Rating: Summary: Erin go bragh, but Demille go home. Review: Members of a small band of the Irish Republican Army are desperate to have their friends and relatives released from British imprisonment. They will do anything to get the attention of the world in hopes that the media will help their cause, even if it means committing the sacrilege of kidnapping a Cardinal and blowing up the famous Saint Patrick's Cathedral during the holiest of holy Irish celebrations... Saint Patrick's Day.Demille brings us up close and personal with this band of extremists who not only wage war with the British, but each other. This amounts to a dismally uninteresting tale that switches from one unfamiliar setting to another. Dear reader is heavily dependent on understanding the architectural nuances of each setting through the author's description. Demille attempts to help us become familiar with the setting for each event by including a floor plan of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in the beginning of the book. But still, it remains a chore to understand. The story may have made for a better presentation in a visual sense. A better movie than book this may be.
Rating: Summary: Erin go bragh, but Demille go home. Review: Members of a small band of the Irish Republican Army are desperate to have their friends and relatives released from British imprisonment. They will do anything to get the attention of the world in hopes that the media will help their cause, even if it means committing the sacrilege of kidnapping a Cardinal and blowing up the famous Saint Patrick's Cathedral during the holiest of holy Irish celebrations... Saint Patrick's Day. Demille brings us up close and personal with this band of extremists who not only wage war with the British, but each other. This amounts to a dismally uninteresting tale that switches from one unfamiliar setting to another. Dear reader is heavily dependent on understanding the architectural nuances of each setting through the author's description. Demille attempts to help us become familiar with the setting for each event by including a floor plan of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in the beginning of the book. But still, it remains a chore to understand. The story may have made for a better presentation in a visual sense. A better movie than book this may be.
Rating: Summary: Action, adventure, intrigue, spys, terrorists, politics... Review: Much like the novel By the Rivers of Babylon, this novel has a big cast of characters and lots of action and intrigue. DeMille captures the politics involved and shows some evil and good on both sides of the fight.
One of the reasons I love DeMille so much is unfortunately missing in this novel, and that's a first person point of view protagonist. However, there is one main character that is hero of the novel, and while not quite as good, it's reads great and overall the whole story is great.
No need to go over the plot line and details again, so I'll just say that if you enjoy DeMille, you'll like this one too, if you've never read him, well, this is as good a place to start as any, but keep in mind that some of his other novels are quite different.
DeMille is a great novelist if you haven't tried out some of his stuff, you're missing out.
Rating: Summary: Compelling Drama! Review: Nelson DeMille is one of my favorite authors, and he did not disappoint with this thriller. Unlike many authors, DeMille is not a formulaic writer and each book covers a diverse topic requiring intense research. His acumen for finely drawn characters and breath-holding suspense are evident in Cathedral. Although not as good as Charm School or Word of Honor, still this is worth reading. Keep 'em coming Nelson.
Rating: Summary: demille' s worst book Review: Nelson Demille is one of my favorite authors. I loved Gold Coast, Charm School, and Word of Honor. This book is one of his worst. I don't recommend it at all.
Rating: Summary: A real let-down for Demille fans Review: Nelson Demille is one of the best authors of suspense fiction living today and definitely my favorite. That's why I was so disappointed in "Cathedral." Unlike his other books which had powerful, likable main characters with brains and an ironic wit, Cathedral lacked anyone I could relate to or care about. The story, however fantastic, was interesting, but the book just didn't have the heart-racing, pulse-pounding pace of his other works. I found myself caring about the outcome of the seige at St. Pat's Cathedral only because it meant that the book would FINALLY be over and I could go re-read "Charm School" and rediscover why I love Nelson Demille's work.
Rating: Summary: A real let-down for Demille fans Review: Nelson Demille is one of the best authors of suspense fiction living today and definitely my favorite. That's why I was so disappointed in "Cathedral." Unlike his other books which had powerful, likable main characters with brains and an ironic wit, Cathedral lacked anyone I could relate to or care about. The story, however fantastic, was interesting, but the book just didn't have the heart-racing, pulse-pounding pace of his other works. I found myself caring about the outcome of the seige at St. Pat's Cathedral only because it meant that the book would FINALLY be over and I could go re-read "Charm School" and rediscover why I love Nelson Demille's work.
Rating: Summary: confusing Review: out of all the demilles, this one was a struggle to read. too many characters, lots of irish lingo, confusing right from the start. read any other demille and you will be better off - i have read them all and this is my least favorite. stick to word of honor, charm school, plum island and the gold coast - you can't go wrong with any of these.
Rating: Summary: Hope you don't like good guys Review: Technically, I have no argument with this book. It's well-written and fast-paced, with well-developed characters (among the terrorists, anyway) and a decent plot structure. The problem is, I just couldn't enjoy it.
My complaint comes down to the fact that there is not one single character in the book that I was able to cheer for or sympathize with. The supposed "good guys" are, without exception, a lot of scheming, manipulative, incompetent fools, whose cynicism is so extreme that they evidently don't care what happens to the cathedral or the hostages, so long as they manage to look good in the end. The hostage negotiator never displays a single moment of competence; indeed, the only characters with any imagination, resourcefulness, or principles are the terrorists themselves. After a while, this dynamic becomes predictable, frustrating, and vaguely sickening.
Evidently a lot of people have no difficulty living with this state of affairs in a novel; but I can't manage it. I wish someone had told me before I purchased it.
Rating: Summary: a great read Review: The author starts out taking you through the streets of Ireland,with tales of IRA terrorism, then leads to the U.S. to St Patricks Cathedral, where a very intense and well made plot to sabotage the church...on St Patricks Day...very well written, with very real characters and steady action
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