Rating: 
Summary: No way the killer fits in this one.
Review: Found this offering a little slow and somewhat hard to follow. I found it slow for a 100 pages then it picked up and dropped me again. I really think that it was somewhat of a confusing story and never really brought together. I will read others as I try never to base my opinions on one book and it seems that his earlier books rated higher.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat small
Review: Found this offering a little slow and somewhat hard to follow. I found it slow for a 100 pages then it picked up and dropped me again. I really think that it was somewhat of a confusing story and never really brought together. I will read others as I try never to base my opinions on one book and it seems that his earlier books rated higher.
Rating:
Summary: No way the killer fits in this one.
Review: I enjoy Mr. White but this one just doesn't cut it. Every book requires the suspension of disbelief but this time he asks for too much and then he doesn't deliver the goods. We're to believe that this particular killer could lift a dead body up and dump it into a cement mixer? Or that this killer is strong enough to suspend one of the victims from his feet with a sword? Not to mention that all this fancy and bizarrely sick killing is done by someone that has been otherwise a model citizen up to now? The psychology just doesn't match. Not buying it. I could go on and on about the other implausibilities. The least of which is that this killer had all this time to slip off unnoticed to do all the killing given their role in the story. Come on, Sam would have noticed. I can't believe this one got by an editor.
Rating: 
Summary: Recommend this exciting thriller
Review: I have now read almost all of the Alan Gregory series and really liked this one very much. The author writes very well and gives such detail to his assorted characters that you can't wait to see what happens to them all in the next book. I especially like the relationship between the main character, the psychologist, and the detective, who is always giving him a bit of a hard time. I want to keep reading about these people. And so will you.
Rating: 
Summary: I Got Into "Harm's Way"
Review: I have read four of White's fiction novels. I would give the first three a combined rating of 9 on a 1--10 scale. Harm's Way was for me a very disappointing read. I thought the book started well with all of the elements of a great suspense novel. Then it was as if I was reading a college text on "Mechanical Theater 101". It was far too repititious with theater jargon through three quarters of the mid-book. The last fifteen pages were vintage White. So, to wrap it up, the book could have been one fourth it's length and been a very good piece of work!
Rating: 
Summary: Memorable Characters Created By A Clinical Psychologist
Review: Peter Arvin is brutally attacked while working late on a set at a theatre in Boulder. He dies in the emergency room of a hospital, the apparent victim of a ritual killing. Police Detective Sam Purdy asks Dr. Alan Gregory to create a psychological profile of the murderer. Peter's widow Adrienne also asks Alan to find out more about her dead husband's past. She realizes that there is so much she does not know about him.
The dark secret in Peter's background involved his work as a counselor at a wilderness camp for boys during the summer of 1982. Peter and two other young adults were leading a group of six boys on a survival experience. The group was caught in a wildfire and one boy died. The catastrophe converted Peter into a dedicated loner who seemed to have developed a total lack of trust in others. His sense of guilt became so severe that he built a coffin for himself with the date of the fire inscribed at eye level on the inside of the coffin's lid.
Alan concludes that there is a connection between the fire and Peter's murder. He sees the Denver murder as the act of a different person who probably committed suicide shortly after the crime. Detective Dale Hunter disagrees and argues that both murders were done by the same killer. Sam and Alan remain unconvinced and as they continue to follow their own leads, they begin to realize that they will be lucky to finish this case alive.
The author is a clinical psychologist whose greatest strength lies in the development of memorable chacters who come to life in his novels.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre offering in a good series
Review: The Alan Gregory series is one of the few mystery series that I've read over the years, eagerly awaiting the next new release. At the same time, my husband is just now reading them for the first time and I've been re-reading the old books so I can enjoy them with him. So, with the perspective of nine books, I opine that this is not one of the best. It's an ok read but nothing that kept me up past my bedtime. I'm not sure what doesn't work in the book. After the high politics of Higher Authority, this book seems somewhat mundane. The victim, Peter, is interesting but not very empathetic. It's hard to care much about him and why he died. The book is a bit too scattered with too many deaths. Perhaps my lack of satisfaction derived from the ending which is far too skimpy and leaves many questions unanswered. Also, the usual poking fun at Coloradans (and Boulder in particular) is lacking. Bottom-line: I'm still a big fan of this series. First time readers of the series are strongly encouraged to start at the beginning (Private Practices) since it is much more enjoyable to grow with the central cast of characters.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre offering in a good series
Review: The Alan Gregory series is one of the few mystery series that I've read over the years, eagerly awaiting the next new release. At the same time, my husband is just now reading them for the first time and I've been re-reading the old books so I can enjoy them with him. So, with the perspective of nine books, I opine that this is not one of the best. It's an ok read but nothing that kept me up past my bedtime. I'm not sure what doesn't work in the book. After the high politics of Higher Authority, this book seems somewhat mundane. The victim, Peter, is interesting but not very empathetic. It's hard to care much about him and why he died. The book is a bit too scattered with too many deaths. Perhaps my lack of satisfaction derived from the ending which is far too skimpy and leaves many questions unanswered. Also, the usual poking fun at Coloradans (and Boulder in particular) is lacking. Bottom-line: I'm still a big fan of this series. First time readers of the series are strongly encouraged to start at the beginning (Private Practices) since it is much more enjoyable to grow with the central cast of characters.
Rating:
Summary: Recommend this exciting thriller
Review: This book's plot hinges on an event buried in the smoke of a victim's past. The event is a rip-off of Norman McLean's moving investigation of a fatal fire in 1949 entitled "Young Men and Fire." Perhaps Stephen White thought that by acknowledging McLean's work up front he could get away with a barely disguised retelling of the same tragedy. It doesn't work, at least not if one has read the original. While there is one enjoyable chase involving a cement mixer, it's not enough to overcome the author's misguided infatuation with McLean's powerful, original work
Rating:
Summary: Transparent rip-off of Norman McLean's "Young Men and Fire"
Review: This book's plot hinges on an event buried in the smoke of a victim's past. The event is a rip-off of Norman McLean's moving investigation of a fatal fire in 1949 entitled "Young Men and Fire." Perhaps Stephen White thought that by acknowledging McLean's work up front he could get away with a barely disguised retelling of the same tragedy. It doesn't work, at least not if one has read the original. While there is one enjoyable chase involving a cement mixer, it's not enough to overcome the author's misguided infatuation with McLean's powerful, original work
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