Rating: 
Summary: No Surprises But An Enjoyable Read
Review: In "Crying Wolf," Abrahams introduces to some really well-developed and interesting characters. The hero, Nat, is a likeable protagonist, and his involvement with the wealthy twins, Izzie and Grace, is complex and ultimately doomed. Add Freedy Knight to the mix and you have one crazy plot evolve. Freedy is a great character, and Abrahams' motif of letting us get inside Freedy's rather warped mind is a treat.The plot moves a little slowly at the beginning, but by the time it picks up, it is involving and ominous. The book's two biggest "twists" however are very obvious, and don't really surprise the reader. These twists involve the identity of Freedy's father and a key plot mechanism involving Izzie and Grace and their kidnapping scheme. Poor Nat, he is pretty blind not to see the obvious in this one! However, it is a diverting read, not a classic, but not a dud either!
Rating:
Summary: A thriller with a twist
Review: Nat is the all-American teen who believes in apple pie and the flag. As the number one student in the graduating class of Clear Creek High School and partly due to his community service, Nat gains a scholarship to Inverness, the best smaller college in the country. Nat quickly acclimates to his new college environment, making friends with Izzie and Grace Zorn when he rescues their pet fish. Nat is stunned when he learns that their father is a billionaire with the power to shake empires. The trio stumbles across a secret set of catacombs that run beneath the college. They choose a particular section of the catacombs as their special hideout. However, their academic bliss ends when Nat is forced to return home because his mother lost her job. His two buddies develop a plan to help Nat's family with their financial woes so he can remain in school with them. However, their innocent plan spins out of control threatening to destroy all three of them and their loved ones. Peter Abrahams redefines the suspense genre with this chilling tale of impending and unstoppable doom. A master of characterization, Mr. Abrahams creates a slow building, mindbending atmosphere that becomes a primal element unto itself. This adult rendition of "The Little boy Who Cried Wolf" is a literary novel whose wide appeal will enchant those who read it. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Footnotes to Crying Wolf
Review: Nietzsche said: "Youth as such is something that falsifies and deceives." I've wanted to write a crime novel with a college setting for some time. I knew Nietzsche's thought would play a role - how well he fits the college years, one of those perfect but troubling fits, like sex and regret. I knew there'd be a labyrinth of dangerous tunnels beneath the campus, a place where the hidden natures of Nat and Grace and Izzie might be revealed. (Too much of my own undergraduate career was spent in tunnel exploration. They were pretty scary, and that was without anyone like Freedy lurking in the darkness.) Crying Wolf is the first book of mine in which I've had a character say something verbatim that I heard in real life. Helen Uzig's exit line at the dinner party (page 183) is a piece of advice my late mother gave me when I was about Nat's age and needed to hear it (even if I didn't know it then). She also taught me most of what I know about writing - the surprise that comes three lines after Helen's exit is her kind of thing exactly. Thanks, Mom.
Rating: 
Summary: CRYING WOLF Doesn't Deliver
Review: Okay, so I purchased CRYING WOLF because Stephen King declared that Peter Abrahams is his "favorite American suspense writer" on it's cover jacket. I mean, Stephen King can't be wrong, right?
In CRYING WOLF, we meet Nat (I just wanted to add an "e" every time I read his name), an unassuming and humble young man that leaves home for the first time to attend college. Nat then meets Izzie and Grace, spoiled rich twins with different enough personalities to be able to tell them apart (but there was also the different hair color to assist the reader too). All three meet Professor Uzig, long-time family friend of the twins and instructor of Nietzsche at Inverness College. And in between, drug-addicted Freedy quietly enters the scene by chance on escape from California where he did something that was less than appropriate while cleaning pools. Alright. So the character development ain't half bad so far and thus takes us through the first couple hundred plus pages before any real action happens. This is probably where the majority of thriller/suspense novel fans will lose patience and I nearly did, but there was just enough entertainment between all the characters to keep me going. I have to say though, Freedy's slowly deteriorating mental state did make for a very interesting bad guy and Grace's less-than-trustworthy behavior helped mix up the three students relationships to keep things fresh, even if a bit unoriginal.
