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Summary: The Moment She Was Gone
Review: "The Moment She Was Gone" is a drama written by Evan Hunter who writes wonderful police procedurals under the name Ed McBain. Andy Gulliver receives a phone call from his mother informing him that his twin sister Annie has disappeared, again. In fact Annie had disappeared many times before. While in Italy she had been held in a mental hospital where she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Andy searches for the truth that will help him find his sister. This novel grabbed me from the first page and kept me turning pages until I reached the end. I have read over 60 novels by Evan Hunter/Ed McBain and every time I know that I am reading a work by a literary master. "The Moment She Was Gone" is highly recommended.
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Summary: Poorly written and a... disappointment to a real fan
Review: A rotten non-story with no beginning, no end and no plot. This is the first con job by this author!
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Summary: Extraordinary Empathy for the Families of the Mentally Ill
Review: As a psychiatrist with forty years experience, I was awe-struck by the impressive insight shown in this novel by veteran writer Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain). He demonstrates extraordinary awareness of the almost unbearable difficulties that the loving families of severely mentally ill persons often endure. His focus is purposely on the response of the family, not the inner experience of the sick family member, and this aspect of this all-too-common situation has received scant attention in fiction.The narrator of the book is the twin brother of a young woman whose erratic behavior has been written off as merely eccentric for years until she is placed in an Italian hospital during an 'episode,' as it's referred to, and his and the family's initially grudging recognition of the extent of her illness. The narrator himself finds that he has powerful resistance to accepting the validity of her diagnosis. I hesitate to say more for fear I will spoil the suspense that Hunter so carefully sets up in his tersely written novel, but suspect you will not be able to put this book down once you've started it. I have intense admiration for Hunter's ability to describe what I have seen so many times in my own practice. I have repeatedly observed the kinds of self-protective distortions and myths that grow up in families about the ill family member, defenses that usually finally have to give way to crushing reality. I've so often seen the emotional price they pay trying to help their loved one. Hunter writes about this with compassion and understanding. I would also recommend a recent non-fiction account with a similar theme: "The Outsider: A Journey into My Father's Struggle with Madness" by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, also available here at Amazon. Scott Morrison
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Summary: Everything about book is high quality,
Review: Criminal Conversation by Evan Hunter is one of my favorite novels and in this book he shows the same writing and characterization that made me want to keep reading. Annie is a bit crazy, and it is obvious to the reader. Unfortunately, no one in Annie's family has the guts to deal with it, except maybe her twin brother Andy from whom some details of Annie's past have been hidden to protect him. Each story of Annie's past provides possible clues as to why she is crazy and each story reveals a bit about all the main characters as they all struggle in the present to find where Annie has ran off to this time. Basically this novel is about Annie's family coming to terms with her craziness, and that covers about 208 pages. I believe Hunter could have added to this novel to make it better. This novel would have been a lot better if there had been a resolution to why Annie was crazy. Hunter definitely has the skill to throw in a plot twist about something dramatic in Annie's past that caused her to go insane, but he leaves us with a story of several people's lives and the book ends with them continuing to live. There really is no climax. I guess Hunter has earned the right to write whatever he chooses, but that still doesn't change the fact that this bare-bones novel could have been much better.
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Summary: Too close for words
Review: Evan Hunter aka Ed McBain has been churning out books for longer than I've been alive. I used to pinch any of my parents books that looked interesting and there were a LOT of Ed McBain's. His books age well, and continue to have relevance more than thirty years after they've first seen print. Although the Ed McBain pseudonym has largely focused on crime and police investigations, Evan Hunter has usually reserved books written under his real name to speak of deeper subjects, which don't necessarily fill the "crime" mould. "The Moment She Was Gone" falls into this category. The reader is never really sure where the book is going to, and whether it is going to devolve into just another crime book. The sometimes scarey descent into a slightly off-centre mind will leave you scratching your head, wondering if the eccentric people in your life may have serious issues or is it all in YOUR mind. Never less than compassionate, this book makes you think beyond the stereotypes, and makes you care and want to cuddle all concerned.
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Summary: Evan Hunter Scores Again
Review: Evan Hunter has an immaculate sense of plot and character development. Books written under his name are always different, intriguing and exciting. His command of the English language is second to none. His deft story lines are compelling. From the moment I picked up this book, I was under his spell and found it hard to put it down. "The Moment She Was Gone" focuses on the twin sister of the narrator and their history over the years. I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys suspense and good writing.
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Summary: The Worst ... I've Ever Read
Review: Evan Hunter has written some good books but not this time. You have to ask yourself why anyone would write a book about characters that no one would never want to spend a moment with, let alone read about...in a so-called plot that is depressing and irrelevant to most ordinary readers. This sad, dull book is replete with a lot of flashbacks of earlier years in the lives of the first-person "writer" and his sister, who is mentally and emotionally [messed] up. A lot of dialogue but nothing happens. In the end nothing happens. It takes a whole book for the so-called characters to decide to get help for the sister. Do not waste your time on this drivel. Wish I could have given it a minus-stars revue. Blah!
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Summary: AN ASSURED READING OF A FAMILY'S STORY
Review: Evan Hunter who also writes thriller-dillers under the name Ed McBain is a pro at creating compelling scenarios. Dan Futterman, whom many applauded as Robin Williams's son in "The Bird Cage," is also a master of his craft, as is evident in his assured reading of this tale of emotional dysfunction When Andrew Gulliver receives a predawn phone call from his mother telling him that his twin sister, Annie, is missing it is not the first time. As a teenager Annie had disappeared without a trace, only to later reappear just as surprisingly as she had vanished. This was a pattern that she continued through adulthood. Much of her story is told in flashbacks, as her various odysseys to far off places are recounted. However, just a short while ago Annie was restrained in a mental hospital in Sicily where she was given various drug treatments which seemed to exacerbate her illness rather than control it. She is diagnosed as being schizophrenic. One of the questions that crosses Andrew's mind as he searches for his sister is whether or not he, too, may be mentally ill. Has their family played a part in his sister's dysfunction? The Gullivers must face their past and what may be their future during this traumatic time. Hunter writes with perception and compassion of people riven by emotional illness...
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Summary: Moving, insightful, thought provoking...
Review: From the first page, you realise that you aren't going to be in for an easy read, as Mr Hunter explores some of the more gruelling and torrid aspects of the lives of a family trying to cope with mental illness.
Since Mr Hunter has been a successful writer since you and I were young, Maggie, it should be no suprise that he can so effectively turn his hand to a difficult subject such as this. Excellent work, if not for the faint-hearted.
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Summary: fine reading for those who like to be entertained.
Review: Great,enjoyable,fully entertaining,funny,catching,difficult to lay down.You want to start all over again after reading the last sentence;I can recommend the audio.....
Another Hunter's work of art.(Comparable with :Far from the Sea).
I cross my fingers for a sequel.
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