Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling story throughout!
Review: "The Night Spider," by thrilling-writer John Lutz had me glued to my cozy spot all evening. I honestly could not put this book down...yes, it was that good!Each woman slept behind the locked doors of their Manhattan high-rise. Yet each woman was slain by the 'Night Spider' a killer who's about to draw Homicide Captain Thomas Horn's wife into his web...There is only one word that best discribes this book and that one word is..."THRILLING!" (Highly Recommended Novel!)
Rating: 
Summary: John Lutz--The Night Spider (2003)
Review: As the tag-line suggests--"All wrapped up and ready to die"--this thriller from suspense novelist John Lutz is about a killer who actually "wraps" up helpless women in their beds, violates them, and then kills them as they try to squirm out of their web of death. Retired cop Thomas Horn is teamed with detectives Paula Ramboquette and Roy Bickerstaff to solve the case, but everywhere they turn they are befuddled by the clues. As the Night Spider kills more victims, Horn realizes that he is not dealing with a normal killing machine--but a military-trained expert who has the tools to claim any woman as his next victim--perhaps even Horn's wife. The story is very fast-paced and enjoyable; however, the overall payoff is a little to be desired. Lutz is certainly coming into his own as an author, but what he needs to improve upon is his climax and resolution. Horn is a very believable character, but the novel really succeeds because of the strong, bold Ramboquette (excellent choice for the last name) and the chubby, sarcastic Bickerstaff. It is characters such as these that will allow Lutz to create even better novels in the future and perhaps become one of the better suspense writers over the next decade or so.
Rating:
Summary: John Lutz--The Night Spider (2003)
Review: As the tag-line suggests--"All wrapped up and ready to die"--this thriller from suspense novelist John Lutz is about a killer who actually "wraps" up helpless women in their beds, violates them, and then kills them as they try to squirm out of their web of death. Retired cop Thomas Horn is teamed with detectives Paula Ramboquette and Roy Bickerstaff to solve the case, but everywhere they turn they are befuddled by the clues. As the Night Spider kills more victims, Horn realizes that he is not dealing with a normal killing machine--but a military-trained expert who has the tools to claim any woman as his next victim--perhaps even Horn's wife. The story is very fast-paced and enjoyable; however, the overall payoff is a little to be desired. Lutz is certainly coming into his own as an author, but what he needs to improve upon is his climax and resolution. Horn is a very believable character, but the novel really succeeds because of the strong, bold Ramboquette (excellent choice for the last name) and the chubby, sarcastic Bickerstaff. It is characters such as these that will allow Lutz to create even better novels in the future and perhaps become one of the better suspense writers over the next decade or so.
Rating:
Summary: great read
Review: First book I've read by this author, and i'm very satisfied. Definately a writer to look out for.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, but I'm a little confused
Review: I thought this was a really good book, however there were a few things that kept it from being a great book. I thought the detectives were very believable, especially Thomas Horn. I'm confused (and I don't know if this is the fault of the author or his editor) because in a flashback on page 100 it is 1982 and the killer is seven yrs. old. Then in another on page 198 it is 1978 and the killer is 12 yrs. old. I couldn't figure out if we were dealing with two different people, maybe brothers, or what was going on. This kept me very confused and I kept waiting for more to be revealed to let me know if there were indeed two killers. There were two or three other points in the book where things just didn't make sense. It's a shame because otherwise this could have been a five star book in a league with (not to beat a dead horse) Silence of the Lambs. Hey Pinnacle Books, do you need a proofreader??
Rating:
Summary: A good book, but I'm a little confused
Review: I thought this was a really good book, however there were a few things that kept it from being a great book. I thought the detectives were very believable, especially Thomas Horn. I'm confused (and I don't know if this is the fault of the author or his editor) because in a flashback on page 100 it is 1982 and the killer is seven yrs. old. Then in another on page 198 it is 1978 and the killer is 12 yrs. old. I couldn't figure out if we were dealing with two different people, maybe brothers, or what was going on. This kept me very confused and I kept waiting for more to be revealed to let me know if there were indeed two killers. There were two or three other points in the book where things just didn't make sense. It's a shame because otherwise this could have been a five star book in a league with (not to beat a dead horse) Silence of the Lambs. Hey Pinnacle Books, do you need a proofreader??
