Customer Reviews

Shattered

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm not a huge mystery reader but do enjoy listening to them on my long drive to and from work. This unabridged audiobook had my attention, lost it, gained it backed and would then lose it again. Could be my distracted mind or it could be that it was just wasn't an interesting mystery? That said, there were several things to like. The protagonist Jarrod, an accomplished glassblower, was enjoyable ~ he's this regular guy with a very interesting (to me) profession who finds himself accosted by dangerous types and suddenly smack dab in the middle of mystery concerning a missing video cassette tape. His character and that of his off beat co-workers and surrounding support system were interesting and the detailed look into the world of professional glassblowing was fascinating. Unfortunately, the facts surrounding the missing tape and the sleuthing that follows to discover what the tape contains just didn't hold my attention and I repeatedly found myself drifting off into my own little world and having to rewind the tape during these sections. Maybe a true mystery aficionado would appreciate this one more than I.

I would give this three and a half stars for the story and one-half star for the bonus of learning a little about glass blowing. I enjoyed the book, but was a little confused about why he didn't have the police arrest the ones that he knew who assaulted him. It would have saved him a lot of trouble, but, I know it's just a book. Never the less, I did enjoy the book. It was just long enough that I could read it in one sitting and it moved right along. The main character's friend dies in a freak accident while riding in a horse race. The friend leaves a tape for Gerard and before he can watch it, it is stolen. Other tapes have been stolen from the home of the victim and more of Gerards. Solving the mystery of the tapes leads to many adventures that keep your interest until the end of the book.

Gerard Logan is a glass artisan, more generally called a glass-blower. He has what you might call a normal life. But things are just about to get hot when his jockey friend, Martin Stukely, dies in steeplechase accident. From then on, Gerard finds himself involved in a deadly search for a valuable videotape. Martin was the last person who had the tape, now the bad guys think that Gerard have it. And they would do anything to get it. The thing is, Gerard has no idea what the videotape contains, let alone understand the priceless information it contains. Gerard must try to solve the mystery of the videotape, while at the same time trying to survive...

I was very surprised to see the low ratings this book was getting from other reviewers. For my part, I enjoyed this book immensely! It might have something to do with this being only my third book to read of Dick Francis' while others have read many of his books. But still, I just thoroughly enjoy the flavor of Dick Francis' books. Especially when you read the first line of his book:

"Four of us drove together to Cheltenham races on the day that Martin Stukely died there from a fall in a steeplechase."

Francis just cuts right to the point and begins the story right off, which for me, immediately grabs my attention. From then on, he plunges you into a story worth the read with intrigue, mystery, romance, action, and wit.

Gerard Logan is the usual Francis character; young, bright, likable, and clearly a very nice chap. He also is as curious as anyone can be. There is also the usual love interest, in this book the detective constable Catherine Dodd. Beautiful and also very smart, she too is incredibly likable. In "Shattered", there is one magical moment where Gerard is captivated and inspired by Catherine's beauty to make a dynamic glass sculpture. I thought that Francis wrote that part very well.

And of course there are the bad guys, whom I won't reveal except that 'beware of Blackmask 4'! But the few of the most enjoyable characters whom I liked were Gerard's bodyguards. There's Worthington a chauffeur who watches over Gerard, the actual 'bodyguard' Tom Pigeon with his three Dobermans, and Gerard's taxi driver, Jim.

My only complaint of the book is the bit disappointing ending, I wish it was a bit different. But "Shattered" is still satisfying. As usual, Dick Francis cleverly weaves into the tale a bit of horse racing, steeple chasing. And adding glass blowing into the plot was pretty cool. I must admit that I now find glass making a bit more interesting and fascinating than, I was at first skeptical as to whether you can actual put glass blowing into a mystery thriller.

So if you've never read any of Dick Francis' books, I suggest you to pick up "Shattered" if you get a chance. But if you've read any of Francis' other books, I can't honestly tell you how good it is compared to them. You'll just have to see. "Shattered" is mostly for older teenagers and adults, due to some violence, some language, and some innuendo.

As I was reading Shattered, I kept envisioning the book being made into a B movie. I could picture the scene changes, particularly those that involve "the relationship," which seemed not to add much to the plot, and the awkward dialog. I am a Dick Francis fan, and as another reviewer said, I await his books. I enjoyed reading this one, but it was not up to his usual standard.

This is, said to be, the last in a long line of thrillers from author Dick Francis. This story centers around a middle-aged glassblower living in England. He is, early in the book, troubled by the death of his friend Martin. The jockey dies in a freak accident right in the middle of a race he was shore to win. MArtin leaves behind family, friends, and an entire community of race-goers only days before the turn of the second millenium. But to Gerard Logan's suprise he i sleft a mysterious package that is, within one night, stolen from him along with a large sum of money.
Francis offers us an array of multidimensional characters. Most fit into the typical "thriller" genre mold. Throw in a couple of nice, seemingly innocent people, with a love intrest and a gang of criminals and you have Shattered.
most of the characters are not without their faults, even the main character Gerard Logan has an air of confidence that can easily come off as arrogance. Let's just say some of them wouldn't make it through the final cut of a Walt Disney rendition.

