Rating: 
Summary: Pretty lame all around
Review: Rick Beanblossom is an investigative reporter in St. Paul. He's also a decorated Marine veteran who had his face burned off so he wears a blue mask all of the time (I'm not making this up, folks). He's also married to beautiful Andrea Labore who is the premier news anchorwoman of the St. Paul area. One snowy night Rick and Andrea's baby, Dylan, is kidnapped from his second story room, right on the anniversary of the Lindberg kidnapping. Rick and Andrea don't trust the FBI to recover their son so they start their own investigation which leads back to the Lindberg kidnapping and it looks like the same person who was involved then is involved now (and it isn't Bruno Richard Hauptman).I found the whole mish-mash pretty hard to follow. I mean to be involved in both the Lindberg affair (in 1938) and currently would put one pretty near the century mark in age. Give me a break. Many times the book seemed like it wanted to be a fantasy-horror type book what with ghosts helping find the kidnapper. The characters all seemed a little off-kilter and some bordered on the grotesque. And the ending.....well let us just say it wasn't very satisfying. Mr. Thayer needs to work on his writing and his characterization. I gave this book two stars mainly because he stuck with it long enough to create over 400 pages and I'm giving him E for effort. I wasn't impressed with either this book or his other book I've read, "The Weatherman". There are many better mysteries out there and I'd recommend a pass on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Potboiler with incomplete characterizations, etc., but fun.
Review: This is a rather dark story of evil personified by beauty. I think. There are several flaws within this writing. The actions and motivations of most of the characters are not well understood, with the exception of Grover Mudd. Justifications for behavior are given in the final chapter, but they feel contrived. Especially disconcerting was the juxtaposition of logic, emotion and (conveniently) the supernatural. The story would have been much more interesting if either the solid reasoning powers of a seasoned reporter and his ex-cop wife OR the distilling of psychic information (the supernatural, the resurrected, tortured soul) to solve the mystery. There was no solid, believable process for the characters to work through, again, with the exception of Grover Mudd. Still, this story flows well and the characters are interestingly diverse. The gratuitous sex scenes are put to good use and provide an important glimpse into the psyche of the two alter-ego characters. I can't help but mention that the naming of those two characters as Mudd and Snow is just too cute. The Birney reading is good, but I would recommend the reading by George Guidall on the Recorded Books label. It is masterful, making the story great fun.
Rating: 
Summary: MUDD IN THE SNOW
Review: You don't need to read Thayer's "Saint Mudd" to enjoy this excellent thriller, but I would advise it. Reading the "prequel" to this novel will give you a clearer understanding of Grover Mudd.
This novel asks was it possible that Bruno Hauptmann, the man executed for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby, had a female accomplice. It all starts when Rick Beanbottoms, a hero from Thayer's "The Weatherman" and his lovely anchorwoman wife, Andrea, are the victims of a nefarious kidnapping of their one year old son, Dylan. Rick's search for the villians sends him back into the past to one Grover Mudd, a newspaperman in the 1930's who was somehow involved in the Charles Lindbergh investigation, which eerily parallels the 1999 kidnapping. Using great flashbacks, interpolated with the present dilemma, Thayer craftily constructs a tale of vengeance, murder, sex, duplicity, and loss. The ending in the dome of St. Paul's cathedral is appropriately bizarre and tingling.
A good book that stands on its own, but with "Saint Mudd" becomes a wonderful, complex couplet.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: MUDD IN THE SNOW
Review: You don't need to read Thayer's "Saint Mudd" to enjoy this excellent thriller, but I would advise it. Reading the "prequel" to this novel will give you a clearer understanding of Grover Mudd.
This novel asks was it possible that Bruno Hauptmann, the man executed for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's baby, had a female accomplice. It all starts when Rick Beanbottoms, a hero from Thayer's "The Weatherman" and his lovely anchorwoman wife, Andrea, are the victims of a nefarious kidnapping of their one year old son, Dylan. Rick's search for the villians sends him back into the past to one Grover Mudd, a newspaperman in the 1930's who was somehow involved in the Charles Lindbergh investigation, which eerily parallels the 1999 kidnapping. Using great flashbacks, interpolated with the present dilemma, Thayer craftily constructs a tale of vengeance, murder, sex, duplicity, and loss. The ending in the dome of St. Paul's cathedral is appropriately bizarre and tingling.
A good book that stands on its own, but with "Saint Mudd" becomes a wonderful, complex couplet.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
| 
