Gideon

Rating:
Summary: Gripping but....
Review: I just finished this book after having picked it up on a sale table. I have to admit that I had been intrigued by it since it came out and had wanted to read it, but never got around to paying full price.

It is a gripping work, well written and tightly paced. The book is at its best while set in NYC, but when it moves out from there it begins to unravel. For one thing, the geography is off and, sorry, but I find this inexcusable. A quick consultation with Rand McNally would have kept this from occurring. For another, the author(s) push the abilities of the principal antagonists too far for credibility. Both the evil doers and their primary cat's paw are given just a bit too much power. A little more care in these areas and the book could have been stunning to the end. Alas, it is a good work and fun to read, but the book breaks the reader's willing suspension of disbelief and, in the end, does not live up to its potential. I still look forward to reading their next work.

Rating:
Summary: Almost a Thriller
Review: "Gideon" gets off to a good start, quickly paced and roller coaster fast. The reader's interest is speedily engaged in the "who is this happening to and why?" Somewhere around page 150, the book becomes a chore. The writing and pace become uneven and dead spots occur with more and more frequency.

The collaboration between Peter Gethers and David Handler doesn't seem to gel and become seamless. Sometimes I had the feeling I was reading a rough draft. It is difficult to accept a hero whose nickname is "Granny" and all that word implies. One of the two "deadly" assassins is an overweight, not-to-bright rogue ex-cop whose main concern seems to be furious bigotry. We are expected to believe the richest, most powerful man in the world could do no better in the assassin market than to select this dim bulb. The choice of victims is ludicrous. Those that are truly dangerous to the powerful man's schemes are overlooked in favor of innocents who have only the most tangential connection with the plot. The surprises are telegraphed so far in advance that the only person still in the dark is the hero.

There are curious lapses, as if the fact checker took a holiday. How often can one draw $1000 from one ATM machine? Why is a broken down Subaru with DC plates entirely invisible to police and FBI?

The strongest element of "Gideon" is the following of clues as the hero and his ever-loyal former girl friend get closer and closer to the answers. Their odyssey through the Deep South is well done, particularly a chapter dealing with what has to be the ultimate Elvis Presley fans.

"Gideon" has it moments; there are just not enough of them.

Rating:
Summary: Harmless Fun.
Review: I wouldn't call "Gideon" a "shocking" or "explosive" or "great" story... but it is an agreeably engrossing suspense/adventure novel with likeable protagonists and villainous enemies. It's absorbing. By the time you realize there are some serious holes in the plot, you're all done with it and on to the next read of the summer. No harm done and it's fun while it lasts.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking And Explosive Thriller....
Review: Carl Granville is a struggling New York City-based writer who has just received a most precarious offer. He is contracted by top editor Maggie Peterson to turn the contents of a top-secret diary into an instant work of fiction. She mentions that this is a rush job of the highest order ("the kind of thing we usually save for terrorist attacks, wars, or dead royalty"), and once the secret manuscript is finished, it could literally change the course of history. Carl is not told who the diary belongs to, just that the real owner wishes to remain anonymous and will be known simply as "Gideon". He is instructed to speak to no one about the project (including Maggie who says officially he does not exist) and is not permitted to ask any questions about the confidential information that will be fed to him. In return for his silence, Carl will be paid six-figures and have one million copies of his ghost-written book printed.

Soon after Carl decides to take on the project, Maggie Peterson is murdered, and when he decides to come clean about the Gideon project (in an effort to cooperate with the authorities) he is told that there is no record of him or his project ever existing. That's when more people start dying and Carl becomes the prime suspect in all the murders. The only person he can trust is his ex-girlfriend, journalist Amanda Mays, who has her own doubts about becoming personally involved with Carl again after a rather stormy relationship. Soon they are both thrown into a world of murder, greed and politics as they go underground to catch the real killers before Carl is caught himself.

Interestingly, Russell Andrews is a pseudonym for the writing duo of Peter Gethers and David Handler. Gideon is their first team effort and it is an exciting one. The book serves up an endless series of twists and turns that unravel over an exhausting 8 days. Just when you think you have things figured out, the author(s) throw another curve ball your way. This is a sharp novel will keep you awake and guessing until the very end. I also enjoyed pondering the present day implications of this plot. The truth behind the world shattering secret is all too possible in today's high tech information hungry society.

