Gideon

Rating:
Summary: Really great page-turner!!!
Review: I enjoyed Gideon from the first page. I thought it was one ofthe most original thrillers I have read since I read The Day AfterTomorrow. The plot was filled with enough twists and turns, political intrigue and sexual diversity to really keep me reading. I think the story Carl was hired to write could have been developed more, but it was still a really good read.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: This was a great book. The plot twists and turns keep the reader guessing until the end and when you get to the end (which doesn't take long since you can't put it down) the whole story comes together in a way never imagined. Why this book isn't getting more notice, I do not understand.

Rating:
Summary: A Truly Excellent Work; Should Be a Best-Seller
Review: I found Gideon to be a finely crafted story filled with intrigue, mystery, excitement, politics, religion, sexual diversity, love interest, an explosion, geographic variety, violence, scary characters, and more. Many surprises are encountered for the reader. Go back to earlier passages and find the clues you missed, for they are there! I've read other "best-sellers" and found them wanting in sustaining interest. This is better by far than Grisham's books of late. It's the only book I've felt like reviewing because it was the only one in recent times which got my attention, kept it, and paid me for my time with real entertainment value. It even has an important character who's had an attack of Bell's Palsy, a facial nerve failure experienced by tens of thousands of Americans each year (including me, still recovering from last August's onset), but hardly understood by most because it is usually short lived and never life-threatening. Yes, I think any reader with an open mind will find this great summer (or later) reading!

Rating:
Summary: Intruiging and fast paced. I couldn't put it down!
Review: Gideon is a fast paced thriller that keeps you guessing on every page. The characters are diverse and plot twists are quite intriguing. You probably won't guess who the true killer really is until the final scene. The story within the story could have been more detailed, but the basic essence of who and why are laid out quite well. You will enjoy the book.

Rating:
Summary: Tried hard, too hard.
Review: Gideon, in my eyes, was a novel that desperately tried to be young, fresh, and/or hip. It wasn't even close. The authors' use of sports slang was painful to read, and seemed to be a desperate plea to inject youth in the novel. The closer's identity was a good twist, but overall the plot was stale. I have seen it in the movie theater and have read it in other novels. I was extremely disappointed with the portrayal of the Catholic Church in this novel, the homosexual and pedophilia references were neither proper nor relevant to the story. I am not standing on a soapbox, but I hope modern authors have the talent to write a thrilling novel without employing sensationalism. I will stick with Fyodor Doestevsky. Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and Brothers Karmazov were tremendous thrillers. I guess the difference in quality is that Fyodor wasn't trying to write a novel and a screen play all at once.

Rating:
Summary: It was a good read, but I thought it was too predictable
Review: I enjoyed reading the book, but I didn't feel like it was so big of a mystery figuring out who the bad guys were. The book starts out very riveting but I felt like it lost some of it's power towards the end. I thought it was an interesting story, but definately not a 5 star book. I think it would make a good movie.

Rating:
Summary: Extrmemly Average
Review: This book has a tremendous amount of good qualities, as well as a good number of aspects that I could do without. Although, over 400 pages, this book reads extremely fast. It it has a decent story line and is very well written, most of the time. Although a better thriller than Grisham writes, it seems as if the authors were trying to "one-up" Grisham with some ridiculous, movie-type events. As the reader, the main characters meant zero to me. I couldn't have cared less what would be their fate. I prefer being concerned with the protagonist and I wasn't here. It is difficult to put down, but when I did, I felt as if my time could have been better spent on other's pages.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: Averaging a book a day, it's hard to astound me with a book, but Gideon did. This is the first time since I can remember that a book never dragged. I was captured at page one and didn't put it down until 4 AM. When I raved about it my mom and husband both read it and were duly impressed. If you owe anybody a gift, I recommend Gideon, it's one they will talk about for a long time. Too bad the publishers didn't give this book the play it deserved, it's so much better than a lot of the tripe they are hyping. Gideon is so much better than Grisham you shouldn't miss it.

Rating:
Summary: By far the best book I've read all year
Review: After I read the first chapter of this book, I was hooked! Extremely explosive start and keeps on going. The last part of the book reminded me a lot of The Firm but I don't know if it was because of the setting (down south) or not. While probably classified as a political thriller, it's not typical for that category -- no grand scheme cross country intrigue. Just good ole suspense at it's very best. I'm passing this book around to my friends now -- I know it will make it's way to many people in a short time because once you start you can't put it down. This book is easily the best I've read all year -- if not quite a few years. Don't wait for the paperback -- go out and buy it now.

Rating:
Summary: Gripping page turner
Review: When a book can keep me away from my computer, it has to be good! Gideon is one of those books that I look forward to because I know I won't put it down. Gideon made me sit-up and say "What???" many times - which is exactly the type of book I like. The twists and turns and surprises make this book an excellent read.