Moving on to the main event itself (which, again, doesn't really pick up after about two hundred pages): the poorly planned "kidnapping" of one of the twins by Nat and the other twin, with a demand of one million dollars in order to help keep Nat at Inverness after learning that his mother can't afford to keep him there anymore. The plan fails miserably, but not before Freedy secretly jumps in after learning about the plot and decides that the one "milion" dollars will be enough for him to start over down south in Florida. So, as Nat and a twin are being scolded by the twin's wealthy father for pulling such a prank, Freedy officially kidnaps and makes off with the twin in hiding. When Nat and the remaining twin discover this twist, it's a bit too late as no one now believes them anymore. Nat and twin take the law into their own hands and begin an investigation of their own and, incredibly, figure it all out within only a few short hours.
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: So here's where things went wrong for me. First, what's up with the two early turn of the century rooms completely preserved underneath the tunnels of the college, complete with fully-stocked liquor cabinet and canopy bed? Second, how believable is it that Nat would actually go along with such a stunt as faking a kidnapping (and, ultimately, end up in prison for it)? Third, couldn't the twins just have asked for the money to help Nat out, considering how generous the family was early on in the novel? Also, why only hint at the father-son relationship between Freedy and Prof. Uzig in the last twenty pages? That in itself is worth exploring for another chapter. Finally, why end on such a depressing note? Did our hero really deserve it?
Overall, I enjoyed the slower pace as a direct result of better character development and the university backdrop in winter, but was left with the feeling that the plot was a bit rushed, if not forced, towards the end. Not something I would recommend for a quick vacation read and would expect to eventually see as a WB TV show. Obviously, Mr. King was referring to Mr. Abrahams other novels because this one just isn't worthy of his praise.
Rating: 
Summary: The Wolf Does Much More Than Cry
Review: Peter Abrahams has outdone himself with his latest novel Crying Wolf. Always a writer of hard to put down crime novels, with this story he has also created a hard to put down character and a book that trancends its genre. Anyone familiar with Abrahams' style will recognize the complex layering of different characters, the intricacies of situation and the inexorable build in suspense. However Nat's journey from small town boy into sophistication, philosophy, intrigue and ultimately bloodshed is a thoroughly engrossing tale of American dreams and their darker underbellies. Crying Wolf is an intelligent and darkly funny book which quickly becomes a coming of age tale as well, one told with a rare combination of wit and suspense.
Rating:
Summary: Quietly suspensful
Review: Raised by a struggling but supportive single mother, Nat finds himself the hero of his small town when he wins an essay contest that provides a meager scholarship. Nat says goodbye to his high school sweetheart, kisses his mom, and heads off to Inverness, a small college packed with the pampered offspring of the privileged. A chance encounter involving a fish aptly named Lorenzo the Magnificent throws Nat together with Izzie and Grace Zorn who are incredibly wealthy, incredibly beautiful twin sisters. Izzie and Grace are daring and captivating, and they do not suffer from the ordinary worries that plague Nat (like how to meet the next tuition payment without his mom losing her house). The three become close friends, and together they find some secret underground passages which become integral in their scheme to help Nat stay in school.
Then along comes Freedy--Friedrich--Knight. Freedy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he considers himself a dashing, irresistable, and super intelligent sort of guy. Unfortunately, one of his more serious blunders nearly gets him shot and forces him to flee back east to hide out with his mom. Of course, Freedy and the trio cross paths, which places all of them in jeopardy.
Perhaps it is a bit misleading for this book to be labeled a suspense novel. Sure, there is some suspense, but the beauty of this book lies in the coming-of-age story of Nat. Freedy is an intriguing character, and the twins are funny, saucy, and more complicated than they first appear. Nat's observations of his surroundings are both touching and humorous, and it is interesting to see how this small town poor boy carves his niche in the world of the rich. Combine this all with the annoying Professor Leo Uzig, and the story can stand on its characters alone. Peppered throughout the novel are references to Nietzsche who would most likely get quite a chuckle out of the quest for meaning that each of these characters goes through.
Don't pick this one up expecting to lose sleep to figure out "who dunnit." This isn't a hair raising thriller. I liked it for the character development. The "action" of the novel doesn't seem to be the focal point but rather the result of all these characters coming together. I also liked that Abrahams does not go for the Hollywood ending so typical of "suspense" novels these days. I thought the book was worth the price even though it turned out to be more of a dramatic character study rather than a nail-biting thriller. This is my first book by Abrahams, and it most certainly won't be my last.
Rating:
Summary: AN INTRICATE AND TIGHTLY SPUN SUSPENSE THRILLER!
