By: Stephen White Publisher: Dutton Adult Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Dutton Adult Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 416 Publication Date: March 04, 2008
Product Description: After the shocking developments in Dry Ice, Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory is struggling to deal with his newly adopted son and repair his shaky, though generally improving, marriage. But then Alan’s ex-wife, Merideth, reappears, seeking help she feels only Alan can give. Suddenly Alan is pulled into a mystery that reaches back years to a camping trip at the Grand Canyon involving Merideth’s fiancé and five friends whose lives were changed forever when a young woman mysteriously vanished from the Canyon floor.
Enlisting the help of friend and detective Sam Purdy, Alan finds himself pitted against new demons and unseen enemies as he tries to uncover the connection between the unexplained disappearance at the Grand Canyon and Merideth’s missing surrogate. The clock is ticking, and as Alan’s and Sam’s investigations take them from New York City to Los Angeles to the cavernous reaches of the Canyon itself, Alan unearths a series of secrets and deceptions that someone wishes to keep buried at all costs.
Very Disappointed I am very disappointed in this novel of Mr. White's. I loved his last two books but this one was honestly boring. The beginning caught my attention and I was ready to enjoy a good mystery. There was such a lull in the book where most of the story was Alan trying to decide if he was going to sleep with different women while his wife was away. Then the same thing was there for Sam too. Was he or was he not going to sleep with this woman? The only real clue in the entire mystery in two thirds of the book was one lime green tennis shoe found. After reading three quarters of the book I gave up and tossed it. I hope his next novel proves to be more mystery and less sleeping around information. Being horney is no mystery.
Kind of boring..... This was a tough one to finish. Some other reviewers have mentioned that this book needs tighter editing; I agree. I skimmed so much, especially the conversations between Sam and Alan, which were tedious, boring, too long...you probably get my drift. Meredith's situation had nothing to do with the main plot line of the book and was unnecessary. Then there was the one character with three names, and a character with the last name "Poteet" and another with the last name of "Peet". And, also like other reviewers, I'm bored of the drama surrounding the Gregory's marriage. Please Mr. White-either have them be married or split them up. Please.
"Dead Time" is a suspensful thriller for the older crowd. Thrilling, cliffhanger novel. I've never read any of Stephen White's novels before but the nice cover and "New York Times Best selling author" definetely attracted me to this book.
PROS: -Very thrilling! Very fast-paced book, you can expect to finish this book in 1-2 weeks.
-Intricate plot, cliff-hanger, you rarely want to put the book down. The first 50-100 pages are extremely puzzling, as I had no idea what was going on and I didn't grasp the main character's personality, or predicament. After that, as I got more involved in Alan's personality and lifestyle, I was extremely immersed in the book, reading quickly and no longer stopping to re-examine facts.
-Good length- 400 pages, this book should last the readers a few weeks.
CONS: -Sometimes ambigious use of vocabulary. I had to use a dictionary for many of the words in the book. But in a way , this improved my vocabulary big-time. It's just that White seems to have a tendency to write the main character's musing thoughts (extraneous) in a sort of reflective tone in which he incorporates higher-level vocabulary such as "sanguine", "poignant", and "surreptitious".
-Switches PoV when you least expect it- PoV being Point of View. Switches numerous times from the main character, Alan, to his Ex-wife, Meredith, evne though Meredith's predicament was not pertinent to the plot.
-Hard to comprehend. The novel is well-written and edited, I won't deny that, but it's sometimes hard to comprehend at what's happening since the style of the book is "fast paced". There's really some illogical and irrelevant data/ presentations by White that don't pertain to the book- maybe about 10-15% of the book contains this data unnecessary for the plot's progression.
I recommend this book for the suspensful. Of course, with most novels of this type, have a dictionary in proximity. It will be useful and make your reading experience of this novel so much better.
*TIP: Don't scrutinize little details in this book. The book is meant for you not to comprehend each and every statement, rather follow along with the author's words. Take the book literally, for the author's WORDS will help you understand the irony and sarcasm going on in the book.
Dick Hill is a great reader.... however, Fine book. Maybe could be a little tighter and less repetitious. I'm looking forward to finding out what really happened in Europe.
Now... Dick Hill is a great reader, one of my favorites. However, a good part of this book is told in first person by Alan's ex. Maybe it's just me but whenever she started talking it jarred. Wrong-sex FP narration just doesn't work for me. Never have a problem with dialog in third-person. Funny, huh? Anyway, if that doesn't bother you you'll enjoy the book. If it does, well, you've been warned. (Wasn't Alyssa Bresnahan available to read Meredith's part?)
Disappointing The "His Ex" and "Her Ex" contrivance was annoying and distracting; while some of the dialog much too ethnically-colloquial for my taste.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
