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Summary: The show with no commercials!!!!!
Review: Absolutely awesome!!!! Collins was able to nail the characters and convey a fabulous story. I'd highly recommend this book to all CSI fans as well as anybody who has an interest in either police work or science.
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Summary: CSI Book Review
Review: CSI: Double Dealer is a book based on the hit television series C.S.I. (Crime Scene Investigation). Things are turned upside down in the Forensics section when the team has to investigate two very similar murders...fifteen years apart.Grissom, Catherine, Warrick, Nick and Sara are split up to investigate a couple of murders. One of the bodies is a fifteen-year-old mummy. The other is a lawyer found dead at the door of his casino hotel room. The cases are too much alike for it to be normal. Twists and turns are everywhere in this book. Pesky F.B.I. agents, lack of evidence, and dead end leads test the CSI's ability. CSI: Double Dealer is a "mild" murder mystery that is written very well. It's hard to put this book down. ...
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Summary: This book will not disappoint
Review: For the fans of CSI this book will not disappoint. It reads like a great episode, made all the more enjoyable with some character insights not often explored on the show. The ending is well done and satisfying.
From the author of The Difference Now, A New Dish, and At the Coffee Shop.
Rating:
Summary: This book will not disappoint
Review: For the fans of CSI this book will not disappoint. It reads like a great episode, made all the more enjoyable with some character insights not often explored on the show. The ending is well done and satisfying.
From the author of The Difference Now, A New Dish, and At the Coffee Shop.
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Summary: Hot On The Trail
Review: Gil Grissom, the graveyard-shift supervisior of the Las Vegas Criminalistics Bureau, takes up the trail of a professional killer in DOUBLE DEALER. The hunt starts in the small hours of the morning in a Las Vegas hotel where a man has been shot dead. Two bullets in the back of the skull less than an inch apart are mute testimony to the fact that the murderer was a professional. Gil, Warrick, and Sara--accompanied by Detective Jim Brass of the LVPD--work the crime scene. At the same time, Catherine and Nick roll on an investigation of their own, arriving at a building site where the mummified body has been found. This second murder was also the victim of two specifically placed shots to the head. Following up her own leads, Catherine turns up the story of Malachy Fortunato, a Las Vegas dealer working for the Mafia who supposedly disappeared with his stripper girlfriend in 1985 after ripping off the Mafia-owned casino where he worked. At first, Grissom keeps the two cases separate, but the evidence keeps linking the new murder and the old one. Tenaciously, the CSIs work their evidence, turning up fact after fact, slowly closing in on the murderer. Then Special Agent Culpepper of the FBI suddenly joins the hunt, further mystifying Grissom and his specially trained team. Why would the FBI be interested in either the old case or the new one? Then, the next murder occurs, and Grissom knows that the cases were definitely linked because the murderer has killed again to protect the secrets from spilling out about the old murder and what really happened to Malachy Fortunato. Max Allan Collins is the award-winning author of the Nate Heller novels, delicious blends of historical fiction and hardboiled private eye action. The Heller novels include TRUE CRIME, TRUE DETECTIVE, ANGEL IN BLACK, and the just-released CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL. He also wrote the original graphic novel, ROAD TO PERDITION, which inspired the Tom Hanks movie of the same name, and wrote the novelization of that movie. Other novelizations Collins has written include IN THE LINE OF FIRE, AIR FORCE ONE, WINDTALKERS, and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. For sixteen years, he also scripted the Dick Tracy cartoon strip. He's also written and directed movies that include MOMMY, MOMMY'S DAY, THE EXPERT, MIKE HAMMER'S MICKEY SPILLANE, and REAL TIME: SIEGE AT LUCAS STREET MARKET. DOUBLE DEALER reads like a well-done episode of the CBS television series. Collin's dialogue, pacing, and atmosphere are spot-on. The characters come to life on his pages, and the mystery stems from research as well as the author's own love of the historical elements presented by the Mafia. Forensic methods in the book are carefully explained and documented, another cornerstone of the television series, but within the scope of the book Collins seems to have a little more time and the reader has time to absorb the information and learn a little more. Even though there are many twists and plot complications, Collins never loses his readers or loses sight of his many characters, presenting a very enjoyable read for those that want to read straight through or read at a more leisurely pace. Fans of the CSI show will definitely want to pick up this book, as well as the sequels that are coming out. Anyone not familiar with the television show but who have a keen interest in forensics investigation will enjoy this book, and will have no problem not being familiar with the show. DOUBLE DEALER stands exceedingly well as a stand-alone read as it does as an enhancement for a remarkable television production.
