Scan barcode
bajohnson's review against another edition
3.0
Not sure why authors always feel the need to include lewd material. It never adds anything to the book. If not for that it would have gotten 4 stars.
kmcneil's review against another edition
2.0
Reading as a promise to Bert who REALLY wants me to see this movie with him when it comes out in the next few months. Stars George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio (hell, who wouldn't want to see THAT movie?!). This is not my typical genre and 85 pages in I remain skeptical about liking it.
Post Read: OK, so the movie stars Russell Crowe, not George Clooney. Darn.
Anyway, I can see how this book can be translated into a really good and thrilling movie. In fact, it almost seems as if it was written to be a movie. I'm going to see it on Friday evening. And, if this were a movie review web site, I'd tell you all about it. But, since it's not, I'll tell you what I thought of the book.
Not much. I found the writing to be clumsy and I found nothing about the main love interest compelling or likable. I was never able to make the connection as to why the main character (Ferris, played by DiCaprio) fell in love with her in the first place. And the whole story line about his wife/later ex-wife didn't really seem necessary. I got lost (not as in transported, but as in I couldn't figure it out) with the story line and to the end, I just couldn't figure what had actually happened. I will admit that I read this book late each night and was too tired to really try to figure it out. Guess I just didn't want to think that hard. Anyway, looking forward to the movie (or is it just that I am looking forward to a big ol' bucket of buttered popcorn?). And, looking forward to not having to read this book anymore.
P.S. I'm still in post-Twilight series mourning, so I admit that any book reviews I give over the next year may be skewed.
Post Read: OK, so the movie stars Russell Crowe, not George Clooney. Darn.
Anyway, I can see how this book can be translated into a really good and thrilling movie. In fact, it almost seems as if it was written to be a movie. I'm going to see it on Friday evening. And, if this were a movie review web site, I'd tell you all about it. But, since it's not, I'll tell you what I thought of the book.
Not much. I found the writing to be clumsy and I found nothing about the main love interest compelling or likable. I was never able to make the connection as to why the main character (Ferris, played by DiCaprio) fell in love with her in the first place. And the whole story line about his wife/later ex-wife didn't really seem necessary. I got lost (not as in transported, but as in I couldn't figure it out) with the story line and to the end, I just couldn't figure what had actually happened. I will admit that I read this book late each night and was too tired to really try to figure it out. Guess I just didn't want to think that hard. Anyway, looking forward to the movie (or is it just that I am looking forward to a big ol' bucket of buttered popcorn?). And, looking forward to not having to read this book anymore.
P.S. I'm still in post-Twilight series mourning, so I admit that any book reviews I give over the next year may be skewed.
kpwerker's review against another edition
1.0
Just a flat, flat story. The plot was far too dull to warrant the length of the book – maybe it could have been a compelling short story – and the characters were caricatures. I gained nothing from reading this.
sandin954's review against another edition
2.0
Not up to the usual standards of this author's work. Only one character was interesting and smart and he had too small of a role. While the plot could have been fairly interesting, if the characters had not continuously done stupid things to propel it along, there was entirely too much focus on the MC's romances and the female characters were pretty laughable stereotypes. Listened to the audio which was read by Dick Hill who does male characters fine but his female characters and the love scenes were almost cringe worthy.
mcfade28's review against another edition
3.0
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I enjoyed hearing about Ferris' time in Jordan. I felt like the best scenes were between Ferris and the Jordanian spy, Hani, and I also enjoyed the interplay between Roger and his boss Ed Hoffman. These three characters were interesting and compelling to watch, although all of them were a little two diamensional.
Where the book really fell down was introducing a love story between Ferris and an aid worker, Alice. He seems to fall in love with her remarkably quickly, and from that moment it seems like his entire world revolves around her. He is meant to be a war hardened spy, not a lovesick teenager.
Overall three stars, but I could have stretched to 4 if the characterisations had been a bit better.
Where the book really fell down was introducing a love story between Ferris and an aid worker, Alice. He seems to fall in love with her remarkably quickly, and from that moment it seems like his entire world revolves around her. He is meant to be a war hardened spy, not a lovesick teenager.
Overall three stars, but I could have stretched to 4 if the characterisations had been a bit better.
joestewart's review against another edition
4.0
Both the writing quality and the plot complexity are excellent! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to reading the next.
jpbooks13's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A fun spy thriller. It doesn’t seem especially accurate, but still a fun read
jorgjuar's review against another edition
2.0
I have mixed feelings on this one. Inasmuch as I liked the movie, I was interested in the novel in order to have a deeper understanding of the characters and further details on the story but alas, this is one of those few exceptions where the movie is better than the book.
*** This paragraph contains a little bit of spoilers ****
The novel has a promising and much more elaborated plot than the one in the movie (obviously) but unfortunately ends up as a kind of corny story where all the geopolitical-spy stuff becomes secondary. In regards to the characters, Hani Pasha is just great along with Ed Hoffman, however, Roger Ferris goes from being a top agent to someone acting as a teenager who falls in love after a couple of days and makes emotional decisions. Alice, on the other hand, is such an annoying character; I think David Ignatius' goal with her was to explain the other side, so to speak, of the middle east scenario; nevertheless, it's unsuccessful. No wonder why Alice was completely wiped off from the movie and replaced with another character (Aisha).
*** End of spoilers ****
The novel is not terrible, though. It's an entertaining and even interesting at parts but it slowly fades out, so don't expect much of it, specially if you've already read spy novels by Robert Ludlum or Frederick Forsyth.
*** This paragraph contains a little bit of spoilers ****
The novel has a promising and much more elaborated plot than the one in the movie (obviously) but unfortunately ends up as a kind of corny story where all the geopolitical-spy stuff becomes secondary. In regards to the characters, Hani Pasha is just great along with Ed Hoffman, however, Roger Ferris goes from being a top agent to someone acting as a teenager who falls in love after a couple of days and makes emotional decisions. Alice, on the other hand, is such an annoying character; I think David Ignatius' goal with her was to explain the other side, so to speak, of the middle east scenario; nevertheless, it's unsuccessful. No wonder why Alice was completely wiped off from the movie and replaced with another character (Aisha).
*** End of spoilers ****
The novel is not terrible, though. It's an entertaining and even interesting at parts but it slowly fades out, so don't expect much of it, specially if you've already read spy novels by Robert Ludlum or Frederick Forsyth.
alexlily's review against another edition
1.0
An old white american man wrote this and it shows
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Islamophobia and Xenophobia
pjc1268's review against another edition
1.0
Too slow,horrible, should change name to"Book of Boredom!!". DNF