Review: Stephen King considers Peter Abrahams his favorite American suspense novelist. You won't find any opinions to the contrary here. "Crying Wolf" is suspenseful, well-written, and intricately detailed...all the elements needed to create the perfect atmosphere in which to tell a story, which Abrahams does masterfully. Nat is headed for a better life...at least that's the opinion of all who know him in the tiny town of Clear Creek. A town in which Nat and his mother struggle to survive their day-to-day existence. When Nat's talents wins him a partial scholarship to the college of his choice, he is elated. He and his mother scheme to come up with the remainder of the costly tuition. Nat has settled on the New England school of Inverness, a choice that is the catalyst for all the events to follow. Once there, he is befriended by twin sisters, Izzie and Grace Zorn, affluent young women to whom wealth is merely something to which they awaken every day. His past life (and girlfriend) are soon forgotten as Nat adjusts to his new life. He grows unwillingly comfortable to his new friendships and their benevolent ways...until the day Nat recieves a letter from his mother telling him that she's been fired from her job and the lifestyle that he lives must come to a close. His mother's house is in danger of being repossessed and Nat's tuition must be sacrificed. In fact, he is told in no uncertain terms, that he must return home immediately. Rather than lose him to such banal matters as money woes, Izzie and Grace concoct a perilous plan that would afford him the means with which to stay at Inverness with no one being the wiser. Silly girls. When Mr. Zorn is presented with the ridiculous plot, he scoffs and writes the whole thing off as "kids games". The plot takes a nasty twist then when Freedy, a mentally unstable young man happens to overhear their plans, and decides to carry them out on his own. Of course, the girls have already cried "Wolf!", and no one will listen to them. The resulting drama is tense and powerful. Laced with Nietzchean philosophy and fully-realized characters, "Crying Wolf" is an incredible moral tale, told with just the right amount of humor and insight to make it intelligent as well. This is one book that comes highly recommended.......
Rating:
Summary: A Victim of His Previous Works
Review: This book is a victim of the author's previous works. Once you've read other offerings, you come to expect dynamic chacterization, a rock-'em-sock-'em pace along with a surprises thrown in. Crying Wolf doesn't quite cut it in all areas. The characterization is there. First we meet Freedy, a swimming pool cleaner who just doesn't get it, an Abrahams' trademark. Freedy thinks he's smarter than he is; he thinks he's sexier than he is and in demand, and he doesn't understanding what the woman's (whose pool he's cleaning) problem is when he tries to have sex with her. On the other end of the spectum is Nat, the mid-west son of a single parent, basketball playing high school kid whose intelligence and essay wins him enough money to go to Inverness. While Freedy momentarily fades from the picture, Nat goes off to college. Because he can't afford to go home for Christmas, he must spend holiday on campus--until he meets the twins, Grace and Izzy. The twins, who are filthy rich, introduce Nat to a seductive new world he could not even begin to imagine. They take a jaunt to the Carribeans on the twins' family jet where Nat meets Leo Uzig, a philosophy professor at Inverness. From there, the plot thickens and the pace, which has faltered up to this point, picks up consideraly. Under the guidance of the professor, the twins and Nat become involved in a "harmless" plot that turns deadly very quickly.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: This book really was not that exceptional, even from the beginning. But heck, I paid (price) for it, so I thought I would go ahead and finish it. That was a mistake. The ending was absolutely stupid. It was as if the author came up with 5 possible endings, wrote them on slips of paper, and stuck them in a hat. This ending was on the slip of paper he pulled out. Too bad that it was the worst ending out of the five. I could think of 10 more satisfying and intelligent endings than this. Apart from the ending, everything else about this book fails. The suspense (well, what little of it there is) really doesn't lead up to anything. It just kind of fizzles out when you think it's going somewhere. The characters aren't that interesting. Freedy made me chuckle a couple of times, but he wasn't any more memorable than a character anyone else could have created. All in all, it's a bad book. Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: This book really was not that exceptional, even from the beginning. But heck, I paid (price) for it, so I thought I would go ahead and finish it. That was a mistake. The ending was absolutely stupid. It was as if the author came up with 5 possible endings, wrote them on slips of paper, and stuck them in a hat. This ending was on the slip of paper he pulled out. Too bad that it was the worst ending out of the five. I could think of 10 more satisfying and intelligent endings than this. Apart from the ending, everything else about this book fails. The suspense (well, what little of it there is) really doesn't lead up to anything. It just kind of fizzles out when you think it's going somewhere. The characters aren't that interesting. Freedy made me chuckle a couple of times, but he wasn't any more memorable than a character anyone else could have created. All in all, it's a bad book. Don't waste your time.
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