Rating: 
Summary: A book worth reading.
Review: A good suspense read, except for a slightly forgetful ending
Rating:
Summary: Step Aside, Dean Koontz
Review: A strong return for Andrew Klavan after the disappointing "The Uncanny." "Hunting Down Amanda" takes its place next to some of Dean Koontz's early, less predictable efforts. "Hunting Down Amanda" grabs you from the opening scenes of the ground-based view of an exploding jumbo jet and sends you off through fire, panic, misdirection, and darkness. Driven by the heart of a fiercely protective, very human woman whose one purpose is to keep her child alive, the plot pulls in an unsuspecting, heartsore musician; an honorable smuggler; a cranky academic; and a variety of hit men running the scale from inept to cooly efficient. How all these people weave together around the life of one very special little girl contributes to an absorbing, distracting read. If there had only been a golden retriever somewhere in the mix, I might suspect Mr. Koontz of writing under yet another pen name. A good ride.
Rating:
Summary: very well done!
Review: A very well done thriller by a very talented writer. Good plot. Flawed, but interesting characters. Hints scattered here and there, but not so many that you could guess what was going to happen next. And a totally unexpected, but totally fulfilling surprise ending. Well worth reading IMHO.
Rating: 
Summary: B A D
Review: Andrew Klavan wins my 2001 annual award for "Most Heart-Stopping Opener." Lordy! A bucolic summer scene in quaint Hunnicutt, MA and then, "A white-hot light spilled wide across the face of heaven ---as if the sky had been obliterated by a blinding stain." A commercial aircraft has exploded in mid-air over the town center, and it is raining metal, fire and body parts. A little girl runs amid the falling debris to find her mother. Thus we are introduced to Amanda who is the epicenter of a desperate search by the government and a pharmaceutical company (all bad guys). Why? It seems Amanda is able to "sparkle" people, to use her words. She can heal by touch. This gift is neither occult nor spiritual, but the result of drug experimentation. The catch? Amanda is depleted by her "sparkling," and if overused, will die. Her street-smart mother has been on the run for a year. The rest of the novel is the chase by the bad guys and the obsession for the mother, Carol by haunted musician, Lonnie. The characterizations are expertly done and highly believable. Each player is etched on your mind. This is the strongest part of the book. However, the plot becomes so fantastic, it is almost ludicrous. I can suspend belief for maybe three impossible escapes, but not ten or twenty. The pace is pounding, and the ending is poignant; but I had left any believability behind. Grade B-
Rating: 
Summary: Quite A Ride
Review: Andrew Klavan wins my 2001 annual award for "Most Heart-Stopping Opener." Lordy! A bucolic summer scene in quaint Hunnicutt, MA and then, "A white-hot light spilled wide across the face of heaven ---as if the sky had been obliterated by a blinding stain." A commercial aircraft has exploded in mid-air over the town center, and it is raining metal, fire and body parts. A little girl runs amid the falling debris to find her mother. Thus we are introduced to Amanda who is the epicenter of a desperate search by the government and a pharmaceutical company (all bad guys). Why? It seems Amanda is able to "sparkle" people, to use her words. She can heal by touch. This gift is neither occult nor spiritual, but the result of drug experimentation. The catch? Amanda is depleted by her "sparkling," and if overused, will die. Her street-smart mother has been on the run for a year. The rest of the novel is the chase by the bad guys and the obsession for the mother, Carol by haunted musician, Lonnie. The characterizations are expertly done and highly believable. Each player is etched on your mind. This is the strongest part of the book. However, the plot becomes so fantastic, it is almost ludicrous. I can suspend belief for maybe three impossible escapes, but not ten or twenty. The pace is pounding, and the ending is poignant; but I had left any believability behind. Grade B-
Rating: 
Summary: like a violent action movie
Review: Andrew Klavan's "Hunting Down Amanda" is a thriller with sci-fi overtones, involving the heavy use of heavy weapons. Although the protagonists are wounded souls who are well drawn, the plot reads too much like a screenplay for an action movie. The bad guys are all bad, and there is no redemption for them. As in Klavan's most recent book, "Man and Wife", a character becomes almost a Christlife figure, giving up his own life for another.
As the plot unfolded, I began to hope that Amanda would use her special gifts to heal the bad guys, to change them into loving and life-affirming characters. That would be the greater miracle, and a more ingenious plot twist than those Klavan has concocted!
Rating:
Summary: too violent for my taste
Review: Andrew Klavan's "Hunting Down Amanda" is a thriller with sci-fi overtones, involving the heavy use of heavy weapons. Although the protagonists are wounded souls who are well drawn, the plot reads too much like a screenplay for an action movie. The bad guys are all bad, and there is no redemption for them. As in Klavan's most recent book, "Man and Wife", a character becomes almost a Christlife figure, giving up his own life for another.
As the plot unfolded, I began to hope that Amanda would use her special gifts to heal the bad guys, to change them into loving and life-affirming characters. That would be the greater miracle, and a more ingenious plot twist than those Klavan has concocted!
Rating:
Summary: Read like a second rate made for TV screenplay.
Review: Did the author read "Firestarter"
Rating: 
Summary: An exciting occult thriller
Review: Eighteen months have passed since his beloved wife was murdered. Musician Lonnie Blake still mourns his loss as if it was yesterday. He no longer cares about living. His life hits rock bottom until he meets Carol Dodson, who pleads with him to take her into his apartment in order to keep her temporarily safe from a stalker. She pretends to be a prostitute and acts the role of Lonnie's deceased spouse for a night. However, when the night ends, she vanishes and Lonnie remembers the passion that Carol, not his wife, aroused in him. Carol is not a hooker as Lonnie thought. Instead, she worries over her five year old daughter Amanda, who has special healing powers that a pharmaceutical firm wants to own at any cost, including murder. Carol and Lonnie soon join forces trying to keep a special little girl, one who can heal cancer and raise the dead, safe from villains who want to exploit her for profit. Anyone who has not read Andrew Klavan (see THE UNCANNY) is missing the works of one of the top thriller writers in the last few years. Mr. Klavan's current novel, HUNTING DOWN AMANDA, is a great work that starts with a bang, never lets up, and closes with an incredible climax. The plot twists and turns in a plausible, action-packed manner. Carol and Lonnie are a soulful couple seeking atonement for alleged sins they believe they committed. Amanda is a delight who revels in her power, even as she cannot understand the fuss. Though much darker than the best selling TRUE CRIME, HUNTING DOWN AMANDA will send readers hunting down the classical works of Mr. Klavan. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: the best thriller of the year
Review: Hunting Down Amanda is a brilliant novel for its almost perfect coincidence of idea and story. The work is a modern retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice story from Greek mythology (complete with a disgruntled Classics professor who retells the famous myth for those who might not otherwise know the story). At the same time, the level of suspense is maintained: will this modern story end tragically as the Greek myth does?
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