Final Victim

Rating:
Summary: Characters made of paper
Review: The jacket blurb says "Se7en" meets "Silence of the Lambs". Not even close: those were good stories. The characters are paper doolls, probably cut from old Rockford Files scripts.Their motivations seem to shift in the middle of sentences. And while the plot twists in interesting places, Cannell's television background shines through: in passages where characters assess what's going on, their interior monologues come out as words a television director might use to describe a character's "motivation" to an actor. The details of modern hacking and the death metal fringe are interesting and shocking, but they are so gaudily on display, as Cannell gives us a dramatic aside on how much hipper he is than we are because he knows so much about serial murder and computer crime. Worst of all, his carny showmanship shines right off the page, and while you read, you can just about see him flash crooked sneer that makes the point of the stubby cigar hanging out the corner of his mouth dip a bit, before he twirls his waxed mustache and adjusts his tab collar. He gets all righteous or something about providing us those details, but he tells us next to nothing about other actions the characters take that are directly relevant to the plot. In a lot of ways, Cannell seems like he's giving a junior high speech on catching serial killers rather than writing an actual novel that adults will read. Sorry, I'm way harsh on this bood, but I think it's only the first draft. Just the consult the painful narrative passage on pages 291-2 where Karen examines her feelings. It's dreadful and awful, and it wouldn't even make in a script for BAYWATCH...or even a "daytime drama." Which is what this book is: the serial killer storyline a BAD daytime drama might run. And they'd probably do it better.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing at the least
Review: Third of his I have read. I rate him up with Sandford, Patterson, and others of the serial killer novels. His background in TV seems to have given him a heads up in novel writing. I will continue to read more and would recommend his books as exciting and interesting.

Rating:
Summary: great story with many unexpected turns
Review: This book took a lot of my (sleeping) time. I just could not put it away, needed to know what would come next.. I loved the unexpected turns and basically anything could happen on the next page. Big compliment to Stephen Cannell !!! (I just ordered his other 2 books as well !

Rating:
Summary: Where's the movie?
Review: This book was a fast-paced, all nighter! Haven't read Cannell's next books yet, but if they are anything like this one, I'm hooked! After you read this one you too will ask "When is the movie coming out!"

Rating:
Summary: not bad, not great
Review: Three disparate characters with emotional baggage screwing up their lives team up to catch a ghoulish serial killer who uses his computer hacking skills to find and kill his victims. Final Victim is fairly entertaining and fast-paced with well-developed characters, but its plot is predictable: heroes run around and try to capture elusive villain and you know well before you crack open the book whether they will succeed or not. But my biggest criticism with the book--and this may not be fair since it's not a horror book--is it wasn't scary. I was hoping for some frightening and spine-chilling scenes but there weren't any. Despites its shortcomings, I still recommend it. It was fun to read most of the time.

Rating:
Summary: Fast paced...page turner
Review: Thriller at its' best. Fast paced-page turner. This author delievers action packed excitment with each book. If you haven't read Cannell--you are missing out on nonstop action which keeps the reader absorbed until the final page.

Rating:
Summary: Really bad karma.
Review: You would think that someone like Cannell would know better than to write something like this. But apparently even he slips once in a while. If you haven't read one of his other books yet do that and leave this one alone. Otherwise go read someone else.