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Rating: 
Summary: Mind Candy
Review: A good, quick read. I would like more psychology, less thriller but that's my bias. The plot is intriguing with all the appropriate twists and turns. There are a few surprises. I like how White brings Boulder in to the plot. A worthy effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended thriller
Review: FBI special agent Kelda James is considered by many a hero after rescuing a kidnapped girl. She has now volunteered to pick up and deliver from prison a man who was condemned to death and not only taken off death row but freed after information obtained by Kelda that appears to exonerate him. The man, Tom Clone, has served seven years for a crime he apparently didn't commit. He needs counciling and Kelda refers him to her own analyst, Psychologist Alan Gregory. Alan soon determines that the connection between Kelda and tom is much more than it seems. All becomes divulges through several twists of the very compelling plot.
Stephen White is a much heralded thriller writer. His main protagonist is Alan Gregory, a psychologist like himself. What is most impressive about this writer is his ability to delve into characters without sacrificing the plot or pacing. He actually reminds me of Lawrence Block with his Scutter books. White is that good. The plot is clever. It is well paced and the surprises in store appear to be well thought out. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best
Review: I've read most of Stephen White's other books, and found them to be a quick read of better-than-average quality, so when I saw this one I picked it up.This book, however, fails to live up to the "better-than-average" status of his other Alan Gregory books. The plot here is thin and ridiculous. The characters are given improbable motives and even more improbable handicaps and abilities. This book felt rushed, and lacked the depth of plot and intrigue of his earlier books, almost as if White is getting tired of being narratively hemmed in by the slightly dweebish, boring Alan Gregory. After this book, I know I am.
Rating:
Summary: Plot twists, red herring and a surprise ending!
Review: Is Tom Clone really guilty? Should he have really been released from death row? Read this book, and decide for yourself. You may be surprised!Clone was sent to prison for the brutal murder of a local girl in Colorado. He sits on death row waiting for the inevitable - but then a knife is found by FBI agent Kelda James that is shown to have different DNA on it, thereby absolving him from the crime. It is now up to Alan Gregory, psychologist, to help ease him back into the real world Nevertheless, there are still those who think he is guilty and want revenge. Who are they? In addition, why do they want revenge? He was proven innocent. There are several plots twists and clever angles that make this book a riveting read--along with a surprise ending. Read it and be surprised. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: What Did I Do To Deserve This?
Review: Starts strong with some good hooks that catch the reader's interest. Slows as characters develop and information added in second section. In the third section, the story suddenly careens from a plausible, psychological thriller to bizarre and unbelievable potboiler. For example, the heroine Kelda James, FBI special agent, commits acts that are illegal and sadistic and totally out of character. Why? Don't ask. Motivation for all the main characters is thin and contrieved. Strangely, the author is a psychologist in real life and you would think that this would be his strong suit. For example, the motivation for the main murder in the story is revealed in a throw-away line. The killer is said to have met his victim in a bar and she disrespected him and several days later he tracked her down and slit her throat. Now the killer is not a psychotic, not a serial murderer, hardly knows the victim, and presumably is not umder the influence of drugs/alcohol at the time of the murder, yet this is the pivotal event in the book and it is a completely random and incongruous act. This is some very weak plotting. The entire 2nd half of the novel is disappointing and I personally regretted the time and energy spent in completing the read.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning and complex novel of psychological suspense.
Review: Stephen White's latest book, "The Best Revenge," is an exciting and surprising thriller that grabs the reader and never lets go. It is about a former medical student named Tom Clone, who was convicted years ago of murdering a young woman. Clone ends up on Death Row, but he is released from prison when new DNA evidence suggests that he may be innocent. Clone is baffled but gratified at his sudden good fortune. However, some of the people he meets think that Clone is guilty, and he receives death threats from those who would like to execute him themselves. Special Agent Kelda James helped get Tom Clone out of jail, and she has some serious problems of her own. She suffers from intense and almost unrelenting pain in her legs, for which the doctors have no cure. In addition, she has to deal with Tom Clone's romantic interest in her, which makes her feel uncomfortable. Both Clone and James are seeing psychologist Alan Gregory. Gregory would like to help these two confused and troubled individuals. However, the psychologist soon discovers that getting in too deep with this pair may be both professionally and personally costly. White sets up an incredibly complicated plot and he makes it work. He uses the Colorado setting to great effect; White's vivid descriptions of the Rocky Mountain State help the novel come to life. The book is also remarkable for its psychological complexity. White's writing has several dimensions. Not only does he effectively describe how people behave under stress, but he also explores how guilt, lies and the thirst for revenge can eat away at people's lives. Finally, the author skillfully tackles the thorny issue of whether or not our criminal justice system can be trusted to mete out justice fairly. "The Best Revenge" is a thought-provoking and well-written thriller that I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best
