Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as I hoped
Review: I had heard great things about this book, so my expectations were high. The setting (nothern rural Michigan) is interesting, the protagonist is reasonably likeable, but otherwise I was disappointed. The ending seemed to become obvious long before I would like it to in a mystery. Several scences involving driving drone on to the point of tedium. Overall, it is a decent read, but nothing special.
Rating:
Summary: A Big Disappointment
Review: I wanted to like this novel---I really, really did, because it had apparently received rave reviews and the beginning of the book was promising. But if you're an avid reader like me who is always looking for something new and exciting, you'll be as disappointed in this book as I was. The characters were flat, unimaginative and two-dimensional. The writing was about as exciting as the back of a cereal box. The plot was strange and unbelievable. Sometimes a book with these flaws can be saved by stellar prose, but that wasn't the case with this novel. The writing was blunt, plain and unevocative. Imagine someone without much personality---say an insurance salesman or someone who fixes air conditioners for a living---sitting you down and telling you a story about four or five uninteresting people. That's the level of excitement that this book generated for me. If you want well-developed characters, poetic prose and interesting plots, look elsewhere. This was a halfway decent effort from a first-time writer, but I'm stunned and amazed that so much praise has been heaped upon such an average effort.
Rating: 
Summary: An Incredible First Novel
Review: This book is Steve Hamilton's first novel. The main character is Alex McKnight, a former Detroit police officer. McKnight was a police officer for eight years until he was shot three times and his partner was killed. McKnight is haunted by the shooting and the fact that his partner died and he didn't. One of the bullets is still in his chest and serves as a reminder. The man that did the shooting is now in prison serving a life sentence for the shooting. Or is he?Now living in a quiet town in northern Michigan called Paradise, the town suddenly becomes not so quiet when a murder occurs. To add to the fear that the murder brings, McKnight is contacted by the killer, who reveals intimate details of his own shooting that only he and the shooter would have known. Is McKnight's shooter out of prison? That is the question that begins to haunt McKnight. This book is written pretty well. I really enjoyed it. It is suspenseful throughout. At one point it seems like the book is about to end, but then there's a surprising twist. This twist is just one of many that happen throughout the book. The suspense never stops. Hamilton does an excellent job of taking the reader inside the head of Alex McKnight. This book is great, so I'll definitely be picking up another book by Steve Hamilton. I'd highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A good, solid read
Review: Steve Hamilton's writing reminds me a lot of William Tapply's books. I am now a fan of both! This is a well-written, good solid myserty. My only complaint is that our hero never confronts the real bad guy at the end. I was hoping for a Raymond Chandler-type showdown. Anyway, after reading the second novel in the series, I think that showdown may still be coming!
Rating:
Summary: Great start to a great series
Review: I began this series with vol 2 and although I went out of order it really didn't matter. The books are all very well written in a way that he explains what has happened in previous books without giving away the stories. I think that "Winter of the Wolf Moon" remains my favorite of the series, but they are all worth a read or two.
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