Hot Ticket

Rating:
Summary: What's In A Name?
Review: I don't know about you, but I often get a feeling about the credibility of a novel when I am told the characters' names. Here are some of the people you will meet in J. Weber's Hot Ticket: Fausto Kiss, Krikor Tunalian, Tanqueray Tougaw. Saying Hi to these folks made my heart sink. Am I going to have some serious difficulty in suspending disbelief? Yup.

I was one of JWs biggest fans up until the moment I opened this book. Our protagonist Leslie Frost, concert violinist and secret agent, is assigned the task of solving the Washington D.C. murder of another beautiful, female agent. We meet a lecherous president, and his ambitious wife - at least this is believable - plus a variety of other Washington insiders who all seem a bit strange even for Capital dwellers. Leslie becomes closely attached to Fausto Kiss, a big person around town - big in physical size as well as being influential.

Aside from the strange characters, and the "what's this all about" story, I had problems with the plot mechanics. For a significant part of the book Leslie does no sleuthing, evidently thinking that if she hangs around Fausto long enough someone will spontaneously present her with evidence. Then when she wants to locate someone to interrogate she calls her boss, Maxine, in Germany, and has her locate the desired person. Maxine calls back the next day with the desired information. Wow, what a detective is our Miss Frost. For diversion she makes two trips to Belize. How believable is this? She travels at night to a hidden camp by walking across two jungle mountains in pitch darkness, arriving at dawn the next morning. I live in a rural area without streetlights, and can't even see my house at night when I stand twenty feet away from it.

The humor falls flat; the metaphors and similes are strained; the story drags - although near the end there is an interesting murder with a most unusual weapon. Don't read this book, but do read Janice Weber's other books.

Rating:
Summary: Ladies, It's OUR Turn!
Review: Maybe I liked this book so much because I'm a musician -- well, I admit it: an over-the-hill ex-musician. Leslie Frost, the heroine of this book, is a world-class violinist, the widow of a European orchestra conductor, beautiful, athletic, intellectually brilliant, and an international spy! Much of the action takes place in *my* familiar ground of Washington, D.C. Leslie is pursued by the President (a hilarious cartoon of a person who has the brains of a bush and the concupiscience of a cigar-wielder of our experience); she has a stone hideout near Rock Creek and the National Zoo; she is a natural athlete. She meets a super-rich dude who is also a topnotch pianist, and as things unfold, she ends up with the money but not the marital duties. SHE gets pleasured, though. The plot doesn't have to be perfect to make me happy (and it isn't -- those who complain about the Belize segments are justified). This book is a laugh, a comic book, a hoot! Ladies, this is the James Bond life as lived by . . . .US! Not some man's fantasy of superwomanhood, a WOMAN's fantasy of superwomanhood! Go for it!

Rating:
Summary: Ladies, It's OUR Turn!
Review: Maybe I liked this book so much because I'm a musician -- well, I admit it: an over-the-hill ex-musician. Leslie Frost, the heroine of this book, is a world-class violinist, the widow of a European orchestra conductor, beautiful, athletic, intellectually brilliant, and an international spy! Much of the action takes place in *my* familiar ground of Washington, D.C. Leslie is pursued by the President (a hilarious cartoon of a person who has the brains of a bush and the concupiscience of a cigar-wielder of our experience); she has a stone hideout near Rock Creek and the National Zoo; she is a natural athlete. She meets a super-rich dude who is also a topnotch pianist, and as things unfold, she ends up with the money but not the marital duties. SHE gets pleasured, though. The plot doesn't have to be perfect to make me happy (and it isn't -- those who complain about the Belize segments are justified). This book is a laugh, a comic book, a hoot! Ladies, this is the James Bond life as lived by . . . .US! Not some man's fantasy of superwomanhood, a WOMAN's fantasy of superwomanhood! Go for it!

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, fast paced and full of action
Review: This book is witty and full of great humor. It is half parody, half serious... about a narcissistic maestro violinist who is also an expert spy. The story goes fast, and with Smith's wisecracks and sarcastic sense of humor it will leave you laughing aloud. Leslie Frost, aka Smith, is the perfect, smart heroine for the intensely serious espionage world.