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Summary: Intriguing murder cases -- not only for "C.S.I." fans
Review: Gil Grissom, the nightshift supervisor of the Las Vegas Criminalistics Bureau, and two of his Crime Scene Investigation team members, Warrick Brown and Sara Sidle, are called to a murder scene at a hotel casino. The victim turns out to be an attorney from Chicago who had a few mobsters as clients. Yet was this killing a mob hit? At the same time, a mummified body is found at the construction site of a new theme hotel. Nick Stokes and Catherine Willow, two more members of the C.S.I. team, work on that case. Soon the team wonders if they have two cases or just one -- both victims were murdered with two shots in the head, leaving the same pattern. When FBI agent Rick Culpepper signals his interest in this case, Gil Grissom is even more alert, as that man has proven to be a synonym for trouble.
Max Allan Collins' novel is based on the CBS TV series "C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation." The plot of "Double Dealer" is well-researched and will interest not only fans of the TV drama. The known characters come alive in the book -- the reader almost sees another episode of the show.
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Summary: CSI: Double Dealer
Review: Here is a book that you can not put down. Not only was this book a mind-boggler it was vantastic! Move over Patricia Cornwell, Iris Johanson and other writers. The series is also vantastic. Between the series and this book and any other that Mr. Collins writes you can not tear yourself away from the details and research that went in to make the series and this book. If you have never seen CSI on Thursday nights your really missing a show that puts E.R. to shame. The detail, analysis, and research that go into the CSI shows on Thursday nights give a !!bravo!! Nowhere else can you find a more exculsive show for both adult and child. Yes!! I do allow my daughter to watch this program. She has learned more from this particular show and we have had more discussions than on any other series. Please KEEP UP THE VANTASTIC WORK!!
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: Honestly, all I can say is: wow. This book is extremely well written, and is definitely something you'd want to pick up if you like CSI. I really recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair but nothing special
Review: I got this at the library book sale, so I don't feel as bad as if I had paid full price. It's not a bad effort to capture the essence of the TV show -- Max Collins is a real author and he's taken the time to get the details of how each character speaks and the basic personality traits. (Although there are some odd details...for example, he insists that Grissom dresses entirely and always in black, something which my color TV set completely refutes!) However, this particular novel (I have read all three)has a particularly absurd ending. I won't give it away, but it shows a complete lack of undertstanding about the division in our country of responsibility between state and federal government, and implies that our CSIs are so wonderful that they can bend and twist these laws to their will. It's really dumb and spoils what the rest of the book has -- a plot that otherwise so comforms to the series, it could easily be filmed as an actual script. The downside is that this is a NOVEL not a script. I had hoped for a little more, i.e., an inside look at maybe some history behind the characters, inner thoughts and motivation, background etc. The novel format demands more of a writer than a screenplay for a 45 minute TV episode, and the reader has a right to EXPECT more. All Mr. Collins manages here is that the characters occasionally use a four letter word not permitted on network TV. If you absolutely love CSI, then any of these three books will "feed your need" as they do read like extra unfilmed episodes. But don't expect anything richer or more complex, and definitely don't buy them expecting the weight and complexity of a real novel.
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Summary: A suprizingly good book
Review: I got this book free with the purchase of the CSI Computer Game (to be reviewed at a later time) and expected it to be a cheap knock-off of the popular television show. Boy was I wrong on that assumption. Instead, this book is a crafty, intriguing and, for the most part, a well thought-out mystery. I am a fan of the television show and the author does an excellent job tranforming the personalities the show has been so careful to develop into his characters in the book. Other fans of the television show can clearly visualize each of the characters saying and doing the things written about. And, the author even was able to further develop the characters' personalities through thoughts and motivations that just are not as easily protrayed on televsion. You come out feeling you "know" the characters even a little better than from just watching the TV show. Moreover, I believe that the characterization in this book is strong enough that someone who has never even seen the show (given its popularity, is there any such person? :-) ), will still enjoy the book and understand the different quirks and traits that have gotten fans of the show to love the characters. As with the show, the book centers around two different mysteries that the Las Vegas Crime Lab investigators are trying to solve -- a fifteen year old murder and a recent murder. The CSI are amazed when the two cases have striking similarities. I won't give away the ending, but will say it is a little contrived. Fortunately, not so much so that it took away from an otherwise enjoyable book. Whether or not you enjoy the television show, I recommend this book.
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