Rating: 
Summary: greatbook
Review: if u like a good mystery this one is for you althought you know who the killer is in the middle of the book the ending is a shocker
Rating:
Summary: ARACHNOPHILE ALERT
Review: THE NIGHT SPIDER is a tense and original novel. John Lutz draws the portrait of a serial killer with a penchant for enshrouding his female victims in their bedsheets, then stabs them and lets them bleed to death. He manages to get into their high rise apartments without being detected, and gets away too. Detective Thomas Horn is called out of an early retirement to assist NYPD in capturing this maniacal killer. He is assisted by Cajun Paula Ramboquette and almost retired Roy Brickstaff. Horn also has a lovely wife, Anne, head of the radiographic department at Kingdom Hospital, who is being sued over the anesthesia-induced coma of a four year old boy, whose parents John and Cindy Vine, are hellbent on making the hospital pay.
Lutz' characterizations are sharp and there are several twists in the intriguing plot. Two areas bothered me though: one--little is given to justify the hasty estrangement of Thomas and his wife; and there's a lot of scenes involving a sculptor that don't seem to have anything to do with the plot and could have been left out and the book would not have suffered in the least.
However, this is my first Lutz book and I enjoyed it enough to seek out others.
Rating:
Summary: exciting police procedural thriller
Review: The serial killer murdered his third high rise victim with the same MO of tying up his prey with sheets so tight they dig into the skin before he stabs her thirty-six to thirty-seven times. The wrappings are so tight that little blood seeps to the floor in spite of the multiple stabbings. NYPD Detective Paula Ramboquette is assigned lead as her senior partner Roy Bickerstaff nears retirement. Still both are amazed at the crime scene as it appears a spiderman climbed up thirty floors on the side of a building before entering the apartment of Sally Bridge through a window. Assistant Chief Roland Larkin worries that this case will need a special hand so he persuades disability retired former homicide captain Thomas Horn to lead the inquiries. He looks at the crime scenes especially the last one and shows that the killer did not go up, but came down the shorter distance from the roof. However, the Night Spider welcomes the challenge of Horn as he has no doubt that the retired cop or perhaps his wife will become his next victim. THE NIGHT SPIDER is an exciting police procedural thriller that starts at an incredible pace and for the most part maintains the action until the end. The tale is incredibly gripping when the killer takes center stage during the novel. A subplot involving Thomas' personal relationships unnecessarily horns in on the prime cat and mouse scenario that makes the book worth reading. Sub-genre fans will be elated with John Lutz's strong Manhattan police procedural. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: exciting police procedural thriller
Review: The serial killer murdered his third high rise victim with the same MO of tying up his prey with sheets so tight they dig into the skin before he stabs her thirty-six to thirty-seven times. The wrappings are so tight that little blood seeps to the floor in spite of the multiple stabbings. NYPD Detective Paula Ramboquette is assigned lead as her senior partner Roy Bickerstaff nears retirement. Still both are amazed at the crime scene as it appears a spiderman climbed up thirty floors on the side of a building before entering the apartment of Sally Bridge through a window. Assistant Chief Roland Larkin worries that this case will need a special hand so he persuades disability retired former homicide captain Thomas Horn to lead the inquiries. He looks at the crime scenes especially the last one and shows that the killer did not go up, but came down the shorter distance from the roof. However, the Night Spider welcomes the challenge of Horn as he has no doubt that the retired cop or perhaps his wife will become his next victim. THE NIGHT SPIDER is an exciting police procedural thriller that starts at an incredible pace and for the most part maintains the action until the end. The tale is incredibly gripping when the killer takes center stage during the novel. A subplot involving Thomas' personal relationships unnecessarily horns in on the prime cat and mouse scenario that makes the book worth reading. Sub-genre fans will be elated with John Lutz's strong Manhattan police procedural. Harriet Klausner
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