J. F Jones

A badly interwoven thread of short story plots

Revisado: 06-21-14

What did you like best about The Target? What did you like least?

Without revealing any major spoilers, there are several plot lines seemingly held together with a loose plot involving the CIA Director's seeming hatred for King & Maxwell and a "Major" plot to assassinate the leader of another country in his homeland - the assassination plan fails before it begins and we are temporarily involved in a kidnapping plot that has nothing to do with the story's major premise. Some of the individual plots were entertaining, but they did not fit together well as a novel.

Which scene was your favorite?

Actually, the kidnapping story even though it had nothing to do with the book's main plot-line.

Could you see The Target being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I hope not

Any additional comments?

If it were not for the fact that Baldacci's name is the only one listed as the author, I would suspect this was a "collaboration" novel like so many of James Patterson these days. Very disjointed plot line.

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Continuing failure to succeed

Revisado: 12-30-13

What did you like best about A Storm of Swords? What did you like least?

The characters are interesting and the plots are interesting.

What was most disappointing about George R. R. Martin’s story?

But if it looks like one of the characters will finally overcome adversity, then you are wrong. Every time a major character seems to be making some progress in his/her quest, it is only because Martin is about to visit disaster on them. Good or bad, everyone comes to disaster and/or death. I have made it through the 1st three books and the same pattern repeats in each. Characters you have developed a fondness for will die, be enslaved, or beaten. Separated for months from relatives and companions, they will miss connecting again by a few hours or miles. I cannot deal with another book if it continues in the same pattern (and friends who have completed the series tell me that things never get better - except to dash the readers hopes once again)

What about Roy Dotrice’s performance did you like?

He has a vast selection of vocal characters (altho most of his women (young or old) sound like squeeky old men). He does a apparent miracle in keeping his character voices straight.

Could you see A Storm of Swords being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Well, HBO is working on the series and I watched part of it. But all the characters and scenes seem to be awfully dark. I didn't care for it.

Any additional comments?

I hard a hard time reading the books and, as mentioned above, didn't care much for the HBO series. But the Audible renditions were excellent. I still have a craving to see what happens in the next book, but after long hours invested in characters only to have them come to disaster and ruin, I doubt that I will continue the series.

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Not one of Lescroart's best

Revisado: 03-20-12

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not particularly. The story dragged on - lots of unnecessary plot inclusions - main character's mental breakdowns, migraines, and trepidations detracted from the main plot line. And the narrator had a very difficult reading style (more later)

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The search for the killer in a 30 year old murder

Would you be willing to try another one of Eric Dawe’s performances?

No - I found his reading style very annoying. When he reads, he enunciates very precisely one word at a time. It sounds like a first or second grader in that there is little or no flow to the sentences - he is just reading one word at a time - not telling a story with a natural flow. He also mispronounces several words. Eric's voice characterizations are pretty good and he seems to do a better job of reading some feeling into the book when he is not reading the main character. Try listening to a book narration sample performance by Oliver Wyman to hear what a real performer sounds like. The plot was just interesting enough for me to tolerate Eric Dawe's performance (with the reading speed increased to 125%)

Was The Hunter worth the listening time?

Barely

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Very tame

Revisado: 08-05-03

Interesting as period pieces, the stories are pretty tame by today's standards. No action and lacking the depth of a Sherlock Holmes story. Although the stories can be interesting, they typically do not provide the reader with clues that would allow you to solve the crime yourself. Not a lot of depth, so listening to the stories back-to-back, they tend to get boring. The narrator does an excellent job of presenting the stories.

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