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Summary: A CAN'T PUT DOWN MULTI-LAYERED STORY
Review: A frightening multi-layered story, The Program introduces a new protagonist for Stephen White - New Orleans District Attorney Kirsten Lord. After Kirsten's husband is murdered by a hired gun, she soon discovers that her own life and that of her nine-year-old daughter's is threatened. Feeling she has no other valid choice she seeks safety in Boulder, Colorado under the Witness Protection Program. However, once in the program she meets another who is being protected, Carl Luppo. He is a lone mob hit man very much, she suspects, like the man who killed her husband. Sensing her danger, Luppo befriends Kirsten; he appoints himself her guardian. But, he is he truly knight errant or persecutor? Kirsten's chaotic life is in stark contrast to the relative tranquility enjoyed by Alan Gregory, a psychological consultant to the Protection Program and his wife who are preparing for the birth of their first child. There's both darkness and light in this suspenseful tale as it reveals the internal workings of the Witness Protection Program and the emotional toll it takes on those who have sought safety. It's a taut, finely paced drama for thriller afficionados. - Gail Cooke
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Summary: Another clever and well-balanced mystery from White
Review: Alan Gregory is my favorite of the shrink detectives out there. I find his mental explorations refreshingly free from tabloid science, and while he certainly deals with the extremes in human nature it still stays in the believable range. _The Program_ is an excellent series entry and a little bit of a change via its alternating narrators. (Alternating narrators are almost universally done poorly in mystery novels-- this is the well-done exception to the rule.) Points off for some unnecessary plot convolution near the end, but overall great characters and worth the time to read.
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Summary: This has got to be Alan at his all time DUMBEST!
Review: Characters in this book were interesting. Especially Carl!
The whole whale thread was very annoying and didn't mesh throughout the book. The best thing about S. White's books is he always has a fresh plotline and his writing is sharply drawn. He gives the characters humanity and humor and makes them leap off the pages. A good read but not his best.
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Summary: Interesting Novel
Review: I have always held a certain interest of the Witness Protection Program, and this novel gave me another perspective on it. Cleverly crafted and hard to put down. A must read.
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Summary: Better and better
Review: I like Stephen White's books (and have read them all) for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that he's not afraid to shift the focus away from psychologist Alan Gregory and his now-wife, prosecutor Lauren Crowder. To compare him to Jonathan Kellerman (as Doubleday does on the flap copy-something Doubleday just loves to do, as if comparison is a huge selling point rather than a risk of turning readers away) is to do White a great disservice. White never, as Kellerman always does, inflicts himself on the material. (One can almost hear Kellerman exclaiming from the pages, "Aren't I clever?" Well, no, actually.) Aside from brief mentions now and then of discredited syndromes (like repressed/recovered memories) he doesn't actually travel down the potentially hazardous road of bad therapy. Instead, he allows the characters to remain in character. And fine characters they are, too! In The Program, not only is the story original and clever, but also he's created in retired hitman, witness-protected, Carl Luppo, one of the most original and well-conceived people I've read about recently. What I also like about White is his plotting skill. Each book seems to get just that much tighter, that much leaner, that much more labyrinthine. And the different "voices" in this book have genuine authenticity, particularly the exchanges between what, for want of a better term might be called, the "contract arranger" and his sundry hitmen/women. No overly technical whiz-bang stuff, just meat-and-potatoes serious business. Kirsten Lord's (the prosecutor in witness protection) whale motif is a tad peculiar, but since the woman never for a moment goes out of character, who's to say it isn't valid? Certainly her concern for her daughter, and her grief over the murder of her husband, ring very true. Maybe people start thinking about whales when they're threatened with the loss of everything they value. Finally, any writer who can endow two dogs with such character that the readers can actually see them, is a writer to be reckoned with. I highly recommend all White's books. They're never less than very good. The man really does get better and better and, in large part, I think it's as a result of his willingness sometimes to let his two central characters play secondary roles.
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Summary: This has got to be Alan at his all time DUMBEST!
Review: In The Program, Alan Gregory has only a bit part this time but never has he been more lame. The main character, Peyton, is in the Witness Protection program because she has people wanting her and her daughter dead. Now they're missing, her house is in shambles, blood is present on the scene and Alan is once again whining about how he can't breech confidence unless he knows she's in imminent danger. Duh, Alan, what did the nice marshall just tell you about her house? He says that the front window is busted out, her bedroom furniture is all over the place and there is blood. Too bad, Alan the Righteous is still not talking! And I kid you not this is what Alan says: "Let's both of us pray that she met a guy and that her daugher's at a friend's house at a sleepover. I kid you not. Would someone please shoot Alan and put him out of his misery? Actually about the only character in this book that has enough sense to come in out of a hard pouring rain is the hit man, Carl. What a preposterous story. Weird too, the birth of their long awaited baby is barely a footnote. I would have thought it would be given more space than a bare mention. Definitely not Mr. White's best.
