Brian H

The story wasn’t bad but not anywhere as good as the Colter Shaw novels.  I liked the hint of future potential pairing with Lincoln Rhymes.  However, the ending overall was poor.  Not a real ending, just left me hanging. This story is also included the recently released anthology called Deceptions.  I thought it was the worst in the anthology, a mix of mostly previously published material.

A few of the stories were good, a couple were not.  What I find very frustrating with most of Deaver’s short story collections is that many or most of the stories were previously published, either individually or in another collection.  In this book, seven of the nine stories were in the last collections book, Dead Ends.  Three of the stories were in at least one other collection.  Beware future collections, check the story list before buying.  This book was not worth it for 2 short stories.  I still really like his books but wish he would stop this practice of including old work in new collections.

In work

I thought the book was pretty good.  The story was different than all the other books in the series.  It held my interest but I wished that it had more art history in it.  Gabriel or anyone connected with him was never in any danger which is one of the reasons I don’t think this book was as good as most or all of the other books in the series.  The author’s dislike for the current American president comes through loud and clear again and I find it unnecessary.  While Gabriel is retired, i wish there was more connection to his past Israeli intelligence work.  Despite all that, I still recommend the book.

I listened to this book.  I think if I had to read it, I would have rated it even lower.  The story had no flow and not sure there was even a story.  Maybe if I read this book 50 years ago, I would have appreciated it.  I don’t recommend this book.