The Hundredth Man

Rating:
Summary: Two Words: Borrrr-ring!!!
Review: The person below who said the first 200 pages were good was being kind. I haven't reached page 200 yet and am beginning to wonder if I ever will. I feel like it's two pages forward, one page back! This is not a physchological thriller - this is not a thriller in any category. The murders are pushed way back in the background and are only occassionally discussed. The politics are just plain stupid! I give it one star only due to Ava and Carson's relationship.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty, well-plotted, great characterization
Review: This book has everything - plot, love, murder, "tone", style and a deft ending. We are in Mobile, Alabama in the middle of a gruesome murder investigation. Carson Ryder, young detective, and his partner, Harry Nautilus, battle the elements, old and new secrets, walls of silence and internal bureaucracy as they attempt to solve this case. The bad guy was authentically crazy and the good guys had their faults.

A subplot involves Ryder's deranged brother who gives him insight into how madmen think. Of course, there is a price for such information...I loved Ava and the way they became a couple. I'd like to see a sequeal to this if at all possible. Great read!

Rating:
Summary: Best book I've read in a while
Review: This book reminds me of an early Patricia Cornwell-only better actually. I thought it was great and I will be buying Kerley's next book as soon as it comes out. He's on my hardback list now!

Rating:
Summary: A promising debut
Review: This is Jack Kerley's first crime novel, and I hope it's not his last. In *The Hundredth Man*, he delivers a socko whodunnit featuring a varied cast of characters and a full spectrum of human foibles, perversions, and frailties.

Stylistically, there is tendency toward the derivative here, something not unexpected for a writer who is still seeking his own literary voice. In his portrayal of the world and world-view of protagonist Carson Ryder, Kerley's writing is reminiscent of Michael Connelly. In his narrative style and particularly his usage of descriptive language, I was reminded of James Lee Burke. On the other hand, certainly the story's geographical setting, Mobile Bay in Alabama, is fresh and different. Overall, the novel's plot line works, being at once absorbing, horrifying, and surprising.

On the down side, Kerley's portrayal of departmental in-fighting is a bit cliched and caricatured, and I don't think that Ryder's alcoholic love interest, Ava Davanelle, was sufficiently alluring (or even interesting) to make Ryder's nearly immediate devotion to her ring true. The psycho-wacko basis for the serial murders that comprise the focus of the novel is certainly imaginative, but perhaps a bit overly contrived. And finally, that Kerley wrote the novel with the "movie rights" firmly in mind is fairly obvious not only in certain features of the story line, but with the inclusion of the almost laughably cliched tough-but-loyal African American sidekick cop.

Kerley didn't get everything right this first time around, but he offers here a highly readable and satisfying novel in his debut effort. He is definitely is a writer to watch as he refines his literary technique in his future novels.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely incredible from start to finish!!
Review: What an amazing book! I find it hard to believe that this is his first novel and certainly hope it won't be his last. I was sucked it from the first page and enjoyed every second. If you are a fan of this genre, go for it, you will not be disappointed. Kathy Reichs, look out!!! ;)