Rating: 
Summary: Fast paced with depth
Review: A truly unique work that I found both well written and entertaining. Engaging description and dramatic characterizations keep the novel moving at break neck speed. Look forward to the author's next book.
Rating: 
Summary: TRUE STARS OF THIS STORY RECEIVE NO CREDIT
Review: BOOK IS BASED ON REAL PEOPLE & EVENTS WHO HAVE HAD THEIR NAMES CHANGED AND NEVER HAVE RECEIVED ANY CREDIT. AUTHOR NEVER TOOK THE TIME TO EVEN GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE HE'S MAKING MONEY OFF OF. NEXT TIME THE AUTHOR OF THIS SHOULD TRY AN "ORIGINAL" IDEA THAT NOT STOLEN FROM SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE. HE SHOULD ALSO BRUSH UP ON HIS POETRY SKILLS AS THEY APPEAR TO BE LACKING. POSITIVE REVIEWS FOR THIS TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE HAVE TO BE PLUGS.
Rating:
Summary: TRUE STARS OF THIS STORY RECEIVE NO CREDIT
Review: BOOK IS BASED ON REAL PEOPLE & EVENTS WHO HAVE HAD THEIR NAMES CHANGED AND NEVER HAVE RECEIVED ANY CREDIT. AUTHOR NEVER TOOK THE TIME TO EVEN GET TO KNOW THE PEOPLE HE'S MAKING MONEY OFF OF. NEXT TIME THE AUTHOR OF THIS SHOULD TRY AN "ORIGINAL" IDEA THAT NOT STOLEN FROM SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE. HE SHOULD ALSO BRUSH UP ON HIS POETRY SKILLS AS THEY APPEAR TO BE LACKING. POSITIVE REVIEWS FOR THIS TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE HAVE TO BE PLUGS.
Rating:
Summary: Worthless Vanity Junk--Save Your Money
Review: Having been around "the Fort" during the time period in which this "story" takes place, I find it very difficult to believe that Mr. Conley could or even would have the imagination to create the place or the people he describes in his book. Mr. Conely more than likely retrieved knowledge of this era and the skewed vision of his characters from his cousin who is now serving a long prison sentence for murder. It is unfortunate that so many of UT's great writers are being overlooked because one man with a large bank account has the power to publish himself (or at least that's the word on the street). It is also unfortunate that readers will come to know some of the more colorful and interesting people who still populate Fort Sanders through the eyes of a man who was never a part of the 80s "scene."If I had been given the option of No Stars for this book, I would have taken it. Brian Conley couldn't write his way out of a paper bag, but he can finance the publication of a book that lacks so much substance, I wouldn't trust it to line my bird cage. If you're a reader, do yourself a favor; look elsewhere. If you're the author, do us all a favor and quit while you're behind.
Rating: 
Summary: I thought this book was fascinating
Review: I cannot tell you how much the subject matter (drug addiction )of this book is not my general fare. Still, I was captivated. After meeting the author at a book-signing, I took a chance and enjoyed it thoroughly. The descriptions of the people and places surrounding this story were so vivid and frightening, I could not put it down. So often, it seems, drug abuse and extremely decadant behavior is glorified in the media. Well, here is the real deal. No one who reads this will soon forget the struggle that Jimmy Love goes through to excape his dependence on drugs, or to find his way back to his family. Also, I read a couple of the other reviews on this web-site and, for the life of me, it seems that they have some sort of vendetta against this book. Why? I thought it was fabulous and extremely well-written.
Rating:
Summary: Never Mind The Bollocks!
Review: I find it interesting that, according to your reviews, people either rate this book five stars or one star. There seems to be no middle ground. I suppose this is understandable, given the subject matter and what I found to be the raw, forceful emotion of the book. Furthermore, the novel's message of self-awareness and self-responsibility probably rubs some people the wrong way. Still, another observation that I have is that those who did not like the book, almost unfailingly, have 'personal' reasons for it. Either they claim to have been present during the period the novel is set or claim to know people who were, and their argument is that the characterizations of themselves or those they knew are hollow. Well, to me, this argument is what is hollow. In fact, some of their comments are so personal in nature that I can't help but think that the characterizations ring so close to home that it hurts. Yes. Me thinks they protest too much. For me, the book could not have rung more true. I did not know these people nor have I ever even been to Fort Sanders, but I can tell you from experience that people like those described in the book are very real. And what would be a shame would be to give them too much credit for they don't really have any substantive insight. If they did they would write novels instead of whining about them. Bottom line: Never mind the bollocks, this is a great book!
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS AWESOME!
