Barranca

Rating:
Summary: Back, and better than ever
Review:

Like a lot of other fans of McAllister, I worry whenever a new Eddie Caminetti novel appears -- can he sustain one of the greatest franchises in popular literature? The answer here is a resounding Yes. McAllister rips the living daylights out of Washington and international politics, popular culture and the news media, all wrapped up in a terrific yarn with so many intriguing twists and turns it makes The Manchurian Candidate look like Mother Goose. As compelling and suspenseful as any Clancy or Ludlum thriller, this is nevertheless an hysterically funny book, full of surprisingly profound insights that will have you thinking as well as laughing. Eddie Caminetti, in all his glorious irreverence and iconoclasm, explodes off the pages. One thing is for sure: You'll never look at a news broadcast the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: better luck next time
Review: could not wait to get my hands on this new mcallister book, the previous efforts being so entertaining & w/such superb character development. this one was all over the map as i guess even the best writers experience a "hiccup" now & again! certainly NOT worth the price of admission.

Rating:
Summary: Another classic - Eddie strikes again!
Review: Eddie Caminetti is like Harry Potter for the thinking adult: His adventures just get better and better. This one takes place on a geopolitical scale and, as usual, Troon McAllister leaves a trail of thoroughly skewered sacred cows in his wake. Everything you ever hated about network news but didn't know how to express is here, and the same goes for Washington power players and a handful of cultural affectations, all wrapped up in a deliriously intriguing plot as fast-paced as Grisham and as keenly observed as Turow. Eddie rocks as never before, and he's rocked plenty before.

Rating:
Summary: Not to be missed
Review: Haven't read the others in this series, but have now ordered them all. Eddie Caminetti is a character for the ages, just the kind of surprisingly honest scamp this world needs a lot more than "sincere" and pious politicians who lie to us as a matter of course. McAllister puts them all in their place, along with network news organizations in the form of a thinly disguised CNN stand-in. It's a great story, too, as captivating as any Ken Follett thriller only a helluva lot funnier. My highest recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: better luck next time
Review: I have mixed feelings about this one. The premise is great, and it starts out laugh out loud funny with a steady stream of the author's wry, tongue in cheek humor. About one-third of the way in, the cleverness slows down markedly and the story gets told. Finally, at the end, we get the real story that is almost preachy and serious.

Don't get me wrong. I really liked this book, and I considered giving it a 5. The cynicism toward politics and the media are absolutely on target, but something about the changes of pace and the preachy tone took a bit of the edge off for me.

The Green and Scratch are both better.

Rating:
Summary: Biting satire - terrific fun
Review: I'm convinced: There's no better writer in the sports novel genre than Troon McAllister. This is only the latest in a string of wonderful books that can be read on any of many levels. The social satire is cutting edge, the story is as thrilling as anything by Clancy or Follett, and all the while the belly laughs just keep on coming. A book to be savored, and as highly recommended as they come.

Rating:
Summary: A major regression since the green
Review: It's official, McAllister has lost his touch with furnishing a great golf fiction novel with Eddie Caminetti. After what I would consider to be three very successful consecutive novels in The Green, The Foursome, and Scratch, a new low has been reached. Barranca follows the story of a supposed terrorist (barranca) who monopolizes the coffee market; U.S. citizens panick when starbucks coffee reaches $8. SO what does the US do...good old president Eastwood sends Caminetti to Brazil to negotiate with the terrorist with a golf match. The premise of the novel sounds very intriguing, but McAllister kills it by focusing on various characters within the government that fail to stand out in any way. This static nature plagues a good 3/4 of the novel and Eddie is reduced to a minor character when he gets "captured" in Brazil. What boggles my mind is that Troon completely disregards Eddie's wit and somewhat mysterious ways of winning/rationalizing by reducing him to a mere average golf mortal. We see Caminetti extremely vulnerable in situations, failing to be the dominant source. He loses the caminetti edge, something that defined the novel The Green. The only highlight of the novel comes with the end where Eddie somewhat regains his style, but not in the expected fashion. I was very disappointed with Barranca, but I can only hope the really Eddie will find a way back into literature soon.

Rating:
Summary: The Mouse That Roared Takes Up Golf
Review: This is not your usual Eddie Camenetti golf adventure. In fact, the golf is very much a side piece to the book. It is much more of a comment on the foibles of our governments, the media that cover them and what motivates both told in very biting satire. The structure of the story is interesting. In the first section of the book we read "the beginning of the story." In the second part we are told the "end of the story." At the end we are told "the middle of the story." Of course, it is the middle that makes all the rest understandable.

Some of the characters of the book are very entertaining, perhaps none more so than the GNN "war correspondent" Mona Bertram who might just remind you a wee bit of CNN's "war chick", Christiana Amanpor.

To outline the story here would spoil the read. It is a clever effort and sometimes it is a bit too clever. Other times it hits home with some truths that make you pause. When the Secretary of Homeland Security is asked by the president's chief of staff if he can help in a situation, it is pointed out that he "was happy to do anything, as his was a thankless a job as any to be found on the planet and he was always on the lookout for things, however small, that might earn him some recognition or gratitude. Like people who cleaned toilets or maintained computers, his success was utterly dependant on absolutely nothing bad happening, and when it didn't, nobody noticed. It was only when the plumbing backed up or the operating system wiped itself out or a building got blown up that anyone paid any attention and then all manner of hell would pour down and the trouble free years to that point wouldn't even be a rounding error in the balancing of recriminatory accounts."

Eddie is more fun when doing his thing on the golf course and hopefully he will be returned there for the next effort.

Rating:
Summary: An Eddie Caminetti novel?
Review: While Barranca may be a "good" book, I was most disappointed with it. After reading The Green, The Foursome, and Scratch, I was willing to do just about anything to get my hands on another Eddie Caminetti novel. For all intents and purposes, this is not an Eddie Caminetti novel. Eddie plays almost a minor role in the story, and there's none of the depthy cleverness of the first three novels as it pertains to the world of golf. Troon McAllister (a.k.a. Lee Gruenfeld) missed the mark on this one.

Rating:
Summary: excellent cutting edge satire
Review: While Homeland Security and the department of defense fight a global war against terrorism, most Americans feel the latest OPEC oil manipulations not quite realizing that this time it is more than supply control as third world demand dramatically has increased. However, a greater threat to world peace occurs when, Manuel Villa Lobos de Barranca corners the coffee market. The problem the administration faces as the public screams for impeachment between coffee party riots when Starbucks hits double digits is that Manuel has scored his coup following American capitalist principles he learned at Stanford.

The CIA and the FBI consider Manuel as the world?s greatest threat and know they must intercede, but he broke no laws and conducted his caffeine takeover above board. Normally that would not stop them from filtering Manuel by taking him out, but the world is watching what they do to a South American who applied acceptable Bush economics to take over the coffee business. Desperate, as the government runs on coffee, the Feds turn to their greatest weapon, golf hustler Eddie Caminetti because Manuel trusts him and loves the sport. Equipped with fourteen WMD clubs, Eddie plays Manuel for a cup of coffee.

BARRANCA is cutting edge satire that takes shots at the double bogie American economic policies and the war against terrorism. The story line is fast-paced and witty and never slows until the final holes play out at Camp David make that Trump. Eddie is a terrific golfer, but this time he shares the 18-holes with Manuel. Fans of golfing stories that consist of aces, eagles, and sand traps will appreciate Troon McAlister?s fourth hole tale.

Harriet Klausner