Waiting

Rating:
Summary: I've read a lot of good books latey. Not this one.
Review: As an example, let me point you to page 162, where the "hero", Artie, whips out his cigarette lighter to see his way up a dark staircase. Convenient, but not how you think. This is a character that doesn't smoke! Not before this scene, and not after. Ever. Beyond that, "Waiting" is not spooky, is burdened by "filler" that adds nothing to the book, and is a book I had to struggle through. It's one I will throw away rather than give to anyone. I can't waste their time, and am sorry I wasted mine.

Rating:
Summary: Great Idea but Poor Execution
Review: This book started off very well, but the story really lost steam about the halfway point. Robinson's story is that there's another, secret, competing race of humans that live among us and are healthier, more peaceful, stronger, etc. When his characters accidentally stumble onto this fact, it sets in motion a chain of events that start off exciting, but gradually become very repetitive, with the book ultimately falling apart, due to one coincidence too many (I don't want to give too much away here and risk ruining the book for you). Ultimately, what started as a riveting page-turner for me, turned into a book that I felt I had to finish, since I'd devoted so much time to it already. Very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Waiting
Review: This is a real page turner. I haven't read a book that I got so engrossed in in a long time.It's fast paced and a quick read with an interesting premise. I couldn't put it down.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing but pointless
Review: The Book Waiting is pointless, the concept is intriguing, but the execution is horrible. As a mystery, well there really is none, any marginally astute reader will figure the plot out on the third or fourth page. The writer doesn't seem to care if he gets his facts straight or if his story makes sense. As a cautionary tale the writer is over wrought, children are more subtle. If this book was intended as science fiction, well better if we do not even go there.

Rating:
Summary: the idea was great
Review: I loved the plot. I won't go into detail and ruin it for anyone who hasn't read the book. But, I didn't like feeling that the main character was a bit on the slow side. I had everything figured out way before he did. The action was pretty predictable and I think that the author could have written a better story going on the assumption that the lead character was more "in the know". It still gets 4 stars though. The coolness factor makes up for the predictabilty.

Rating:
Summary: I agree with many of the other reviewers...
Review: a really great story idea, that wasn't executed well. The whole "Suicide Club" seemed pretty pointless to me. There were too many extraneous characters. It didn't add to the suspense to expose the reader to characters that added nothing to the storyline. And the 'surprises' about some of the characters really weren't very surprising. Way too many, way too easy 'clues' were sprinkled throughout the story.

Also - it would have been more interesting if the author had spent some more time developing the idea of another hidden culture, the science behind the story, and filling in some of the holes in the story's logic. Although maybe that's not a fair criticism if this book is a "mystery thriller" and not sci-fi.

Finally...I thought the very end was really stupid. It might have been kind of eerie if there had been any build-up to it, but it made no sense to me.

But what the heck, still much more entertaining than most read-in-a-day fiction. I still think its worth three stars compared to the other stuff you can buy on the run at a newsstand.

Rating:
Summary: Good Idea; bad execution.
Review: For an experienced and well-published author, Robinson makes a surprising number of amateurish errors; perhaps the most egregious is the overwhelming amount of narrative and the paucity of dialogue. When a character asks a question and the answer doesn't arrive until three or four hundred words later, the reader is forced to either rely on memory, go back and look up the question, or say to hell with it. Another turn-off appears early when the protagonist--a professional man--has a panic attack, then blunders around San Francisco doing all the wrong things. A better editor could have saved this book, for it does have some good scary things in it.

Rating:
Summary: Could Have Been More...
Review: This book received so much positive hype, that I couldn't wait to read it. Alas, the story never lived up to its potential. The characters were FLAT, and the story uneven. I kept reading because the concept was exciting and I kept thinking: "this is going to pick up and all gel soon." It never did. The worst part was the constant thought I had while reading it that it could have been an outstanding reading experiece if someone like Koontz got hold of it! It wasn't a complete waste of time since I read it on a flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Phoenix, but I had hoped for more. I did enjoy Robinson's THE POWER however. Check that one out.

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't live up to the hype...
Review: A decent story, but the book does not live up to the hype. The story premise was interesting, but the book fell short in delivering what could have been an excellent novel. While the book had its good points, some of the character building information tended to bog the story down instead of enhance it. An average book in my opinion. (unabridged audiobook version)

Rating:
Summary: Frank Robinson has extraordinary powers
Review: Disconnect the phone and get comfortable. Here's the real chiller. Truth lurks in these pages, ready to catch you unaware. It has fascinating science, authentic suspense and is utterly convincing. Best of all, WAITING's ending surprised me out of my chair and left me anticipating more.

-Mark Bailey, author of SAINT