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2.5 AVERAGE
2.5 AVERAGE
A train wreck of a book. Simultaneously simple yet confusing from page to page. Many characters come in and out without any real understanding of who/why they are.
The main character is uninteresting and the bad guy is over the top, even for Harris.
Wow is this bad.
The main character is uninteresting and the bad guy is over the top, even for Harris.
Wow is this bad.
I tried.
I kept trying.
But I didn't care about the characters. After a bit I decided that I wanted to read something else.
Put down unfinished.
I kept trying.
But I didn't care about the characters. After a bit I decided that I wanted to read something else.
Put down unfinished.
the whole book just felt half-baked. i wish it had been more fleshed out.
Did not finish. I was in the mood for a good thriller but could not get interested in the various characters, gave up quickly.
The writing = good.
The story? Totally boring. Soz Thomas Harris.
The story? Totally boring. Soz Thomas Harris.
I'm careful with truly negative reviews but honestly? This is a mess. And that makes me sad because I adored Black Sunday and the first three Hannibal books.
I couldn't keep any of the characters straight. There were too many of them to start with, probably because 50% of them were red shirts.
Cari Mora could have been an interesting character if it felt like the story was actually focused on her, but she honestly didn't feel that much more important than the rest of the heaving masses in the story. I'm not even sure what was the plot of the story and what were the subplot. There were like five subplots and somehow none of them really got resolved.
Also, what was with the crocodile? I ask you. How did that contribute anything.
I finished the book literally five minutes ago and already I couldn't tell you what happened with the house with the gold and whatever. There were two teams of people floating around it (or maybe three or more) and I couldn't keep any of them straight.
Honestly, the book was so tiresome I can't even bring to mind enough detail to pick on it more specifically.
It's actually made me want to go back and reread the Harris's early work, but in a bad way, to see if I'm remembering it correctly or if I'm about to shatter much of my memories of my teen years by realizing Black Sunday/Red Dragon/Silence/Hannibal weren't as good as I remember.
I couldn't keep any of the characters straight. There were too many of them to start with, probably because 50% of them were red shirts.
Cari Mora could have been an interesting character if it felt like the story was actually focused on her, but she honestly didn't feel that much more important than the rest of the heaving masses in the story. I'm not even sure what was the plot of the story and what were the subplot. There were like five subplots and somehow none of them really got resolved.
Also, what was with the crocodile? I ask you. How did that contribute anything.
I finished the book literally five minutes ago and already I couldn't tell you what happened with the house with the gold and whatever. There were two teams of people floating around it (or maybe three or more) and I couldn't keep any of them straight.
Honestly, the book was so tiresome I can't even bring to mind enough detail to pick on it more specifically.
It's actually made me want to go back and reread the Harris's early work, but in a bad way, to see if I'm remembering it correctly or if I'm about to shatter much of my memories of my teen years by realizing Black Sunday/Red Dragon/Silence/Hannibal weren't as good as I remember.
Thank you @grandcentralpub for sending me a copy of this book!
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I was really excited for this book and I thought it was going to be really interesting and captivating but for a thriller it was kinda boring. The book is about a bunch of money hidden beneath a mansion in Miami and there’s a hunter, Hans-Peter who is attempting to find it. The caretaker of the house, Cari, has fled violence from her home country and shows her strong survival skills when trying to escape the terrifying things that Hans-Peter has.
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The best part of the book was Cari. She’s a likeable character and I enjoyed reading parts with her in it, and the ending was interesting, but there was a lot of stuff going on in between that I just didn’t care about. I thought the portrayal of child soldiers was also interesting, but not much else grabbed my attention! I still encourage you to check it out and make your own opinions!
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I was really excited for this book and I thought it was going to be really interesting and captivating but for a thriller it was kinda boring. The book is about a bunch of money hidden beneath a mansion in Miami and there’s a hunter, Hans-Peter who is attempting to find it. The caretaker of the house, Cari, has fled violence from her home country and shows her strong survival skills when trying to escape the terrifying things that Hans-Peter has.
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The best part of the book was Cari. She’s a likeable character and I enjoyed reading parts with her in it, and the ending was interesting, but there was a lot of stuff going on in between that I just didn’t care about. I thought the portrayal of child soldiers was also interesting, but not much else grabbed my attention! I still encourage you to check it out and make your own opinions!
Caridad Mora, one of the promising characters in this story which I admire the most. She is very talented and can do a lot of skills.
BUT...
The problem is that the story moves me it makes me feel interested at first on what will happen to Caridad Mora and how he will revenge his boyfriend from Hans-Peter Schneider although it becomes not so good at the middle part which makes me feel wahhh....
In chase scene it was so good and I like how badass Caridad Mora survive herself until the end which I will not spoil even if it is a typical or a normal way of giving justice to end the story.
I expect more in this story but I think Thomas Harris end it as it is.
BUT...
