Red Leaves (Bookcassette(r) Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Like an onion!
Review: After reading Bronze Horseman (my now all time best loved book) I decided to read other books by Simons. Even a week after finishing this book I am still thinking about it. Simons is a master of describing the settings for her books. Though the character development was slightly lacking, I found the twists and turns interesting. The cool thing about this book is that they mystery isn't the murder. You know it's going to happen. The mystery is in the details of the life of the main character. Each layer peels away like an onion as the story progresses making you doubt yourself and opening new possibilities for the conclusion of the book (one that you'll think you've guessed a few times throughout the book). There are still questions lingering at the end, but maybe that's a good thing. I enjoyed it thoroughly and even though one or two of the scenarios are not as credible or realistic as they could be, the story is put together like a jigsaw puzzle where pieces fall together to eventually make a full logical picture.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, subtly chilling and thoroughly entertaining
Review: As most students reading books for their final English Studies I wished to get through this book as quickly as possible...and yet once started I could not put it down. It has pace and Simmons' has created thoroughly believable and recognisable characters. The lead, Spencer Patrick O'Malley, creates in himself such a sense of sympathy that it is impossible not to to relate to him and indeed the rest of the characters follow suit. Yet of all the good points of this novel the finest would have to be the ending - for in what has become a world of cliched happy endings Simmons' has instead granted us a glance into the darkest side of the human spirit.

Rating:
Summary: Too many twists and turns
Review: Heard the taped version of RED LEAVES by Paullina Simons, a moderately interesting story of four Dartmouth College seniors . . . I enjoyed the college locale and the Dartmouth setting seemed realistic . . . but after a beginning that held my interest, the story became somewhat convoluted and not overly believable . . . the many twists and turns, designed to hold my interest, instead had me wondering out loud as to their basis . . . there was no way they could have been predicted, and to me, that's not playing fair . . . also, the only person I cared about was killed far too early into the tale . . . the narrator, Sandra Burr, was fine for some characters . . . but for some others, I actually found her reading to be harsh.

Rating:
Summary: A moving, intricately emotive novel
Review: I cannot rate this novel as the best one I have read by Ms. Simons, but it did pull hard at my heart while it intrigued my mind and dared me to look harder. Some will classify this work as a mystery, but I contend that Paulina Simons is more concerned with the reader knowing Kristina Kim, those she loved, and their motivations. Ms. Simons does not judge their motivations; she leaves these decisions to the reader. I spent the last fifty pages wanting to know the cause of Kristina's death and pondering the thought of my own possible death at a similar age. Paulina Simons works wonders to make her characters complex and believeable. This will definitely be a book you can't put down

Rating:
Summary: An incredibly, fascinating, suspense-creating novel
Review: I enjoyed reading this incredibly moving novel. I felt and experienced in my mind every unbelievable and shocking moments as secrets begin to reveal and strange incidents are happening in this novel. It has made me not wanting to put the novel down for even a second because of the suspense that it was creating for me and making me wonder what will take place next. The wonderment and surprises that this novel contain for me have made this novel to be the best mystery novel I have ever read!

Rating:
Summary: Not an average murder mystery
Review: I found this book to be incredibly intriguing. Simons has an incredible ability to create true, complex female characters with little or no cliche attached. The interworkings of this novel are incredibly believable, and I found that the elements of fate and privilege were presented exquisitely. The "what ifs" ran through my head for days after reading this book! Anyone enjoying intelligent mystery and fiction would appreciate Red Leaves. I'm going to read it again

Rating:
Summary: I've read better!
Review: I found this book to be very disappointing! I almost put it down and didn't finish it at all, but read on just to find out who the killer was. I got VERY frustrated with the characters of this book, that each of them had seen Kristina's dead body in the snow and did not say a word to the police and just went on with their Thanksgiving vacation! I found that to be very unrealistic and from that point on the story went south for me.

Rating:
Summary: Great surprise
Review: I had never heard of this author before, but once I started reading "Red Leaves," I could not put it down. It is one of the best books I have read in a long time. The characters were so believable, they actually seemed to exist while I was reading the book. I hope to see more books by this author.

Rating:
Summary: Ive never read so fast in my life!!
Review: I have never been so terrified, and drawn into a plot as much as i was whilst reading Red Leaves. I found myself actually covering the rest of the page with my free hand to stop myself from reading ahead. I got so attached to the characters, I am sorry now that Ive finished the book. I guess I can always read it again , and again!

Rating:
Summary: So-so
Review: I liked the fact that, for the first half of the book, the reader is inside the mind of the character we know (according to the book jacket) is going to die-- a very unusual touch for a book in this genre, I think. After Kristina dies, though, it drags big time. I saw the Big Shocking Twist coming about 100 pages ahead of time, and a lot of the characters and events just seemed really fake. The ending was a letdown, too.

BUT I read it quickly, and it certainly kept my attention. Not a great book, but it is one you won't be able to put down... on a rainy day.