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Worst Fears Realized

Worst Fears Realized

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: There's an apt title for you
Review: Having read another Stone Barrington book, "Dead In The Water", and not being that impressed by it, I hesitated when a friend offered me this and raved about it. However, my print addiction won out, and I opened it up. Stone Barrington is one of those characters that seem too perfect to be true--rich, handsome, a babe magnet, and an astute detective to boot. The more I read, the less I liked him. It is the rare book that I don't finish, but "Worst Fears Realized" is one of them. Granted, Woods writes with a lightning pace, but he sacrifices character and plot development to achieve that speed. The result is a cardboard cutout with occasional bouts of repugnant violence and pedestrian sex.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great! Barrington Is Back!
Review: Yes that's right, Stone Barrington is back to face a truly dangerous criminal, Herbert Mitteldorfer, strange name huh? Well anyway, Herbie was put away by Stone and his cop friend Dino Bachetti. Well Herbie is BACK and ready to blow away Barrington. Watch out STONE!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What A Hilarious Book!
Review: Worst Fears Realized is my first novel by Stuart Wood. Please note that this review refers to the abridged audiobook version and as such the book version might be different.

Worst Fears Realized starts off with an interesting and compelling plot; a plot that captured my imagination and one that I thought would be impossible not to listen to in one sitting. The storyline is as such...next to being killed in the line of duty, a cop's worst fear is that a convicted felon will one day be released from prison and seek revenge. It appears that someone whom Stone Barrington and Dino Bacchetti put away years ago is stalking them and out to kill everyone close to them. By process of elimination, Barrington/Bacchetti narrow the list of suspects and zero in on a perp by the name of Herbert Mitteldorfer aka Herbie. Herbie was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his wife in a crime of passion; however there's a catch with Herbie as the sole suspect. You see when murders happen it seems that Herbie is nowhere around because he's still in prison at Sing Sing. Barrington/Bacchetti don't let up on there hunch and they continue to suspect Herbie but proving and catching Herbie will take them on a wild cat and mouse chase with plot twists along the way and a cast of supporting characters and suspects.

Speaking of character's ...Barrington is quite a character himself and as such I found it sometimes hard to take him serious as a private detective. Barrington is written as a pseudo-James Bond character who enjoys the finer things of life and he's distracted along the way by fine dining, fine wines,gourmet foods, purchases of armored luxury cars and small cottages in Connecticut; the company of potential Mafia Godfathers and a stream of women at his beck and call. Given the number of female love interest it was hard to keep up with them as they went through Barrington's revolving bedroom door and the most pathetic character was Arrington...a former love interest who's now married but apparently still has eyes for Barrington. In regards to Arrington her character did not appear to be well developed. In the audiobook, she didn't appear until mid-stream... Maybe, Woods better described Arrington in the book version or even previous books, however, in Worst Fears Realized she just suddenly appeared without explanation and her actions were childish/juvenile. Maybe real women do act like that...I just haven't met any of them.

Worst Fears Realized wasn't one of the best mystery/thrillers that I've read but the pace was fast, the storyline was entertaining and humorous, the plot included interesting twist and turns along the way, and the climax while predictable was satisfying.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Readable, But Not Vintage Stuart Woods
Review: Stone Barrington lives a life most guys would kill to have (No pun intended). He is a handsome cop-turned-lawyer who needs an umbrella to keep the women from falling into his lap. The suspense in this novel is erratic. You find yourself hooked for the first 30 pages then wading through the next 2 chapters until the suspense builds again. Much of the plot is completely surreal. You have to suspend your disbelief to get through the book. Woods chose all the right ingredients: sex, murder, etc. They just weren't mixed together well to create a great novel. Makes a decent summer read, but definitely not a great book. If you want a really good Stone Barrington novel, try the first one Woods wrote: "New York Dead", a truly unique thriller and one of the best examples of Stuart Woods hitting on all cylinders.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not worth the effort
Review: I agree with many other reviewers. This book is a step below some of Wood's other works. The story is fairly weak, and the ending comes far too easy for Stone. It was as if Woods had a much more elaborate plot, but cut it short and ended the story without finishing. I couldn't believe it when I was 50 pages from the end of the book that Woods could wrap everything up and solve the crime in the next 50 pages.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: NEEDS AN EDITOR
Review: THE SUSPENSE IN THIS BOOK WAS ALMOST NON EXISTANT AND WOODS NEEDS A CRASH COURSE IN GEOGRAPHY. HE KEPS MISPLACING SING SING! HIS EDITOR MUST HAVE BEEN ASLEEP ON THE JOB!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disappointing...My Worst Fears Were Realized
Review: What has happened to Stuart Woods? The master of the mystery thriller has taken a real vacation in Worst Fears Realized. The story begins with a pretty compelling scene and what looks to be a good thriller in the making. Unfortunately, that's it...it's downhill from that point on. Stone Barrington, the sexy, smart, ex-cop/lawyer has become a cartoon character, totally inane and unbelievable. It's sad to think that this is the same great character from New York Dead. But worse yet, the story is silly and implausable and has absolutely no merit. Don't waste your time on this one. There are too many good novels out there to read.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The reviews are much more entertaining than the book!
Review: I was so puzzled by the depth of stupidity in this book that I had to come to Amazon to see what others thought. It's all right here! readers who are just looking for a fast read loved it, and those who hoped that Woods could still write were horrified by the banality of this effort. Woods loses me at the names of his characters (if only Arrington had married Barrington) Read the reviews, skip the book.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: yuk!
Review: Maybe it's just me, but I found the characters in this book almost completely unlikeable. I've never read such pretentious dialogue! It's hard to empathize with a protagonist who says things like "As you wish" more than a couple of times. It was kind of like reading about a character whose snobbishness is being spoofed, but there is apparently no joke intended. The plot seemed like an interesting idea, but instead of dragging it out, there was really no room for any suspense. If you're a fan of this author, maybe this is what you're looking for, but I found myself rolling my eyes a lot.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Stuart's stinker
Review: This reads like a formula. The characters, especially Stone are flat and silly. I had 100 pages to go and didn't care if they all got murdered. I hope we have bottomed out and it is up hill for Mr. Woods from here.


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