Icarus

Rating:
Summary: Story Picks up Momentum
Review: Jack is a tough customer whose mentor is a cleaver-wielding butcher from New York City's meat packing district. As a child, Jack watches his mother die at the hands of a deranged murderer who hurls her body through the window of a Manhattan skyscraper, Nevertheless, he manages to make a success of his life: he acquires a classy drop-dead gorgeous wife and partner, cultivates a lucrative string of top-notch restaurants and still manages to maintain his loyalty to those he has met along the way to reaping the lavish rewards of his work. Basically he wants for nothing, even challenging his own fear of heights by purchasing a penthouse apartment several stories above ground level.
Problem? Yes. Disaster strikes a second time when Jack's wife dies exactly the same way as his mother and again Jack witnesses the entire event. Bereft and broken, Jack comes back to life with the help of a younger protegee, Kid Demeter, a personal trainer with a style both motivating and mysterious. Throughout Jack's recovery, he hears about Kid's edgy lifestyle, epitomized by the high-maintenance women in his life. The "team" as Kid labels them are chivalrously referred to only by nicknames, so when Kid himself is found dead after being thrown from his Tribeca apartment window, Jack does not have a clue as to how to convince the police that Kid's death was murder and not suicide.
By far, the most interesting aspect of this book was Jack's foray into Kid's nighttime world of private clubs and fast women. It is here that the author's minimalist's style really works to convey the multi-layered truths of the demimonde as as seen from Jack's skewed perspective.
This novel picks up momentum once the murders of Jack's mother and wife are recounted. There is little dialogue in this first portion of the story so the reader gets the false sense that the author's style needs an injection of life while I believe his intention is merely to supply background information for the real tale.
This is not great literature---however, it is the perfect read for a trip or a day at the beach where one wants to be moved along by an interesting plot and not the artistry of wordplay.

Rating:
Summary: Story Picks up Momentum
Review: Jack is a tough customer whose mentor is a cleaver-wielding butcher from New York City's meat packing district. As a child, Jack watches his mother die at the hands of a deranged murderer who hurls her body through the window of a Manhattan skyscraper, Nevertheless, he manages to make a success of his life: he acquires a classy drop-dead gorgeous wife and partner, cultivates a lucrative string of top-notch restaurants and still manages to maintain his loyalty to those he has met along the way to reaping the lavish rewards of his work. Basically he wants for nothing, even challenging his own fear of heights by purchasing a penthouse apartment several stories above ground level.
Problem? Yes. Disaster strikes a second time when Jack's wife dies exactly the same way as his mother and again Jack witnesses the entire event. Bereft and broken, Jack comes back to life with the help of a younger protegee, Kid Demeter, a personal trainer with a style both motivating and mysterious. Throughout Jack's recovery, he hears about Kid's edgy lifestyle, epitomized by the high-maintenance women in his life. The "team" as Kid labels them are chivalrously referred to only by nicknames, so when Kid himself is found dead after being thrown from his Tribeca apartment window, Jack does not have a clue as to how to convince the police that Kid's death was murder and not suicide.
By far, the most interesting aspect of this book was Jack's foray into Kid's nighttime world of private clubs and fast women. It is here that the author's minimalist's style really works to convey the multi-layered truths of the demimonde as as seen from Jack's skewed perspective.
This novel picks up momentum once the murders of Jack's mother and wife are recounted. There is little dialogue in this first portion of the story so the reader gets the false sense that the author's style needs an injection of life while I believe his intention is merely to supply background information for the real tale.
This is not great literature---however, it is the perfect read for a trip or a day at the beach where one wants to be moved along by an interesting plot and not the artistry of wordplay.

Rating:
Summary: Not Gideon, by any means
Review: Save your time and skip this one. Although it has a great opening scene, the rest of the book fails to deliver the sustained pace and excitement of Gideon, which was a great guilty pleasure read. There are several plot twists which are incredible (this is not a compliment) and you will feel at the end of 540 pages you could have done much better. In fact, in one part of the book, Andrews calls out a character who has read everything by authors like Block, Connolly, and others. Read all of them first before you invest time here.

Rating:
Summary: Stop reading this review!
Review: Stop reading this review. Immediately scroll back up and buy this book - DO IT NOW! And while you're at it - DO NOT read any reviews that describe the story line, plot, don't even read the jacket cover, because they tell you so much that it takes away from the impact of the book's events.

That said, Russell Andrews (or whoever the actual writers are) has crafted the best book I have read all year - maybe ever! The story of Jack Keller is woven around a host of other charcters from his past and present. Keller suffers recurring and horrendous tragedy and the story tells how he moves on with his life, while healing and searching for a killer. Very creative, very clever, well written and believable characters, excellent dialogue, very easy read, fast-paced. I really could not put it down until I had turned the last page. Finally a book with an uplifting and poignent ending.

Climatic scene that makes up the end of the story is a bit drawn out, but builds well on the mystery and Jack's fears and hopes for the future. Bravo. This book is excellent. I am now scrolling up to buy Gideon.

