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cmbohn's review against another edition
3.0
Drew Danner wakes up in a hospital with a surgeon and a cop next to his bed. The surgeon wants to tell him about the brain tumor they just removed. The cop wants to tell him that Drew just murdered his ex-fiance.
The tumor is definite enough. He takes it home from the hospital in a jar. And his fiancee is definitely dead. But Drew can't remember anything about that night and has no idea if he killed her or not. But he's arrested, sent for trial, convicted, and then acquitted on grounds of temporary insanity. That tumor in a jar came in handy at the trial.
So now what? Drew wants to know what happened that night. He needs to figure out if he's really a killer, and if not, then who is? And who is stalking his home, setting him up?
Fortunately, Drew is a crime writer, so he's got contacts. His agent, the actor who starred in his movie, his crime scene specialist, the consultant cop. But someone is following him, and then a second murder follows soon after Drew comes home from jail.
This wasn't a perfect book. Drew was a little too reckless and dumb in some ways. But I liked the setting and I was wrapped up in the story. I'm giving it 3.5 stars. Great opening, BTW.
The tumor is definite enough. He takes it home from the hospital in a jar. And his fiancee is definitely dead. But Drew can't remember anything about that night and has no idea if he killed her or not. But he's arrested, sent for trial, convicted, and then acquitted on grounds of temporary insanity. That tumor in a jar came in handy at the trial.
So now what? Drew wants to know what happened that night. He needs to figure out if he's really a killer, and if not, then who is? And who is stalking his home, setting him up?
Fortunately, Drew is a crime writer, so he's got contacts. His agent, the actor who starred in his movie, his crime scene specialist, the consultant cop. But someone is following him, and then a second murder follows soon after Drew comes home from jail.
This wasn't a perfect book. Drew was a little too reckless and dumb in some ways. But I liked the setting and I was wrapped up in the story. I'm giving it 3.5 stars. Great opening, BTW.
jarthur's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
bookishbecky's review
4.0
My first novel by this author and I will move straight onto another. I enjoyed the different elements of this book and that it was a standalone. The unreliable narrator trope is one I enjoy but I liked that this was acknowledged throughout. The reveal was clever and poignant.
theretiredlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
A crime writer wakes up after a seizure to learn it was caused by a brain tumor and he’s accused of murdering his former girlfriend. A satisfying thrilling with an interesting cast of characters and lots of twist and turns in the plot. Recommended.
imbookingit's review against another edition
4.0
A very solid thriller.
I liked getting into the mind of Drew Danner, the Crime Writer of the title. The fact that his mind was damaged (physically, due to the removal of a tumor) made it all the more interesting, since even he didn't know if he committed the crime he was accused of.
I liked getting into the mind of Drew Danner, the Crime Writer of the title. The fact that his mind was damaged (physically, due to the removal of a tumor) made it all the more interesting, since even he didn't know if he committed the crime he was accused of.
pridiansky's review
3.0
I didn't hate it, which is saying a lot for a mystery/thriller, coming from me. Usually they bore me to death or don't manage to surprise me at all. This one was definitely one of the better ones I've read.
lassmaenad's review against another edition
1.0
Exactly what you would expect from a book by a male crime writer written about a male crime writer. Absolutely insufferable protagonist that thinks he's so much more interesting and intelligent than everyone else in Los Angeles and clearly despises everyone and everything, including his now-dead sexy but insane fiance.
poedogruns's review against another edition
3.0
The Crime Writer is a slow yarn of a tale, often times diverting from the main story track into interesting, but irrevelant diatribes about L.A. society. At times I did not mind the distraction, but it happened so frequently that the story lost its urgency. The writing itself did have an authentic Southern California feel to it. The ending was uniquely satisfying. I certainly did not predict what ultimately happened, although upon consideration, such a foundation was laid out througout the book. The characters are not the type of people I generally identify with, but I liked their struggles, and frustration with life and cheered the predictable triumph of the geniunely good people in the book, so it was an overall entertaining read. Particularly notable are the characters of Caroline, a social worker recovering from a disturbingly violent incident and Junior, a streetwise 14 year old boy, who dispite his obvious disadvantages, has a love of life and (yes) dogs.[return][return]Andrew Danner is a writer who finds himself the prime murder suspect in the deaths of two women. He is recovering from a brain tumor so he honestly doesn't know if he committed the first murder of his ex-girlfriend, (even though he was discovered looming over her dead body holding the murder weapon knife) but he is sure he is being framed for the second one, a women he did not even know. The problem is, the police have no desire to help him because they are confident he is the killer. Any motive for framing him is less then obvious. So Andrew must use his research skills and his personal connections to ferret out the the truth of the murders and hopefully, prove his own innocence.