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3.0étoiles sur 5
A Patterson-Style Series of Plot Reversals Occurring a Bit Too Predictably and Safely, Avril 9 2009
Don't Look Twice is an average beach read, if you live somewhere that the beach is warm enough for the purpose. Unpredictability can become predictable, and that's what happens to this book. You keep expecting the next reversal of fortune, and it's not that hard to see most of them coming. The book's main redeeming feature is that the character development of Ty Hauck is reasonably well done. The book's main weakness is that while there are lots of threats of death and destruction, those threats are mostly hollow. As a result, the story lacks the kind of tension that following truly threatened characters provides in terms of making a book exciting, compelling, and hard to put down.
Andrew Gross shows that he's a skilled plotter in this book. With that much talent for keeping lots of balls in the air, it's a shame that he isn't inclined to develop his plot in ways that keep threat seeming more real than here. I suspect that he will become a better writer. The raw material is there . . . the ear for what makes a book fun to read isn't quite developed yet.
The book has a wonderful beginning. There's a tremendous bang that changes the lives of the people involved. But the story drifts into a much lower gear from there as Ty Hauck looks for the killers in a drive-by shooting and what their motives were.
If you happen to live in Greenwich, Connecticut and don't mind allusions to corruption, you may actually like this book better than I did and rate it four stars. I only drive through Greenwich so the local color didn't add that much to the story for me. Now, if a hedge fund manager had been a key player . . . that could have been interesting!
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5.0étoiles sur 5
NARRATION DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!, Mars 20 2009
It's an exciting time to be listening to audio books - just when you think they can't get any better they do. Christian Hoff's narration of Don't Look Twice is a prime example.
An award winning stage actor, Tony Award for "Jersey Boys," Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award, Hoff brings a wealth of talent to this reading. He has voiced more than 200 characters for an audio book which, by the way, is a world record. Hoff's television credits are numerous (Ugly Betty, ER, etc).
Now, this acclaimed actor brings his stage and screen experience to a can't-stop-listening-to narration of this artfully plotted, suspense laden thriller by Andrew Gross.
Don't Look Twice begins in a disarmingly peaceful manner as Connecticut Detective Ty Hauck prepares for time with his daughter. They stop by a gas station convenience store to buy some groceries when they are suddenly the victims of a drive-by shooting. The girl is unhurt, Hauck is wounded and a federal prosecutor is killed.
Random violence? Don't believe it for a minute when Gross is writing the story. Hauck gets more than he suspected or bargained for as he investigates - in fact, more than he ever wanted to know.
- Gail Cooke
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4.0étoiles sur 5
Fast-paced whodunnit and emotional, but plot twists rather predictable., Mars 5 2009
Ty and his daughter, Jessie, are at the gas station, stocking up on fuel and supplies before taking the boat out for its final voyage of the year. While standing in line, a red truck slams to a stop outside and bullets start flying. Ty got a look at the shooter, and a partial plate, but when he turns to see if everyone's alright, Jessie is unconscious and covered in blood. Ty flashes back to when Norah, his other daughter, was killed years ago when the car backed down the driveway, running her over. Jessie is fine, but in shock, and the blood isn't hers; the blood belongs to David Sanger, federal prosecutor who was standing in line behind them.
At first, the shooting seemed an act of gang revenge. But looks are deceiving, for as the investigation progresses, and the body count starts to rise, the case goes so much deeper than Ty could have possibly imagined, from the lowest of the low to people high-up in the political chain, including a U.S. senator. Ty discovers that his brother, Warren, is also involved. The questions is - how deep?
**The author writes his characters in such a way that, good or evil, they seem entirely real, entirely human. Ty is a smart detective, tenacious, determined.
I could feel the difference between Ty and Karen (from The Dark Tide.) There was a distance, and I could tell the love wasn't there any more. Truthfully, I don't think it was really there to begin with. And while that really is too bad, a new female character, Annie, a restauranteur, becomes involved when she witnesses a gang member disposing something in the dumpster behind her restaurant - the gun that had been used in the drive-by shooting. I could feel something between them, and I really can't wait to see in the next book if Ty and Annie take it any further.
It was nice to be introduced to Warren, Ty's older brother. You can tell that their relationship is a strained one; Ty had witness something involving Warren a long time ago, and it put a distance between them. Just when it looks like they're going to become close again, a twist in the plot will leave the reader feeling just as hollow and angry as Ty does.
I have to admit, I found the plot twists rather predictable. It's like I could tell where this was going, how deep the case really went and how high up the "food chain" it really was. And by the time you hit the end of the story, you're left as unsatisfied as Ty - because if he actually went all the way, there was still no proving what he knew. Without proof, it was like Ty had to drop it, knowing that he wouldn't/couldn't win. And that was sad. For me, a mystery needs a solved case and a happy ending. A friend is murdered in an explosion in Ty's home - an explosion meant for him, leaving Ty feeling guilty and worn out. And just when he needs his boss the most, I find that Vern isn't there for Ty like he should be. As the chief, you'd think he'd be just as bent as Ty to finding the truth. Personally, I think it was obvious Vern knew more than he was letting on, and the more it went on, the more I became disgusted with a character I liked in the first novel, The Dark Tide.
I think I liked this book more for the emotional value than the mystery, if I may be honest with you. The emotions during and after the shooting, when he reconnects with his brother and ultimately losing him, the guilt he feels for the explosion meant for him, losing Karen all while knowing there was no longer a relationship to save, the offer of a new job... the emotions roll off the page as you're reading this novel, and it makes it hard to put down.
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de Harlan Coben
de Jonathan Kellerman
de David Baldacci
de John Sandford
de James Patterson
