25mcates's review against another edition
Thought it would move fast it didn’t I wanted a fast pace book that didn’t take forever to start
burgundy_fairy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Death
Minor: Homophobia
pridiansky's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
***This review contains some mild spoilers. None of them hinge on who the culprit is or their motives***
This book was decent for a mystery/thriller novel. Usually when I read these and they start out with an outlandish plot to hook you, the author can rarely deliver by the end. While still not wholly satisfying to me, at least the author wraps up the plot in a way that makes sense and isn’t completely off the wall, like they were reaching too hard. The plot made logical sense. It felt fair and solvable. That alone I can appreciate.
This book was decent for a mystery/thriller novel. Usually when I read these and they start out with an outlandish plot to hook you, the author can rarely deliver by the end. While still not wholly satisfying to me, at least the author wraps up the plot in a way that makes sense and isn’t completely off the wall, like they were reaching too hard. The plot made logical sense. It felt fair and solvable. That alone I can appreciate.
On the other hand, I don’t know. I may just not get on with mystery and thriller novels, going soley off what I’ve read. The only ones I’ve ever found extremely satisfying are Agatha Christie’s works. Literally no one is surprised, I’m sure. She was the queen of mystery, and it’s hard for anyone else to even hold a candle to her. Every other attempt at reading this genre ranges from awful to merely adequate. This book is on the better half of the scale. While reading this I felt compelled to keep reading. I was never bored. You can tell the author had a well-constructed outline of the plot and crafted it neatly before getting to the actual writing. I think many writers start out with great ideas and then try to see where the writing takes them, and that’s why their books fail. Mystery isn’t something you can really do that with. The skeleton of the plot is necessary before you layer the rest onto it. This author is great at that.
I’m sure you knew there was a ‘But’ coming, so here it is. Though the writing was well done, there were some issues. The main character’s wife and her behavior were handled poorly in the first third of the book, for one. As someone who hasn’t read any of the other books in this series, I don’t have reference as far as previous character development goes. Before she reveals what’s bothering her, I found her to be annoyingly passive aggressive and bitchy. It felt to me like they should just get a divorce. He clearly still wants to be a detective, and she wants to go live in a cottage on a mountain or something. They didn’t feel like a good fit for each other. Without the potential context of past novels, their relationship was more of an irritation getting in the way of the plot. But then, when she finally revealed what was bothering her, I understood a little more, but found that I couldn’t be as sympathetic due to her previous behavior. Their dynamic improves throughout the book, and I didn’t mind her by the end, but I would describe it more as indifferent. I think there should have been a different approach to how her mood was portrayed at the beginning, so that it didn’t interfere with her likability.
The rest of my complaints hinge mostly on the technology present in this book. Technology is a tricky thing to include, as it’s constantly evolving, and people have different levels of knowledge. If I were to guess, I’d say that the demographic aimed at for this novel are middle-aged people ranging from 35-60ish. As a generalization, the older a person is, the less inclined I am to think they’re as knowledgeable with the ins and outs of technology, especially something niche like surveillance technology. Given that assumption, I think the author may have made the decision to strike a balance between advanced technology being present, while still making it convenient enough to write about. What I mean is that while there is advanced technology present, for the sake of plot simplification the technology is limited to some extent, where it wouldn’t be in reality. Obviously, this is just my opinion. But, I think the author would have done enough research to realize that the precautions taken by his characters wouldn’t have been adequate enough in the real world. The problem is that it would have been more of a pain in the ass to write, because the characters' ability to communicate would have been significantly hindered.
One example is the way the author treats ‘bugs,’ as in listening and tracking devices. The main character becomes aware of audio bugs planted in his room at the lodge. When they’re made aware of the fact, they go to check them and the author has the main character have a conversation with his wife where they’re speaking casually and the wife coughs or sneezes every time the main character is taking a look in the areas where the bugs are planted. But that wouldn’t matter. The sounds, no matter how muffled or quiet, would still be amplified to the extent that whoever was listening would know something was up. Think of it like putting your ear to the wall and then having someone run their fingernails along that same wall. It would be an intense sound. The bugs would have picked up on any fiddly noises near them. There’s another instance where the main character thinks that going into the bathroom is enough to prevent the bugs from listening, because they’re in the other room. “With the door closed and his voice low, he’d felt safe from the audio bugs in the outer room.” No. That’s silly. He’s a detective and he should be logical, not have “feelings” about what is or isn’t the reality. The bugs don’t care how you feel. They’re still listening. If you know anything about bugs, you’ll know that there’s a high likelihood of them still being able to hear his entire conversation. Hell, they’ve already found a way to read the vibrations of a light bulb in order to parse out conversations in a room hundreds of feet away. And that’s not just conspiracy theorist nonsense. There’s a Wired article and many others about it. Here’s the link: https://www.wired.com/story/lamphone-light-bulb-vibration-spying/
There are definitely bugs that can hear you in another room. Especially when the author specifically indicates that one of the audio bugs is top of the line, incredibly expensive, and hard to acquire. Playing a little bit of music or going into the next room would not be enough. There are people who can separate sounds out with sophisticated software. Either the author didn’t know this stuff himself, or he assumed his readers wouldn’t know that. It ruined the immersion for me and had the unintended effect of making me feel less respect for the main character, since he’s a detective and should know these things. As it turns out, that ended up not being relevant to the story in the end, because that’s not how the author wrote it. But it annoyed me at the time. There’s also a scene where him and his wife have sex, even after knowing that the room is bugged? What the fuck?? Why would you do that??? Yuck. In general, there are multiple instances where I thought the group of characters trying to solve this case could have been more cautious and discreet. Maybe the author purposely wrote scenes that would linger and make you feel paranoid, but instead it just felt like an annoying level of carelessness. The author makes a show of the characters attempting to be careful, but it didn’t feel careful enough. The main character is having conversations in or near bugged rooms where it’s stated multiple times that there is creaking in the ceiling. The main character even has a conversation in the bloody hallway of the lodge, where anyone and there mother could hear what he was saying, even after he just heard more creaking above the bathroom he was in. That is just next-level stupidity. The stakes are high enough in the book that it could spell death for them, but the attitude given off by the characters, even after finding out the danger they’re in, doesn’t have the appropriate level of fear and paranoia. A friend of theirs gives them a reality check that would scare the shit out of anyone.
