Death Train to Boston

Rating:
Summary: Not Quite as Good as the Previous Fremont Jones Mysteries
Review: I have read all of the books in the Fremont Jones series. I was a little disappointed in "Death Train to Boston", mostly due to the change in writing style. Without giving too much away, Fremont is injured in a train wreck at the onset of the book ~ this results in her character being very passive throughout the story. I prefer the previous novels where Fremont has a more active role. Also, the book constantly flips back and forth from Fremont to Michael, which keeps you reading but can be frustrating. Just when something interesting is about to happen, the action flips to the other character. The good side of this, however, is that the reader gets to see more into Michael's feelings for Fremont.

Overall a very good book, and definitely worth reading. It's just not up to speed with the previous novels in the series.

Rating:
Summary: interesing addition to good series
Review: I have read all the Fremont Jones books, and I always look forward to the next one. This one was fun for the fast pace, I thought. Also I liked that part of the book was written from Michael's point of view. I liked the fact that Fremont had to use her wits in a really hard situation. And I liked that it was in the Utah setting. The only trouble I had with it was I wasn't really sure how I felt about having Michael work with Meiling, who is a character from the earlier books.

Rating:
Summary: OK, but not great, entry in the Fremont Jones series.
Review: I love Fremont Jones, a thoroughly believable "modern woman" of the early 20th century who has a typewriter, a lover, a business, and a dislike of long skirts. She is also a superb detective, but that skill does not feature at all in this story set in the aftermath of a train explosion in the wilds of Utah. The story focuses on the separation of Fremont from her lover/business partner and his search for her. If you are a die-hard Fremont Jones fan, you will want to read this book, but if not I'd recommend just skipping on to Beacon Street Mourning.

Rating:
Summary: OK, but not great, entry in the Fremont Jones series.
Review: I love Fremont Jones, a thoroughly believable "modern woman" of the early 20th century who has a typewriter, a lover, a business, and a dislike of long skirts. She is also a superb detective, but that skill does not feature at all in this story set in the aftermath of a train explosion in the wilds of Utah. The story focuses on the separation of Fremont from her lover/business partner and his search for her. If you are a die-hard Fremont Jones fan, you will want to read this book, but if not I'd recommend just skipping on to Beacon Street Mourning.

Rating:
Summary: Must have been written by an impostor
Review: I've read all of the Fremont Jones mysteries and enjoyed every one of them--save this one. The writing was so uniformly and uncharacteristically awful that I wonder whether it was written by the same person at all. The plot was ridiculous, the action overwrought yet at the same time dull, the characters' motivations obscure, and the ending forced and unsatisfying. The writing itself seemed hasty, as if the whole work were merely a plot summary that someone forgot to fill in. Skip this one, you won't miss a thing, as it didn't advance the series action at all. Pick up the next book instead ("Beacon Street Mourning"). It's not the best in the series but it's far better than "Death Train to Boston."

Rating:
Summary: Maybe Day ran into a deadline or something...
Review: I've read all the books in the Freemont Jones series, and up until now I've enjoyed them very much. This installment left something to be desired though. It started out well enough but it seemed like too many threads were started and never finished. As the book went on it just got more and more shallow and by the end I felt like Day was just trying to wrap things up as fast as possible with no real resolution - or at least nothing satisfying. Maybe I was in a hyper critical mood when I read this one, but in retrospect I just don't feel it was worth my time.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable but not up to Day's usual standards
Review: Michael Kossoff and Fremont Jones are on a train that suddenly explodes. The train explosion and their unseen foe fade to the background while you become wrapped up in Fremont's injuries, her being held hostage by a group of Mormons, Michael's search for Fremont, Meiling's transformation back into the Chinese culture to name but a few. Then toward the end of the book, the women in the Mormon group did an about-face, and seem to simply fade away and the train foe reappears. There were too many loose strings to make this the typical Dianne Day mystery. The motivations for the characters' actions and reactions were unclear and seemed to come from nowhere. I'm a huge fan of Ms. Day and will continue to read her mysteries, but this one was not up to par.

Rating:
Summary: I liked it!
Review: Not sure why several reviewers didn't like this book in the series by Dianne Day - I thought it was great! I'll admit I didn't care much for the Meiling stuff, but other than that, it was a great plot! A lot of facts about Utah that I didn't know and the Mormons, too. It was a great mystery!

Rating:
Summary: A worthy continuation in an interesting series.
Review: One of the things that makes the Fremont Jones mysteries so interesting is that the characters are constantly evolving. Another is that the locations often change as well; thus, we're spared the routine similarities between novels in other series. In this, the fifth installment, Fremont and her partner/lover Michael are seperated by an explosion on board a train, while on a case. Fremont is kidnapped by a menacing Mormon intent on making her the sixth of his wives. With both legs broken by the explosion, she must resort to her wiles and powers of persuasion to escape from his clutches. We are back in Study In Scarlet country here. Meanwhile, Michael Kassoff searches desperately for Fremont, while simultaneously eluding an old enemy, and trying to determine who is so deter- mined to kill them that he'd blow up an entire train. Also, he must put up with the wiles of Fremont's friend, Meiling, who has her undergone a few changes of her own. Great fun, as are all the Fremont Jones myste- ries. This is a worthy continuation in an inter- esting series.

Rating:
Summary: For die-hard Fremont fans only.
Review: This book is a western, not a mystery. It tries to be a mystery, but it relies too heavily on events that happened earlier in the series. In other words, if you haven't read the rest of the series, you have no chance to solve this one and probably won't care enough to try.

Fremont's captivity is disturbing and dull, and I am not interested enough in the supporting characters to enjoy an entire book with them at center stage. Everyone seems to act out of character in this book, and it doesn't help that none of them are quite in step with the time period either. How could it have taken so long for women to get the vote with so many bold adventuresses on the loose?

I loved the first two books in this series, but was disappointed in the last one and EXTREMELY disappointed in this one. Dianne Day may have only one chance left with this reader.