Hemlock Bay

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I'm really glad I read the other 5 in this series before I got to this one. Chances are that if I hadn't I would not have bothered to go back and read the others. The characters personalities seemed very childish to me in this book. I didn't feel that a lot of effort and thought went into it.

Rating:
Summary: Please, how could you read this?
Review: Ok, actually I did read this. But only because I feel a warped sense of loyalty to Catherine Coulter whom I've been reading since I was 13. Her early historicals were good, particularly The Sherbrooke Bride series. (This does not mean you Mad Jack!)
Her dialogue and analogies just get worse and worse and her character development, always shallow, is deplorable. I guess it's mainly her dialogue that gets me...ugh.

Rating:
Summary: Beware
Review: This is NOT a mystery. This is a romance masquerading as a mystery. I hated it; I gagged over Nick-n-Nora, aka Dillon and --would you believe? -- Sherlock; I quit reading it about halfway thru. I truly dislike those romance novelists who are trying to parlay a rep in that genre into one in my escape genre of choice, mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: Very Disapointed
Review: As an avid Catherine Coulter fan, especially her previous books including FBI agents Sherlock and Savich, this is not at all what I expected. I would have placed this in the category for fiction, maybe suspense, but certainly not a Romance novel. Story was dull and lacking in romance. The first Coulter book I didn't care for, but still a Coulter fan.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: As a big fan of the Savich and Sherlock series, I was disappointed by this newest installment. I didn't like the addition of the supernatural elements AT ALL. I did like the characters of Savich's sister, Lily, and Simon Russo, and they added a new romance to the ongoing story. If you follow the series, you will most likely read this one anyway, but it just doesn't live up to it's predecessors.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing suspense thriller
Review: Hemlock Bay has two primary plots focusing on FBI agent Dillon Savich's work and family. Both plots become progessively more unbelievable, culminating in endings that are nothing short of ridiculous. Although Coulter manages to keep two disparate story lines somewhat apace, the characters and the connections between them are shallow. Compared to other books by Catherine Coulter, this is an unfortunate disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Editing anyone?
Review: I feel like something happened to Catherine Coulter before the last two mystery novels she wrote. I've always enjoyed her work, but it's as if she's trying out a style of writing that is at complete odds with the material. Or, because of her success, no one is editing her, or having the guts to tell her the writing has taken a severe downswing. Why? To meet deadlines? I wish more time had been taken to review her manuscript before publication.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best but,
Review: I liked Lily and Simon a lot and hope to read their story. Always like reading about Savich and Sherlock. I have to say though that if I ever hear the word "gnarly" again, I may be sick.

Rating:
Summary: Pass the hemlock!
Review: Precisely who wrote this dialogue? Was Ms. Coulter out of her ever-lovin' mind? Character development was, essentially, non-existent; banal is the first word to describe this. Had to get a title out on time; too busy? Where on earth was the editor on this one?

Rating:
Summary: Definitely Disappointing
Review: This is my first Catherine Coulter, and probably my last. The characters are so flimsily drawn it's hard to get a handle on them. It feels as though you're reading the paper that had to be turned in before Friday, words but no involvement on the part of the author or the reader. And the editing errors really stand out, hooking your brain and refusing to allow you to go on until you search out the problem. It's one of the maybe five books I've put down without finishing in my reading life.