The List

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic and unpredictable--classic Martini!!
Review: Don't listen to those negative and completely inaccurate reviews. I don't know what book they were reading, but it couldn't have been this one!! Martini is a master at the twisting plot!! He keeps you reading as fast as you can turn the pages!! This endeavor by Mr. Martini will definitely not disappoint the Martini fans-- nor those not familiar with his previous works. Rarely can an author disguise the villan so creatively and believeably as Mr. Martini!! I've read all of his book and as usual, I can't wait for the next one!! BRAVO!

Rating:
Summary: Great listening
Review: The reader draws the listener into the story. Very good except a little confusing because of the prologue and a bit drawn out at the end.

Rating:
Summary: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, it was great!
Review: I know it may not have been great literature. But the plot was original and exciting. I am about the slowest reader you will find and i was reading 200 pages a day on vacation. I found it exciting and interesting. It does teach you a little about the process of publishers and reveals a little of the inside world of publishing that I never knew.

Rating:
Summary: A summer beach novel
Review: Don't let an average rating deter you from reading this book. Yes, it's not great literature. It's predictable. The characters are overwritten. It's just a little too pat. And, Mr. Martini writes his female characters from a male point of view. All that said, it's a fun page turner. I class this book as "mind candy." It's fun to read; but, you won't remember it tomorrow.

Rating:
Summary: A native of St. Croix looks at the List
Review: As a "bahn-ya" Cruzan, I was delighted to read Mr. Martini's description of my island. For the most part, he was pretty well on. It was impossible to find The List in the bookstores here at Christmas. As others have noted, Sint Maarten is NOT one of the USVI, nor are passports needed to travel between Puerto Rico (a US commonwealth) and the Virgin Islands (a US territory). One reader commented on the police officer calling someone an American - that's right - we also call you all yankees or continentals :)

Rating:
Summary: Certainly made my list
Review: I read this book in 2 days. I put off other MORE important things to read this book. That's how good it was. The characters were real, the plot was so different from every other thriller, and the ending actually gave me the chills. Why are you still sitting there? GO GET IT!

Rating:
Summary: You get what you pay for
Review: Generally when I pick up a NYT bestselling paperback, I expect fluff. And that is what you get with "The List." It's entertaining, engaging, and delivers what I expected. Sure - it's not going to win any literary prizes. But I think other reviewers are too harsh on this front. Martini writes entertaining fiction. This was worth the price of a movie ticket, as I got the same amount of entertainment value, if not more. As for the plot, I thought I had it figured out a few times, but there were just enough twists to keep me going almost to the end. Overwriting of characters? Maybe. But isn't that true of much entertainment? A good read for a tired mind. I was also entertained by the insider look at publishing.

Rating:
Summary: My first "Martini" and maybe my last one.
Review: The book was for most of the aspect fantascentific. I belived somethings more amazing,maybe better if shorter.

Rating:
Summary: Martini should have used a pen name ...
Review: Acting on the quality of his other books, I purchased The List without so much as a glance at the rear cover. Motivated by the sunk cost of the purchase and the lingering taste of his better efforts, I stayed with it to the bitter end. The List is terrible. Overly dramatized characters and unlikely dialogue are ever-present distractions as Martini struggles to hold scene sketches together with baling wire. Attempting to disguise a future plot twist, he includes scenes which must later be forgotten if the reader is to accept the book's conclusion. I lost my 'impulse purchase' trust in Martini ... I'll most certainly read the dust jacket before investing in his next tale.

Rating:
Summary: Predictable, formulaic.
Review: I'd have to say that at first the book was a page turner. Then, after the second death in the book, I had the "mystery" figured out and couldn't wait for the plot to unravel (I hate quitting). I found Mr. Martini's knowledge of the Virgin Islands most distracting. First, St. Martin is not a Virgin Island. Second, there was much description of the need for passports to travel to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Third, one character who was a police officer in St. Croix made an observation about "Americans". Does Mr. Martini know nothing about the United States and its territories? By the time I got to the last fifty pages of the book, I was put off by the dramatics and the heroics and the damsel in distress stuff and I felt that I was reading a Sidney Sheldon novel.