Evil Eye

Rating:
Summary: Biggest ***DUD*** in the entire series!
Review: (WARNING: Virtually ALL Slade novels are meant to be read IN ORDER. If you read a book in the series out of order, you risk learning the ENDINGS/KILLER'S IDENTIES of/from previous novels which are probably FAR BETTER than the book you are presently reading! Slade made a fabulous start for about the first half dozen books and rapidly tapered off from there. If you haven't read the original *HEADHUNTER*, BUY IT(!!!) and START THERE! Keep them IN ORDER and you'll do fine!)

Down and dirty: Michael Slade/The Slade group has done some absolutely BRILLIANT work.

THIS AIN'T IT FOLKS!!!

Right off the bat, this book FELT wrong compared to those before it. The distant past historical events tied to present day mayhem formula was in place, but not quite working up to the usual standards. Slade (Jay Clark) is virtually untouchable in using dark, claustrophobic prose to effectively draw unsettling pictures in the reader's minds. In this case, the battle of Rourke's Drift was superbly laid out in minute detail to the point where I felt like I was there in the bloody middle of it! It was THAT realistically written!

Unfortunately... the main plot about the framing of Nick Craven for murder can't remotely hold a candle to the Rourke's Drift aside.

There's a "hook" about the birth of twins and the father's subsequent suicide, but that was "easy pickins" for many, if not most, of us I'm afraid. One the hook is uncovered, your suspect list dwindles noticably and - try as we might - there is no way to legitimately deduce WHICH of the remaining suspects is the psycho.

And there's a good reason that we can't... Slade apparently just flat didn't know how to end the book - so he simply chose one of remaining suspects' name at random and simply said 'Okay, the killer IS ______. The end."

The basic fun of great mysteries is being able to compete with the writer over solutions and identity. The GREATEST FUN of great mysteries is being LEGITIMATELY BEATEN by a great writer!

There is NO FUN HERE! Read and enjoy ALL the Slade novels PRIOR to this - but AVOID EVIL EYE LIKE THE PLAGUE!

Rating:
Summary: Can never put Slade down
Review: I found Michael Slade many years ago with his book, Ghoul. Now whenever Slade comes out with a new book, I pre-order it. When it arrives I sit down and usually read it in one or two sittings. This book did not disappoint me. Far from it.

Rating:
Summary: Far from "his" best
Review: I have now read most of Slade's books, and I am so disappointed at his (their) efforts after Headhunter and Ghoul, which are the two best crime thriller novels I've ever read. Evil Eye is a fast read, very engaging, but a little candy-coated (due to the fact that "Michael Slade" now includes the original author's daughter instead of a criminal lawyer, as in the earlier books, I think). Still, a good read that is hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: A new friend in an old series
Review: I was happy to see Slade pick a new character for the main spotlight, this time around pushing Nick Craven forward as the center of attention. As always, several plotlines are blended amazingly well .... This time around the flashback scenes involve the Zulu Wars, and it's nice to see Slade can handle action on an epic scale as well as the one-on-one murder scenes. You might get an idea who/what the killer is ahead of time, but in the end the identity isn't even close to what you expect. All in all another fine Special X book, although it's not like this series has ever let me down.

Rating:
Summary: THROUGH THE EYES OF A MADMAN
Review: Once again, Michael Slade devilishly creates a truly psychotic killer, and involves his heroes in derring do and treacherous situations. In this opus, Nick Craven finds himself accused of murdering his dear old Mom. Add to this a crazed killer who is targeting the good old Mounties themselves. As with all Slade books, expect lots of background on the Canadian mounties and in this book, the Zulu war. Additionally, expect the usual shocks and twists, as no one (not even our favorite recurring characters) is safe in a Slade book. Poor Nick Craven----from this book on, he certainly does have a lot going against him! The identity of this killer is resolved only on the last two pages, and it is a definite shocker. Slade's style is still mesmerizing; you get used to all his background research because eventually it does tie in to the plot of the book. Once again, a skillful entry in the Special X series!

Rating:
Summary: THROUGH THE EYES OF A MADMAN
Review: Once again, Michael Slade devilishly creates a truly psychotic killer, and involves his heroes in derring do and treacherous situations. In this opus, Nick Craven finds himself accused of murdering his dear old Mom. Add to this a crazed killer who is targeting the good old Mounties themselves. As with all Slade books, expect lots of background on the Canadian mounties and in this book, the Zulu war. Additionally, expect the usual shocks and twists, as no one (not even our favorite recurring characters) is safe in a Slade book. Poor Nick Craven----from this book on, he certainly does have a lot going against him! The identity of this killer is resolved only on the last two pages, and it is a definite shocker. Slade's style is still mesmerizing; you get used to all his background research because eventually it does tie in to the plot of the book. Once again, a skillful entry in the Special X series!

Rating:
Summary: One hell of a read
Review: This book is 400 pages long. And in those 400 pages, there is enough sheer chaos in this book for three novels of this length.

Slade sometimes gets a bit too verbose, but one thing you can always count on is that things will be nothing short of anarchy with his settings and plots. And while there were a few characters that really could have been left out of this book, I was absoulutely blown away by how cunning, manipulative, and relentless Evil Eye (the main villain) was in this book.

Michael Slade has an amazing gift as a writer - he makes you want to root for the bad guys because they're so darn cool. This is one of those books.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: This book is hard to follow, as it jumps around a lot in time - starting in Africa in 1879 and jumping forward to the 1990s in Vancouver, Canada. There are too many plot twists. I finished the book because I was bored and had nothing else to read, otherwise I'd have stopped about a third of the way through. By the end I didn't really care who the killer was, I was just glad the book was done. I haven't read other books by Michael Slade, and this one doesn't inspire me to seek out any others by him.