James B

Balance of Credibility

Reviewed: 07-21-09

This is an OK yarn if you accept that the scenario presented would never occur. No officer in command would ever make the decision one of the characters does. There are several character inter-reactions that make little, if any, contribution to the plot.

I would have graded the effort average if not for the reader, Adams Morgan. He is an abomination who speaks with the nose in the air articulation of an Elizabethan aristocrat. The result is that the character's voices have different pitches but the same phrasing and style. Avoid this Reader like the plague.

Jim

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4 people found this helpful

Brilliant Conclusion to Gold Coast

Reviewed: 07-16-09

Many have complained the book is too long and contains rhetoric not useful to the story. They claim to have been bored.

I was sorry the book ended. It is a full and complete review of the pertinent aspects of Gold Coast. It reviews and expands our understanding of all the characters as well as the Gold Coast mentality.

I feel this book is better constructed and nuanced than Gold Coast. This is a terrific listen and the narrator is in a class by himself.

Jim Droste

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21 people found this helpful

Better At The End Than The Beginning

Reviewed: 05-08-09

I agree with the reviewer who felt there were too many twists and turns. Particularly in the beginning. I came not to accept the "obvious" being presented, therefore, the story became predictable which puts one only a stone throw from boring. Then Deaver hit me with things I had not expected and I realized he'd set me up. If you really payed attention throughout, the surprise ending should not be a surprise.

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1 person found this helpful

Disappointing

Reviewed: 04-26-09

Introducing information in bit and pieces and expansion of previously introduced events is a nice touch; on I haven't experienced to this extent before. I liked it.
The ending left me cold. It was clearly intended to set up a follow-on book and diminished the story. This is the trap Patricia Cornwell fell into with her Scarpeta series. I don't listen to her books any longer and won't select the follow-on to this book either.

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3 people found this helpful

Bad Idea

Reviewed: 03-28-08

This novel if full of the nonsensical, nothing goes right until everything goes right, pater we let Ludlum get away with. Well, Ludlem was the first of the genre and his prose was alot better than that of Rollins; Rollins is mediocre at best.

Rollins likes to throw in facts and figures; but how good are they? He has Dutch being spoken in Copenhagen, Denmarks' Tivoli Gardens.

I think I'll pass on the Sigma Force series

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Turkey Time

Reviewed: 11-21-07

Not even Scott Brick can save this turkey. Where is the building suspense others have talked about? All I found was more of the same, more of the same, and more of the same; laced with mind numbing, irrelevant detail. The ending, when it mercifully comes,is both predictable and illogical given what went before. I can't recall the number of times I considered calling it a day. I went on because
the glowing reviews convinced me it had to get better. It didn't.

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2 people found this helpful

A for idea, F for execution

Reviewed: 07-20-07

As a journanist the author is familiar with the Middle-East and his insight is informative. Unfortunately his prose is second-rate. His characters are not believeable. No right-minded CIA boss would leave Ferris in the field; he's a jerk.

The reader's notion of the female voice is pathetic.

I recommend your avoid the author and the reader.

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10 people found this helpful

! on reseach; 3 on writing.

Reviewed: 04-11-07

This is the second, and last, novel by this author Iwill read. His facts are very informative and largely unknown.

The problem is his story telling is mediocre. His Reader is even worse ( multiple Russians who all sound the same) as the story progresses.

James Droste

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Yawn

Reviewed: 01-11-07

This book is terrible. The characters are dull, dimwited, and unsympathetic. The prose is bush league at best. I would lay into the reader where it not for the fact he had little to work with. All the information provided about the Masonic Order is interesting but totally irrelevant to the plot. Did I say there was a plot? The book ends with the implication of a sequel to come. My advice is to avoid the sequel as well as anything else this author has written.

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Disappointment

Reviewed: 11-14-06

I was disappointed in this novel. There were no plot twists of any significance and the ending was a yawn. Time was wasted on details that could have been presented in 1/3 the time without sacrifice to story line. Might I call it padding? I found the references and uses of ancient symbology interesting although they turned out to have precious little impact on the plot. I smell a series coming but I won't be reading.

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