Rating: 
Summary: Interesting...
Review: Greg Iles does a great job portraying the women's view on some very difficult subject matter and emotions. The lead in to the plot and characters gives the reader a chance to digest and delve into each character and scenario. However, the book was a disappointment in using the tired "victim-good cop" love interest that is prevalent in so many "thrillers". Many of the conversations dragged and took too long getting to the point. Overall, I was disappointed!
Rating: 
Summary: Guaranteed to not be your last Iles' book...
Review: Deep Sleep will make you want to read more. After reading this one--a grocery store pick up for something to read on vacation--I was hooked and soon made a trip to the nearest bookstore for The Quiet Game and 24 Hours (coming out as the movie Trapped this fall). (I found both of those books to be just as well-crafted as Deep Sleep, but still like my first selection the best.) Iles does a masterful job of writing from the female perspective as Jordan Glass, the main character. I had just completed a college course in Women's Studies when I read Deep Sleep, and soon found myself recommending it to my professor because of the intuitive passages about the challenges the Glass character faces. As an artist and photographer, I also recognized the attitudes and behaviors of many creative people in Iles' characters. Although any admirer of suspense novels would enjoy this book, it will be especially appealing to those with an interest in art, photography, and the Vietnam War. Yet while those elements are layered within the story, they are not the story. The only criticism I had of this book was that the ending seemed too abrupt after the storyline being so carefully constructed. It may just be that, while curious to know the conclusion, I didn't want the story to end. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Great New Orleans Ambiance
Review: Emotionally damaged Jordan Glass is a world-renowned photojournalist, presently in Hong Kong on assignment. As she serendipitiously happens upon an art exhibit in noted museum, she is plunged headlong into the bleak ever-present knowledge that her twin sister, Jane--abducted from her St. Charles Avenue neighborhood 18 months earlier---is still unaccounted for and may well be dead as are 11 other women from the New Orleans area. The exhibit provides a merciless clue to the mystery and outcome of Jane's disappearance: the series of oil paintings depict women who at first appear to be sleeping, but in actuality are dead. As Jane is featured in one of the painting, Jordan realizes that the other women in the other paintings may well be the other missing women.
The story flashes to New Orleans where the reader is treated to the local color and the author's obvious intimate relationship with this sultry city of the Mississippi delta. Jordan becomes an integral part of the ongoing FBI investigation of the missing women as the team narrows down the possibilities in light of Jordan's revelations regarding correlation between the paintings and the victims.
In the style he used so well in "Mortal Fear", Iles explores Jordan's past in relation to current events--on the surface we glimpse a woman who appears comfortable in her own skin, yet Iles probes deeper until we see the vulnerability that enables Jordan to eventually see eye to eye with the deranged artist/murderer responsible for the abductions and the masterpieces.
We meet again Dr. Lenz, the FBI consultant from Iles previous novel "Mortal Fear" and a cast of new characters observed from Jordan's cool but smouldering point of view.
One criticism, Iles is obviously creating a woman that any man would kill to be around--she's talented, attractive and not demure when it comes down to what needs to be done both on a sexual and practical level. But choosing a sugary Coke over a Diet at age 40? I sincerely doubt it.
The plot moves along at a breakneck pace which is soothed by the writer's dreamy portrait of the city and its environs. Adding the confused ambiance of Vietnam/Cambodia and Jordan's troubled remembrances of her father who was lost there during the war years of the 60s-70s, keeps the story personal as bits and pieces of Jordan's psyche are revealed along with that of the four suspects the FBI has focused on to further their investigation. Not the very best suspense tale I have read, but good enough to keep me busy for 2 days turning pages.
Rating:
Summary: Dead Sleep
Review: This book was great! I could not put it down! I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a great mystery!
