Weatherman

Rating:
Summary: Misleading but nevertheless good
Review: The back copy of this paperback novel is very misleading. In it is says that a serial killer is loose in Minnesota and is obsessed with Channel 7 reporter, Andrea Labore. He is going to do everything in his power to make her a star even if it kills her. This premise sounds good unfortunately this is not the plot of the novel.

This is the story of three people: Rick Beanblossom, a scarred news producer who hides his deformed face behind a mask; Andrea Labore, a reporter from Channel 7 news who wants to become its newest anchorwoman; and Dixon Bell, the local weatherman who lives exclusively for the weather and is never wrong about his forecasts. Their lives intertwine as they work together in the newsroom and in the investigation of a serial killer that is murdering young professional women each time the seasons change. The story is complex and it encompasses several years.

Each one of these characters is carefully described and we get to see their strengths as well as their weaknesses. One of them is arrested for the Minnesota killings and another one is trying to prove his innocence. There are no clear-cut answers in this book. The reader does not know if the television weatherman is the killer or just the perfect patsy. This work is a character study more than a murder mystery. It works well with this book however there are times when it can become real tedious. This book lets you use your imagination for the book's resolution. Consider yourself warned if the paperback copy written at the rear leads you to read THE WEATHERMAN. You might be disappointed at the beginning but the plot becomes interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Just adequate
Review: The book is a good enough read, just nothing special

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book with an ambiguous ending
Review: The pages in this book fly by. Thayer grabs you on the first page and never lets go. The characters, the plot and the twists and turns of the subplots constantly keep you interested.

This is one of the books that kept our book club arguing and discussing for months and months. I loved it.

Do not be fooled by the ending. I do not believe that the person who is caught by the police is actually the killer. Who is the killer? Mr. Thayer, do you care to comment? ***ABM*****

Rating:
Summary: This book is one of my all-time favorites
Review: The psychology behind the story's protagonist (Beanblossom) is so exceptional that I would have thought this novel to be spectacular even without it's incomparable suspense. It made me laugh, and became a catharsis from the insecurities of my own life. Entertainment galore!, I was sad when the book was finished. Sincerely, Christopher Cochrane

Rating:
Summary: Trying too hard
Review: This book has some very serious problems. The first is the characters: I don't think that "likeable" characters are absolutely necessary in any kind of book, but the author wants us too desperately to like his hero and heroine, and this is plain irritating. He seems to believe that Andrea Labore is some kind of female role model; I just lost count of the times he says things like "she isn't a bimbo" and "he was surprised because she was not a bimbo as he expected" and other similar phrases, and however, she keeps on doing bimboish stuff like jumping into bed with a politician the very first time she gets a chance to do it, getting herself pregnant and apparently believing that he'll do the right thing although he only has eyes for his political career. The author also wants us to like his hero Rick Beanblossom, but I couldn't care very much for him, and his deliberate humiliation of an anchorwoman so that his bimbo girlfriend would get her place just killed any sympathy he might have inspired in me.

Then, the author researched exhaustively the fields of TV news, weather prediction, the death penalty, autopsies, even porn movies, in order to write this book. This is obvious, because he never lets us forget it. There are so many digressions, so many dull episodes, so much nitpicking detail, so many encyclopedia-like paragraphs tossed in just to make us know that he did his homework, that without them the book would have been at least 300 pages shorter. And then, there is the botched execution. This is the kind of exaggerated stuff that ultimately achieves an effect contrary to the intended one. Thayer seems to want us to be against the death penalty because executions can go wrong and cause enormous distress, but the fact is that the death penalty will still be morally unjustifiable if executions go as smooth as silk, which in fact is what happens in most cases. In fact the only moving episode in the book is the execution, because, although I don't think that was the author's intention, the killer is the only person in the book we end up caring about.

Rating:
Summary: This book has everything.
Review: This book is not only a suspenceful page turner, it also contained some of the most unusual charactors in fiction since "Garp." It is well researched. You'll learn about network news, weather patterns, serial killers and capital punishment. This is the best novel I've read in months.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book! Couldn't put it down! Highly Recommended!
Review: This book was excellent! I am a HUGE Stephen King fan (King gives The Weatherman a great review) and although Thayer writes much differently than King, I could not put this book down. It was very easy to get wrapped up in the lives of the characters. I ran out and bought the next book, Silent Snow, as soon as I finished The Weatherman. This book is definitely fiction, which is probably why some people have not liked it. But, if you don't mind fiction and like a good mystery, I highly recommend The Weatherman and Thayers next book Silent Snow.

Rating:
Summary: Was not quit worth my time
Review: This book was so,so but it does have some suspense in some places. If you want to read a good mystery with suspense, romance, mystery, and evrything you could possibly want that will keep you on the edge of your seat, I suggest reading Bloodline by Jill Jones.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific! I guessed whodunit and doubted myself repeatedly
Review: This book's beginning is as good as any I have read. The story keeps the reader second guessing until the end. A very fast read with interesting characters. Don't start this book at night if you have to work in the morning.

Rating:
Summary: Unrelenting suspense.
Review: This has to be one of the best books of its type that I have read. Why the author has not received more recognition is beyond me. He weaves a tale with beautifully fleshed out characters any one of whom could have "dun it". Because that's what it is - a superlative whodunit. His treatment of the death penalty goes far beyond his contemporary, John Grisham; no preaching to boot. His prose style is wonderfully fluid. This is a book that has obviously been researched and the smart author manages to seperate the chaff from the wheat. I highly recommend this book to all.