Unhealthy Boundaries : A Story of Murder & the Internet

Rating:
Summary: Satisfying story
Review: A captivating, cleverly-crafted story. The prose flows easily. The plot moves apace. Interesting snippets of information appear throughout which enhance one's understanding of the unfolding events. The legal elements had the "ring of truth." As an attorney myself, I appreciated that Tolins maintained dramatic effect yet did not sacrifice accuracy.

As an avid reader with broad interests, I came away from "Unhealthy Boundaries" satisfied. I am looking forward to the author's second novel, "Albertine's Leap."

Rating:
Summary: A very modern, literate, page-turner
Review: I started to read this on a transcontinental flight home -- and when I was an hour into it, I decided I didn't need to watch the in-flight movie. (I read Dave Barry's new novel on the way out -- an interesting juxtaposition!) You definitely won't be able to put it down. A really literate examination of cyber-culture and cyber-addiction, fantasy and reality meeting in dangerous ways, dysfunctional families (although not quite, to my mind, dysfunctional enough), and mid-life crisis. Good courtroom stuff, and great local color. And the ending is very satisfying -- of course, the good guys win, but it's far from pat. Well done!

Rating:
Summary: Riveting!
Review: Jason McMahon has become a computer addict and an Internet chat junkie. He comes home from his law office, pours a drinks, logs on, checks e mail, then wanders into the chat rooms. His wife, Alice, comes home from her law practice, watches TV, and goes to bed. Their two teen aged children are also busy with their own lives.

Jason, in Massachusetts, has started chatting and corresponding with Sharon, a housewife in California. Sharon is a writer. Jason reads her stories and poetry and critiques them. They chat about her work, and the relationship extends to telephone conversations as the involvement between the two becomes more strange. Then Sharon is killed.

The police in California continue to call and question Jason. They had copied Sharon's files on her computers and traced them to Jason. He did not kill Sharon, and was in Massachusetts when she was murdered. Yet the police maintain he hired organized crime to have her removed. Jason is appalled. The evidence building up against him is strange and conflicting. How can he extricate himself? How will Alice and their children deal with the publicity and problem?

This is a story with a great premise that doesn't quite carry through. I found the on line investigation and descriptions very informative, and daunting as well as scary. The mystery has a lot of unusual twists and turns, keeping the reader following in the dark along with the protagonist. I have realized what bothers me about the book.

It starts from Jason's point of view for about half the book. Alice is the non-entity wife in the background who becomes a bit more rounded the further he is pulled into the web. When he is arrested and extradited to California, the point of view switches to Alice as she tries to prove her husband's innocence. I think this would have worked much better if she had been fleshed out more from the beginning. The mystery is involving, the characters are disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Solid
Review: Unhealthy Boundaries is an absorbing, page-turning read. The ingenious plot has undercurrents and twists that remind you why we often prefer a good read to a good film. The writing is lean and conveys character, scene and action with wry and almost flawless efficiency. Especially interesting is the unusual switch of protagonist from Jason to Alice and the fact that the male figure is the more passive emotional character and the female the action hero(ine). The strange Internet interactions that determine the flow and emotional ambience are fascinating and novel; the action in the second half is full of concise characterization and sense of locale, as well as drama and surprise. The mystery is balanced by the insightful and touching background of the working out of the family crisis, making the book dark, poignant and deeply ironic. Understated but masterful writing and plot-making skill make Unhealthy Boundaries riveting on a multitude of levels - much more than one usually gets from such a genre, a very contemporary cyber-noir

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Page-Turner!
Review: Wonderful, captivating! Obviously Robert Tolins did extensive research into the online "chat" culture prior to writing this book. His legal background also played a part in making this thriller come together. You will not be able to put this one down!