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Summary: speedy, lumpy, and does its job
Review: Kirsten Lord's husband was gunned down in front of her outside of a New Orleans eatery, the murder fullfilling a promise made by a druglord whom she helped convict. Or, well, it's part of the fullfilled promise. It's one of those open-ended promises: for every precious thing I lose, you will lose two.
The resulting tale follows Kirsten through the world of the Witness Security Program, around obstacles such as shady US Marshalls, aging mobsters, and people and events in the past that refuse to die...or might die when they shouldn't. It's a story that is complex and compelling enough to be a nicely workable thriller. Literary enough and slick enough so that your bookmark, should you use one, won't stay in one place for too long.
For readers familiar with Mr. White's stories, however, the appearance of his most familiar character, Dr. Alan Gregory, will prove to be little more than an annoying footnote. In any event, White, it seems, has included his recurring character in this case for little other reason than to showcase his natural and lifelong experience with the psychologist's profession. It is mostly to the novel's detriment.
Likewise, although generally the text moves easily and unfettered by pretension or low-brow asthetics, it does clunk in some spots. White's normally consistent prose jars with a few oddly placed metaphors and ill-chosen words (boobs and poop?). And in an attempt to make foray into his central character's heart and soul, he constructed an extended and ultimately annoying whale metaphor that is more awkward and unnecessary than it is illuminating or endearing.
Still, highlights remain, such as the character of Carl Luppo, a retired hit man and one of Kirsten's only true friends, and the few action scenes that don't prove to be false leads or fake scares. And although the plot isn't spread evenly (it lumps in places) the storytelling is competent enough to keep the page numbers advancing.
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Summary: a different twist on the protection program
Review: My sister-in-law loaned me a book written by Stephen White and I was hooked. I really like his books and this was no exception. It is a little different in that, instead of a criminal going into the protection program, a DA is placed in it to help protect her and her daughter from the man she placed in prison and who had her husband killed right in front of her eyes.
Are the legal authorities really protecting her?
She goes to a psychologist to help her get over the shock of her ordeal and unknown to those protecting her, she makes the acquaintance of another person in the program, only he is an enforcer or hit man.
The psychologist and his wife, a DA herself, are major players in this book also. It is a book you don't want to put down until you have finished reading it.
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Summary: A great read though a small departure from his series
Review: Sentenced drug dealer Ernesto Castro warns New Orleans Assistant District Attorney Kirstin Lord that for every thing he loses, she will lose twice. A few weeks later, Kirstin goes to meet her spouse Robert at the Galatoire restaurant, but sees the hitman wearing the Saints cap assassinate her husband. Though grieving her loss, Kirstin realizes that Castro said "twice" and worries that her eight-year old daughter Amy will be next. Ironically, Kirstin, a vocal critic of the witness protection program hiding killers from justice, enters the Federal witness security program. She becomes Peyton Francis and Amy becomes Landon, and they relocate to Boulder. Needing psychological help to cope with the upheaval and tragedies of her life she begins to see Dr. Alan Gregory, whose other WITSEC patient is former hitman Carl Luppo, a killer of at least 15-20 people. Carl realizes that something is not right with Peyton's disguise and takes the two females under his personal protection whether it is from Castro or someone more sinister. THE PROGRAM is an exciting thriller that provides an insightful look into the pros and cons of the witness protection program. Kirstin and Carl are intriguing characters hiding for different reasons. The return of Dr. Gregory is always a reason to rejoice, but in all honesty his role is a secondary catalyst to the fast-paced main plot starring Kirstin. Still, he plays a pivotal role and his sessions with his two patients seem very real, making the story line feel genuine. Best-selling author Stephen White may have written his best novel to date with this tremendous taut tale. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: A WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM
Review: The convicted drug lord promised DA Kirsten Lord that he would harm two of hers for every one of his.Kirsten's husband is shot to death in front of her. Her 9 yr. old daughter could be next so Kirsten agrees to enter the WITSEC program which she mistrusts from the beginning. They are in the new town wiih new identities for only a short time before her enemy finds them. Another town, a different look and new names but again they are found. With no one to talk to or identify with, she is referred to a psychotherapist. Things that could go wrong, do and Kirsten finally contacts an old friend.She discovers that two of her friends and co-workers think they sent the wrong person to death row and now want to prevent his death. They suspect the young man was framed by a cop involved in the original case. With the death of her friends Kirsten begins to think it's not the drug lord after her but someone else. The novel gives the reader a good idea of what it's like to be inside the Witsec program, not having close friends and not knowing whom to trust. It's no wonder Kirsten is beside herself trying to protect her daughter as well. There is a lot of action in the last part of the book to make up for the slow parts. This is my first read by this author but I see he has lots of fans. His next novel is "Warning Signs." I don't know if I will become a fan or not. In retrosect, I find this one more exciting than when I read it. Wading thru the psychologist visits were tiresome and in the end she was still not sure of her future.
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