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bookhawk's review
3.0
Demolition Angel is very good police thriller in many ways. It has plenty of twists, the writing is good, and the action builds to a crescendo at the end. I was teetering on a 3 or 4 star rating and ultimately found it just short of 4 stars.
chazmo1431's review against another edition
4.0
Except for the feeling that I might get lung cancer after finishing this book, I really enjoyed it. For some reason, the author felt compelled to have Carol Starkey sucking on a cigarette during most of her waking hours. Perhaps it was to demonstrate her fragile hold on reality after having been killed as a Bomb Squad member of the LAPD. or maybe she was a smoking bomb. She was clinically dead for a period of time and then revived. Her partner and lover was not so fortunate. Transferred from that position to the Criminal Conspiracy Section of the LAPD (Dective-2) she catches the lead in investigating the death of another Bomb Squad member. It appears that the bomb in the case she is investigating was made by a serial bomber known as Mr. Red who, while available as a killer for hire with his pyrotechnics, is apparently killing a bomb squad member or two, just for the fun of it. To tell more of the story line would give away some of the twists, turns and quirks of this very well told tale of revenge and betrayal. To do that would be to spoil the soup. Again, this book is evidence of the growth of this author from his early and popular Elvis Cole novels.
gracenow's review against another edition
4.0
It took me a bit to get into it, didn't like how self destructive the main character was, but as I came to know her better, it was understandable. Bad guy was really clever and bad, resolution well done. It's not my favorite by Robert Crais but it was certainly a good stand alone book.
kstets's review against another edition
4.0
Let's see, there was something about the main character, Carol Starkey, that I didn't like at first. I started reading, and then stopped. But I've enjoyed Robert's writing, so I started again. I also finished this a few days after the issues in Boston. Wow, kind of crazy for that to happen and be reading this. But over all, I really enjoyed this book. Did not see the twists and turns...and the overall ending. I really enjoy a book that keeps me wondering who did it...and what's going to happen next.
altruest's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good, the characters were all flawed and believable. I wasn't the hugest fan of the 'happy' ending, but I'm glad I read it.
4/5 stars, recommended if you like suspense, and bombs.
4/5 stars, recommended if you like suspense, and bombs.
jebersviller's review against another edition
4.0
An exploration of secondary character Carol Starkey. Typical of Crais the plot is exciting and well developed. The characters are fully explored and the dialog is superb.
drobnasrnka's review against another edition
4.0
Postupne si nachádzam cestu aj k žánrom, ktoré ma doteraz nebavili. Ako napríklad táto detektívka. Vyšetrovanie bombového útoku samé o sebe neznie zas tak zaujímavo. Čo ma ale na tejto knihe dstalo bolo, že bola napísaná v roku 2000 (vtedy som mala 5 rokov). Tým pádom je to super pohľad na začiatky internetu a na to ako to tu všetko fungovalo bez mobilov a podobne. Vlastne dnes by ten prípad možno vyriešili na polovičnom počte stránok. Takže: odporúčam ako dovolenkové čítanie.
shannny2k's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic book. Long review coming soon!Title: Demolition Angel
Series Number: The first.
Author: Robert Crais
(Audio) Narrator: Paul Hecht
One sentence summary: Ex-bomb squad member has to work through her past accident while working on a current case where one of her old coworkers died.
Theme(s): Single past events can drive people’s actions for years. There are multiple ways to cope with PTSD and other results of said past events.
(Audio) Narrator review: I had one huge issue; the main character is a female and they choose a male narrator. I’m not sure why, and distracted me numerous times in the first two chapters. After a while I got used to it, and I think that overall Paul Hecht did a good job, but I think they could have chosen someone similar to the main character; a female who smokes a lot.
What I liked:
I love that page one scene one the main character is talking to a therapist about her problems. This is a great way to start the story, obtaining the mindset of the main character, and the mindset of one person who has been helping her since the accident. (Also both characters are female, so this book passed the Bechdel test immediately which is pretty cool.)
The characters are well defined and have distinctive background events that drive them forward. They all seem real and their actions feel authentic, even when they aren’t professional.
The ending is wonderfully satisfying. No spoilers, so I won’t say more, but it’s unexpected yet completely inevitable.
What I disliked:
Honestly I liked all of it. There is nothing that I can think of that would have made this a better book.
Rating:
9/10 – Excellent read. Lives on my bookshelf. Often recommended to friends. Might or might not read again. (I’ll recommend this to friends that like mystery/thriller, but probably wouldn’t recommend to those who don’t. I would be happy to read it again if I ever forget enough of it to make it worthwhile, but I suspect that this book will be sticking with me for a long time.)
Series Number: The first.
Author: Robert Crais
(Audio) Narrator: Paul Hecht
One sentence summary: Ex-bomb squad member has to work through her past accident while working on a current case where one of her old coworkers died.
Theme(s): Single past events can drive people’s actions for years. There are multiple ways to cope with PTSD and other results of said past events.
(Audio) Narrator review: I had one huge issue; the main character is a female and they choose a male narrator. I’m not sure why, and distracted me numerous times in the first two chapters. After a while I got used to it, and I think that overall Paul Hecht did a good job, but I think they could have chosen someone similar to the main character; a female who smokes a lot.
What I liked:
I love that page one scene one the main character is talking to a therapist about her problems. This is a great way to start the story, obtaining the mindset of the main character, and the mindset of one person who has been helping her since the accident. (Also both characters are female, so this book passed the Bechdel test immediately which is pretty cool.)
The characters are well defined and have distinctive background events that drive them forward. They all seem real and their actions feel authentic, even when they aren’t professional.
The ending is wonderfully satisfying. No spoilers, so I won’t say more, but it’s unexpected yet completely inevitable.
What I disliked:
Honestly I liked all of it. There is nothing that I can think of that would have made this a better book.
Rating:
9/10 – Excellent read. Lives on my bookshelf. Often recommended to friends. Might or might not read again. (I’ll recommend this to friends that like mystery/thriller, but probably wouldn’t recommend to those who don’t. I would be happy to read it again if I ever forget enough of it to make it worthwhile, but I suspect that this book will be sticking with me for a long time.)