Rating:
Summary: Fulfills its Promise
Review: There are very few things I would chance about this book, but few as they are, they are significant. First and foremost, this book is marketed as a "thriller". Bearing that in mind- why do so many people ruin this aspect of the book?? The book flap gives away WAY WAY too much of the story- and so do most of the reviewers. The element of surprise was thoroughly ruined by the extensive commentary on the book.

The book itself however, is terrific. I was hooked immediately and could not stop reading. If you are a fan of James Patterson or Stuart Woods (also a highly compelling writer)you will really appreciate this book. It is suspenseful and not as convoluted as many other thrillers out there.

Rating:
Summary: Overlong soap opera
Review: This book started off pretty good and had me glued to my chair waiting to see what would happen next. Then, it got bogged down in storytelling -- which should be a good thing, but in this case, it wasn't. The background story and build up of the mystery that infuses this book seemed to go on forever. You're taken through the typical life of a married couple who are trying to start a family and build a comfortable life for themselves at the same time. Not bad fare, but a little slow.

Then years later, their happy life is shattered by death. Jack struggles to regain his health and his outlook on life but again, death strikes. This time, Jack decides to find out why. And hence, the mystery kicks in as Jack searches for answers among a large cast of characters. To me it seemed as if the number of characters was just a way of justifying a longer book then seemed necessary. In some ways, their stories added to the book and in others, it was just filler material.

I had the ending figured out a little over halfway through the book, but I must admit that the author had me second-guessing myself for a while there. The mystery is decent -- because there are so many possibilities, and some of the characters are interesting, but overall, this book lacked excitement. Bottom line: while I wouldn't steer anyone away from this book, I also wouldn't recommend it. You're on your own.

Rating:
Summary: Overlong soap opera
Review: This book started off pretty good and had me glued to my chair waiting to see what would happen next. Then, it got bogged down in storytelling -- which should be a good thing, but in this case, it wasn't. The background story and build up of the mystery that infuses this book seemed to go on forever. You're taken through the typical life of a married couple who are trying to start a family and build a comfortable life for themselves at the same time. Not bad fare, but a little slow.

Then years later, their happy life is shattered by death. Jack struggles to regain his health and his outlook on life but again, death strikes. This time, Jack decides to find out why. And hence, the mystery kicks in as Jack searches for answers among a large cast of characters. To me it seemed as if the number of characters was just a way of justifying a longer book then seemed necessary. In some ways, their stories added to the book and in others, it was just filler material.

I had the ending figured out a little over halfway through the book, but I must admit that the author had me second-guessing myself for a while there. The mystery is decent -- because there are so many possibilities, and some of the characters are interesting, but overall, this book lacked excitement. Bottom line: while I wouldn't steer anyone away from this book, I also wouldn't recommend it. You're on your own.

Rating:
Summary: Great story, great characters, eh ending
Review: This was a very different kind of story. It's not your typical mystery, but it is still very suspenseful and well written. I had never ready anything by Russell Andrews before, and I was nicely surprised by his character creation, and his intricacies. I was a little disappointed in the ending - it didn't really fit, and it was kind of thrown together, but it didn't kill the book for me either. It was still worth the read!
So, don't expect fireworks at the end, but read it anyway - it's worth it - it's a great rollercoaster ride.

Rating:
Summary: Icarus
Review: This was a wonderful thriller to end the summer with!

Someone is out to get Jack Keller, someone with the grudge of the century. But before Keller can even start to figure out that there's some masterplan at work to seek revenge, several people are going to take a fall out of a high window. Finally, Jack realizes that all these accidents are not necessarily accidents. The suicides aren't suicides. There's an insidious plan unfolding that is going to culminate, more than likely, on some high ledge somewhere, where Jack must finally face down what has been a personal nightmare since his own mother was picked up and tossed out a window: a very long drop.

At least, that is how one would figure the book would end. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Maybe Jack won't get pushed off an urban precipice. After all, several people also get slashed, or cleaved.

To end the nightmare, Jack begins his own investigation, while the police dither. He must make his way through a friend's list of strange and sinister girlfriends--called The Team--and hope that he's on the right track. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't.

The plot is rambunctious and unpredictable, but hampered somewhat by a monosyllabic style. Despite the style, this one grew and grew and grew on me. There's a rushjob on the bodycount towards the end--causing the pace to skid out of control quite a bit--but the nightmarish mood, and the web of danger that Jack must navigate as his list of friends, or friends of a friend, degenerates compellingly into (a) suspects or (b) potential victims.

Compulsive, with lots of wicked surprises dropping out of the sky and clunking the reader on the brain.

Rating:
Summary: Good read ....
Review: Was not familiar with Russell Andrews. Had not read Gideon - but when I saw this, I knew it would be at the very least a good "summer read" - I was more than surprised when I could not put down this book. Russell Andrews kept me in suspense.... A must read for those of us who like "thrillers". I have now ordered Gideon.....