The Last Good Day

Rating:
Summary: You just cannot put it down!
Review: This book is not at all predictable! It just keeps getting better, surprise after surprise!

Rating:
Summary: A fast, excellent read
Review: This is easily Blauner's best book so far. It moves like a freight train but carries a motherlode of good writing and sharp characterization. And the mystery element could give you whiplash from doing a surprised double-take. I was all ready to throw Shutter Island in my bag and say I was all set for summer reading. Now I'm revising my list to include The Last Good Day

Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING!!!!
Review: This is truly one of the best books I have ever read. The story is captivating and intense from the first page. You will not be able to put this one down.
There is nothing else that I am going to tell you except that it is a must read.

Rating:
Summary: Blauner Writes Thrillers for Smart People
Review: This isn't a stupid beach read. It's a suspenseful, entertaining, often funny book that reflects both the comforting and the unsettling parts of suburban life. As Blauner fans know, this author has been quietly carving out a unique niche-- combining serious fiction (deeply drawn characters and detailed social observations) with very readable, highly enjoyable plotting. No warmed-over serial killers here but something more sophisticated and rare--flesh and blood characters whose hidden flaws and deep secrets bring about their downfall. Unlike the exhausted prose of some big name authors, Blauner still works for every line. His beautifully rendered descriptions will make you see ordinary things in your own life in a new way. A gem.

Rating:
Summary: You 've got to be kidding . . .
Review: This was one of the worst books I ever read! The ONLY interesting part was when the guy explained how the book got it's name. The police chief gets shot and the other cops just stand around and let the main character and her husband get the bad guy??? And this stupid woman honestly thinks that if she brings charges against this cop and goes to court to testify against him that her shady past won't be brought up!?! Does she not own a tv set - and how could she possibly move back to town and think he wouldn't still be very angry with her? I was cheering for him when he went after her!!! And, what's with these stupid people accidentally commiting murder then doing something even 'stupider' to cover it up - - Oops, I just killed this person so I'll TAKE HER HOME and dismember her and throw her in the river and use this old can of half-used varnish to weigh her down, and the cops'll never know I did it - that is if some old, old picture of me with a can of varnish in the background doesn't show up!' What a crock! It would take a book to tell just how bad this book was (get it?)

Rating:
Summary: Much More Than A Good Thriller!
Review: Three of Blauner's earlier works--Slow Motion Riot, The Intruder and Man Of The Hour-- were excellent books. Both of which read like thrillers but are really great, adrenaline-pumping fiction. Consistent with these past successes, Blauner's latest, The Last Good Day, is another must-read and may be his best yet. As a matter of fact, referring to this book as a very good -- even an excellent -- thriller does it an injustice. Its strong, well-developed, credible characters, its smart dialogue, its ability to capture the mood and fear in an affluent suburban community shortly following 9/11 and a local murder makes The Last Good Day a book you don't want to put down -- but, at the same time, don't want to see come to an end. Beyond its exciting plot, Blauner has created a work of fiction that places it near the top of a very limited group of books in regards to rich prose and style. Do yourself a favor and put The Last Good Day at the top of your Must Read list. While you're at it, do yourself another favor and pick up copies of Slow Motion Riot, The Intruder and Man Of The Hour as well.

Rating:
Summary: Move over Cheever and Updike
Review: Welcome to the suburbs, crime-fiction style. This is Peter Blauner's best since SLOW MOTION RIOT. Thoreau says that most men lead lives of quiet desperation. Here's exhibit A. Except that the women are just as desperate. And the police may or may not be of much help. The Irish/Jewish interplay is honest and effective, the plotting superb, the middle-class tragic ending satisfying. Considering the fact that most of the violence is psychological and the frightening atmospherics result largely from mundane suburban situations, this is impressive work indeed. Blauner delivers all of the suspenseful un-put-downableness of a Lee Child, but with very different materials and in a quite different ethos. Bravo.

Rating:
Summary: A compulsively readable thriller.
Review: What do you do when your quiet, peaceful town becomes home to a horrible nightmare?

Lynn and Barry Schulman moved back to Riverside, New York to escape the crime ridden streets of the city, but behind the peaceful exterior lurks a killer.

On his way to work, Barry notices something floating in the water, as the morning commuter boat approaches the dock, so does the object in the water...the object is that of a headless body.

Shocked by the news of the dead body, Lynn tries to make sense of what is happening in her peaceful suburban town, and to further complicate matters she runs into her high school sweetheart who happens to be a detective. Michael is the lead detective on the case and since Barry was one of the first to view the corpse he must be questioned, this gives Michael the opportunity to become involved in Lynn's life.

As the investigation deepens, Lynn realizes that Michael is not over her, and he may be stalking her, but worse still is the discovery of the dead woman's identity...it is none other than one of Lynn's life-long friends.

Things begin to spiral out of control for the Schulman's, and in a battle for their lives the two discover that secrets of the past can kill.

'The Last Good Day' is a well-written, shocking thriller. Taking the average family and thrusting them into a nightmare situation, Peter Blauner has crafted a thriller that exposes the dark side of suburbia. A side where working mom's and dad's have plenty to hide, and old love dies hard. Highly original, and compulsively readable, 'The Last Good Day' succeeds at being an intelligent page-turner, and further proves Blauner a master thriller writer.

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: Blauner Delivers a "Must" Read!
Review: Whether you read THE LAST GOOD DAY because you're a fan of suspense fiction or you're just looking looking for a great dramatic tale, you'll find this novel to be a fulfilling experience. It's a first-rate story that's populated by original characters and propelled by a plot that won't let you put it down until you've read the last page. Blauner deserves to be a #1 bestseller this time out.

Rating:
Summary: The Uncomfortable Truth
Review: With Slow Motion Riot, Blauner reinvented the urban crime novel back when the so-called New Realists were still trying to cop a puff on Elmore Leonard's cigarettes. With his newest book, he stretches into new territory and takes on suburban life in the new century with the same unsparing eye. Unlike some other readers, I felt the 9/11 references were skillfully done and heartfelt, without stooping to sentimentality. And the writing is carefully wrought and richly textured from line to line. Readers looking for phony tough guy heroes and breathless escapism should look elsewhere. This is a fine American crime writer telling uncomfortable truths.