Review: I just finished reading 'The Killer of Love' by Brian Conley and it scared the hell out of me. While the book is set in Knoxville, Tennessee, I could not help but see similarities to the people and places I knew who lived in Columbia, S.C., where I went to school. I saw where one reviewer referred to it as a contemporary horror story, but I just wanted to say that it is more than that. What is so very scary about the book is that these types of people and places actually exist. And I thought the author did a fantastic job of describing them in all their gory detail.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I was impressed to pick up a copy of "The Killer of Love" at the Washington-Dulles airport last month especially when I realized the author is from my hometown - Knoxville, TN, and more so to read about the Fort Sanders that I knew so well in the late 1960's. Although the book takes place in the 1980's - boy did the descriptions of that cast of characters sound familiar! While I was not involved in the so-called "drug scene", I did attend parties in some of those old houses and creepy attics and basements. In addition, I found myself linking people that I knew back then and others who I heard of to the guys and gals in "Killer". I have passed the word about the novel to former friends and classmates. One friend in particular who now resides in Knoxville commented how much the old FANB clock sure represents our infatuation with time - how little there is - how much we cannot get back when wasted - how much we waste - and how time controls us all. I certainly identified with main character Jimmy Love's coming of age and search for the answers to the questions of life and right vs. wrong and how finally, to take control of oneself and one's actions by accepting, appreciating the time one is fortunate to have on this earth. Jimmy Love represents "everyman" and his struggles while the jovial Piper represents evil and temptation. Back then, I would run across a charismatic leader like Piper every now and then and I would say there would be atleast one hundred Jimmy Loves to every one Piper. I loved this book and would like to see more from the author. Like I said: Wow!
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I was impressed to pick up a copy of "The Killer of Love" at the Washington-Dulles airport last month especially when I realized the author is from my hometown - Knoxville, TN, and more so to read about the Fort Sanders that I knew so well in the late 1960's. Although the book takes place in the 1980's - boy did the descriptions of that cast of characters sound familiar! While I was not involved in the so-called "drug scene", I did attend parties in some of those old houses and creepy attics and basements. In addition, I found myself linking people that I knew back then and others who I heard of to the guys and gals in "Killer". I have passed the word about the novel to former friends and classmates. One friend in particular who now resides in Knoxville commented how much the old FANB clock sure represents our infatuation with time - how little there is - how much we cannot get back when wasted - how much we waste - and how time controls us all. I certainly identified with main character Jimmy Love's coming of age and search for the answers to the questions of life and right vs. wrong and how finally, to take control of oneself and one's actions by accepting, appreciating the time one is fortunate to have on this earth. Jimmy Love represents "everyman" and his struggles while the jovial Piper represents evil and temptation. Back then, I would run across a charismatic leader like Piper every now and then and I would say there would be atleast one hundred Jimmy Loves to every one Piper. I loved this book and would like to see more from the author. Like I said: Wow!
Rating:
Summary: Must agree, characters & story are hollow & just plain lame.
Review: I'm afraid I must agree with the reviewer (and others with similar opinions) who said the book and characters are hollow, and I will add phony and hyperdramatized to the mix. Certainly, as the most recent reviewer states, there are people like the characters in the book, but unfortunately most of these characters weren't very well fleshed out nor had much depth, and I found the story lacking as well. I kept wondering while reading, where was the thing that was going to get me to care about these characters, because in my opinion the author just wasn't giving the reader enough to make us care or find the story very important at all. I think the author had a real good idea to start with, but blew it with stick-figure characters and giving the story no real weight. And, for the record, I never spent much time in Knoxville and didn't know anyone from Fort Sanders that I knew of, but I'm well acquainted with the horrors of addiction, and feel the author had good intentions but missed the mark. The story obviously tries, but mostly just winds up false and hollow, especially in the final pages. The end of the story is particularly poorly written and, while there were occasional interesting parts throughout the novel that at least kept me from putting it down unfinished, the last pages are a snooze. I wanted to care about this story and the characters, but the author just didn't give me enough to care. I'm a fairly frequent reader of this type genre (drug & alcohol addiction, 1980's slacker youth, etc.), so it was somewhat surprising to me that this novel was so disappointing. Another reviewer compared it to AA type rhetoric, but I would have to say I've read 12 step publications with more depth than this novel. The book does try, but there just isn't enough there to make this story matter very much. I have to believe that many of the reviewers here who liked it so much have little personal knowledge of substance abuse, because so many of the reviewers (as well as obviously the author) seem to think this book is the real deal about addictions and the resulting tragedies and are applauding it as such, when in fact it is quite remote from much realistic about it. The overdramatic embellishment is just too obvious for the novel to ring anything but hollow and false. At best it reads like AA material directed at teens, at worst it reads like one of those Movies Of The Week on the Lifetime Channel (or, worse, an Aaron Spelling TV movie), and on both counts I find that a shame, because I think it really had the potential to be a great story. As another reviewer said, I'd give it no stars but the system here at Amazon says I have to give it one.
|
