Rating: 
Summary: A very intriguing mystery without being mysterious.
Review: What a great novel this is. It is an interesting story without being mysterious right away. The author swings you into it and before you realize what's happening, you are in the middle of a serious situation. Listening to this while driving across North Dakota made three hundred miles seem like a joy ride.
Rating: 
Summary: Kinsey solves the case but reveals little of herself.
Review: After sharing so many cases with Kinsey and crew, it becomes difficult to read about the case alone. I want more clues to her character - what motivates her actions. I would like to see Kinsey grow as a person, but that just doesn't seem to be happening. Yet, the writing is clean and eacy to ready and it is still a fun journey.
Rating: 
Summary: Without Judy Kaye to read it ... a real dud!!!
Review: I only listen to audio books and I have loved every single Sue Grafton book until "N" .. it was too long, rambled on ... and it didn't have Judy Kaye to read it .... JUDY KAYE 'IS' KINSEY. I don't know what happened to Judy Kaye but she needs to come back! She could have saved "N" ... Hope "O" has everything back like it's supposed to be!
Rating:
Summary: A comic book of a novel
Review: Grafton's writing is dull, formulaic, and unrealistic. Her characters are from the one-dimensional, connect-the-dot trash heap. N is for Noose is further undermined by scenes drawn from a simpleton's vision of reality. For example, Kinsey is trapped in her motel room while a thug breaks in... and what happens? The guy pins her on the ground and then dislocates two of her fingers. What a brute! We could only hope a similar experience might befall Ms. Grafton and keep her away from the keyboard where she threatens to belt out more of her "literature." After all of the overblown discriptions are removed and a decent editor cuts a hundred pages, N is for Noose can be viewed as a short story that deserves a C- in high school composition. Please Sue, get a full-time job at UCSB and save everyone from your next "novel."
Rating:
Summary: After an A+ start, N deserves an F
Review: After getting hooked on the alphabet series with the excellent earlier books A-H, the series and characters have begun to wane. The later books have not advanced the characters like Kinsey, Henry and Rose. All these charachters were enjoyable in the earlier books with their witty reparte, but have grown old and stagnant. Kinsey needs a partner (as maybe does Grafton) to make this series take on a new and exciting aspect. If O is as slow developing and boring as N was I may not want to buy the remainder of the series.
Rating:
Summary: YAWN!!!
Review: I'm one of the lucky ones. I found this at a used bookstore for $8.00 - Like the Winner by David Baldacci (which I also found a few weeks after first put on the market ) That should have, again, clued me in to what I was about to read.I have read H-N and I do like Ms. Grafton's writing style and stories. I would agree, that if this is the First Grafton story you have read then you actually might like it, but for the veteran's you will be disspleased. Wait for the paperback at a used bookstore. or wait for O - Out of ideas!
Rating:
Summary: Slow, convoluted,& often boring. Not one of Grafton's best
Review: I came to the Alphabet series late (probably around "G") but absolutely loved each and every one. I couldn't wait for the next one but the last two especially are turning me off. I should note that I listen to these books on my long travels and a good part of the negativity has to do with replacing Judy Kaye. To me Kaye WAS Kinsey, Ms. Peiffer just doesn't cut it but then neither did this story. The characters were uninteresting, the plot was all over the place and the ending just wasn't worth waiting for. The plots in the more recent books ("M" and "N") are getting more twisted and it is harder to want to stay involved. Maybe Ms. Grafton should go back and re-read "A is for Alibi" or "B is for Burglar" to regain her style. At this rate no one will care if Kinsey makes it to "Z is for Zero", which could have been the title of this book. Above all BRING BACK JUDY KAYE AS THE READER, at least she can carr! y a weak story with her excellent readings.
Rating: 
Summary: One of Grafton's Best
Review: I've read all of Grafton's alphabet mysteries and think N is for Noose is among her best. K, L, and M were not up to par, but with N Grafton has returned to more complex plotting, better twists, and multiple red herrings. At the same time, Kinsey is developing, maturing, as any character must, though I have to admit I much prefer her smart-mouthed, kick-ass former self over this worried, what-will-the-neighbors-think version. She is caught off-guard once and has her fingers painfully dislocated. I was hoping that upon her second encounter with the cretin, she'd pulverize him and gloat (as she has been known to do). Even so, N was a good way to spend a rainy evening in the Rocky Mountains.
Rating:
Summary: Good effort but ending was a cop out.
Review: I'll read it again, and I'll buy it in paperback but Grafton has got to quit copping out in either killing or maiming her killers. It almost works but I would have liked it better if Kinsey had actually killed him this time or if the good cop had saved the day so to speak. But honestly I am quibbling. It is a great read and typicaly Kinsey Milhone.
Rating:
Summary: Pedestrian!
Review: Grafton has never been my favorite, but most of her earlier books were at least good reads. This one is boring and padded with improbable incidents like a numeric cipher Kinsey is too dumb to solve, a murder technique that's never explained, and Kinsey's total breakdown because she thinks townspeople are talking about her! And what's the bit about the town's founders being branded convicts from England - in California! Grafton needs to take some time off. I don't think she's capable of sustaining the series through the rest of the alphabet. How about a new hero?
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