Rating: 
Summary: One of the strangest yet unputdownable books I've ever read
Review: This is one of those books that you want to read all at once. You cant stop thinking about it when you are not reading it. I even had dreams about the book! Michael Gruber does an amazing job telling this rich, imaginative story. I wont summarize the plot as it has already been done by other reviewers, but if you want to read a thriller/detective/murder story like you have never read before, this is the one. The reason why I didnt give it 5 stars was because I found the diary entries difficult to get through and the level of detail sometimes made it slow reading. I also wish that the glossary of terms was at the beginning of the book and not at the end. Other than that, its an unforgetable unputdownable read, one that you will think about long after you have put down the book.
Rating: 
Summary: not as good as the hype
Review: This was overhyped to me -- it's not bad, just not that great. I found myself skipping over many parts, and finished it with little feeling. There are much better writers out there doing the same thing.
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling, riveting, thought provoking fun
Review: Tropic of Night is a genre-bending thriller-mystery-magical realist tour de force. Scanning through the customer reviews, I found that some people hated the book for its density and others didn't like the character development of one of the African-American males in the book. I'll cop to being a white female, and admit I didn't see any problem with the treatment of Black Africans or African-Americans. I think people who did have misread or misunderstood the magical-realist nature of the book.
Michael Gruber seems far too accomplished a novelist to be writing his first book here, and he is. In fact, Michael Gruber is the ghost-writer for the Robert K. Tannenbaum legal thrillers. And they're fun to read, too.
When I finished this one, I immediately bought his next book (lucky me--I didn't find out about the Gruber books till he already had two out and one on the way). Now that I've read it (Valley of Bones), I'm eagerly awaiting the young adult novel Witch's Boy.
Buy it--read it--enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: exciting but troubling
Review: TROPIC OF NIGHT is a genuinely exciting and scary thriller with some rather upsetting implications. The plot, which is told from two points of view, involves a series of ritual murders in Miami investigated by Cuban-American detective Jimmy Paz. Paz knows the crimes have a "voodoo" connection but his own disdain for Santeria colors his thinking. The other central character is an anthropologist named Jane Doe, whose bizarre experiences in Africa may hold the key to the murders. Third person chapters alternate between Jane and Jimmy's POV, while Jane's African journal is woven in.
Now to the upsetting part: the murders are being committed by Jane's husband Witt, a well-known African American writer (no spoilers, this is revealed early on)...We're asked to believe that a successful, intellectual, African-American writer would travel to Africa and IMMEDIATELY fall under the spell of African religions....Did Denzel Washington join the Nation of Islam after playing Malcolm X? For that matter, every nonwhite character in this book except Paz comes under the influence of either Santeria or African religion.....Despite this flaw, which bothered me progressively more as I read, I enjoyed this intellectual thriller....Be Careful Mr. Gruber......
Rating:
Summary: Horror, Voodoo and Drama
Review: Tropic of Night is a hard book to describe. Is it an adventure novel? Well, the first half of it sure reads like it. Is it a horror novel? The second half reads like one. Mix in a lot of drama, great suspense and very interesting and odd characters and you end up with a book that has a little something for everyone. Michael Gruber's first novel is full of originality. In it, we find Jane Doe (yes, that is her real name), an anthropologist who is now living a life in hiding and constant fear. She is living with a little girl she has abducted and now treats as her own daughter. She is running away from her husband, who might now be back looking for her to finish something that he started a long, long time ago. Paz is a cop who is thrown into a murder investigation that seems just too extraordinary to be real. Pregnant women and their unborn child are being murdered in a rutualistic manner. And all the murders seem to be pointing to the same man; Jane's husband, a poet name De Witt, a sorcerer who is seeking revenge for his kind. Spells, dark magic, vodoo and some very intense moments fills the last half of this book. But the real magic here is Gruber's writing. Written in the first person (for Jane), third person (for Paz) and through diary entries that take through the African jungle and back, Gruber takes us through a very original world that is full of magic and originality. You never know what's real and what's not. You never know what to believe and what not to believe. And the fact that Paz and Jane are very original characters that you don't always like just adds to the story's mystic charms. You don't always agree with these two, but you nonetheless want to follow them until the very end. Tropic of Night is a very promising debut by a bright new voice. I can't wait to read Gruber's next. This is one man with a very promising career facing him.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Engrossing
Review: Tropic of Night is a totally engrossing, can't-put-it down thriller that draws you in and won't let you go. The novel concerns a series of ritual, shocking murders in Miami and several people involved with trying to stop them. The story begins, not with a murder, or with a police detective heading to the crime scene, but with a woman watching a young child sleep. The woman, Jane Doe, is living under an alias with Luz, a young child who is not her daughter. She has thrown away her former, much more comfortable way of life to escape from a horror we learn about as we read the novel. The novel also follows Detective Iago Paz, a man of Cuban heritage who ultimately discovers that Jane can help him solve these murders. This novel is completely engrossing; however, I must warn you that much of the plot concerns a kind of sorcery and witchcraft that some may find completely implausible. Towards the end of the novel, it started to really bother me, but Gruber ties it up neatly (not too neatly) and brings the novel back to more solid footing. All in all, an excellent read. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Completely transcends its Genre, A Great Novel
Review: Tropic of Night is one of the great masterworks of the Thriller genre. Like the best works Raymond Chandler, John LeCarre and Patrick O'Brian, this book completely transcends its genre. It is a powerful and original novel. Beautifully paced with wonderful characters, serious primal themes that matter and a voice that is strikingly original. I have recommended it to many of my friends. I tell them to go out and buy it. Because this guy Gruber deserves to sell a lot of books and be successful. I hope he continues to write. God, I wish I'd written it.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and fascinating.
Review: Truly hard to put down. Michael Gruber has created a richly atmospheric world, a gripping plot and fascinating characters. "Tropic of Night" is a great thriller (and definitely not for the faint of heart) but it's so much more - it's an exploration of the dark places in the human soul. I'm making it sound heavy, when it really isn't - the proceedings are lightened by a wry sense of humor, not to mention the incredible roller-coaster ride of a plot. Gruber takes us to some pretty strange and supernatural places in this book, but never loses track of the heart of his story - the wonderful and complicated humanity of the characters. Be prepared to miss appointments...or stay up all night...because once you start reading you won't want to stop.
Rating:
Summary: So,so...
Review: Without going into the plot here, plenty of other reviews have done so, Tropic of Night is one of the most suspenseful and frightening books I've read in a long time. The logical and clear way the world of sorcery is brought alive here places the book firmly in the fringes of the "real" world, and tears down the protective barrier that keeps us safe from most fantastic fiction. Through out the course of reading this book I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder in crowded places and jumping at every shadow and noise when home alone. I though the ending came too quick and neat, the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. I recommend it for anyone who wants a gripping suspense and anyone who needs to be jarred from their "reality."
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