This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.
| 15 of 15 people found the following review helpful  Beware the Kessinger Publishing edition!, By This review is from: Trent's Last Case (Paperback) This is a wonderful story -- I highly recommend it. HOWEVER, beware of the edition published by Kessinger. It is apparently an unedited, unproofread and minimally (if at all) formatted direct printout of the open source copy available on Gutenberg.org. (This was verified by comparing the typos in the two versions. They're identical.) It appears that what this outfit does is downloads/copies/cuts-and-pastes the text file, converts it to a proportional font, and prints it as is. Superficially, the result looks respectable enough, until you start to read the thing. First, there's the book's odd format -- 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches -- about the size and shape of, say, your child's math workbook. It's awkward to handle and the simple mechanics of reading becomes an unpleasant chore. The text is properly single spaced, however there's a double space between each paragraph. This brings the eye up short and makes your brain involuntarily expect some sort of climax.At the end of each... Read more 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful  Good, old-fashioned mystery, By This review is from: Trent's Last Case (Oxford Popular Fiction) (Paperback) This is a wonderful, old-fashioned book, where the language is complex and clever, and honorable people recognize other people of honor at a glance. The plausible (and implausible) explanations of the mystery are intriguing. It's a lot of fun! 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful  One of the best., By A Customer This review is from: Trent's Last Case (Oxford Popular Fiction) (Paperback) A stupendous mystery; one of the best I have ever read. Fans of Christie or Chesterton will thoroughly enjoy it. To say more might give something away, so I will not. |
| 44 of 47 people found the following review helpful New Directions for Lovesey, By This review is from: Last Detective (Paperback) I have always had a love/hate relationship with Peter Lovesey's books for many years. I have a large number of his novels on my shelf, mostly from the Sgt. Cribb series. In looking over them I realized that while they were readable, there were not particularly memorable and were all somewhat unsatisfactory. "The Last Detective" is a bit of a change in pace, in that it really is a notch better than the Lovesey standard.Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond fluctuates between being interesting and being thoroughly unlikable. While not anti-computer, he is quite distrustful of them, and is unhappy with their effect on police work. As a result he has come to style himself as 'the last detective.' His overall personality is overbearing and a bit egotistical which makes him a bit unpopular with both his co-workers and the top brass. As a reader I found that he had his moments, but I liked his second in command, John Wigful, quite a bit better. The plot, which centers... Read more 23 of 25 people found the following review helpful  A bit of a drag, By RolloTomasi (California) - See all my reviews This review is from: Last Detective (Paperback) Peter Diamond is something of an anachronism on the police force--a stickler for old-fashioned detection in a business that relies almost completely on state-of-the-art computers and genetic engineering to catch crooks. So when he is called in to investigate the death of a woman found floating nude in a river near Bath, he sees it as the perfect opportunity to prove himself as "the last detective." On the way, Diamond repeatedly risks not only life and limb but the most important thing to him--his job.There are plenty of entertaining moments here. The examination of the fierce backstage politics at Scotland Yard is fascinating, and Lovesey, ever the consummate researcher, weaves in an intriguing subplot involving two mysterious letters penned by the late, great Jane Austen. Unfortunately, he may have heaped a bit too much on his plate; there isn't enough emphasis on what should be the real heart of the novel--the mystery itself. That, in addition to excessive length, is a... Read more 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful Recommended, but with reservations, By Colin Harrison (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews This review is from: Last Detective (Paperback) This was my first Peter Lovesey mystery. I had mixed feelings.Positive: the writing is excellent - evocative but concise, dialogue is natural, and description is not overdone. The mystery itself is ingenious, with plenty of twists and turns. Characters are well-drawn and mostly convincing. There is genuine wit in the writing. I enjoyed it and wanted to keep reading until the end. Also, for anyone who loves the city of Bath, as I do, the locations are a real treat. The plot also manages to involve Jane Austen (yes, "Pride and Prejudice" Jane Austen). Negative: (1) The climactic courtroom scene is one of phoniest, most unbelievable unravelings of a mystery I have ever read. Without giving away the details, I will say that someone just spills his guts under cross-examination, confessing to a whole pile of serious crimes apparently without once thinking, "Gee, maybe I should just deny all this crap, get off the witness stand, and get a good lawyer." It... Read more |
Barry Eisler has been compared to Forsyth, Ludlum, le Carré, Ian Fleming, and Graham Greene. But his latest thriller brings Eisler into a league of his own. When Japanese/American contract killer John Rain learns that his former lover, Midori, has been raising their child in New York, he senses a chance for reconciliation, perhaps even for redemption. But Midori is being watched by Rain's enemies, and his sudden appearance puts mother and child in terrible danger. To save them, Rain is forced to use the same deadly talents he had been hoping to leave behind. With the help of Tatsu, his friendly nemesis in the Japanese FBI, and Dox, the ex-marine sniper whose good ol' boy persona masks a killer as deadly as Rain himself, Rain races against time to bring his enemies into the open and eliminate them forever. But to finish the job, he'll need one more ally: Israeli intelligence agent Delilah, a woman who represents an altogether different kind of threat . . .
