Double Blind

Rating:
Summary: Not Ken Goddard's best...
Review: Double Blind is the third entry into the Henry Lightstone series by Ken Goddard. Goddard seems to be slipping with each succesive entry in the series. Goddard started with an idea that had a lot to offer, but in the end the result is disappointing. Lightstone and his team of Federal Wildlife Agents are set up for elimination by a crack team of ex-military "hunter-killers". Lightstone is a good character and he is surrounded by an interesting cast of characters. Goddard's experience in Law Enforcement is readily apparent in his writing. The story begins to drag when Lightstone's team attempts to set up their undercover operation. Goddard spends a great deal of time with this device and it does nothing to progress the story. Goddard continually refers to Lightstone as the team's "wild-card agent", along with several other similar monikers, throughout the story and it really begins to grate on your nerves. I was left feeling cheated with a quick ending that tied-up all of the loose ends too easily. Goddard spent 450+ pages setting up a showdown which never materialized. Double Blind was not Goddard at his best, but he is still a lot better than many of the authors in this genre. Readers interested in Goodard's better books should read Balefire, Cheater, and Prey.

Rating:
Summary: An extremely fun book.
Review: I had an extremely hard time putting this book down. Excellent!!

Rating:
Summary: Not up to his previous efforts.
Review: One would think that a book that includes a crack fish & wildlife law enforcement team, a rogue Army Ranger hunter/killer team, anti-government militia members, corrupt politicos, a real life panther, possibly Bigfoot, et al would be a crackling good yarn. Alas, such is not the case, as none of this gels into a real page-turner. The characterization lacks depth, the action is lifeless, the plot next to ridiculous. The climax really just peters out, but by that time the build-up is so lacking in zeal that one really doesn't care.There are too many coincidences in this book to be believable. The set-up with the cover story involving illegal snakes and spiders takes a lot of space in the book with very little pay-off or relevance. Ken Goddard's previous novels were all on the money, really holding the reader's attention. I guess all authors are allowed to fall flat once in awhile. I hope Mr. Goddard gets back on track with the next novel.

Rating:
Summary: Not Ken Goddard's best...
Review: Seldom have I resented the money spent on a paperback book. Double Blind is an exception. Mr. Goddard's past efforts were a credit to the genre. This attempt is lifeless!

The writing quality reminds me of a C-paper in Writing Composition 101. The cast of charactures (good guys and bad guys)are cardboard caricatures. To compensate, the muddled plot moves at the pace of a slow loris.

I'm sorry Mr. Goddard, but this is really a badly written novel. I look forward to your next effort.

Rating:
Summary: Turning Pages While Screaming & Laughing
Review: This is easily my favorite Ken Goddard book, and I've now read them all. Like other Goddard thrillers, the pace is fast and the story builds in complexity as it unfolds. He described and portrayed one of the "bad guys" (the gray-eyed Wintersole) so well that the memory of him still gives me the willies. There's a lot of tension coupled with a lot of laughs, which I did not expect. But I found I thoroughly enjoyed Goddard's sense of humor, and Henry Lightstone has become one of my favorite fiction action guys.

This book - with its quirky blend of natural and supernatural, tension and humor - is different than his previous books and he heads into some rather peculiar territory, but it's a "landscape" I enjoy, also being a fan of James Rollins' novels. I also enjoy the natural landscape of Double Blind (the wetland areas of southern Oregon) and how Goddard draws us into it. Hint to the author: I want to read more Henry Lightstone-centered books, so write them, okay?