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At All Costs Abridged

At All Costs Abridged

List Price: $17.98
Your Price: $17.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A fine story about a family on the run
Review: Clancy has his military hardware, Grisham has his law offices, and Gilstrap is a fine author who, at least thus far, specializes in weaving skilful tales about innocents on the run.

John Gilstrap's first novel, Nathan's Run, follows the trail of a 12-year-old, wanted for murder, who is on a desperate flight from law enforcement and a determined hit-man.

The second, At All Costs, is another page-turner about The Donovans, a couple that takes flight with their young son after they are accused of slaughtering sixteen of their friends and initiating the country's worst-ever environmental disaster.

After fourteen years on the run, a false arrest puts the Donovans in a plight that will either destroy them, or prove their innocence.

Gilstrap is not a particularly fine stylist, but he does excel in structuring original, exciting stories that entertain and surprise. The net effect is very similar to a John Grisham story, and that's not bad company.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: tedious, predictable, two-dimensional
Review: This book was a big disappointment, especially given the reviews it has had on-line here. The writing is stilted, the characterizations are flat and predictable, and the big "who's behind it all?" surprise is telegraphed three hundred pages in advance. It's billed as a thriller, but there were no thrills in it for me...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great thriller; not predictable
Review: Have now read both Nathan's Run and the At All Costs and both are very good, entertaining reads. Suspenseful, interesting characters. Basic "bad dream" scenario involving otherwise innocent people.

My only cautionary note would be for those who get turned off by really evil, violent bad guys. Gilstrap has such characters in both his first two books, real psycho sadistic-types who are totally merciless and enjoy performing acts of violence and torture.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Read this book!
Review: The Brightons are your typical American family with one major, glaring exception, they're not the Brightons. They're fugitives on the lam from the law. Why? They were framed by a corrupt FBI agent for murders they didn't commit. They were part of an envrionmental cleanup team at a Super Fund site in Arkansas. the Ulysses S. Grant Ammunition Plant, which had been closed down in 1965 by President Johnson. Jake and Carolyn were involved in the clean up of the site when a bomb went off killing their companions. When they escaped, they were shot at by a sniper. The corrupt FBI agent, a man named Peter Frankel, is now the Assistant Director of the FBI, and he has a vested interest in arresting the Brightons for the crime that he and his henchman had committed. Carolyn's uncle, who'd practically raised her from when she was a little girl, had one of his employees, a man named Thorne, supply them with everything they needed for a life in hiding. He even told them not to have a kid because of the complications it would cause. The book starts off slowly and then picks up. Jake Brighton's the manager of the service department of a Good Ole Boy's Ford dealership in South Carolina. That's when their perfect life falls apart. The FBI raids the dealership looking for drugs. He's arrested in the raid and taken to jail. His lawyer comes to believe he's innocent, and slowly, gradually, so does the FBI agent who arrested him. The climax is a gunfight and a posh private club in Washington, DC.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very entertaining and compelling book
Review: Having read 'Even Steven' I hoped I was in for a good read. However although an avid reader of fiction I was driven by this book, at times I felt my eyes could not move fast enough. Although the general plot was fairly predictable, the story is told in such a compelling way it didn't matter. I just wanted to know what happened next. For two days I was looking for every opportunity to read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: At All Costs
Review: If you like a book with terrorism , lies and sneaky getaways, this is the book for you. In the book a couple is blamed for blowing up a weapon bunker that they were inspecting for certain materials. They are forced to run and hide in multiple places over a span of fourteen years. If you want to know what happens to this couple, then read the book.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining but predictable
Review: It is a good book to read in your spear time. It follows the all-well-known basic lines for a goverment plot. Nothing new, nothing to discover. Some people will think is too simple, others will find it excellent.

Is funny though, how the big conspiration always comes down to the last personal showdown head-to-head. I personally had a good time and got entertained for a couple of days.

If you like it, you should read "The eleventh commamdment" by Jeffrey Archer, and/or "The General's Daughter" by Nelson DeMille.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Moderately entertaining but nothing more
Review: I ordered this book because some reviewers compared Gilstrap to DeMille, whom I love. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no comparison between the two and while reading I couldn't help but feel cheated. Some parts of this book, (i.e., when the Donovans are on the lam with their son) were mildly suspenseful, but there are no real surprises here. Not a complete waste of time, but if you want real intrigue, suspense and excellent character development, your time would be more well spent reading DeMille's "Cathedral" or "The Lion's Game".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Thriller involving FBI and their most wanted criminals
Review: At All Costs was a gripping book. It was well written and had enough reality in it to make you accept some implausible happenings. The reader is swept along at such a pace there is no time to question and why should you. Reading if for enjoyment! Other reviewers have given the basic plot so it doesn't bear repeating. I was amazed at how much punishment the human bodies in this work of fiction were able to take, including inhalation of toxic fumes, bullet wounds, beatings, major blood loss, hanging by the neck leaving only a range of motion defect! etc. and keep on ticking. One jarring note threw me off stride for quite a while. The equating by the author of homosexual behavior and a pediophilic activities was inexcusable. We do not need more mis -information tossed idly about as fact on so serious a matter. Pediophiles are actually heterosexual. With that adjustment, I was able to get back to the plot. I am also surprised it is a book recommended for teens as it is very violent and the language is as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: COULD THIS BOOK BE ANY BETTER?
Review: I'm not gonna waste your time telling you what I think, after all, I'm just some kid in Ohio. Read the book and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.


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