Rating: 
Summary: Mignight Louie
Review: Enjoyed the book. " Louie" and "Louise are" favorites as usual. Story was more in depth than usual but well done.
Rating:
Summary: An unexpected emotional ride
Review: I discovered the Midnight Louie books over 2 years ago and have ravenosly read them all. Cat in a Neon Nightmare is full of unexpected surprises. A major chapter unexpectedly closes here and through Mrs. Nelson Douglas' artistry we are made to feel the void opened by this event as closely as those it affects in the book. Almost every character this time around is exposed to a truth or happenstance that disappoints them/shocks them at a deep soul biting level and we feel it right with them. Everything is not black and white, not all things happen due to premeditation--like real life--somethings just do. A wonderful continuation of the Midnight Louie adventures and by the emotions it evokes, a wonderful example of what a writer can make their readers feel when they have a grasp of the craft as well as Carole Nelson Douglas obviously does. Huzzah!
Rating:
Summary: An unexpected emotional ride
Review: I discovered the Midnight Louie books over 2 years ago and have ravenosly read them all. Cat in a Neon Nightmare is full of unexpected surprises. A major chapter unexpectedly closes here and through Mrs. Nelson Douglas' artistry we are made to feel the void opened by this event as closely as those it affects in the book. Almost every character this time around is exposed to a truth or happenstance that disappoints them/shocks them at a deep soul biting level and we feel it right with them. Everything is not black and white, not all things happen due to premeditation--like real life--somethings just do. A wonderful continuation of the Midnight Louie adventures and by the emotions it evokes, a wonderful example of what a writer can make their readers feel when they have a grasp of the craft as well as Carole Nelson Douglas obviously does. Huzzah!
Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST YET! AWESOME
Review: I just discovered this series a couple books back, but I went back and read all the previous books (tip: there's an interior alphabet in the titles after the first two books). What a trip! This is unlike any mysteries series I've read, more like a long-running TV series where the characterization just gets richer along with the plot complications. Of course there's the addictive voice of Midnight Louie, the hard-boiled cat PI, coming and going between the adventures of the four main human characters. Louie is "just a cat" to the human characters, so it's only the reader who knows what he's really up to and how he helps them solve crimes. He's all cat and yet also a very funny send-up of PI cliches. The Las Vegas background provides even more larger-than-life opportunities for poking fun at human (and feline) follies. The four humans include two professional crimefighters and two amateur, so the action can be satirical and amusing . . . or darker and thought-provoking. While there are traditional murders to solve in the books, the sequence is as messy as in real life, with some crimes going unsolved as an underlying conspiracy is slowly revealed. I found in reading the series in one go that the earlier books had little clues sprinkled throughout that became significant later, so I really recommend starting with Catnap and Pussyfoot. The books even get thicker as the story gets richer and more intricate, and rereadings reveal even more of the fine points. I love series that create a universe you can get lost in, that always feels bigger than the book you're reading right now. This book surprised me though, with sudden plot twists that totally turned my expectations (and some of the characters') upside down. The edgy relationship of the humans (two men and two women, all interesting. . . and they DON'T all have abuse issues) really drives this series. Romance is a factor, but so is rivalry. This series is unique for being wildly amusing, suspenseful, and thought-provoking all at the same time. I can't wait for the next installment, and hope the author invents a way to extend the alphabet!
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it...
Review: I just read Cat In a Neon Nightmare, and overall found it an enjoyable book in the series. I've been reading the Midnight Louie series since the early 90's, and have often recommended the books to friends. And, though there is some truth to the complaint that the stories have become a bit too PC and preachy, I have to admit these stories still leave me with that feeling of immediately wanting to read the next one, wondering what will happen next. And there were some interesting plot twists in this one. I also find them very re-readable. I would also recommend CND's Irene Adler series.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it...
