Manner of Death

Rating:
Summary: Successful suspension of disbelief
Review: I definitely don't expect much from books I pick up while waiting for airplanes, but I found this book interesting and genuinely frightening. Even after I made it off the plane, I had to finish reading before I attended to other business. It asks what would happen if a group of people you knew were being killed one by one and you had the distinct idea that you were next, but nobody could prove that murder was involved? There are holes I could pick in the plot, but I should say that they didn't bother me while I was reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Seemed like a shaggy dog tale to me with a punchless ending
Review: I have read five previous reader reviews and wonder if we all read the same book. I read more than I ever want to about psychology (the central character's internship particularily) and was utterly nauseated by his puppy dog devotion to his earlier lover, Sawyer. Reading about his panting over his upcoming meeting with her after 15 years got tiresome--what a wuss!!I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone, but it came out of the blue on page 340 (out of 350 total pages)This book was at least 100 pages too long, and most of those involved his mindless devotion to his earlier lover, Sawyer. Get a life!!

Rating:
Summary: I wanted to kill him too !
Review: I must admit I'm only 1/4 of the way through this book but I'm rooting for the unknown killer to put Gregory out of his (our) misery. He is pompous, arrogant, and condescending to his wife. He knows everything about everything and is skeptical of the FBI agents who are trying to tell him something. I would have said, "fine buddy, you're on your own" and let him get fried, drowned, shot or whatever. Like these two FBI agents don't have better things to do then BEG this pompous ass to let them help him. What a wind-bag ! No wonder Sawyer dumped him.

Rating:
Summary: Not very satisfying...
Review: I'm a reader who enjoys trying to "put the pieces together" as I make my way through a good mystery. This book frustrated me by making sudden, jolting turns through the plot and then it pulled the rug out from under me at the end. On the plus side, it's an easy read and suffices for an afternoon of sheer escapism. Think Grisham with a graduate-level psychology degree.

Rating:
Summary: Not very satisfying...
Review: I'm a reader who enjoys trying to "put the pieces together" as I make my way through a good mystery. This book frustrated me by making sudden, jolting turns through the plot and then it pulled the rug out from under me at the end. On the plus side, it's an easy read and suffices for an afternoon of sheer escapism. Think Grisham with a graduate-level psychology degree.

Rating:
Summary: If your time is valuable, pass this by!
Review: If you go to the Q. & A. section of White's web page you can read about his not really knowing what will happen in one of his books until the characters reveal that to him during his writing. Manner of Death was a good example of that revelation. The first 350 pages offered little in support of the culmination of the novel. If as a reader you hope to be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together along the way, you are out of luck here. There are no pieces to put together until the very end and unfortunately those that do get put together at the end are not at all intriguing or memorable.

Rating:
Summary: Satisfied
Review: Like all Stephen White's Books this one is exciting and gets your attention right away. The dynamics of the story seemed to carry me along. The only compliant was the ending was a little flat. But some of his books have done that before. Well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Satisfied
Review: Like all Stephen White's Books this one is exciting and gets your attention right away. The dynamics of the story seemed to carry me along. The only compliant was the ending was a little flat. But some of his books have done that before. Well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Alan Gregory saves the day, again!
Review: One of the reasons I like Stephen White's book so much is his continuity of characters, and his development of characters. His books are so much more interesting when read in the order in which they were written, because of how much character development White does along the way. In Manner of Death, our hero, Alan Gregory, finds himself the target of one of his former patients, who has set out to kill the entire team of psychologists who he had contact with many years ago. Alan is one of the last members of the team surviving, and the culprit is hot on his tail. The true identity of the stalker is completely up in the air until the final chapters, when we are shocked to learn who it is, and what the killer's connection is to D.B. Cooper, the only successful airplane hijacker in U.S. history. This is yet another fast-paced fascinating thriller by White, and it was a pleasure to read. My only criticism is that the ending (the last 3-4 chapters) seemed rushed.

Rating:
Summary: Alan Gregory saves the day, again!
Review: One of the reasons I like Stephen White's book so much is his continuity of characters, and his development of characters. His books are so much more interesting when read in the order in which they were written, because of how much character development White does along the way. In Manner of Death, our hero, Alan Gregory, finds himself the target of one of his former patients, who has set out to kill the entire team of psychologists who he had contact with many years ago. Alan is one of the last members of the team surviving, and the culprit is hot on his tail. The true identity of the stalker is completely up in the air until the final chapters, when we are shocked to learn who it is, and what the killer's connection is to D.B. Cooper, the only successful airplane hijacker in U.S. history. This is yet another fast-paced fascinating thriller by White, and it was a pleasure to read. My only criticism is that the ending (the last 3-4 chapters) seemed rushed.