Void Moon

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put it Down
Review: The combination of great characters and a fast paced storyline make this one a winner. Also fascinating was the glimpse into the world of high tech burglary. I've read a few of Connelly's other books, including The Poet and I look forward to reading his other works.

Rating:
Summary: Vegas and intrigue at its best!
Review: This is the first Michael Connelly book I have read. Larry King recommended this book in his Monday column in USA Today so I got on the list at the library for it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could not put it down. I learned about the history of Vegas and Vegas slang. This book was very well paced and original. I learned what a void moon is and who was inaugurated during a void moon. After reading this I am going to buy a Lucinda Williams CD and listen to her songs. I'll also have to buy an old Frank Sintra CD with Summer Nights on it. This is a must read. I loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reading and Entertainment
Review: Connelly's book is execellent and enjoyable reading. The first chapter or so was slow but the novel builds interst after that and it became difficult to put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: The beginning seems familiar ( I have read all of his books)
Review: This was a very enjoyable novel. Without a doubt Michael Connelly has a real way with words. At the beginning of the book it seemed too familiar. But as it advanced I was pulled in and had a hard time putting the book down. I was really pulling for the lead charater and the ending was full of surprises.

Rating:
Summary: disappointing effort from a very good writer
Review: I have read all of Connelly's books, but this is not one of his best. Anyone who wants to read one of his best should start with "The Poet" or "The Last Coyote".

Rating:
Summary: A sensual story of love, money, and retribution.
Review: Cassie Black walked away from her life as a criminal after one disastrous night left the man closes to her dead and her life in shambles. Now she sells Porches to Hollywood hotshots. But when a secret she holds is threatened, Cassie tosses her new life away and goest back to her old trade of robbing casino gamblers. Then she discovers a world of trouble when Jack Karch, a nemesis from the past, targets her for payback in behalf of casino owners whose clientele are her prey. Getting out alive will take all her skill, luck, and faith in one good thing. Void Moon is a masterpiece of writing which turns conventional notions of good and evil inside out. This is a rapidly paced, sensual story of love, money, and retribution. Crime fiction at its most original and very best.

Rating:
Summary: great book til the end
Review: I love Connelly's books. I envy his success. I loved this book, but as in other of his novels he once again demonstrates a willingness to take a highly appealing story and set of characters and have them engage in all sorts of bizarre plot twists to pull it all together. I almost expect him to eventually write: "And then a spaceship came down from Mars and killed everyone. The End." It must be hard to outdo your own success. Like Carl Hiassen, who seems to keep writing the same book, Connelly has trouble coming up with solid plot lines. The stories are absorbing and engaging until you can almost hear him say, "Oh My God, I've got to end this and tie it all together." As a reader, you feel offended. You've been taken for a ride, but with Connelly, at least the ride is a lot of fun until the horse throws you off at the end and you feel as if you've been had again.

Rating:
Summary: Void People
Review: Let's face it; all of the characters in this book are not very evolved. First there is the heroine, Cassie Black. It is difficult to develop much feeling for Ms. Black, the author telling us only that Cassie is in her early thirties. Even though we are tired of male authors describing their heroines as physical goddesses, we would like to have some, minimal description of the young lady that we are going to spend several hours with. She's a convicted felon who, after giving it a lot of serious thought, has decided to return to a life of crime. Cassie gets put onto a job robbing a high roller in a Vegas casino. Using high tech equipment she steals big bucks from this gentleman's bedroom. This upsets lots of bad persons, and they start murdering numerous people while tracking Cassie. Various undesirable people meet untimely ends, and if you are a good person, then undoubtedly you will also be killed, seriously injured, or emotionally traumatized as punishment for showing up in this novel. Does our tarnished heroine escape those forces even more evil than herself? Given the 391page length of the novel will it be possible for the author to find time to adequately punish all of the psychopaths wandering the book's pages?

Now for the good news. This is a fairly quick moving thriller, and for the most part it does hold your attention. If you like to see characters exit a book as a result of fatal injuries, well then, you've got an extra bonus here. Mr. Connelly is an excellent writer. If you have not read any of his books then your assignment is to read all eight of his other novels before picking up this one. That way you will see him at his best, and be more forgiving of the flaws found in Void Moon.

Rating:
Summary: Un-original and predictable.
Review: I normally like Connelly but 'Void Moon' reads like the screenplay for a TNT movie of the week.

Nothing surprises, the dialogue is cliched, the characters we have seen hundreds of times before, the plot senseless.

Guess he was under a publishing deadline when he scribbled this one out.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps His Best
Review: I am a huge fan of Connelly and I think this could be his best. I was not sure where he was going at first, for it seemed strange to have such a morally ambiguous character as the heroine. I will never not trust the him again. Not only did the book deliver incredible tension and suspense in the second half (it slowly, slowly builds until you just can't stop reading), but, like all of his books, delivered the suspense with great weight and meaning. Exellent.