Rating:  Summary: Wonderful Read Review: I am personally a Patricia Cornwell and John Grisham reader...Love suspense, law, murder, and horor novels. This book is such a mixture!If you like to read mysteries then this is will be a wonderful addition to your collection.
Rating:  Summary: GET MR SMITH A THESAURUS Review: I first read about this book in the Denver Post where it received a favorable review. After I was finished, though, I was disappointed that I spent my time on this novel. The fact that the therapist was sharing private conversations from her sessions with Pilot indicated a lapse in the author's judgment. Very unbelieveable. And though I found the overall plot and ending to be creative and suspenseful, I was disappointed that the author found the need to use the F-word over and over and over in mulitple situations and conversations. Surely the mind that came up with this intriguing storyline (minus the therapist debacle) can come up with a better word. It added nothing to the book, but demeaned Mr. Smith's character.
Rating:  Summary: Boring Review: I rarely stop reading a book once I start it, but I was very tempted with this one. I found the book very slow moving with characters that were either thoroughly unlikable, pathetic, or both. The "surprise" ending was obvious before I was halfway through the book.
Rating:  Summary: a risky narritive that works Review: I read this book when it first was published in 2000, and was so riveted from the first page I missed my subway stop and came to somewhere in Queens. Rereading it, the same thing happened (only I wasn't on the subway) - it felt like getting drunk, or falling in love. Just - wow! The narration is amazing, but unusual. The first person narrator actually says he's omniscient, and he often describes events he can't possibly have witnessed, sometimes even assuming his brother's voice. It's hard to tell how much to believe, given the narrator is hospitalized early on in the story, diagnosed as schizophrenic. It doesn't add to his credibility that, when he was a child and his younger sister disappeared without a trace, he spent a certain amount of time not speaking, but crawling around on his hands and knees, a growling "wolfboy." This distubred kid, now an adult, insists his brother killed his sister, even after the meds start to calm his delusional state and he stops hearing the light fixtures talking to him. His psychologist (who needs therapy badly herself) wonders about his claims and begins to piece together what really happened to the little girl whose disappearance years ago caused this family to unravel. Some of it's pretty brutal, much of it is wrenchingly sad, a lot of it is surprisingly funny, and all of it is brilliantly, beautifully written. One of the most original, most involving stories I've ever read.
Rating:  Summary: fascinating Review: I really liked this book. Hearing the story, at least in part, from the schizophrenic brother, provides an interesting point of view. The story is involving. I liked the female character, interesting and human. And, as a physician, I didn't find myself being put off by scientific and medical mistakes--I found none. I not only would strongly recommend this book, I've been giving it to friends.
Rating:  Summary: A Highly disturbing & intense novel Review: I stayed up late last night to finish this book and as a result, ended up having some pretty freaky dreams. I found this to be one of the most disturbing, yet compelling books I've read in a long time. It really creeped me out...
Rating:  Summary: Fascinating Review: I'm not usually a fan of thrillers or mysteries because most of them seem derivitive and formulistic. This book defies many literary conventions and still works. Much of the book is told in the first-person omniscient voice-- a bold move. I would never had thought it an option in writing. The narrator is schizophrenic and the reader is never entirely sure what is real and what is the product of his imagination. There are flashbacks and shifts in perspective as the narrator sees through other characters eyes. Yet this novel avoids being entirely "experimental"- often a euphemism for writing that draws attention to the author and away from the story it supposedly wishes to tell. It is a well-crafted and sometimes disturbing debut.
Rating:  Summary: I believe again Review: I've never before written an Amazon review. But I've read many of them, for many different books, and I've always been amazed at the way five stars have been tossed around. I can count on one hand the books I've read in my life that would earn five stars. So let me give you my reasons for the five stars: Five stars for surprise. For humanity. For suspense. For deftness with the language. For the fact that it's Sunday at noon and I haven't done a damn thing all morning but finish this book. Five stars for the belief that there are still novels out there which can take you on a hair-raising ride and still be written so masterfully. Five stars then, for the hope.
Rating:  Summary: Raveling Review: If you like unusual and tense mysteries, you may want to try Raveling by Peter Moore Smith. The main character, Pilot James Aire, has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the schizophrenia takes hold Pilot becomes obsessed with the 20-year-old disappearance of his sister. He becomes determined to find the truth but is hampered by his brother, Eric, who considers him mentally ill. Helped by his therapist, Katherine DeQuincy-Joy, they search for the truth. The reader is never sure what is part of Pilot's psychosis and what are genuine memories and the suspense continues until the very end. This is not a book to recommend to you "cozy" readers but is extremely engrossing and I highly recommend it. The audio version won an Audie award this year.
Rating:  Summary: Tense thriller Review: If you like unusual and tense mysteries, you may want to try Raveling by Peter Moore Smith. The main character, Pilot James Aire, has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the schizophrenia takes hold Pilot becomes obsessed with the 20-year-old disappearance of his sister. He becomes determined to find the truth but is hampered by his brother, Eric, who considers him mentally ill. Helped by his therapist, Katherine DeQuincy-Joy, they search for the truth. The reader is never sure what is part of Pilot's psychosis and what are genuine memories and the suspense continues until the very end. This is not a book to recommend to you "cozy" readers but is extremely engrossing and I highly recommend it. The audio version won an Audie award this year.
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