Review: This is my first time reading a novel from Stephen White, so, in all fairness, I will admit that I would like to read his earlier efforts because he demonstrated potential in this otherwise very disappointing thriller. The first thing I noticed after picking up The Best Revenge is that he had written 10 previous novels and has received kudos from several notable critics for his work. After reading the first 4 chapters of Best Revenge, I couldn't help but think that he was trying too hard to live up to those previous kudos, and he was trying to introduce his new book in such an impressionable fashion that he almost caused this reader to put the book down. His introduction of the characters and the eventual story to follow was so erratic, jumping time frames, with so many new characters doing so many different things, that this beginning wasn't fresh, intelligent nor impressionable..it was simply a jumbled effort from an author trying too hard to be innovative, and the results were indeed a major blunder. I chose to stick with it anyway, and as he gradually found a more relaxed "groove," the story did indeed start to get intriguing, although a very disturbing pattern began. We the reader would be rewarded with two great chapters, then a very unbelievable and silly chapter...two more good chapters and another "stinker" of a chapter. I began wondering if two entirely different authors were writing this book. I tolerated this annoying pattern, being the trooper that I am, but...**SPOILERS AHEAD** when we get about 2/3 through the novel, the part where Tom Clone is imprisoned in a pen at the cabin, this entire story did a disasterous nosedive and never recovered. I'll be tame and say that everything,.... the characters, the actions and reactions and especially the dialog between the characters, became unbearably ridiculous. Tom Clone, an intelligent man who is one hair away from being a doctor, with an inner-mouth bee sting, yelling "'eel the 'ear..'eel the 'ear to the 'olice and then repeating it to Kelda over a cell phone, may be the lowest point I have ever suffered in literature. This "bee-sting language" from Tom was not only annoying and unbelievable, it seemed to go on forever ! Apparently, the "good" author left the building and left the "bad" author to finish up. The last third of this novel was nothing more than a hack job, drug store pulp fiction, catered to the most hardened reader who can suspend their disbelief .....and I refuse to believe that a practicing clinical psychologist wrote it. So, after a shaky beginning and a disasterous ending, this book was truly an overall failure, but, the middle gave me the desire to at least seek out Mr. White's other applauded efforts. Hopefully, he wrote them alone.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing !
Review: This novel had me intrigued, fascinated, and in suspense until the wee hours of the morning.
Dr Alan Gregory is a psychologist struggling with issues in his private practice, and regrets regarding decisions he has made in the past.However, when a patient is referred to him by Special Agent Kelda James, his funk quickly diminishes. The patient, Tom Clone, has recently been released from serving a 13 year prison sentence for murder,having been cleared by DNA evidence. In fact the individual who helped turn over Clone's conviction is Special Agent Kelda James, who also happens to give Tom a ride home on the day that he is released.
Kelda James, whom is one of the main characters in this story, is battling with her own demons. She is suffering from a mysterious crippling pain that is consuming her body, and has become dependent upon pain killers to help her through her work day. Agent James also happens to be a patient of Dr. Alan Gregory, and he is attempting to help her discover the origin of her mysterious pain.
As Dr. Gregory begins to piece together the relationship between Tom Clone, Kelda James, the unsolved murder of Ivy Campell, and the mysterious death of Kelda's friend "Jones",Detective Sam Purdy continues to doubt the innocence of Tom Clone.Together, with the doubts of his friend Sam, Tom Clones demeanor during psychotherapy, and then his sudden disappearence, Dr. Gregory begins to question the innocence of his patient.
This novel is a top-notch, heart pounding, plot-twisting thriller. I found every character in this story interesting and belivable.The characters of Prehost and "Hoppy", the vigilante cops give the story an even more interesting flavor. This story is among my all-time favorites.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, enthralling, and perfect for long drives. (Audio)
Review: This was my first experience with Stephen White and it was an enjoyable one. There are many plot twists and this mystery thriller was a fun adventure. It made me enjoy the drive and rant and rave aloud about some of the characters' choices. The story weaves around an FBI agent female who is responsible for getting a death row inmate out, a shrink who is professionally involved with both the agent and ex-inmate, and a cast of characters that add confusion, passion, and bizarre motivations and twists into the plot. You'll be surprized at the end, but the story will definately keep you interested. I have not read this author before and give it a four star only because I think the motivation for the murder was a weak one and that the ending could have come earlier...but it still was/is a fun and interesting story.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible and Confusing
Review: Unfortunately for this book, it didn't get interesting until I was almost 3/4 of the way done. I had read a lot of great reviews about this book that it was a real thriller and full of suspense. It wasn't. I found that the story jumped around a lot and you never knew who was talking since it switched from 1st person to 3rd person all the time.
The idea behind this book was good; Tom Clone, a convicted murderer gets released from jail because of new evidence found by FBI Agent Kelda James. Kelda recommends her own therapist, Alan Gregory to Tom. Soon they are both telling Alan their deepest secrets and Alan becomes the one who slowly pieces together a very strange puzzle of events.
I admit, the end of the book came as quite a shock to me, and I'm sure it will do the same to you.
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