Review: I just read Cat In a Neon Nightmare, and overall found it an enjoyable book in the series. I've been reading the Midnight Louie series since the early 90's, and have often recommended the books to friends. And, though there is some truth to the complaint that the stories have become a bit too PC and preachy, I have to admit these stories still leave me with that feeling of immediately wanting to read the next one, wondering what will happen next. And there were some interesting plot twists in this one. I also find them very re-readable. I would also recommend CND's Irene Adler series.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous characters and humor! Can't wait for the next!
Review: I've just finished this one, and each book in the Midnight
Louie series becomes more exciting! I love the Big Cats and the addition of Louie's mother. I see the love interests of the main characters becoming more confused, complex and even more interesting. I enjoy the characters immensely and feel that I know Temple, Matt, Max and even Molina. I can't wait for the next book to come out in paperback to find out what happens to all of them next. I've loved this series from the beginning because of the continuing character growth as well as the humor. And the zany Las Vegas background has evolved along with the main characters. The author spoke recently at my local library, so I asked how come books I love, like this one, sometimes get such negative reviews online. She said sometimes a book's content will hit too close to home and really push a reader's buttons; at least that's what she's found with completely negative reactions. When I showed her a review on this book that was so opposite my reaction, she also said that people's opinions are just that, and they can't be argued with. But she also was pretty puzzled that someone complained she'd labeled the character of Max as a "lone wolf" so many times it was to the point of nausea. So she did a word search for the phrase after she flew back home and emailed me the results: Max is called a lone wolf in only one of the 16 books: this last one, Cat in a Neon Nightmare. She only found that the phrase lone wolf used twice in earlier books, once by the cat detective, Midnight Louie, contrasting feline and canine behavior, and once as a metaphor for a motorcycle that plays a role in the series. Amazing, some people aren't really seeing what's in the books, they're reacting to what they think they see. In fact, their comments can be downright wrong in terms of fact as well as opinion. So my advice is to read these books for yourself and make up your own minds. And write your own review if you don't agree with with what's posted!
Rating: 
Summary: They Keep Getting Worse
Review: In _Cat in a Neon Nightmare_ Matt Devine deals with the moral implications of his date with a call girl and its aftermath, Max indulges in some unwonted maudlin introspection while continuing to track down the mysterious "Synth," Temple alternately feels betrayed, works a convention for no apparent reason and considers the strange differences between men and women, and Lt. Molina tries very hard to convince the reader that she's right about everything while acting her usual "I must be strong while denying everything feminine about me" role. Oh yeah, and Louie wanders around getting underfoot to no real purpose. I really enjoyed the first nine or ten books in this series, but at this point I think Carole Nelson Douglas has bitten off more than she can effectively chew. Personally, I like a book with a coherent plot. "Neon Nightmare" pays lip service to the idea of actually having a crime solved in every book, but the ostensible main story is pushed so far to the rear of the various sub-plots that in the end it seems pointless; it added that little to the book. All in all, the book had a very scattered feeling as it leapt from one subplot to another without much evidence of any connecting thread. CND is not a bad writer, and there are times even here when her descriptions of place and action are very engaging. Unfortunately all too often the book devolves into the internal musings of the characters, all of whom seem to have read way too much pop psychology, which often causes them to make smug value judgements about the choices of anyone with any kind of alternative lifestyle. I am also just a little bit tired of the continual revelations that every single character has some major abuse issue in his or her past. All in all, the tone of the book crossed the line, at too many times, into the sententious and preachy. Added to that, the book was sloppily constructed, with numerous pointless scenes, jumps in timeline, missing explanations and inattention to detail -- for example, referring to the barrier between the actor and the audience as both the "third wall" and the "fourth wall" at different times, using similes based in ignorance, and not knowing how to spell "Spider-Man." I must admit that I still have some curiosity as to how all this is going to turn out. But at this point I think I'm going to give it one more book to convince me that finding the answers is worth the trouble of continued reading.
