Rating: 
Summary: The best of its genre
Review: A. J. Quinnell has written the best book on revenge and personal redemption I have read. It has enough action and attention to technical detail to satisfy anyone reading it as a techno-thriller or procedural. He also develops the characters and their relationships well, creating a believable world and people the reader will come to care about. The plot is fairly standard "they did something horribly unjust and I'm going to get them all," yet it has enough unique twists that it avoids cliche. It is a thoroughly engrossing and entertaining work.P.S. If you have seen the movie "Man on Fire," which is supposedly based on this book, forget the movie (as if you could remember it - it was just plain awful). The movie title and the names of a few of the characters were the only thing that was shared between the movie and the book. The movie was badly directed, badly filmed, horribly edited, confusing and had none of the suspense, tension, character development or wit found in the book. Read the book.
Rating:
Summary: The best of its genre
Review: A. J. Quinnell has written the best book on revenge and personal redemption I have read. It has enough action and attention to technical detail to satisfy anyone reading it as a techno-thriller or procedural. He also develops the characters and their relationships well, creating a believable world and people the reader will come to care about. The plot is fairly standard "they did something horribly unjust and I'm going to get them all," yet it has enough unique twists that it avoids cliche. It is a thoroughly engrossing and entertaining work. P.S. If you have seen the movie "Man on Fire," which is supposedly based on this book, forget the movie (as if you could remember it - it was just plain awful). The movie title and the names of a few of the characters were the only thing that was shared between the movie and the book. The movie was badly directed, badly filmed, horribly edited, confusing and had none of the suspense, tension, character development or wit found in the book. Read the book.
Rating: 
Summary: ¡Fantástica! ¡Verdaderamente Impresionante!
Review: A.J.Quinnell sabe cómo hacer fluir la adrenalina a quien lee éste libro. Me resulta interesante la forma como hace que la personalidad del taciturno Creasy se vuelva tierna y temible a la vez. Tal vez todos tengamos a un Creasy dentro de nosotros, que tiene muchas cosas, menos el verdadero cariño de alguien muy especial, como le resultaron a él su amigo Guido y la muy vivaz y tierna Pinta. Las relaciones entre Creasy y la niña me hacen sentir que mis hijos para mí son lo más importante del mundo, que merecen nuestra total atención y cuidado, porque todos, alguna vez, también fuimos niños. Y quisismos mucho a ese alguien especial como Pinta a Creasy. Lástima que Quinnell la mata, fué lo más triste de la historia, y no lo niego: lloré a Pinta. En verdad la recomiendo. Me siento muy identificado con el sentir del personaje principal. aunque no me considero tan violento.
Rating:
Summary: Great read.
Review: After seeing the lukewarm reviews of the movie and hearing from a few friends that this book was fantastic, I opted for the novel. It was the first book I've read by this author, and it certainly won't be the last. Quinnell has a smooth writing style - full of luscious descriptions of food, people, and places without sounding pretentious. Unlike many other action authors, he also writes the roles of women very well, and doesn't stereotype them into worn out parts. He has also a knack for tying up loose ends in interesting ways - definitely check this one out.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time on this uninspired nonsense
Review: Don't waste your time on this uninspired nonsens
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: I had already seen this movie when I noticed that in my Dads old book collection I saw "Man On Fire"... I thought that since I liked the movie so much and I was looking for something to read, Id read it. Its much like the movie where the first portion of the book is slow moving, but I found it apropriate to establish plot and character. Its a great book and an even better movie.
Read the book first if you can, then buy the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I have read all of Ludlum and Clancy and truely enjoyed Man On Fire. Likewise, it is quite pleasant to read stories that take place somewhere other than the US. I will certainly look forward to reading more selections from AJ Quinnell.
Rating: 
Summary: The main plot of the book gets lost until the very end
Review: Man On Fire is a story about ex-mercenary, Creasy, who is burned out and drinking too much, who has seen too much of the bad side of life and sees nothing more to live for. He visits his old friend Guido in Naples, who convinces him to take a low wage bodyguard job to occupy his time. Becoming a bodyguard to eleven year old Pinta Balletto was at first difficult for Creasy in that he did not care to be around people. But Pinta weaves her way into his cold heart and softens it.
When Pinta is kidnapped and killed, and Creasy badly wounded in her protection, he realizes that Pinta had given him a new outlook on life, and he vows to kill everyone even remotely involved in her death, including taking on Italy's top mob boss, Cantarella.
Unfortunately, here the book takes an emotional sidetrack that the movie thankfully left out. Creasy travels to Gozo to recuperate his strength, staying with the family of Guido's dead wife, Julia. He manages to become accepted in the close knit community, making friends and toning his body.
Here we meet Nadia Schembri, Julia's sister, supposedly written to appear tragic but coming off as pushy and self-centered to me. Unfortunately, she becomes a love interest to Creasy, a very bad sidetrack in the plot. I'm sorry, but a bad first marriage doesn't give her the right to use and deceive someone else. I didn't like her at all.
All the revenge and killing praised about in Man On Fire doesn't even begin until page 257 of a 370 page book. While 256 pages were dedicated to Creasy's meeting with Pinta and recovery after the kidnapping, the book still did not divulge as much information on his character as the 2004 movie did.
Ok, I saw the 2004 movie before I read the book, and since the book is almost *always* better than the movie, my expectations for this book were set pretty high.
The Creasy in the movie is much colder, meaner, and more brutal than the book portrayed, the characters more well rounded (and Nadia completely left out, thank god) and more time is spent on the details of the kidnapping and revenge than the book.
Overall, the book was OK, but not spectacular. There was not as much action as I anticipated, and I found the softer Creasy to be less likeable than the movie's more hardened version. Pinta's part in the book was shallow, and I felt I didn't get to know the girl well enough to love her like Creasy did. If you have seen the movie, take note that the book is very different. If you haven't seen the movie, you may enjoy the book more, but be cautioned that it is not the "non-stop action thriller" that is promised.
Rating:
Summary: Right on target
Review: Mr Quinnel does it again. As both a former French Foreign Legionnaire and body guard - as is the main character in the book - I can say the Mr Quinnell is right on target with this book. So many novels nowadays disapoint professionals - revolvers with silencers etc etc. - but this one is on the money. I can only wonder if the author wasn't in the Legion at some point and/or a body guard. Do yourself a favor, if you can get hold of a copy, do it and read it...you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Right on target
Review: Mr Quinnel does it again. As both a former French Foreign Legionnaire and body guard - as is the main character in the book - I can say the Mr Quinnell is right on target with this book. So many novels nowadays disapoint professionals - revolvers with silencers etc etc. - but this one is on the money. I can only wonder if the author wasn't in the Legion at some point and/or a body guard. Do yourself a favor, if you can get hold of a copy, do it and read it...you won't regret it.
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