Gideon

Rating:
Summary: Almost a Thriller
Review: "Gideon" gets off to a good start, quickly paced and roller coaster fast. The reader's interest is speedily engaged in the "who is this happening to and why?" Somewhere around page 150, the book becomes a chore. The writing and pace become uneven and dead spots occur with more and more frequency.

The collaboration between Peter Gethers and David Handler doesn't seem to gel and become seamless. Sometimes I had the feeling I was reading a rough draft. It is difficult to accept a hero whose nickname is "Granny" and all that word implies. One of the two "deadly" assassins is an overweight, not-to-bright rogue ex-cop whose main concern seems to be furious bigotry. We are expected to believe the richest, most powerful man in the world could do no better in the assassin market than to select this dim bulb. The choice of victims is ludicrous. Those that are truly dangerous to the powerful man's schemes are overlooked in favor of innocents who have only the most tangential connection with the plot. The surprises are telegraphed so far in advance that the only person still in the dark is the hero.

There are curious lapses, as if the fact checker took a holiday. How often can one draw $1000 from one ATM machine? Why is a broken down Subaru with DC plates entirely invisible to police and FBI?

The strongest element of "Gideon" is the following of clues as the hero and his ever-loyal former girl friend get closer and closer to the answers. Their odyssey through the Deep South is well done, particularly a chapter dealing with what has to be the ultimate Elvis Presley fans.

"Gideon" has it moments; there are just not enough of them.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking And Explosive Thriller....
Review: Carl Granville is a struggling New York City-based writer who has just received a most precarious offer. He is contracted by top editor Maggie Peterson to turn the contents of a top-secret diary into an instant work of fiction. She mentions that this is a rush job of the highest order ("the kind of thing we usually save for terrorist attacks, wars, or dead royalty"), and once the secret manuscript is finished, it could literally change the course of history. Carl is not told who the diary belongs to, just that the real owner wishes to remain anonymous and will be known simply as "Gideon". He is instructed to speak to no one about the project (including Maggie who says officially he does not exist) and is not permitted to ask any questions about the confidential information that will be fed to him. In return for his silence, Carl will be paid six-figures and have one million copies of his ghost-written book printed.

Soon after Carl decides to take on the project, Maggie Peterson is murdered, and when he decides to come clean about the Gideon project (in an effort to cooperate with the authorities) he is told that there is no record of him or his project ever existing. That's when more people start dying and Carl becomes the prime suspect in all the murders. The only person he can trust is his ex-girlfriend, journalist Amanda Mays, who has her own doubts about becoming personally involved with Carl again after a rather stormy relationship. Soon they are both thrown into a world of murder, greed and politics as they go underground to catch the real killers before Carl is caught himself.

Interestingly, Russell Andrews is a pseudonym for the writing duo of Peter Gethers and David Handler. Gideon is their first team effort and it is an exciting one. The book serves up an endless series of twists and turns that unravel over an exhausting 8 days. Just when you think you have things figured out, the author(s) throw another curve ball your way. This is a sharp novel will keep you awake and guessing until the very end. I also enjoyed pondering the present day implications of this plot. The truth behind the world shattering secret is all too possible in today's high tech information hungry society.

Four stars because it missed the truly gifted mark ever so slightly...the ending was a bit bland when compared to the roller coaster ride Andrews provides between the covers, and the identity of the "Closer" was not very imaginative. These minor details notwithstanding, this is definitely worth a buy.

Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Great Premise that Fizzles
Review: Carl Granville is a talented young writer, living in NY, struggling to get his first book published. When his agent dies, he surprisingly is approached by any writer's dream agent who has an interesting propostion for him. He will be given someone's secret diary and he will fictionalize it within 3 weeks. A guard will accompany the installments of the original manuscript to ensure that Carl does not copy it and at the same time, deliver the finished fictionization to the agent. For doing this, Carl receives $50k up front, $50K when he finishes and the guarantee that his first book be published and seriously marketed. Carl readily accepts, burning the midnight oil to fulfill his end of the deal, but when his new agent and a female neighbor mysteriously end up dead, Carl finds himself out on a limb from which he cannot possibly survive, as he is thought to be and labeled by the media a serious killer on a mission.

Sound fascinating?

It is----but sadly, once the actual diary is read and transformed into Carl's manuscript, the killings are executed and Carl has no where to run, the book just loses steam fast. Suddenly the interesting premise transmogrifies into formula--Carl's ex-girlfriend (conveniently a Wash. Post journalist) becomes involved and the reader follows the actions of a ring of outsiders whose histories eventually tie together to lead to the plot's denouement. Problem is, it is just too formula to be fresh and lead to disappointment even when reading the book's most startling revelations.
I picked this book up after reading this writing teams' latest offering, "Icarus". Although, I found "Icarus" to be a moderate-to--superior suspense type yarn, I expected Gideon to be better based on its reviews. I was disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A NON-STOP,COMPULSIVE READ
Review: Carl Granville is the writer hired to take the pages of an old diary and turn them into bestselling fiction. The identity of Gideon is a secret and all the names and locations in the diary are blacked out...Granville will be fed bits of information as the novel progresses. The deeper Carl becomes involved with this project, the closer he gets to danger, resulting in several deaths, information being stolen and his apartment ransacked.

