Rating: 
Summary: The best thriller I've read in years!
Review: This was one of those books where you start reading the first chapter in the bookstore, and suddenly you just can't stop. Gilstrap does it all. He's created wonderful characters, who feel like they're your friends, and by the end of the book, you hurt when they hurt, cheer when they cheer. All of this, and non-stop action, too. There's only a handful of authors I'll buy in hardback, and John Gilstrap is now at the top of the list!
Rating: 
Summary: Gilstrap is no sophomore slumper
Review: Those who have read John Gilstrap's excellent 1996 bestseller NATHAN'S RUN will recognize the elements at work in his new novel: a frame-up, innocents persecuted by a cold bureaucracy, and super-close calls and thrilling chases. In the hands of a less thoughtful writer, this could have been cliched nonsense. However, Gilstrap makes you indentify with his heroes because they are not heroic. Rather, they are ordinary folks like you and me. As they race along trying to hold their family together and finding evidence to clear their names, it is obvious that they don't know what they are doing, and that leaves their outcome truly in doubt. The only dissapointment is the conclusion, a shoot-out that too conveniently unravels the story's many twists and turns. Otherwise, a solid, heart-tugging page turner.
Rating: 
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: After reading NATHAN'S RUN, a solid, polished first novel, I hoped AT ALL COSTS would be only better. Considering the many plot twists and considerable cast of characters, it is certainly longer. But what I found disturbing about this book was a pervasive air of implausibility.IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK, YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO CONTINUE. I know little about explosive storage facilities, but Mr. Gilstrap certainly does, and his attention to detail seemed first rate. But I couldn't believe at all that the newlyweds would run. Even though Gilstrap, at the book's end, proves why running turned out to be the best option, I never thought any normal person without precognition would think so. And the dialogue, while great in some places, rang untrue in many others. Instead of what I call "bookspeak," it's almost as if Mr. Gilstrap tried to write dialogue the way people really talk, which usually doesn't fly. I also thought some of his prose was a little stiff, a! nd occasionally his descriptions and dialogue became trite in the way that 3rd and 4th installments of action movie series usually are. On the positive side, the plotting was very good, and I was particularly pleased with how well he tied ends which I was afraid would remain loose. Mr. Gilstrap obviously worked hard on research and it shows. He has a feel for "middle america," and I'm sure his characterizations will only grow with time.
Rating: 
Summary: Very dissapointing compared with his first book.
Review: John Gilstrap's first effort, "Nathan's Run" was a great read. Here, the author just makes the plot bigger and more wordy, and ultimatly quite boring.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Gilstrap does it again.
Review: A routine drug bust in a sleepy South Carolina town (with dozens of federal agents toting automatic weapons, no less) nets more than case agent Irene Rivers bargained for: One of her collars is #1 Most Wanted Fugitive Jake Donovan. Jake and Carolyn Donovan were responsible, says the Federal gov't, for the worst ecological disaster in US history, the biological equivalent of Chernobyl. The Donovans are completely innocent but have been on the run for 14 years. Barely escaping identification by the FBI, the Donovans flee, their 13 year old son in tow. Then Jake decides to take down the very people who'd framed them. This story, quite implausible in several spots, still provides as many thrills as a DIE HARD or LETHAL WEAPON movie. Only Mr. Gilstrap, a safety engineer writing from hard experience, maintains the theme established in NATHAN'S RUN- The heartache of being falsely accused and forced to go on the run. Family counts equally in both books. This is an action novel with heart.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent thriller that you can't stop reading
