Rating: 
Summary: Finally -- A Thriller That Was Written Well!
Review: I was really happy to finally pick up a "suspense" book that was not only well written but also had a plot that was fresh, unique and intriguing. There are a lot of good "suspense" novels out there but I am often left feeling when I finish most suspense books that it could have been written better. Tropic of Night far exceeded my expectations. It had writing I could savor and different voices throughout the book. Michael Gruber switched voices throughout the book with amazing ability, something that's not easy to do and do it well! I highly recommend this book!
Rating: 
Summary: What's All The Hype About?
Review: I was so looking forward to reading this book. But it's just a kind of uneasy mixture of at least two different books and maybe three. I think the author was trying to come up with something different, but grinding one book on top of another and hoping it'll all work out is not the way to go about it. Add a lot of gratuitous violence and no real attention paid to character and you've got a book that's all sound and no substance.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I'm trying to remember the last time I enjoyed a book so much. Incredibly well written with complex characters and a plot that just crackles. It IS possible to write a literary thriller -- read this book and see how it's done.
Rating:
Summary: An almost indecipherable plot
Review: In Miami, a serial killer is stalking the streets. The murders appear to be ritualistic and are quite bloody. Detective Jimmy Paz is assigned the case. Jane Doe, a young black woman with a mysterious past, is drawn inexorably into the case as the murders appear directed to her. She is hiding from her past. Why?
TROPIC OF NIGHT is one of the most audacious and complicated books I have read in quite some time. The author is trying to write mainstream fiction under the guise of a serial killer novel. In my mind, the novel doesn't work on any level. The pace is meandering as the writer tries to exercise artistic freedom and perhaps to "rise" above the genre. The plot is almost indecipherable. Characters? Who really cares. Many say this is one of the year's best. I feel quite the opposite.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of work
Review: It takes a long time to get to a place where you've been before, a crazed beyond-human serial killer. Some interesting facts, but a good editor might have made it more rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: Jane Doe is on the Run
Review: Jane Doe faked suicide near her home on Long Island to get away from her homicidal husband. She has died her blond hair brown, bought cheap clothes at a discount store, has taken the name of Dolores Tuoey, a nun who died in Africa, and gotten a job at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami as a file clerk.She is a white American, a lapsed Catholic, an anthropologist who studied magic in Siberia and sorcery in Africa with her husband, Dewitt Moore, a playwright who is seduced by the dark side of African magic and wants to become a black Hitler. When they moved back to the States, Dewitt used powers he'd acquired and killed someone and Jane fled. In addition to hiding from him, Jane is running from the law because she accidently killed a drunken woman who was beating a small child at 2 in the morning in an alleyway. That made her both a murderer and unofficial adoptive mother of four-year-old Luz. She has been in Miami for three years when she hears of the ritual murder of a pregnant woman. She knows at once it's Dewitt, practicing the forbidden fourfold sacrifice. Once he has killed four pregnant women and their babies, and eaten parts of them, he will achieve superhuman powers, which Jane fears he will direct against white America. As evil is unleashed on Miami, Jane must find a way not only to stay alive but to protect Luz and to keep DeWitt from committing more murders. This all sounds way over the top, but actually I bought into the story as easily as if Gruber were writing about University life in Southern California. In the Western world we cleave to the material, but there are those in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean who delve deeply into the well of the spiritual. Sure, I don't believe in Voodoo, but I wouldn't want to make a guy with a doll and pins mad at me either. That said, TROPIC OF NIGHT not only tells a good old fashioned story, but it just might take reality as you understand it and stand it on its head. Jeremiah McCain
Rating: 
Summary: Lush!
Review: Jane Doe is dead, well ok not too much of a spoiler if I revel right here she faked her death in New York, moved to Miami. Jane Doe/Dolores is or was a respected anthropoligist that did field work with an ex-lover in Siberia(and almost died) and her husband in Africa(and almost died). Then she accidentally killed an abusive mother and unofficially adopted her daughter and fleed to Miami. Jane/Dolores live a pretty contented (if uncomplicated) life until a series of ritualistic murders reveals that her husband is on her tail.
Michael Gruber's prose is indeed very lush, ( I always wondered what reviewers meant when they said that until I read this debut thriller.) The descriptions of settings, the research into the Miami Cuban culture and various tribes in Africa and Siberia make this title hum with a vivid life that grips the reader until they turn the last page. Gruber is acclaimed as a fresh talent in the genre and after finishing this book in just over 24 hours I have to agree. His narration jumps from first person to third, which is smooth enough that it doesn't affect the overall story in a negative way, yet rather enhances it. He then add another narration within a narration by including excerpts of Jane Doe's anthropological journals. Phew as if this tale wouldn't be exciting enough without all these added touchs of flare. All I can say is I eagerly anticipate more fiction from this novelist.
Rating:
Summary: Real Surprise
Review: My friend lent me the book, he had bought too many and asked me to preview. With no expectations I jumped into one of the best books I have read in a while. Suspensful, well written, and imaginative. I do not write many reviews - this book deserved one!
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling but boring at the same time
Review: Ok, this is a clever story, and I cared what happened to the characters. But the intense detail about the actual witchcraft bogged down the interesting parts. The book would make me want to keep going, and then I'd hit a wall, either because it was Jane Doe's over-detailed, and frankly not very interesting, journals, or several pages straight of Jane's every action in preparing for a ritual. At times I'm thinking, wow, this is a compelling book, and the next minute, I'd put it down and go to bed, because it was so tedious. My theory? This needed a good editor to kindly tell the author, great story, but cut out the parts that are unnecessary and only seem like the author's showing off of his knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: An intense, gripping, literary thriller
Review: Phew! I just finished Tropic of Night and found it absolutely unique and-- pardon the pun-- spellbinding. I should have started this book on a Friday, because while I was reading I didn't want to do anything else-- like go to work, eat meals, or sleep. I can't imagine why anyone would call this book overhyped. It's imaginative, well-written, and terrifying. I can't wait to read the next book Mr. Gruber writes, and I hope that he is planning a series of books about Jane Doe!
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