With Carl the main suspect in the murders, he must run for his life to prove his innocence and bring together the secrets and identity of Gideon. His race will bring him to need the help of ex-girlfiend, journalist, Amanda, and together the two will discover a chilling, cover-up.

"Gideon" is so fast-paced, you will be likely to finish it in one sitting. The novel does not give much information until the end, and what an ending it is! You will be guessing from the first page all the way to the end.

Russell Andrews has written a novel that teases you with plot twists, and intricately twists and turns them to the shocking climax.

A great summer read.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: Gripping but....
Review: I just finished this book after having picked it up on a sale table. I have to admit that I had been intrigued by it since it came out and had wanted to read it, but never got around to paying full price.

It is a gripping work, well written and tightly paced. The book is at its best while set in NYC, but when it moves out from there it begins to unravel. For one thing, the geography is off and, sorry, but I find this inexcusable. A quick consultation with Rand McNally would have kept this from occurring. For another, the author(s) push the abilities of the principal antagonists too far for credibility. Both the evil doers and their primary cat's paw are given just a bit too much power. A little more care in these areas and the book could have been stunning to the end. Alas, it is a good work and fun to read, but the book breaks the reader's willing suspension of disbelief and, in the end, does not live up to its potential. I still look forward to reading their next work.

Rating:
Summary: Power House Thriller...!!!
Review: I picked up this book at a used book store. Only its not the book that was out after they printed it. This book is an unrevised proof, and not the real thing. I found some cute mistakes and misspelled words and loved it!! Great book to add to a collection, boy was I lucky. Great action packed thriller, sorry, you DO have to READ this for YOUR self!!

Rating:
Summary: Harmless Fun.
Review: I wouldn't call "Gideon" a "shocking" or "explosive" or "great" story... but it is an agreeably engrossing suspense/adventure novel with likeable protagonists and villainous enemies. It's absorbing. By the time you realize there are some serious holes in the plot, you're all done with it and on to the next read of the summer. No harm done and it's fun while it lasts.

Rating:
Summary: ...and then there were none
Review: If you don't know the meaning of "body count", you will find out rather soon when reading this gripping, fast, interesting, well written book.

The story is about a ghost writer who obviously knows too much about a person playing an important role in the society, although he doesn't know his name. Soon, writer Carl is suspected to be the murderer of his editor and his neighbor. On the run, he takes refuge with his ex-girlfriend Amanda. After two more dead bodies they are forced to find the truth about the story Carl was writing. But obviously a killer follows them closely (is that the reason why this guy is called "Closer?").

Finally, they find out what happened in the life of this important person (with some more dead bodies being piled up around them) and return to confront the responsible people with their knowledge. Knowledge is power, and that is known also by a multi-billion media tycoon who plays an important role in the book.

The page-turning style and high speed of this novel keeps you going from the start until the end. This of course makes it possible for you to forget the usual questions which come up when it comes to thrillers: Why don't killers simply shoot their targets but usually try to talk to them or make some "show" (bombs, unusual dresses,...)? The true story about the "popular person" can surely kill a political career, but is it the reason to commit suicide? Why are fired former policemen always fat and sweating? Especially, the murder of the two women at the very beginning is even after the end of the book not fully understandable.

But - excluding the body count which is comparable to typical James Bond movies - the story was really fun to read. The author won't get the Nobel Prize for that, but you can have some entertaining hours with this novel.

Rating:
Summary: A page turner that doesn't satisfy
Review: Others have hashed the storyline, so I won't waste your time. Suffice it to say that this book is well written, with suspenseful turns that kept me interested. My disappointment lies in the fact that the solution to the mystery, the secret for which many people were willing to kill, was just not all that big a deal. I expected something EARTHSHATTERING,and well, it was sort of trite.

Rating:
Summary: Three Days of the Condor Revisited
Review: Remember when Robert Redford's character in Three Days of the Condor struggled to understand why all of his colleagues were assassinated? All he could explain was he "just read books". Well, Carl Granville was hired to write a book about GIDEON. Little did he know anyone connected with him or the book would also be systematically eliminated as with Redford's character. This is a fast-moving, heart-wrenching, politically explosive ride that has this reader seeing John Cusack (Pushing Tin, Con Air, Grosse Pointe Blank)as Carl Granville and Tammy Lauren (ex-Ginger of t.v.'s Homefront and Walker: Texas Ranger) as Amanda Mays. Somewhere between the power and greed one has to know the difference between right and wrong. As the body count rises, so do the stakes. All because of ONE secret. (Actually, there are a few more stunners as well!) And these two are more than up to the challenge. In this day and age of computer technology and information databases, these two use every bit of high-tech equipment, common sense, a good bottle of hair dye and a savvy computer hacker/friend with an attitude to stay alive. There are a many twists and turns through this story and some truths more shocking than others. There is a conclusion this roller coaster ride. Yet one wonders of all the untold stories out there, how many more Gideons will never know justice or be able to rest in peace? I, personally, want to see Carl Granville and Amanda Mays get back to what they do best, investigative reporting! Maybe they right a few more wrongs after resting up at Big Willie's! :-)

P.S. There is a mistake between Page 268 - 270. If anyone spots the problem, please e-mail me at: [e-mail] or let the author know you spotted the same mistake.