Four stars because it missed the truly gifted mark ever so slightly...the ending was a bit bland when compared to the roller coaster ride Andrews provides between the covers, and the identity of the "Closer" was not very imaginative. These minor details notwithstanding, this is definitely worth a buy.

Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Nice read
Review: 'Gideon'is a great thriller book with an excellent plot in it. It is a story of a writer who's hired to turn an old diary to fiction (which surely will become a bestseller).The writer agrees to do that but soon after he starts rewriting it lots of horrible things start to happen around.He finds out that he's writing about somebody who's very powerful and that he's in the danger but there's no turning back.The question "Who is the real owner of the diary???"

Rating:
Summary: A page turner that doesn't satisfy
Review: Others have hashed the storyline, so I won't waste your time. Suffice it to say that this book is well written, with suspenseful turns that kept me interested. My disappointment lies in the fact that the solution to the mystery, the secret for which many people were willing to kill, was just not all that big a deal. I expected something EARTHSHATTERING,and well, it was sort of trite.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: From the first page to the last, this books keeps you guessing with multiple twists and turns. Nonstop action, great plot, fantastic characters, well developed story line, suspense, thrills and chills - this one has it all!

Rating:
Summary: Gideon
Review: My husband read this book first and kept commenting that he couldn't put it down. When he finished, I began. We made a great game out of it. He knew all the answers, I continued to read at every opportunity asking all the questions. Of course, he would not tell me what happened next or what the secret was, just led me on with a few mini-hints. It was great fun for us to compare notes when I did finally finish the book as there were tiny buried details in the story that I missed and he could fill in and several little pieces that he missed that I could fill in.

The author's style was believable in that his descriptions aptly painted a clear mental picture of the scene. All in all, we found it a tremendously entertaining mystery with plenty of surprises along the way.

Rating:
Summary: Catch and Release
Review: The story hooked me at about page 50, played me for about 100 more, and lost my real interest shortly thereafter. I stayed to see how it all played out, but it turned into a TV movie of the week. Interesting try but not a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Hillary should have read this 8 years ago
Review: This release by a two-headed author (Peter Gethers and David Handler)is a thriller of many layers. Perhaps too many for one to write ashort, succinct review that is yet intelligible.

Carl Granville isa wannabe novelist living in New York. His ex-girlfriend is AmandaMays, deputy metro editor at a major Washington, DC rag. His brand newgirlfriend of one night is Toni, an aspiring actress who livesupstairs. Carl is hired by Maggie Peterson, the rapacious editor of aNew York publishing house, to ghostwrite a novel based on memoirsobtained from a high-level Washington source named GIDEON. Bynecessity, Gideon's identity must remain secret. Carl must crankthe book out in three weeks, writing from notes made from examiningoriginal material brought in daily by a gun-toting heavy, then takenaway. Carl soon realizes that his book will be the vehicle to expose ahorrific incident in someone's past. However, within a week ofstarting, Carl's apartment is ransacked, and his fledgling creationstolen....With clues remembered by Carl from the original sourcematerial, both flee to Mississippi, pursued by an efficient assassinnamed The Closer, to seek an answer to the Gideon riddle. Implicatedin the conspiracy is the President of the United States. (Well, hey,what modern day Chief Executive isn't at the heart of one sort ofconspiracy or another?) And above everything, seemingly pulling allthe strings, is a power hungry, international media mogul. (Sure, whynot. Let's give Bill Gates the day off on this one.) Whew!

By thelast 100 pages of this 466-page paperback, I was prepared to award 3stars. The characters are well drawn, the action tightly paced, andthe plot reasonably ingenious, but not more so than in many otherpotboilers on today's racks. I did like the unusual choice of theDelta region of northern Mississippi as the location for much of theaction. (I lived in Tupelo for 15 months, and not much happens in thatregion - or the entire state for that matter - except kudzu vine.)However, the let's-kiss-and-make-up interaction between Carl andAmanda was old hat. (For a change, how about two ex-lovers hating eachother even more by the end of a forced alliance. Now, that would bedifferent!) But then came the double-take plot twists, especially thecompletely unexpected identity of The Closer. So, by the last page, Ihad to polish up another star. I would have awarded 5, but theincredibly intricate storyline was tidied up way too efficiently formy taste. Sometimes, a few remaining hanging threads are appropriate.