Rating: 
Summary: Good...but not great!!
Review: This book was long awaited by myself..as well as many other Woods fans. I thought that the story was good...but not great. I found that the story at times was confusing with all of the "aliases" LaBiche used in the book. I had a hard time keeping up. This is a good story, and I have to say that it is a must read for Woods fan. Looking forward to the next installment.
Rating: 
Summary: good page turner
Review: this is the first book featuring stone barrington that I read..and do the pages ever fly by! the book starts off in a totally different place than where it ends up..it's not intitially what it seems...the characters are interesting, the action's great and the dialogue's very beleivable..a great read that I highly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring and Ridiculous
Review: This is the first Stuart Woods book I have read (listened to) and it will be my last. I thought it was lame and unbelieveable. I was irritated by Stone's alternating levity at inappropriate times, and pompous moralizing. The British accents were very amateur, and the voices muffled. Toward the end, I just laughed at how stupid the plot had become.
Rating:
Summary: Studly Stone is Back!
Review: This latest Stone Barrington novel starts as so many have before with Stone dining out at his favorite restaurant, Elaine's. Stone is known for his expensive tastes and his routines, so despite having his cell phone off, it is little trouble for managing partner of Woodman & Weld, Bill Eggers, to find him. As "of counsel" to the firm, Stone occasionally provides legal work on cases where the firm would prefer not to be public participants. Bill has an assignment for Stone and it involves Elena Marks. Stone wrote a prenuptial agreement for the very rich Elena Marks a year ago. In it, her soon to be husband Lawrence Fortescue forfeited all rights and claims to her money if he committed adultery. Elena is convinced that he is and wants proof that will stand up in divorce court in New York so that she can enforce the prenup. Bill Eggers wants Stone to make it happen and wants it done fast with a minimum of fuss and does not want to know anything as to how it was accomplished. It has been years since Stone had to have this sort of thing done and soon has ample cause to regret hiring the nephew of a friend to be the photographer. Lawrence is dead, the photographer is arrested for murder, the client as well as the law firm are very annoyed, and agents of British Intelligence as well as elite female assassin are also involved and unhappy. The female assassin believes that the resulting public fiasco has compromised her anonymity and blames Stone, making him a target. This novel is slightly above the usual Stone Barrington fare. While Stone is his usual super studly self in relation to the ladies as he dashes here and there among the other shallow characters working the case, he does ask the occasional hard moral question. A recurring theme seems to be what is the moral responsibility of those that act out a nation's foreign policy harming and even killing innocents and guilty alike? Other questions are also raised, but those moments are brief and with no easy answers, easily swept aside by Stuart Woods. The reader is left with the usual Stone Barrington novel. Stone is loved by all the women of the world and loved very well in often very graphic fashion throughout the book. Always admired and respected by men, enemies or friends, his advice is sought after and always of wise counsel. Throughout it all, without a hair out of place or a line in his very expensive suit, he has a smashingly good time (except for the very brief moral outrage parts). In the end, as before in his other novels, he is James Bond without all the high-tech toys, but with Dino always at his side to provide legal authority at the point of a police officer's service weapon, he does not need the gadgets. Another pure escapist read and as such, which does not pretend to be anything else, it is good stuff.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe best Barrington yet - great action suspense & thrills!
Review: We were growing a bit tired of Woods' Stone Barrington series, feeling that the last few were kind of lackluster -- more concerned about Stone's love life and lifestyle than delivering the suspenseful tales we have seen in numerous earlier outings and in Woods' new Holly Barker series. To our delight, "Dirty Work" brings Stone back in a great yarn -- one with such suspenseful action throughout we could hardly turn the pages fast enough. Reminiscent of John Sandford's "Mortal Prey", in which international assassin Clara Rinker is so clever and so successful we dern near wind up rooting for her instead of the good guys (!), "Dirty" features its own female assassin "La Biche", who is out to get revenge on the British secret service for offing her parents. This becomes the entree to re-introduce sexy Brit female agent "Carpenter", whom Stone met in the just prior novel "Short Forever". More than just a fun dinner (and bed) partner for Stone, Carpenter is the link between Stone's efforts as a private eye, Dino Bacchetti's (Stone's best cop friend) work to catch La Biche for the NYPD, and various FBI hangers-on. Woods' imagination worked overtime as he fills the alternating efforts of La Biche to knock off all her foes (we began to lose count she's so good) and the resolve of everybody else to nail her. Some clever work by Stone to actually engage himself as her lawyer (so that he can twist lawyer/clent confidentiality to their mutual purposes) re-surfaces late in the book as a very unusual twist at the end. Woods is at his very best -- this is a must read not merely for his fans but for anybody enjoying a fast-paced thriller featuring clever bad "guys" and a horde of chasers. The ending brings not only great satisfaction, but who gets theirs brings ample surprise. Enjoy this great read!
Rating:
Summary: A drop dead good read
Review: What a read. Fast paced, strongly developing plot with a twist here and there, and characters that are at once believeable, Dirty Work is a book worth your time to read. Stone Barrington is retained by Woodman & Weld to catch a wayward husband while he's seeding new pastures. However, the person he puts on the case ends up falling on the target of the investigation, killing him. One thing leads to another and we find that the person the husband was with in an internationally wanted intelligence agent nicknamed La Biche. This agent has sworn an oath to kill members of a British intelligence team of which the wayward husband was a member (talk about loving your work). Enough. I don't want to ruin it for you. If you've read any of Woods other books you know you're in for a treat. I am relatively new to this author, but have found him to be a master storyteller. If you're new to Stuart Woods then I predict you'll be back after you finish this one.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as past Stone Barrington books
Review: While the core charachters are still the same: Stone, Dino, Elaine; the new ones are less developed and less interesting. This book is not as good as some of the previous Stone Barrington series. My suggestion would be to wait until it comes out in paperback or pick it up a your local library.
Rating:
Summary: Not very captivating......
Review: You sort of knew everything that was coming .... I was a bit
bored ...read it in an afternoon -- not a "page turner" ...
better luck next time Mr Woods
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