Winner Take All

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Debut!
Review: "Winner Take All" is the first novel I have read in God knows how long, and it is an excellent crime/suspense novel. The characters are easy to identify with. The descriptions of the locales in the novel are very detailed. The detail with which police procedures are described is incredible. As you progress through the novel, you find it very easy to visualize what is happening. Once the story turns to the hunter becoming the hunted, your heart begins beating faster with every turn of the page. The identity of the killer is in doubt right up to the very end, leaving the reader to create his own theories as to whom the killer might be.

I anxiously look forward to future installments in what I hope will be a series of adventures featuring Agent Hager. Congratulations Jeff on a job well done!

Also, I LOVE the eyes on the jacket of the book! Very creepy!

Rating:
Summary: SUSPENSEFUL THRILLER
Review: I'm a big fan of James Patterson and Patricia Cornwell and I think there's a new star on the horizon in North Carolina. Jeff Pate is a police detective in High Point, NC and has written a novel that surpasses all the others in the genre. "Winner Take All" took my emotions on a ride from nail-biting suspense to crying and laughing. I found myself rooting for Clark Hager as he tried to catch a serial killer. When I finished the book, which was in two days, I didn't want it to end. For fans of the big name authors, "Winner Take All" is a MUST READ! You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A real page turner!
Review: If you are a fan of the mystery genre, then Winner Take All is a book you will truly enjoy. I was hooked from the opening page! Not only is it suspensuful, but Mr. Pate is a very "visual" writer, who let's the reader experience the story as if we were sitting right there beside the main character, Clark Hager. The interaction between the characters is excellent, especially with his daughter,his girlfriend, and his partner. And the interaction between the serial killer and Clark Hager is some of the best I've read in a long time. His first hand knowledge of police work, also adds to the realism of the story.

I'm already looking forward to the next book!

Rating:
Summary: So bad it's painful
Review: Jeff Pate's "Winner Take All" was a great book, especially being a first novel. I liked it a lot. I would definitely classify "Winner Take All" as one of the best books I've read in the past 12 months. The cover was great, the dust jacket information was insightful, giving an idea of what the story was about without giving away the entire story.

This was just a great book, writing wise. The plot lines tied together early, so you could see where some of the sub-plots were going to mesh with each other. Hager's family involvement, while it starts slow, is something that becomes more intricate as the novel progresses. This type of foreshadowing makes it believable when the time comes for his daughter to get involved. The plot was well-done. All the elements for a serial killer book were present. The unknown killer who gets to be a viewpoint character briefly, the dedicated SBI people, the local police. The details about serial killers and criminal investigation are there, which tells me that the author knows the subject, and has done the research to make the book believable.

Virtually unknown outside of North and South Carolina, Jeff Pate is an author with the potential to make it very big. "Winner Take All" would make a great movie. I just picked up his second "Eye of the Beholder" and I'm anxious to get started.

Rating:
Summary: An exciting new author
Review: Living in North Carolina--especially in the Raleigh area--I wassurprised that I hadn't yet heard about author Jeff Pate. I happenedto catch a news report featuring Mr. Pate, his first book and also hisupcoming book "Eye of the Beholder." Since he was a formerpolice officer, I was fascinated about his change of careers. Thatnight, I logged on and bought the book. Wow! I got chills up my spinereading about Agent Clark Hager chasing the serial killer. The bookwas so intense and realistic. I couldn't put it down until I wasfinished. I'm a big fan of authors Ken Follett and Jonathan Kellermanand Jeff Pate ranks right up there with them. I'm also excited that"Winner Take All" is the first of a series of booksfeaturing Clark Hager and his partner. This one is first rate and Ianxiously await "Eye of the Beholder" in April.

Rating:
Summary: Winner Take All
Review: Nice twist to the serial killer style novel. Lots of interseting North Carolina references (which I liked). The police procedure
in this novel rivals the 87th Precinct novels of Ed McBain.

Rating:
Summary: Can't believe author was a police officer
Review: There are so many dumb non-cop things in this book, it's hard to believe that the author was a police officer. A few examples: 1. He is looking for a serial killer posing as a photographer. His daughter gets a call from a doubtful photographer from Playboy magazine but he neglects to check it out for two days. 2. He gets a reliable car description, a 1993 Datsun 300ZX - RED, and does not do a DMV search in the suspects known area of operations, i.e., Wilmington, NC. 3. He drinks 8 beers and gets snockered while guarding his threatened daughter and girlfriend from the serial killer. 4. A non-sworn lab technician, not authorized to carry a weapon, is sent with his partner to guard a suspect under death threat.

It just goes on and on. This book has about twenty great pages but the whole thing goes to pieces with the lack of reality.

Not in the class of Caunitz, Wambaugh, WEB Griffin or any of the REAL police writers.

Rating:
Summary: Great first novel!
Review: This book is absolutely, without a doubt the biggest grammatical error of all time. I'm astonished to read that he gave an editor credit for making it better. The sentence structure of this book reads as if it was written by a 10 year old. Spelling errors abound including: "During her childhood he was "puddy" in her hands, but she was the clay a sculptor molds into a Venus de Milo." pg 115. I live in VA and I'm pretty sure that putty is spelled with "t's" in the south as well as the rest of the US.

I read over five books a week and this is the first book that was so poor that I wanted my money back. I kept reading it thinking it surely had to get better. Trust me, it's a disaster from page one to the end. I wish the publisher would quit cutting down trees to publish books by this author. Jeff Pate would do us all a huge favor by signing up for some English classes. The storyline is weak and disappointing. If Clark Hager were a "real" detective, I hope they would fire him for all of his errors. I'm planning on mailing my copy to the publisher with notations indicating the numerous (100's) of grammatical and spelling errors.