Gerard Logan: Main character, has a nack for doing a little investigating on his own

Martin Stuckley: A jockey who dies leaving behind a mysterious videotape that a lot of people seem to want. He has an attractive wife that pleads for the attention of Gerard throughout the bnook.

Catherine Dodd: A rugged street cop who quickly becomes Gerard's love intrest.

Rose: A pretty bitter woman out for only her own good. Watch out for this one.

The plot is nothing you've never seen beofre, Gerard finds a clue, cracks it, and finds another one, it's basically one long search for a videotape, but inbetween there are some good plot twist that keep you reading.All in all the book was an exciting escape, but I would only recommend it to those who find themselves with too much time on the weekends. Other than that I'd leave this one to the self.

This is, said to be, the last in a long line of thrillers from author Dick Francis. This story centers around a middle-aged glassblower in England. He is, early in the book, troubled by the death of his friend Martin. The jockey dies in a freak accident right in the middle of a race he was shore to win. Martin leaves behind family, friends, and an entire community of race-goers. But to Gerard Logan's surprise he is left a mysterious package that is quickly stolen from him along with a large sum of money.
Francis offers us an array of multidimensional characters. Most fit into the typical "thriller" genre mold. Throw in a couple of nice, seemingly innocent people, with a love interest and a gang of criminals and you have a story by Dick Francis.
Most of the characters are not without their faults, even the main character Gerard Logan has an air of confidence that can easily come off as arrogance. Let's just say some of them wouldn't make it through the final cut of a Walt Disney rendition.

Gerard Logan: main character, has a nack for doing a little investigating on his own.

Martin Stuckley: A jockey who dies leaving behind a mysterious videotape that a lot of people want.

Catherine Dodd: A rugged street cop who quickly becomes Gerard's love intrest.

Rose: A petty bitter women out for only her own good. Watch out for this one.

All in all the book was an exciting escape, but I would only recommend it to those who find themselves with too much time on the weekends. Other than that I'd leave this one on the shelf.

Shattered is the return of another wonderful adventure by Dick Francis. I was concerned after his last book, where it didn't seem to be as good as the many others. But, he did it again. Shattered is a true Francis gem....enjoy it as you have the many before this one.

I must admit that I used to be a big Dick Francis fan, but the last few books have been not up to what my usual expectations were. It was nice to see that this book seems to get Mr. Francis back into familiar form. It's a really good thriller, and you learn a whole lot about glass blowing while enjoying the story. I was very sorry to hear that Dick's wife has passed away since they co-wrote this book. I do hope that he doesn't quit writing. I understand that his wife did all the research for his books, and she did a fabulous job with this her last effort.

I've been a Dick Francis fan for nearly 30 years - so much so that in the mid-70's I began buying his books in hardback, something I do for very few authors. For years I was not disappointed, but eventually the quality of the books began to go seriously downhill. I still bought them in hardback, but began to hate myself for doing so.

Finally, after Second Wind, I said "no more" I won't subject myself to this pain again. However I couldn't stay completely away, however, and bought Shattered when it came out in paperback.

The good news: It is far better than the last few books Francis has written, several steps above Second Wind, and a completely different category from the truly dreadful 10-Lb. Penalty. It has much more of a ring of his earlier novels, and has a nice love interest, an interesting profession for the hero (glassblower), typical scenes from all Francis novels - the obligatory hero being beaten up scene, the obligatory hero keeping a stiff upper lip and refusing help from police, doctors or anyone even though bleeding on the floor scene.

The bad news: The villians don't seem fully fleshed-out, their motives never truly understood. The object of their goal seems a bit peculiar.

But all in all, if this is to be the last Francis novel I'd much rather have him go out with this one, than the last two awful ones before this. This is closer to the Francis roots. But for a a better read go back to the older Francis novels. Anything from the early 1990's and earlier should be pretty safe, though of course some are better than others.

I'm a Francis fan of long standing, and picked up _Shattered_ with hopes of reading his usual, well-crafted story and characters. Unfortunately, while the book has its good moments (the glassblowing background is well done, and the main character is a great, though "typical" Francis hero), the plot was simply dreadful. Things didn't hang together, but instead meandered all over the place, and I found myself skipping pages (I've never done that in one of his books before). If you're looking for the good stuff, go back to Hot Money, Bolt, The Danger, or other earlier books, because unfortunatly this book isn't worth the read.