| 39 of 41 people found the following review helpful Rain in the Heart, By This review is from: The Last Assassin (John Rain Thrillers) (Hardcover) This is an excellent action-adventure novel that rips you from Barcelona to New York to Japan and back again, while the protagonist must contend with the Japaneze Yakuza, Chinese triads, the anger and bitterness of an ex-love, the jealousy of his current flame, and most difficult of all, the unaswerable questions in his own heart caused by the revelation that he has an infant son in New York. This is the fifth in Eisler's wonderful series featuring John Rain, the half-American half-Japanese professional assassin. This novel ties up some of the loose ends created in the first four outings and once again delivers a dose of the most convincing and lethal action scenes to be found between book covers.If you are an action fan, but also like clear, entertaining, and super-intelligent prose, then this series is about as good it gets. The author obviously does his homework and studies close quarters combat (CQC) in detail in order to write believable, harrowing, and shocking... Read more 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful Rain's matters of the heart begin to overwhelm thrills of series, By This review is from: The Last Assassin (John Rain Thrillers) (Hardcover) Barry Eisler's John Rain series used to be on a par with Lee Child's Jack Reacher series - both featured hard-boiled anti-heroes, shocking plots, exotic locales, fearsome villains, and some of the best action scenes out there. And Rain had the advantage over Reacher in that he got to travel the globe and use the CIA as a supplier of lethal weaponry. Perhaps that, along with Rain's appreciation for good whisky, gave Rain the edge.But then, "The Last Assassin" came along, and suddenly Eisler's run of well-written, well-plotted thrillers came to a screeching halt. Where Child is comfortable with keeping Reacher more or less self-contained emotionally (and therefore occasionally unlikable), Eisler couldn't resist the temptation to make John Rain come to terms with his emotional side. True, he does so in a natural way - Rain has to comes to terms with fatherhood - but the emotional quagmire that results is a jarring flat note in this otherwise brilliant series... Read more 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful Hopefully, not the LAST John Rain book!, By Dragon Lady "Claire" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase This review is from: The Last Assassin (John Rain Thrillers) (Hardcover) I have simply devoured all the John Rain books. THE LAST ASSASSIN arrived in the mail yesterday; as always, I couldn't put it down and finished it tonight, disappointed I'd reached the end.John Rain is an assassin you get attached to, and even begin to understand. Another reviewer is apparently disappointed in the way Rain has evolved over the course of five books. However, the changes are simply evidence of Rain's maturing process. A couple of books ago, Rain met a woman, unwillingly fell in love, and now finds out he has a son. The emotional impact of these developments have forced him to start wondering if it's even possible to live a different kind of life, out of the "business" he's worked at for so many years. But in order to leave that life and ensure his son's safety, many obstacles must be removed in the only way Rain knows. Barry Eisler is a gifted writer who has created wonderfully believable characters and scrupulously researched stories. The... Read more |
