Rating: 
Summary: hunting down amanda
Review: i really didn't like this novel. everyone who tried to help amanda already had miserable lives anyway so why did they have to die for helping save amanda's life. i wouldn't recommend it to anyone, i'm glad i borrowed it and didn't buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing similarity to Dean Koontz 's "Sole Survivor"
Review: I really enjoyed this book. The opening chapter describing the plane crash was breathtaking. I wouldn't take too much notice of the supernatural aspect of Amanda's powers - they are not the main story line.
Mind you I just saw a telemovie called Sole Survivor based on a Dean Koontz novel and the similarities between the 2 stories is amazing. The similarities are enough to make you believe in the supernatural :) Both feature plane crashes with sole survivor, a child that can heal the sick, a sad lonely guy that helps save teh girl, bad guys chasing them. One of them must have left a draft on the train and the other picked it up.
Rating: 
Summary: AMAZING
Review: I started reading this book one evening and had to force myself to go to bed. I didn't want to put it down! I wasn't pleased with the ending, but I kind of saw it coming. Great bad guys, if there is such a thing. I'll probably go back and read his prior books, now.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing exciting
Review: I was expecting this book to be a definate page turner with the main character falling for a prostitute who is on the run. The opening of the book is brilliant - a little girl (Amanda) is caught in a strange storm and goes off into the woods. The rest of the book is about Lonnie Blake, a musician, who helps out a prositute (Carol Dodson) one night and eventually falls for her. But Carol is hiding her daughter, Amanda, from many people, for reasons that are apparent throughout the story and Lonnie helps out both of them.I was disappointed with this book, it was hardly exciting plus by the end of it I really didn't care what happened to any of the characters, I pushed myself to finish it, but the ending was no surprise. Not recommended if you are after an excellent thriller, bypass this one and head on over to anything by Dennis Lehane or Michael Connelly.
Rating:
Summary: Not as exciting or compelling as I thought it would be.
Review: I was really excited for a fast paced beach read. The beginning is excellent and really gets you involved but I found myself less and less interested in the plot as it unfolded. I didn't like the main character (Lonnie), and I just couldn't root for him. The villian is so evil you know the whole time he's going to die an awful, dramatic death. I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: AN EDGE OF YOUR SEAT THRILLER
Review: Lonnie Blake is drifting through life, still mourning over his wife who was murdered over a year ago. One night he meets Carol Dodson, and after spending the night together, he feels all the desire and passion that has been missing in his life. After the night together, Carol disappears. Lonnie must find her, and in doing so he will enter into a world where nothing is as it seems, and murder comes naturally. While trying to find her, he finds carol had a secret...a little girl named Amanda. "Hunting Down Amanda" keeps it's secrets hidden until just the right time, and slowly springs them on you...one after the other. Andrew Klavan has written another UP ALL NIGHT read, that readers will be racing through to find out what exactly is going on. He keeps giving the reader cliff-hangers, and notching up the tension until the climax. Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: Satisfying, well plotted book with heart and a smash ending
Review: Not an exceptional book cover but one that drew me into the novel. The thriller begins with an electrifying airplane mid-air explosion. The reader vividily experiences the crash by witnessening its effect on a town being destroyed by the debris falling from the sky. Klavan does quite well in introducing his characters and developing the plot as he does so. Lonnie, a former gangbanger, is a sad figure. He is a solid musician now almost without his music due to his wife being killed in a gang attack. Carol, is on the run with her daugther, Amanda, and attempting to save her from the bad guys. Carol will do and does do anything to protect Amanda. You may shake you head at some of her actions but you will end loving and admiring the strength of this woman. Amanda, the daughter, is close to being a little angel. Her character is defined by the love between the child and the mother, her strength and wisdom Amanda exhibits in her sweet child-like way, and the love she draws from others. The bad guys, driven by Winter, the protaganist are relentless, powerfull, and remorseless..and throughly enraged by Carol inate ability to stay one step ahead. One can enjoy Klavans characters, even the bad guys, simply because he gives them life. One of the minor players is Roth, a professor dying from cancer. He is introduced toward the middle of the novel when he encounters Amanda. There is some very good writing defining this character and the interplay between he and Amanda. Carol's pregnancy with Amada was influenced by some governmental scientific shennagians that resulted in Amanda having the ability to heal by touch. However, every time she heals she gets ill. We learn that this "touching" and the illness that follows will ultimately cause her death. The bad guys are pursuing her so that they can sell her "touch", test her and eventually let her die. In the race to the ending of the novel the action does become a bit fortuitous for the writer and Amanda, Carol and Lonnie. Were talking Robert Ludlum here. But the reader is carried along by our feeling for these three and the pleasure we experience when Winter gets his due. HUNTING DOWN AMANDA is a good read with what I call good "stuff" to carry it along.
Rating:
Summary: Just doesn't work.
Review: Of the many "thriller" books read these last few years, this is,without question, the worst of the lot. A less than exciting plot (done so many times before in recent times), with characters you wouldn't let near your kid, your dog or your house. Add in the fact the writing is simply sophomoric at best, with no touch of shading or substance, and you have one of the all-time "waste of time" books on the market. This so-called author is a joke, and any publisher promotion to the contrary, deserves to be thrown in the dustbin. How in the world did this guy get on the market?
Rating:
Summary: Not Original but Not Bad...
Review: Over the holidays, I read some of Andrew Klavan's more recent novels so I went back and tried some of his earlier books. I'm a little late to the party on this one but thought I'd throw in my two cents worth.
My rating may be a little generous; I'd rather give the book between three and four stars. But overall it is a very exciting and interesting read. Some critics have complained about the lack of originality and I can't argue. We'll all read it before - the child with abnormal powers, the villains from some high-tech facility chasing her, the unlikely heroes to team up to thwart the villains - it's been done. But the real key is how well it's done; as they say, there are only so many plots.
With that, Klavan has written a very fast-paced and absorbing story. The characterizations are deeper than are usually found in this type of novel and the plot zips along. His writing is sometimes poetic and you buy the premise. I don't want to oversell this book but I have certainly read far worse.
Klavan is a good writer and those who really want to see how far he's progressed might want to try some of his recent novels featuring the characters of Weiss and Bishop. I suspect that if is your first encounter with Klavan, you'll want to try others; the guy can tell a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Seems hurried.
Review: Picked this up because the title caught my eye. Although it was somewhat entertaining and certainly a quick read, I find it hard to recommend this book. The character development is poor and left me wondering why in the world someone like Lonnie Blake would ever be interested in a Carol Dodson. Or why a man who has just taken over the American branch of a "killer for hire" corporation would become so obsessed with Dodson. Or why it's necessary to kill everyone in the path of finding Carol, as if this wouldn't attract some sort of attention. Combine that with the "made for TV movie" style writing and you get a book that wasn't as satisfying at all. At one point he describes a background character as a "doofus" and I began to wonder how old the person who wrote this was. All in all, the book seemed rushed to publication, as if the author had no time to think and write the story out the way he wanted. Sorry Mr Klavan, but this one needed a lot of work.
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