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Rating: Summary: While Other People Sleep Review: "While Other People Sleep" is a different type of novel for Marcia Muller. There are no murders in this novel, but there are 2 mysteries. There is a woman who is stalking and impersonating Sharon McCone, and McCone's office manager, Ted Smalley has been acting very strange. I thought that the resolution to Ted's problems was somewhat lame, but I did enjoy the suspense in McCone's tracking down the impostor who is making her life miserable. This is not Muller's strongest effort, but I found it entertaining.
Rating: Summary: Inadvertently appropriate title Review: After the initial 50 pages or so, I became one of the people the title mentions. The plot of this book does not deserve this name, the solution (i.e. the identification of the "bad person") is ridiculous. The final sections seem to have been written because a certain number of pages had to be filled. The basic idea of the book is not bad, but Muller did not manage to develop a full-blown mystery.
Rating: Summary: Lazy Work From A Brilliant Writer Review: I have always been a huge fan of Marcial Muller and her husband Bill Pronzini. When their books come out, I can't wait to dive into a new Sharon McCone or Nameless Detective mystery. Unfortunately this book is a real let-down. Ms. Muller lives in the Bay Area and yet she seems to have done no research for this book. She places a trendy bar (with back room gambling) on the block that is considered the roughest, most crime-ridden and dangerous block in San Francisco. People may like grunge chic, but no way would the wealthy go to a club in this block. She places a gay bar in an area of San Francisco where there hasn't been a gay bar in over twenty-five years. When Sharon enters the bar, the male customers get upset and the bartender rushes over to tell her that she isn't welcome in a gay bar. There hasn't been a gay bar like this in SF in over two decades. Women are welcome and are regularly seen in gay bars in San Francisco. The mysteries are equally lame. Why is her office manager, Ted, acting so strangely? What a letdown when you find out. Doesn't Ms. Muller realize that threats of violence and verbal assault from homophobic people are not a rare occurence in the life of a gay person? Doesn't she know that there are organizations in SF that deal with this that Ted would certainly know about. As for her stalker, once you find out who it is, it's a long yawn to the finish. A mystery with no mystery and one that uses stereotypes that were old a quarter of a century ago. Hopefully her next book will return to the brilliance that we've all come to expect from Ms. Muller.
Rating: Summary: Stalkers, unlimited! Review: Sharon McCone, female PI, begins to hear reports of someone who is impersonating her. This person uses her credit cards, breaks into her house, has affairs while using Sharon's identity, and begins to seriously mess up Sharon's life and psyche. At the same time, Sharon's secretary Ted is exhibiting strange and irrascible behavior. Eventually it comes to light that he, too, is battling with a stalker. Are these incidents related and is it the same person doing all of this mischief? Sharon has to investigate these problems without the support of her lover, Hy Ripinsky, who is off on an assignment for his company. The identities of the stalkers are revealed before the end of the book, but Muller still spins a good tale of Sharon's investigation and pursuit of them. As usual, flying plays an important part in this book and there is a good mystery told. This book will please Sharon McCone fans, old and new.
Rating: Summary: What If It Happened To You Review: While Other People Sleep, by Marcia Muller is a mystery book full of intensity and suspense. Each character has some kind of problem that rely on a private investigator, Sharon McCone, to help them. But what she does not see is that she needs help of her own. In Sharon's case it's ironic because her character is a sophisticated, intellectual, employer who is a famous private investigator, who does not realize that there ia an imposter, impersonting her, who is sabotaging her reputation, her life. She is more concerned with assisting others with their problems, trying to get to the bottom of her own case. What is so intriguing about this story is that is gives a full description of each step of the process. Each maneuver that a character does or says is given a fulj detail step-by-step. So when reading and using your imagination simultaneously, it's like being there.
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