Rating: 
Summary: Best of White's Books to date
Review: I have read all of Stephen White's books, and this is the best one yet. I could hardly believe it when I reached the end. I began reading the book and then "boom" it was over and I don't think I had taken a breath during the whole thing. The main characters were all familiar from his previous books, but this time they were like old friends and not just names on a page. The plot of the book, which involves high tech use of computer and the abuse heaped by the press on celebrities, is timely and intriguingly combined. Hats off to White and I hope that he hurries his next Allen Gregory book along.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I have read all of Stephen White's books. This was the only one that I really didn't like and struggled to get through. Lauren was just too pathetic, the plot twists were absurd and even Alan (my favorite character) was a bit hard to take. If you're a Stephen White fan you have to read it just to do so, but definitely check this one out of the local library rather than purchasing it. If you're not a White fan, don't bother with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not his best
Review: I have read his series from the beginning, and this one I found to be quite disappointing. The "twists" that bring you to the surprise ending just wouldn't work at all. Emma's character is too syrupy, especially at the end, and the regular characters, especially Adrienne and even Raoul, were off-character and not terribly believable in this book. (Yeah, Adrienne's going to be checking Cozy out after what happened with her husband. Uh-huh. And Raoul would just happen to show up at the emergency room with that under his arm at the critical moment. Yep.) I'm just disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: LET'S HOPE HE'S GOTTEN IT OUT OF HIS SYSTEM
Review: I suppose every author writes a clinker now and then. After reading and loving the previous four books, I was stunned at the outright dullness of this "effort." I never felt any real suspense, nor did I find myself wanting to find out who the "bad guy" was. I didn't even care when his identity was revealed. At no time did I feel that Lauren was in any real trouble or that Emma might actually come to harm. I am confident that this book was a glitch, and that future White volumes will return to his normal high standards. I bought this one, after having checked out his previous four. A waste of money, to say the least.
Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I thought this book started out interesting, but it kept getting more and more dull. I finished the book anyway, because I thought it would get better towards the end, but it didn't. I don't recommend this one!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: I'm just glad this wasn't the first of Stephen White's books that I've read; if it had been, I certainly wouldn't have read any more. What a let-down after some of the other enjoyable ones, such as Private Practices and Harm's Way. This story was implausible from start to finish; the motivation just didn't convince. What lawyer, when held by the police, would be as maddeningly evasive as the one here - especially when a few words to trusted friends/colleagues would have sorted it all out? The complex ramifications of the plot and all the coincidences were incredible; the final unravelling left me open-mouthed at the author's chutzpah in expecting the reader to swallow it. The various flash-backs and flash-forwards only added to the the confusion. I was disappointed, too, that this one was written in the 3rd person (though I can see that the labyrinthine plot could never have been contained in the 1st-person format). For me, White's books work best when Alan Gregory is the narrator. We get to see his vulnerablities and humour, and his unintentional self-revelations in the way he tells the tale. For the same reason I thought Higher Authority (also written in the 3rd person and hardly featuring Alan at all) was one of the weaker ones in the series. But compared with Remote Control, Higher Authority was a gem! What's more I found White's attempt to make a critique of the cult of celebrity both shallow and pretentious - as superficial as the celeb-cult he was attacking. Let's hope this is a one-off blip, and that White is back on track with Critical Conditions. Give Remote Control a miss!
Rating:
Summary: An obsession leads to drama.danger and deaeth
Review: In Boulder, Colorado Emma Spire, the daughter of the assassinated Surgeons General, is an intern in the District Attorney's office, working directly for Lauren Crowder. While a blizzard was raging, in order to protect Emma from a potential kidnapping, Lauren fires a shot at a distant, blurry figure. Later on, the police report that they have found a person critically shot in a nearby street. Lauren informs the police that she fired a shot at a abductor.
..... The police bring Lauren in for further questioning, but she responds in a vague manner in order to protect Emma's privacy. Her answers upset the police. Meanwhile Lauren wonders whether the kidnapping attempt and the disappearance of a computer disk containing personal information about Emma and her boy friend are associated with the antiabortion movement's killing of the intern's father. With the help of her husband, psychologist Alan Gregory, Lauren plans to prove more than just the fact that she is innocent. She plans to uncover the identity of the culprit behind the nefarious plot against Emma.
..... REMOTE CONTROL is an exciting installment in the Alan Gregory series in that the novel focuses more on his spouse. Though the reader will have to suspend some minor credibility, they will find it worth doing because of the fast-paced story line, the incredibly charming lead couple, and a fabulous support cast, especially Emma and Lauren's legal defense team. Stephen White's fifth Gregory book is a refreshing return to some old friends.
.....Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Underappreciated writer, good book.
Review: Stephen White, Remote Control (Signet, 1997) Remote Control is very much one of _those_ mysteries, the kind that makes you read a couple of paragraphs at every stoplight. (Please control the urge to read while driving.) By now, we should all be familiar with White's cast of characters (Remote Control is the fourth Alan Gregory, psychiatrist-turned-don't-wanna-be-detective, novel) and his method of dropping loads of bricks on us when we're not looking, and slipping the clues in while we're still rubbing our head and cursing the building contractors. This time around, White gives us a self-absorbed technowhiz entrepreneur, a law-student intern with a recently-dead Senator father who falls head over heels for him, his abrasive partner, and a parallel thread running through the novel at the end of everything, where Alan's wife Lauren is being interrogated for the shooting of an unidentified man. Problem is, no one, including Lauren, is sure she actually shot the guy. Yes, it all comes together perfectly (think Memento, except that both threads are moving forward-- one just moves more slowly than the other). White is one of those guys who writes good, clean, fun mysteries that are on the level of the big guns, but never gets the press they do. If you haven't yet picked up a Stephen White novel, give him a shot next time the New York Times Bestseller types are between books. *** 1/2
Rating:
Summary: A Genuine Flop!
Review: The author himself must have been on "remote control." The book was simply dull and boring from start to finish. There was so little in it to keep you interested that by the time you reached the end, you forgot what happened at the first - nor did you care! I waited anxiously to buy it, then wished I could have taken in back for a refund.
Rating:
Summary: High Energy Suspense
Review: The story Stephen White tells here spans only about 24 hours (with a few flash backs), and that is about all the time it took me to read it. A fascinating premise, interesting characters, and dialog that moves the story along almost effortlessly contribute to a fast and enjoyable read.
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