McCone is supposed to be torn between her main squeeze and a handsome helicopter pilot, but we have no understanding about what the big attraction is to the new guy. Miller seems to prefer understatement--and it's just as well that there's no torrid sex in this novel--but A Walk Through the Fire is so understated that it failed almost entirely to interest me.
Rating:
Summary: The fire's out, only ashes remain.
Review: I have to admit never having read any of the other Sharon McCone series, nor have I read anything else by Marcia Muller (if indeed there is anything else). But I do enjoy detective fiction as entertaining reading, and I'm certainly not adverse to female detectives, thoroughly enjoying PI's from V.I. Warshawski to Stephanie Plum. So apart from the expected issues of coming in late in a long-established series (the newcomer can't expect all the characterisation to start from scratch, and relationships and other details are often simply glossed to avoid boring the long-time followers) I had every reason to expect to enjoy this book. A writer doesn't often manage to get to a twenty-second book in a series without being reasonably articulate and entertaining (although Don Pendelton and the Mack Bolan series is definitely proof that this is a very fallible assumption). I'm sorry to report that while McCone and Miller are indeed reasonably articulate, they are certainly not (in this novel) exceptionally entertaining. Plot and characteristation were workmanlike at best, and there simply wasn't a lot here to hold the reader's attention. Miller seemed to be counting on the exotic locale of Hawaii to overcome the mundane story; but the 50th state is hardly exotic anymore to those of us who grew up on Hawaii Five-0 and it's followers. The romantic side-story never quite came together, either. McCone is supposed to be torn between her main squeeze and a handsome helicopter pilot, but we have no understanding about what the big attraction is to the new guy. Miller seems to prefer understatement--and it's just as well that there's no torrid sex in this novel--but A Walk Through the Fire is so understated that it failed almost entirely to interest me.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best, but enjoyable
Review: I wait and I wait and then it arrives. Usually I plunge right in and read a new Muller the day I get it. I tried, but this one is a disappoinment. I did get it done quickly, but it was more of a challenge than usual. I have many friends who wait for my books and I owe it to them to get them done in a timely fashion. Perhpas I am prejudiced. I find that many of the authors whom I enjoy are a disappoint when they go outside their general geographic area. This has happened time and time again. Please return to California and leave Hawaii to other authors. Again, read this because it continues the story line and is enjoyable, but not up to the usual standards.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly unexciting.
Review: I was glad to read that other reviewers considered this book below Marcia Muller's standards. Otherwise, I would be completely unable to understand how she had become a successful wrier. To complete reading this unexciting book required significant self-discipline. I was tempted many times to close the cover and return the book to the library. In retrospect, I wish I had because I could have found much better use of my time.
Rating: 
Summary: Unexpected weak effort from Muller
Review: I'm a fan of Marcia Muller going back many years, but this installment in the Sharon McCone series was a disappointment. Not that all good authors can't stumble occasionally. A Walk Through the Fire was tepid and just plain boring most of the time. It didn't really even seem that Sharon was the same character we've been following for so long. The demands of turning out a top notch mystery year in year out must surely take a toll on any author. But we are all hoping Muller merely slipped a bit on this one and that the next installment will be back on track.
Rating:
Summary: Does not live up to the rest of Muller's books
Review: Jumpy, terse narrative with lame dialogue, weak plot, poor character development--WHAT HAPPENED? I have loved the other Sharon McCone books, but this one just didn't measure up.
Rating:
Summary: Muller's plotting is getting tired, but still like her books
Review: Most of the other reviewers have said what needs to be said concerning this book. It's a good read for the beach, yet that in itself is a bit of criticism because most fine authors want to be better than that (I would think). This genre is supposed to be entertaining, and this book is exactly that. No less worthy of spending your time then sitting in front of the boob-tube for hours at a time!
It's hard, I'm sure, to continue writing about a single protagonist all the time. And it's difficult to ask readers to suspend belief over certain things happening constantly to one person (though I can testify that bad things do happen constantly to good persons). Not enough effort put into the plot, and newcomers to Muller's books usually get a better introduction into the characters, and so the characters seem rather cardboardish at this point.
Karen Sadler
Rating:
Summary: was Hy too noble?
Review: Or did he know Muller had no intention of getting rid of him? The mystery part of this book was pretty good, but the torn-between two (almost) lovers part was just lame. Maybe it's time for the Grandmother of All Female PIs to consider retiring to the rocking chair on the porch.
Rating: 
Summary: Sharon McCone goes to Kauai
Review: Private Investigator Sharon McCone gets tough duty in this 20th. book of the series when she is asked to go to Kauai. Glenna Stanleigh, a friend from San Francisco, has asked Sharon to investigate the strange happenings on the set of the documentary she is filming in Hawaii. Sharon takes the job and flies over with her significant other, Hy Ripinsky. When she arrives, she begins investigating the family whose patriarch is at the center of the film. Glenna has used his notes and research about some of the folk tales of the native Hawaiins as a starting point for her documentary. As Sharon's investigation proceeds, several skeletons begin to come out of the closet and family secrets are revealed. At the same time, Sharon is being romanced by a local helicoptor pilot and Hy leaves the island in order to give Sharon some time and room to consider her relationships with the two men. The plot has some intriguing twists and turns and at last all of the secrets are revealed. Marcia Muller and her heroine have matured over the 20-plus years that this series has been written, and this book does not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: Sharon McCone goes to Kauai
Review: Private Investigator Sharon McCone gets tough duty in this 20th. book of the series when she is asked to go to Kauai. Glenna Stanleigh, a friend from San Francisco, has asked Sharon to investigate the strange happenings on the set of the documentary she is filming in Hawaii. Sharon takes the job and flies over with her significant other, Hy Ripinsky. When she arrives, she begins investigating the family whose patriarch is at the center of the film. Glenna has used his notes and research about some of the folk tales of the native Hawaiins as a starting point for her documentary. As Sharon's investigation proceeds, several skeletons begin to come out of the closet and family secrets are revealed. At the same time, Sharon is being romanced by a local helicoptor pilot and Hy leaves the island in order to give Sharon some time and room to consider her relationships with the two men. The plot has some intriguing twists and turns and at last all of the secrets are revealed. Marcia Muller and her heroine have matured over the 20-plus years that this series has been written, and this book does not disappoint.
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