The problem is that the story moves me it makes me feel interested at first on what will happen to Caridad Mora and how he will revenge his boyfriend from Hans-Peter Schneider although it becomes not so good at the middle part which makes me feel wahhh....
In chase scene it was so good and I like how badass Caridad Mora survive herself until the end which I will not spoil even if it is a typical or a normal way of giving justice to end the story.
I expect more in this story but I think Thomas Harris end it as it is.
First impressions on finishing this read were wow, the action did not stop, even visiting a man in hospital isn't boring in Cari Mora.
The girl herself us an amazingly, quiet graceful soul until you find out her backstory... A very interesting young lady indeed.
With interest in Pablo Escobars' house, who will finally find the lost gold?
From a hospital bed one of the last witnesses alive, is making deals so his family can live in comfort.
Cari Mora is just a housekeeper, she wants to study to be a vet & has other jobs around helping her cousin care for her ailing aunt. But as a new movie crew drive up she is unsettled & is aware of the danger in the air.
A very compelling read, high body count & deviant villains to hate although not of the clever calibre of Dr Lector they are loathsome enough you hope they get their comeuppance. I did think more would have been made with Hans-Peters mimicry though, it got lost somewhere in the pace of the plot.
Will there be more? Is it a trilogy? I would like to think so but am fine if it is a standalone.
The girl herself us an amazingly, quiet graceful soul until you find out her backstory... A very interesting young lady indeed.
With interest in Pablo Escobars' house, who will finally find the lost gold?
From a hospital bed one of the last witnesses alive, is making deals so his family can live in comfort.
Cari Mora is just a housekeeper, she wants to study to be a vet & has other jobs around helping her cousin care for her ailing aunt. But as a new movie crew drive up she is unsettled & is aware of the danger in the air.
A very compelling read, high body count & deviant villains to hate although not of the clever calibre of Dr Lector they are loathsome enough you hope they get their comeuppance. I did think more would have been made with Hans-Peters mimicry though, it got lost somewhere in the pace of the plot.
Will there be more? Is it a trilogy? I would like to think so but am fine if it is a standalone.
This wasn’t the disaster that other reviews had promised. I think with Thomas Harris there were expectations that a lot of previously successful authors feel when they decide to write something completely new, many years later. Cari Mora wasn’t hard to get through, but it was hard to get into.
The biggest departure from the Hannibal Lecter series is what the plot revolves around. It’s kind of a cartel/heist book and takes place primarily in Miami, though there are some jumps to South America in present day as well as in flashbacks. Cari Mora is the name of the heroine, which was kind of a let down honestly. The author kept using her full name, I think to drive the title home, but I was hoping there was something more significant about it. Spoiler: there isn’t. And despite being the protagonist, she’s not given a lot to do. She’s young, attractive, vaguely useful, and eventually becomes the target of a murderous psycho (of course), but isn’t featured much until the end.
The cartel stuff felt like someone trying to copy Narcos, and he even references the popular Netflix show in the book. I wasn’t sure who any of the cartel members were and who we were supposed to root for, and I frequently had to reread portions because I accidentally skimmed over someone’s death. The dialogue was choppy and weird at times, and the narration felt removed from the events being described.
What was familiar just didn’t capture the same twisted interest as Harris’ other books. The main villain, especially, was just a cheap knock off of The Tooth Fairy or Buffalo Bill, that never quite landed for me. He’s a man with genetic defect, a social outcast, and is obsessed with mutilating women’s bodies in a really disturbing way. The stakes never felt real and neither did the characters. It was super readable, though, and I flew through it.
TL;DR: you can skip this one.
The biggest departure from the Hannibal Lecter series is what the plot revolves around. It’s kind of a cartel/heist book and takes place primarily in Miami, though there are some jumps to South America in present day as well as in flashbacks. Cari Mora is the name of the heroine, which was kind of a let down honestly. The author kept using her full name, I think to drive the title home, but I was hoping there was something more significant about it. Spoiler: there isn’t. And despite being the protagonist, she’s not given a lot to do. She’s young, attractive, vaguely useful, and eventually becomes the target of a murderous psycho (of course), but isn’t featured much until the end.
The cartel stuff felt like someone trying to copy Narcos, and he even references the popular Netflix show in the book. I wasn’t sure who any of the cartel members were and who we were supposed to root for, and I frequently had to reread portions because I accidentally skimmed over someone’s death. The dialogue was choppy and weird at times, and the narration felt removed from the events being described.
What was familiar just didn’t capture the same twisted interest as Harris’ other books. The main villain, especially, was just a cheap knock off of The Tooth Fairy or Buffalo Bill, that never quite landed for me. He’s a man with genetic defect, a social outcast, and is obsessed with mutilating women’s bodies in a really disturbing way. The stakes never felt real and neither did the characters. It was super readable, though, and I flew through it.
TL;DR: you can skip this one.