Cold Springs

Rating:
Summary: ORIGINAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
Review: This is my first Rick Riordan book and suffice to say, it is a stunning combination of complex plotting and characterization. Full of secrets. Deception. Lies. Murder. Revenge. Grief. You name it..it's here. Interesting that Riordan chose not to give us our protagonist's first name. He is known only as Chadwick, and that may indicate the kind of personality Riordan wanted us to identify with. The cast is full of unique and uncompromisingly original people: the young Mallory, victim of a cruel childhood disaster, now drug-ridden and sent to a "reform" school in Texas; John and Ann Zedman, her divorced parents; Norma, Chadwick's ex-wife; counselor Olsen; escort Kindra; the Melrose family; David, a [***]-kisser; etc., etc. Riordan weaves his plot intricately and pulls a few surprises at the end.
A very good book, one to be enjoyed by fans of the genre and others.

Rating:
Summary: ORIGINAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
Review: This is my first Rick Riordan book and suffice to say, it is a stunning combination of complex plotting and characterization. Full of secrets. Deception. Lies. Murder. Revenge. Grief. You name it..it's here. Interesting that Riordan chose not to give us our protagonist's first name. He is known only as Chadwick, and that may indicate the kind of personality Riordan wanted us to identify with. The cast is full of unique and uncompromisingly original people: the young Mallory, victim of a cruel childhood disaster, now drug-ridden and sent to a "reform" school in Texas; John and Ann Zedman, her divorced parents; Norma, Chadwick's ex-wife; counselor Olsen; escort Kindra; the Melrose family; David, a [***]-kisser; etc., etc. Riordan weaves his plot intricately and pulls a few surprises at the end.
A very good book, one to be enjoyed by fans of the genre and others.

Rating:
Summary: Without a Tres
Review: Tres Navarre, star of Rick Riordan's first four books, is gone without a, well, without a trace, in this new "Novel of Secrets." Riordan has created a whole new cast - equally as absorbing. I readily added it to my Sleep? Who needs Sleep? Page turners - All Night Long List. Again this time, Mr Riordan goes with what he knows - San Francisco, Texas, and teaching. Run Dick! Run Jane! Grab this book! Read! Reviewed by TundraVision

Rating:
Summary: A contrarian view...
Review: When an author steps outside the bounds of a "franchise" series, there are obviously risks and perils. Some are more successful than others, and an author's motivation is usually to expand (or escape) the boundaries created by their signature character(s).
I, for one, felt extremely let-down by this novel. Riordan's previous efforts (with wise-cracking Tres Navarre)were well plotted, deftly written, and most importantly, vastly entertaining. Cold Springs, his first departure from the previous series, I'm afraid is none of the above. The "troubled" protagonist, Chadwick, just never quite rings true with his relationships with most of the other characters, who are too one dimensional to be of much interest. The one character who is more completely "fleshed out" is a teen-age girl who seems wise way beyond her years. Her transition from drug groupie to redeeming heroine lacks a believable fulcrum, and quite simply never engenders much emotion from the reader. This novel lacks polish throughout, and almost seems to have been written at an earlier stage of the author's literary evolution. (And as an "aside", least I be accused of just missing Riordan's Tres Navarre too much, let me highly recommend Greg Rucka's latest --and first departure from HIS usual protagonist Atticus Kodiak-- "A Fistful Of Rain"...now THAT'S a smokin' departure)!

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Riordan Read
Review: WOW!! Riordan has done it again. I was skeptical at first to get Cold Springs, Riordan's first book away from the Tres Navarre series. However, now having read Cold Springs, I feel that it may be Riordan's best book to date. Once you pick it up you won't want to put it down. If you like Rick Riordan's previous books or are just looking for a good suspense/thiller novel then get this book!