“That I’m on the radar of some dangerous people?”
“Another understatement. Let me be clear, and brief. What’s generally known about the FBI, CIA, NSA, and military intelligence operations doesn’t scratch the surface of what’s really happening. The kind of people who are taking an interest in you have access to records of every website you’ve ever visited, every phone number you’ve ever called, every purchase you’ve ever made with a credit card, every book you’ve taken out of a library. Unless you’ve disabled your cell phone GPS, they know every route you’ve ever driven, every address you’ve ever stopped at, every friend, every doctor, every lawyer, every therapist. And that’s just for starters.”
Again, I haven’t read the previous books, so I’m sure that Gurney, our main character, has dealt with a lot of tense situations. But this particular novel seems to ratchet the stakes up to the next level, and the author should have adjusted the characters' actions to convey that. I did not feel enough difference between when they weren’t aware of the severity of the situation, to when they found out. To me their behavior felt the same as before, with this blasé approach to being ‘careful.’ I was increasingly frustrated with their careless behavior. If this man is such a great detective, he should be smarter than this.
Other small issues I had:
* There’s a device that becomes a big deal and must be hand delivered to someone Gurney knows so they can take a look at it. It’s treated like a big mystery, but it was obvious to me what it was from the beginning, even before the main character is able to get ahold of the device.
*There’s a scene in the book where they prerecord an argument to trick whoever is listening in on the audio bugs. My issue with that is they record it in their car. The main character actually says that the bugs won’t know the difference between the recording or whether they were actually saying it themselves, but he’s wrong. The acoustics in a car are completely different than the acoustics in a room. The recording would have a deadened, tinny sound to it, due to the cramped space. The sounds bounce back more quickly because they have nowhere else to go.
*This book, like many in the genre, falls into the stereotypical pitfall of the main character thinking…things…and then getting careless at the end. I don’t know how to be any vaguer than that.
*There's a scene at the end of the book that is incredibly macabre, and I'm not sure was necessary. All I'll say is that it's gross. There are multiple gross scenes, pretty standard fare for mystery, but in the last couple pages the main character has a realization that is quite unpleasant. If you read it, you'll know.
*There's a scene at the end of the book that is incredibly macabre, and I'm not sure was necessary. All I'll say is that it's gross. There are multiple gross scenes, pretty standard fare for mystery, but in the last couple pages the main character has a realization that is quite unpleasant. If you read it, you'll know.
Complaints aside, I didn’t think this was a bad book. The author has a knack for writing a compelling mystery that keeps you guessing, but leaves enough of a breadcrumb trail that it feels like you’re putting the pieces together along with the characters. I could appreciate that since it’s not something that’s easy to do and requires a knack for knowing how to pace things, something made more difficult by the genre. Pick up any random mystery novel off the bargain shelf in a used bookstore and you’ll probably see what I mean. It’s a tough genre to write well. While I don’t feel enthusiastic about this book, I still thought it was okay. I don't feel I wasted my time, and still liked the ride.
muddypuddle's review against another edition
4.0
Number five in the Dave Guerney series did not disappoint, but I don't think any will affect me like the first, which I thought was absolutely brilliant. Intricate mystery solver, decorated ex-NY state police detective now-retired, takes on the mystery of why four people could commit suicide in the exact same manner after having the exact same frightening dream. The cast of characters is not really large, so solving the mystery isn't hugely difficult if the reader's paying close attention. Good story, I gobbled it up in two long sittings. The reader (I listened to this one) was excellent. The setting is during a blizzard in the Adirondacks, which I'm happy to read about as long as I'm not enduring the actuality. A great part of this particular novel is about Gurney's wife, Madeline, who I've never really felt drawn to (I don't really understand their relationship at all, or her weird, silent attitude towards her husband and anything he does that she doesn't agree with). However, she's drawn me in - a tiny bit more - in this story. Now I have to wait another year for then next sequel!
carajago's review against another edition
3.0
This was pretty good for a thriller. Definitely an intriguing plot, and took an interesting angle regarding national security secrets.
martyfried's review against another edition
4.0
This was an unusual mystery for Dave and friends. There were some suicides, and all of the victims had been treated by a noted hypnotherapist, who was coming more and more under scrutiny as a possible cause of these deaths. At first, Dave thought this was an unlikely way to kill someone, but he began wondering after he learned more. It was strange that some of these people would do this, as they didn't seem to be suicidal at all. It's pretty hard to solve a mystery such as this, where there is no physical evidence, but pretty hard is a walk in the park for Dave Gurney - or perhaps in this case, a walk around the lake - Wolf Lake, an isolated resort with lots of shining snow. The Shining. Hmmm... and there was a crazy guy involved at the lodge.
I enjoyed this story, perhaps more than some of the previous ones, probably because it was so different with a lot to think about, like can a hypnotist force someone to do something they would not normally want to do? Supposedly not, but who knows?
I enjoyed this story, perhaps more than some of the previous ones, probably because it was so different with a lot to think about, like can a hypnotist force someone to do something they would not normally want to do? Supposedly not, but who knows?
takethyme's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
mrsboyko's review against another edition
5.0
another excellent story by John Verdon. Will continue to seek them out.