Rating:
Summary: Light and fluffy is now padded and pretentious
Review: Las Vegas has never been so boring. This series has gone progressively downhill since "Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit". CND has stopped writing characters and has started to write caricatures. We all know Temple is petite and loves shoes. We all know Matt is an ex-priest. We all know Molina is dedicated to her job and her daughter. And, I swear, if I see the totally cliched phrase "lone wolf" to describe Max one more time, I'm going to scream. After fifteen books, we get it. Really, we do. Try moving beyond those character shortcuts to give us something fresh about these people. Max has become the ultimate Marty Stu. There isn't anything the man can't make happen and it removes any suspense from the book since CND simply will not allow Max to fail. He's annoying, smarmy and two-dimensional at best with all his ramblings about the "Auld Sod" and his cousin; and he goes on and on in this book about it in this look-at-me-angst fashion that, frankly, makes me want to tell him to get over it more than anything else. He's solely the author's deus ex machina. Matt did some growing in the beginning books but he's been stalled out for the last few novels as well. A crisis of conscience or faith is one thing. A crisis of conscience or faith stretched out over several books is quite another because the conceit loses its effect the more it's taken out, looked at, and dissected. At a certain point, it stops being introspection and becomes navel gazing and CND bangs on about it well past that point. Midnight Louie's faux noir ramblings are stale and tired as is his little sniping relationship with Midnight Louise. I don't need Louie to give me a rundown of everything that I've just read in the previous chapters or to be at just the right place at just the right time. He's as much of a deus ex machina as Max is at this point. The Synth plotline has run on far too long. Quite honestly, I don't care and all CND's attempts to make them seem mysterious and deadly are really just laughable. Why should they be all that formidable when Max can apparently thwart them/find them/gain access to them with ridiculous ease? At least the Kitty the Cutter plotline finally finds some resolution - enough that I don't have to hear about her again and again and again and again... This is definitely the last CND "Cat in a..." book that I will read. They are no longer fresh, inviting and cozy reads. Instead, they are hackneyed, tedious and lackluster with characters who remain trapped in amber.
Rating:
Summary: Light and fluffy is now padded and pretentious
Review: Las Vegas has never been so boring. This series has gone progressively downhill since "Cat in a Jeweled Jumpsuit". CND has stopped writing characters and has started to write caricatures. We all know Temple is petite and loves shoes. We all know Matt is an ex-priest. We all know Molina is dedicated to her job and her daughter. And, I swear, if I see the totally cliched phrase "lone wolf" to describe Max one more time, I'm going to scream. After fifteen books, we get it. Really, we do. Try moving beyond those character shortcuts to give us something fresh about these people. Max has become the ultimate Marty Stu. There isn't anything the man can't make happen and it removes any suspense from the book since CND simply will not allow Max to fail. He's annoying, smarmy and two-dimensional at best with all his ramblings about the "Auld Sod" and his cousin; and he goes on and on in this book about it in this look-at-me-angst fashion that, frankly, makes me want to tell him to get over it more than anything else. He's solely the author's deus ex machina. Matt did some growing in the beginning books but he's been stalled out for the last few novels as well. A crisis of conscience or faith is one thing. A crisis of conscience or faith stretched out over several books is quite another because the conceit loses its effect the more it's taken out, looked at, and dissected. At a certain point, it stops being introspection and becomes navel gazing and CND bangs on about it well past that point. Midnight Louie's faux noir ramblings are stale and tired as is his little sniping relationship with Midnight Louise. I don't need Louie to give me a rundown of everything that I've just read in the previous chapters or to be at just the right place at just the right time. He's as much of a deus ex machina as Max is at this point. The Synth plotline has run on far too long. Quite honestly, I don't care and all CND's attempts to make them seem mysterious and deadly are really just laughable. Why should they be all that formidable when Max can apparently thwart them/find them/gain access to them with ridiculous ease? At least the Kitty the Cutter plotline finally finds some resolution - enough that I don't have to hear about her again and again and again and again... This is definitely the last CND "Cat in a..." book that I will read. They are no longer fresh, inviting and cozy reads. Instead, they are hackneyed, tedious and lackluster with characters who remain trapped in amber.
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