Rating:
Summary: A Thriller
Review: Jordan Glass is a world-class photojournalist whose twin sister, Jane, disappeared without a trace over a year before from her New Orleans home and family. On a chance stop at a Hong Kong art museum, Jordan's attention is drawn to a collection of paintings called 'The Sleeping Women.' To Jordan's practiced eye, the women appear to be dead rather than merely sleeping, which is horrifying enough. And then she is shocked to her core as she looks into the face of one of the painted women and realizes she could be looking into a mirror. Convinced that the painting depicts her missing and presumed dead sister, Jordan flees Hong Kong and contacts the FBI upon her return to the States. The FBI has been investigating a long series of missing women in the New Orleans area, although no bodies have been found. Both Jordan and the FBI are convinced that the paintings prove they are looking for a serial killer. The painter's identity is unknown, and when Jordan attempts to question the New York art dealer who arranged the exhibition in Hong Kong, his apartment is bombed and he is killed. The plot, sub-plots, and imagery are stunning and the pace is, in a word, frantic. Greg Iles's tremendous talent expands with each new book, and this one is not only great read but unforgettable. The ending will shock and astonish you and leave you begging for another Iles book soonest Also recommended: The Price of Immortality by C.M. Whitlock !!! #^#%%@$@ A Fantastic READ
Rating:
Summary: He keeps getting better!
Review: I have now read three books by Greg Iles, and I can say that this is far and away the best of the three. I believe that Iles surpasses Grisham as the best thriller writer from Mississippi with this effort. Heck, who am I kidding Faulkner eat your heart out -- there is a new king in town.
I can truly say I took this book to the beach and was unable to put it down. Iles writes in the 1st person as a female character and pulls it off beautifully. The best part of all is that unlike most thriller writers -- Iles does not try to overdo it with the profanity to cover up a lack of originality in the book's plot (are you listening John Sandford). I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of a good mystery/thriller.
Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced; Riveting; Lousy ending
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book right up until Iles resorted to a Deus Ex Machina to wrap everthing up. Like other reviewers, however, this did not detract from the thrilling ride I took up until then. Jordan is an unusual character, with much more depth and dimension than most female heroines.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting Story, But Weak Ending
Review: I really enjoyed reading this one - the characters were compelling, the mystery was absorbing - but it all seemed to fall apart at the end. Sure, Iles came up with a somewhat satisfying ending, but many questions remained unanswered, and there were several loose ends. (Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
- Lenz appeared to be a major character - but we never heard about him after Jordan is kidnapped. What happened to him in the end?
- How did Wheaton trick Gaines into creating a diversion?
- How did the FBI figure out where to find the killer?
- What of the last portrait that was being painted? Was it an artistic triumph?
All in all, I recommend the book, but I think that Mr. Iles should pay a little more attention to the details on his next go-round.
Rating:
Summary: This thriller soars from the first chapter
Review: In probably one of the best first chapters of any thriller I have read, we meet the heroine, Jordan Glass, a prize winning photojournalist who makes a shocking discovery in a Hong Kong art gallery. After getting strange looks from the staff, she comes upon an exhibit "Nude Women in repose", reputed to be of women who are dead, not sleeping, and was shocked to see herself in one of the paintings. The shock turns to terror as she realizes that the painting is probably of her twin sister, Jane, who was kidnapped in New Orleans a year earlier. Thus begins a fast-paced and exciting story as Jordan finds out that the faces in the paintings match the 11 women kidnapped in New Orleans. Following the paintings to find the painter, Jordan is almost killed as the art dealer is murdered in New York to ensure his silence. She joins the massive FBI task force in New Orleans that includes John Kaiser, task force leader and kindred spirit. As the trail leads to four painters in New Orleans, she is involved in the interviews to see if any of the suspects "recognizes" her from the paintings. Iles finely draws Jordan as an accomplished, complex woman who has experienced loss and emotional isolation but who still longs for a stable relationship and, when visiting her niece and nephew, children. There are secondary plots involving the disappearance and probable murder of Jordan's father, also a photojournalist, in Vietnam, who Jordan still thinks may be alive as well as her difficult relationship with her twin as they were growing up. There is also a love interest story with FBI agent Kaiser. The ending is as fast paced as the rest of the novel with some surprises at the end. Some reviewers thought the ending improbable but what I found hard to believe was the extent to which the FBI tolerated Jordan's demand to interview suspects alone and be a key member of their team. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Jordan and John Kaiser and their quest to find the killer/painter and I highly recommend this novel.
Rating:
Summary: DEAD SLEEP
Review: D uring a trip to Hong Kong, she sees a painting
E xactly like her missing sister the subject resembles.
A hunt for the artist is launched with the help of the FBI
D anger is faced head on by Jordan Glass. S omething about Iles' books I find compelling
L oads of action, this one is no different
E very book keeps getting better and better
E xciting and action-packed you can't ask for more.
P atiently waiting for his next exciting book.
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