Crescendo

Rating:
Summary: Awful
Review: *sigh* I'm kind of wondering if all these glowingly positive reviews came from friends of the author?? Same goes for those quotes on the book jacket ... I read a blurb recently in a local paper about the author, and being one to devour this type of fiction (King, Koontz, Due, LA Banks, etc etc) I thought I'd stumbled on a new fav. Not! I LITERALLY had to force myself to finish this book. The characters were one dimensional (did any of them even have day jobs?) archetypes (long suffering wife, betrayed best friend, unfaithful murdered wife of best friend - *yawn*) writ large, and I found I really didn't care one way or the other what happened to any of them. The amount of detail used in describing places and objects was overkill and really took away from the flow of the story - such as it was. What she wrote in 350 pages could've been summed up in less than 200 by a more masterful writer. I am now out $24 bucks (and what is UP with such a high price for a paperback book??) and several hours of my life reading this dribble, neither of which I can ever get back. Ugh.

Rating:
Summary: Crescendo won't let you sleep quietly at night
Review: After being a reviewer for the past couple of years, I have encountered some books that I will return to that have nothing to do with my position as a reviewer, and I am proud to say that Crescendo is one of them.
 
This is the first subject of writing I had read of hers, and I know this author will be someone to keep an eye on in the future. L. Marie Wood has a talent of keeping her readers on edge till the very end.
 
Crescendo is filled with characters that a reader can identify with. An original plot line that kept my attention from page one, and her conflicts are absolutely horrifying. 
 
I think one of the reasons that Crescendo deserves to be read is the pace of the story. There are few authors out there that can keep a readers attention so completely that they do not dare put the book down...and that is what Crescendo is like, a real (I know cliché phrase here) page turner.
 
Without dwelling on who or what is involved in this book, I will tell you that when you put this book down you will begin to wonder..."am I next?" 
 
L. Marie Wood writes with a razor sharp pen that takes her readers to a high point then she drops them into her private tangle of terror. Readers beware: Crescendo won't let you sleep quietly at night, no more.

Rating:
Summary: Venture into the World of Wood
Review: Author L. Marie Wood has taken the simple life of an average man and distorted it into a vast maze of horrendous confusion. She is quite the clever writer who pays close attention to detail and draws you into the story, making every place and character clearly visible within the mind.

If you haven't checked out L. Marie Wood yet, you are missing out on much frightful delight.

Rating:
Summary: Once you start reading, you can't put it down!
Review: Crescendo had me hooked from page 1. I have done genealogy for several years now, and sometimes there is a dead end when it comes to finding information on your family. I have some times wished this information would come to me in my dreams, but after reading Crescendo I have abandoned that idea completely. Crescendo had me on the edge of my seat-every page, every word made me think "Whats gonna happen next?" Crescendo would be one awesome movie.

Rating:
Summary: The suspense never lets up!
Review: Crescendo is a pleasant surprise keeping the audience guessing whether the lead character is losing his mind or the center of an otherworldly assault until the climax. The key to the tale is James who the audience will believe is crazy one moment and then feel he needs an exorcist the next. The suspense never lets up as L. Marie Wood provides a powerful thriller that the audience will have to read to learn whether this is a demon horror story or a psychological suspense chiller, but fans of both sub-genres will appreciate this novel.

Rating:
Summary: A Darkly Compelling Read
Review: It is said that a wounded friend is the bitterest of foes. James is about to receive empirical proof of this maxim in lurid detail.

L. Marie's Wood's first novel entitled "Crescendo" is a compelling love bite upon the imagination whose swiftly-paced storytelling and visceral atmosphere will leave you thirsting for the story to continue. `Crescendo" is the best kind of fiction; that rooted in universal themes and subjects that often are often unnerving, sometimes ugly, but always easily related to by the reader. Its tale burns all the hotter for the perfect plausibility of it all, since readers will find themselves thinking, as I did on so many occasions throughout my read, This could happen.