Review: In Phoenix, South Carolina, Jake and Carolyn Brighten have lived a middle class lifestyle, raising their teenage son Travis in gentle suburbia. However, the Brighton's idyllic world crashes when the FBI crashes Jake's place of business, seeking illegal contraband. Instead, the Feds find a bigger prize and darken Jake's day. Jake Brighten is actually top ten fugitive Jake Donavon. Fifteen years ago, Jake and Carolyn were the only survivors of an eco disaster that led to the death of sixteen co-workers and a wasteland in the middle of Arkansas. The Donavon grab Travis and hit the road with the FBI in hot pursuit. Travis is stunned as they flee for their lives. His parents claim they are innocent, but he wonders if he is in fact descended from eco-killers? To prove to their son and the Feds that they are innocent, the Donavon return to that eco-wasteland where the evidence exists. However, there are many powerful forces, including the government, who want to silent the couple forever. Like John Gilstrap's fabulous debut novel, NATHAN'S RUN, AT ALL COSTS is an action packed thriller that places an innocent(s) in direct war with near omnipotent groups. This time around, Mr. Gilstrap has a family on the run and once again will keep the reader turning page after page in one bang-bang sitting that constantly releases the air bags. This novel and Mr. Gilstrap's previous tale are must reading for fans of stories like the DIE HARD series. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: a surprising end
Review: The novel At All Costs by J. Gilstrap deals with the pretty topical subjects of international warfare/ arms trafficking and the corruption of FBI. Gilstrap combines those subjects in a very interesting way. The novel is a thrilling page-turner with growing suspense and a real surprising end.
The way the characters are presented is logical, detailed and very realistic, thus makes them rather interesting and gives the reader the possibility to identify with the main characters.
In our opinion the beginning is a little long - winding, but it turns out to be a stylistic device aimed at building up suspense. This "normal life" beginning makes it unputdownable.
Unfortunately the novel gets very violent and even a little artificial in the end, so Gilstrap is kind of breaking the mood.
But all in all we would say that At All Costs is a book worth reading especially because of the surprise of finding out who the guy is who pulls the strings in the background and why.
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling stuff!!!!
Review: If you want my opinion, I would say that the novel At All Costs by John Gilstrap is not really thrilling, in so far as the beginning is pretty suspenseful but the rest is a bit long-winded. The ending is rather good ,though, because it is very surprising to find out who the guy is who pulls the strings in the background and what his reasons are. In addition to that, it is very well illustrated how powerful the state is in manipulating facts and how unscrupulous. But to me the novel does not seem plausible in so far as it is impossible to escape like they do and I think the plot is too exaggerated. All in all, you can say that John Gilstrap writes in such a way that everybody can easily understand but I would prefer the plot to be a little clearer (there is to much detail). If you want to read a book about misjudgement by the state or arms trafficking it is the right thing for you.
Rating: 
Summary: A Get Up and Go Kind of Book
Review: Overall this is just a fun book, it moves fast and is easy to read. The characters are Mr. and Mrs. everybody thus you identify with them easily. The story is fun if not a little on the "yea right" side of the bench. Ok so some of the actions the lead characters pull off are really not in keeping with a clean cut pair of middle Americans, but hey it's a fiction book. The plot is a little light, there really is not much going on except the main story line and the writing could give us more depth and details, bur becuase it was exciting I let it pass. It reminds me of the movie "Airplane", everyone enjoys watching it but it is not going to be on the AFI top 100 movies list anytime soon. Go into this book not expecting a lot and you will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: A Race of the Mind and Heart, A Top Class Thriller
Review: John Gilstrap brings his characters to life with this novel. Although the storyline is a bit hard to believe, it is, no dought, clever and original. A married couple, living undercover, with fake names, and secret identities are uncovered through a twist of fate that no-one could predict. This is the tale of thier journey to prove thier inocence from a crime committed years prior to the time of the story. In a brilliant attempt, by Gilstrap, to create another dilema for the young couple, he throughs thier thirteen year old son into the mix, young Travis has no idea that his parents are fugitives, and when he finds out he becomes a key factor in the plan to protect thier family. This beautifully composed page turner, by a somewhat new author is sure to keep all its readers on the edge of thier seats, and wanting to reach the end "at all costs."
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