Rating: Summary: Entertaining, at best... Review: This was my first Douglas/Olshaker book. It won't be my last. I can't remember reading anything since john case's THE GENESIS CODE that rang so absolutely true. Douglas' time at Quantico permeates every page and each plot twist is presented with such authority...I never doubted the story line at all. I'll be checking out more Douglas/Olshaker stories and I look forward to more missions by Millicent's mavericks -- the Broken Wings. If you liked a good action story, well told, with people you'll come to like, read this book! Enjoy!
Rating: Summary: Count me a BROKEN WING groupie! Review: This was my first Douglas/Olshaker book. It won't be my last. I can't remember reading anything since john case's THE GENESIS CODE that rang so absolutely true. Douglas' time at Quantico permeates every page and each plot twist is presented with such authority...I never doubted the story line at all. I'll be checking out more Douglas/Olshaker stories and I look forward to more missions by Millicent's mavericks -- the Broken Wings. If you liked a good action story, well told, with people you'll come to like, read this book! Enjoy!
Rating: Summary: A riveting mystery from first page to last Review: A man is found in his San Francisco Bay-area home, lying in his bed, dead from a gunshot in the mouth. It looks like suicide, but this is no ordinary corpse. Thomas Boyd was director of the FBI. That's why Jake Donovan from the FBI's Behavioral Science Profiling Unit receives an urgent summons to take on what will prove to be the most dangerous, volatile, and politically sensitive case of his professional career. To do what the Bureau can't (or won't), Jake enlists an elite team of "broken wings", agents like himself who had been frozen out of the FBI. There is a trail of evidence that must be followed no matter where it leads and no matter whom it implicates. Broken Wings is a riveting mystery from first page to last. This G.K. Hall edition is large print, making it highly recommended for community libraries servicing the visual impaired and older patron.
Rating: Summary: Mindhunter's Finest Hour Review: As a true John Douglas-Mark Olshaker fan, I was a little concerned when I first heard of their venture into fiction. After reading all of their other books, I had doubts that they could pull it off. The very first chapter put my mind at ease. I found myself trying to profile right along with Jake and his team. Just when I was sure I had it figured out, something new would happen and keep me at the edge of my seat. I can not wait for next installment of the Broken Wing's adventures.
Rating: Summary: Superb, well written - you're hooked immediately! Review: Having read everything John Douglas has written, I knew this would be a good book, but it is incredible! You are pulled into the story immediately, and you can't put the book down. Douglas and Olshanker have another best seller. I read it in one sitting. The protagonist, Jake Donovan, patterned after John Douglas, shows us a more human side, one who is committed, inventive, and sexy. Please, John and Mark, give us more cases for the Broken Wings, and do it soon. Congratulation on another outstanding, facinating book!
Rating: Summary: Whoops, I bought a novel! Review: I love true crime and of course, know John Douglas' name well. I ordered this, not realizing until I was running out the door with it in hand to read on the subway that it was a novel. I was a little disappointed, because I generally am more interested in true stories. I did read the whole book and I enjoyed it. I am guessing that there is probably a lot of John Douglas in the main character (Jake Donovan - same initials, even). The idea of the Flying Squad on which the book is based, is fascinating. And, of course, solving the mystery is half the fun. Well written, a good story, believable characters and even a few good chuckles.
Rating: Summary: FICTION OR FACT? Review: If you have read all of Douglas' nonfiction works like I have then you will love this book. Douglas and Olshaker's first ficticious collaberation is a can't put down, page turning success. The lead character Jake Donavan cold be Douglas himself, from the case files to the one time medical emergency induced by stress. Obviously the characters and the scenarios are all believable and the plot comes together nicely at the end. The book falls just short of five stars in that the end does not throw the literary curveball that I like (i.e. Michael Conelly). However, the predictable climax is excused when one aspect of the plot is left open for a sequel. More Jake Donavan to come? I surely hope so.
Rating: Summary: A great read! Review: Jake Crawford, longtime FBI agent and serial killer profiler, has been forced into retirement after a hostage-type standoff goes south, even though Crawford's not to blame. So ends a brilliant career. Even a tempting, if a bit ill timed, offer from an eccentric widow fails to pique Jake's interest. Discredited, divorced and dejected, Jake crawls into a self-imposed banishment and alcoholic stupor. Just a day or two after Jake's retirement party, agents are at his banging at his door, demanding his presence at Quantico, and not even leaving him enough time to brush his teeth. It seems his former boss, FBI Director Thomas Jefferson Boyd has just eaten the wrong end of a bullet at his home in San Francisco. His old nemeses, now in charge of a real public relations nightmare, plead with Jake to take a look at the crime scene before the local cops foul it up. Jake is immediately dispatched to the crime scene. Even when all the evidence points to suicide and even when delicate photos of the Director and a woman not his wife are found at the scene, Jake can't bring himself to believe the man would end his life this way. Sensing something is terribly wrong, and that whatever it is just might be found within the walls of the FBI, Jake returns to the rich widow, accepts her challenge to put together a team of experts and sets about to crack the case of Director Boyd's suspicious demise. From his long list of contacts, Jake recruits former professors, fellow officers and some disgraced agents, each of them a 'broken wing' (a term for someone no longer able to handle active duty) in one way or the other. With no budgetary or supervisory restraints, Jake and his group are free to look more closely at the events leading up to the Director's death. This is my first Douglas/Olshaker book, but it won't be my last. I liked Jake and his merry band of misfits. I'm sure Douglas' many years at the FBI as a profiler of serial killers helped lend authenticity to the story. However, the authors have a true gift at 'putting it all together' in a believable package. Although I figured out the 'bad' guy right away, I liked all the twists and turns the story took. I also liked Millicent De Vries, the woman who fronts Jake and his group of 'Broken Wings.' The door is open for sequels, and I, for one, can hardly wait to see where Jake will end up in the next volumes! Broken Wings is crackerjack storytelling. Enjoy! Terry H. Mathews Reviewer
Rating: Summary: What a Pity Review: John E. Douglas, one of the best known FBI Profilers and originators of the technique, has a number of non-fiction works in different forms detailing the years of his experience in the FBI dealing with violent crimes, particularly those perpetrated by serial offenders. "Broken Wings" is essentially a rehash of his non-fictional work in the guise of "fiction." But it is hard to call much of the book "fiction". Douglas inserts many of his non-fictional accounts with which many of his readers will be familiar, some of them a little rambling and awkward in the fictional setting. The work often appears embarassingly self-serving. One of the best examples of this is a scene in "Broken Wings" in which Douglas mentions one of his own books in real life, "Journey Into Darkness." Talk about product placement. I have high regard for the wealth of knowledge that Mr. Douglas has brought us in relation to the study of the criminal mind, but in bringing himself and his experiences so transparently into a work that is supposed to be fiction but barely is that, I think he has somewhat cheapened both the process of writing fiction and his reputation as a professional and criminology expert. What a pity.
Rating: Summary: Doc Savage Lives Again! Review: This book is basically an updated version of the old Doc Savage stories; a brilliant hero leads a group of outstanding experts who will all fly anywhere at a moments notice to solve baffling cases of homicide. Since, however, most readers of today do not remember Doc Savage, the authors are on firm ground. This is obviously the first of a series of novels (again, like Doc) and we may even see a TV series or a movies for the authors. Not a bad plot; the writing is good too. But original? Uh-uh. It's all been done before and at least as good as this.
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