Wood has fashioned a horror tale born of an expertly interwoven mélange of subtexts and underplots that challenges the very nature of trust, fidelity, and madness, and brings the reader nose-to-nose with smart characters who are never so human as when they are acting-and in many cases, reacting-inhumanly to one another. "Crescendo" leaves no relationship untested, be they friendship, marital, or familial in basis, and readers will empathize with these characters, many of whom embody the shaking anger and duplicity and impassioned resentment that every reader has known at one time or another. Here at last is a novel that doesn't let us turn away from the mirror just because the image it reflects is dirty. I truly enjoyed reading "Crescendo", and consider it an affectionate gift to the walking wounded among us; one that will leave you stinging with your wish to have the show go on and on.

Rating:
Summary: A Darkly Compelling Read
Review: It is said that a wounded friend is the bitterest of foes. James is about to receive empirical proof of this maxim in lurid detail.

L. Marie's Wood's first novel entitled "Crescendo" is a compelling love bite upon the imagination whose swiftly-paced storytelling and visceral atmosphere will leave you thirsting for the story to continue. 'Crescendo" is the best kind of fiction; that rooted in universal themes and subjects that often are often unnerving, sometimes ugly, but always easily related to by the reader. Its tale burns all the hotter for the perfect plausibility of it all, since readers will find themselves thinking, as I did on so many occasions throughout my read, This could happen.

Wood has fashioned a horror tale born of an expertly interwoven mélange of subtexts and underplots that challenges the very nature of trust, fidelity, and madness, and brings the reader nose-to-nose with smart characters who are never so human as when they are acting-and in many cases, reacting-inhumanly to one another. "Crescendo" leaves no relationship untested, be they friendship, marital, or familial in basis, and readers will empathize with these characters, many of whom embody the shaking anger and duplicity and impassioned resentment that every reader has known at one time or another. Here at last is a novel that doesn't let us turn away from the mirror just because the image it reflects is dirty. I truly enjoyed reading "Crescendo", and consider it an affectionate gift to the walking wounded among us; one that will leave you stinging with your wish to have the show go on and on.

Rating:
Summary: Exciting, wide-eyed look into killer's psyche!
Review: The moment Ms. Wood correctly used 'blood spatter' to describe what most laymen mistakenly refer to as 'blood splatter,' I knew she had done her homework. From that point on, I was totally entangled in her web of murder, suspense and horror.

James is no ordinary dreamer-when he dreams, people die horrific deaths. Even before he finds revealing documents in the old family home, he is a ticking time bomb ready to explode and we learn that he has fallen victim to a generational curse that haunts his father's bloodline.

Or has he?

This man's vivid nightmares drive him to the brink of madness and at times, James is hard-pressed to separate his dreams from reality. His wife wants to help, but is constantly put off by her husband's denial. When James' friend Pete senses his mental fragility, he sees the perfect opportunity to exact revenge for James' affair with his wife in the months before her death.

Crescendo is a masterpiece, an exciting, wide-eyed look into the psyche of a killer. As someone who has studied psychology and psychopathology as it relates to crime, I found Ms. Wood's story riveting, intriguing and very well-written. It was a thought-provoking read that, for me, renewed the age-old argument of heredity vs. environment and whether or not our destinies are predetermined. It is an awesome debut novel for Ms. Wood and I look forward to more thrillers from her in the future. This work is perfect for the big screen!

C. Highsmith-Hooks, Author
The Soul of a Black Woman

Rating:
Summary: Yawn ...
Review: This book is by far the most terrifying thing I've ever read. I think my favorite aspect is it's ability to keep you guessing. There are several points in the book where I have to re-read just to make sure that what just happened, "actually happened". It's a must read for all horror/suspense fanatics and I'm anxiously awaiting L. Marie's next work.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!!! Excellent!
Review: This story will keep you going. Is he sane or not? Loved it looking forward to the authors next book.