Lost Girls (Bookcassette(r) Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Not As Good As I'd Hoped
Review: I really thought I'd love this one, the story sounded so good. But I'm sorry I just couldn't connect with the main characters, and the writing was too self-consciously literary and that got in the way as well. The writer does have talent but it might be better if next time he doesn't concentrate so much on the special effects. It reminded me a little of that book by Steven Dobyn (I think) called The Church of Lost Girls--not just because of the title! However I believe that Dobyn did it better. A disappointing book.

Rating:
Summary: An amazingly accomplished first novel
Review: A combination murder mystery, "lawyer book", and supernatural thriller, featuring (initially) a throughly despicable protagonist. Not your ordinary mystery, and not your ordinary first novel. Mr Pyper is one helluva writer. Do yourself a favor and read this book. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: IMPLAUSIBLE AND AMATEUR
Review: I understand that this is Pyper's first novel and therefore I'm willing to give him some slack, but I can't understand how most of this book made it by an editor. The writing itself is often good and obviously the author is clever, yet the whole book feels silly and contrived. I felt as if I were reading a high school student's work or work from a writer trying to throw too many obvious cliches in all at once, none of them believable in the least. Too many questions are left unanswered at the end. Did the author simply forget to tell us why the murderer's shirt would have blood on it if the girls were drowned? And what about the narrator plunging into the lake in the winter, diving down to the supposedly incredibly deep lake, and just happening to come up with hair strands from three different girls? Come on! First of all, nobody would survive that kind of cold for that long; secondly, I thought it was a deep lake--how could he dive down and pull up hair from the lake's bottom? We're meant to believe the three girls all ended up at exactly the same place and this guy just happened to dive down at the exact spot where they died? And what about the "Lady"? Did she pull them down as we were led to believe at the beginning of the book or not? The author simply dropped this. This book was infuriating because too many questions were left unanswered, but mainly because it was so amateur. Also, the characters were one dimensional. I hated the main character and found it hard to care about him. His sudden trasnformation at the end, all in a day it seemed, was hardly realistic. His co-workers were cliched and ridiculous characters. I got nothing from this book. It was a waste of time.

Rating:
Summary: Not overly impressed
Review: I enjoyed the creepiness of it and must admit there were times I actually felt my heart pounding a bit...and I was jumpy around the house for a little while...but it still can't be classified as "horror", it isn't really satisfying as a mystery, it's more than just a story. I guess, for me, it just left a whole lot to be desired.

The main characters were very one-dimensional. In fact, ALL of the characters were one-dimensional and needed a lot of development.

I can't say I'd never read another Pyper book again but I can say I'm not rushing out to see if there are any more.

Rating:
Summary: Atmospheric and creepy
Review: The cover blurb intrigued me: Big city attorney Bartholomew Crane goes to tiny Murdoch to defend a murder suspect. But something is awry in small-town Canada, and weirdness abounds.

What the cover blurb doesn't mention is Barth brought some demons to Murdoch with him, including a nasty cocaine habit and terminal ennui.

Andrew Pyper gives us a fine view into Barth's disintegrating personality and his increasing obsession with the town legend. Some very nice atmospheric touches -- I could see the trees and feel the cold, smell the dank of Barth's moldering hotel room.

The Canadian locale seemed exotic to this American, and the unfamiliar setting made the plot a little more creepy.

A good story, well-written. Recommended.


Rating:
Summary: Lost girls
Review: this book was a big dissapointment to me...it had the same basic outline as all the other mystery books...if u are an active reader then you will unscramble the mystery after reading 3-4 chapters and then be bored out of your mind at the attempt the author makes to make get you sucked into the story, when i was reading this book i would read trough a whole chapter and at the end find that the author had wanted me to feel a certain emotion but i just didnt feel it. overall for me this book was a waste of time and if i didnt have to write a report on it i would have put it down after the 5th chapter and picked up something else.a good mystery is something that keeps you guessing ... and interested in the book but if i had the choice i would put this book under the label childrens nightime stories because even little kids would not feel scared at this authors attempt of horror.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated and boring
Review: LOST GIRLS begins with a prologue describing cousins in a canoe having sex. The canoe overturns and the girl is pulled into the depths, apparently by some monster.
The next chapter is rather confusing because, suddenly, there are two girls missing and their teacher is a suspect. We are introduced to the protagonist, attorney Bartholomew Christian Crane. Crane works for Lyle, Gederov & Associate, often referred to as Lie, Get `Em Off & Associate. It will be Crane's job to defend the teacher. Graham Lyle is, according to Crane, a raving queen. Gederov is a "second-generation Russian immigrant who has somehow retained a threatening hint of his ancestor's accent." He's also, "cruel, misogynistic, racist, flatulent, and nauseating dining company." The key word here is "misogynistic." So now we have incest and misogyny and a partner who's homosexual... "
Crane is sent to his home town of Murdock, Ontario. Crane's client doesn't seem to care if Crane gets him off or not. Crane doesn't care; all he wants to do is win, but as he begins to piece together a case, blaming someone else, of course, the bizarre legend of the place begins to pull him down. There's a story about the Lady of the Lake and suddenly the prologue begins to make sense.
If you assume the book is going to be about how Crane gets the teacher off, you'll be wrong. Crane begins a search for the Lady of the Lake, apparently an actual person, who fits in well with the misogynistic elements at the beginning.
Too much of a downer for you? Surprise, surprise. Get ready for an O'Henry twist at the end, that cloaks Crane with redemption.