Rating: 
Summary: Like petting an angry dog
Review: Reading _Girls_ is like petting an angry dog, or like holding onto a power line -- there's so much tension just under the surface, it terrifies you. The subject is crime, but it's not a crime novel. Jack is trying to solve a mystery, but _Girls_ isn't about the mystery. Imagine Camus's character Mersault as a campus cop at an upstate NY private college, and you're getting close. Busch redeems the "hard-boiled detective" novel for the truly literary in _Girls_. Don't miss it.
Rating: 
Summary: overly cautious writing
Review: There wer times when I thought this book was absolutely exquisite. The writing was so true, at turns dark, funny, painful. There is alot of exposition, a lot about him drinking "mash" feeding the dog, ruminating about minutia that gets to be tiresome after a while. By the time you get to the heart of the matter, it's difficult to care. His daughter's death, which should be the place where we come to really understand the main character is almost glossed over. Another reviewer said it perfectly, it's as if the author was so cautious about being maudlin that it goes the other way, there's no emotion, no reason for the reader to stay engaged.
Rating: 
Summary: Worthy Study of Loss
Review: This book is not just about girls, but about girls gone missing; about lives gone missing. The setting is upstate New York where the winters are long and harsh. The snow is deep. Girls are kidnapped or lost and could be just about anywhere. It is a "tough guy" book about a hardened Vietnam vet who now works security at a local college. This is the third tough guy book I've read in a row and I am beginning to notice a formula. A manly man (or a manly woman for that matter) always has to be single. He/she is always divorced or in the process of, but there is a sensitive side that makes the reader feel for the protagonist. No one, it seems, can be a hero with a supportive spouse; that would only undermine the effectiveness of the character. In spite of this somewhat tiresome blueprint for which GIRLS makes no exception, this one is better than the rest. The reason for the hero's split from his wife is better. It is a part of the inner mystery masked by the outer puzzle of the missing girls. Mr. Busch has written a worthy study of loss.
Rating:
Summary: A book to savor
Review: This is a wonderful novel. It is stark, wry, engaging, painful, atmospheric, and genuine. (I have run out of cliche adjectives). Read this one slowly and in complete silence.
Rating:
Summary: The dog steals the show.
Review: This is another book review by Wolfie and Kansas, the boonie dogs from Toto, Guam. This book rises above the level of ordinary novels because of a fantastic supporting character--the lead human character's dog. This dog has a typically wonderful doggish personality, which is appreciated by every human character who comes in contact with it. The dog is never identified by name, and his physical appearance is never described in detail. At first this seems decaninizing. However, the author is actually practicing a literary equivalent of a graphic technique described in Scott McCoud's "Understanding Comics" as "universality of cartoon imagery". Because the dog's identity and appearance remain vague, nearly any dog reading this book can identify with him. Similary, humans reading this book will form a mental image of the dog which resembles their own real-life canine friends. The story in this book is set in upstate New York during a cold and snowy winter. Having spent all of our lives on Guam, we find this to be a fascinating but wholly and weirdly alien setting. One of our noncanine animal companions of primate derivation was born and raised in upstate New York, and he says the setting is very well done and very realistic. It reminds him why he moved to Guam. Even the human characters are well developed. This is a character-driven, rather than plot-driven, novel. The characters, especially the dog, are so interesting that we can highly recommend this book to readers on both two and four legs
Rating:
Summary: Chilling
Review: This is by far one of the finest books I've read this year. Mr. Busch's chilling description of a winter that will never end, juxtaposed with a small town's fears and depravities, left me sad that it ever ended. Although a mystery, it also put me in mind of Don Robertson's "The Ideal, Genuine Man" for its portrayal of a lonely soul slowly being tightened by life's vise. And the unveiling of the killer (and another...) was a shocker. It takes quite a lot to keep me hooked and unsure of where I'm going, but "Girls" did the trick. I am now officially in Frederick Busch's camp.
Rating:
Summary: Good, well written, interesting and unusual
Review: This is one of the most unusual mysteries, if it can be called that, that I've ever read. It was atmospheric, had offbeat and well drawn characters, and a story line like none I've seen. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely riveting
Review: This is one of those rare books where you have to just keep saying to yourself, "Wow! This author can WRITE! " Busch's command of the language is exquisite, and I thought his lead character was so wise and compassionate. I loved the way he cared so deeply about the kids on the campus he was hired to protect. The ending totally caught me by surprise-- and like the main character and his psychiatrist, I couldn't see a way through the paradox. If I had to change one thing, it would be to get rid of the professor/love affair thing. I didn't really feel it added anything to the story. I can't wait to get my hands on other things this author has written!
Rating:
Summary: Exploring Human Suffering
Review: What a troubled world we live in! Mr. Busch takes us into a world where girls are abducted and murdered, a story told from the perspective of a man troubled by his own secrets and his own loss, who is called upon to assist the family of a girl who disappeared. The story of what might be an abduction unfolds, evoking in Jack, the main protagonist, memories of his own unresolved tragedy. We witness his struggle as he investigates the disappearance, discovering along the way the heart rending story in which both he and his wife are entangled. Patience is required and rewarded in this painful meditation on human suffering. There are no heroes in this story, at least in a conventional sense, only human beings grappling with conflicting emotions. Mr. Busch gives us a main character at once admirable and tormented. There are no easy answers or happy endings here, only the nitty gritty challenges of life. That doesn't mean you won't care for these characters, you almost surely will. But the emotion evoked will most likely be empathy as you observe Jack, his wife and friends come to terms with suffering that is sometimes too much to bear. Mr. Busch is a master story teller and this book, despite its dark themes, is very much worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Exploring Human Suffering
Review: What a troubled world we live in! Mr. Busch takes us into a world where girls are abducted and murdered, a story told from the perspective of a man troubled by his own secrets and his own loss, who is called upon to assist the family of a girl who disappeared. The story of what might be an abduction unfolds, evoking in Jack, the main protagonist, memories of his own unresolved tragedy. We witness his struggle as he investigates the disappearance, discovering along the way the heart rending story in which both he and his wife are entangled. Patience is required and rewarded in this painful meditation on human suffering. There are no heroes in this story, at least in a conventional sense, only human beings grappling with conflicting emotions. Mr. Busch gives us a main character at once admirable and tormented. There are no easy answers or happy endings here, only the nitty gritty challenges of life. That doesn't mean you won't care for these characters, you almost surely will. But the emotion evoked will most likely be empathy as you observe Jack, his wife and friends come to terms with suffering that is sometimes too much to bear. Mr. Busch is a master story teller and this book, despite its dark themes, is very much worth reading.
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