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alykat_reads's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I swear I must have a different idea of thriller than other people? While I felt this was fairly fast-paced, it didn't have the tension and darkness of what I consider a thriller. The question throughout is did Stuart kill his wife, and (sorry, bit of a spoiler ahead) a majority of it is the inspector on the case focusing on Stuart being the killer and trying to make the pieces of evidence fit that specific narrative even if he has to do gymnastics to make them fit, while completely ignoring every other possibility. That doesn't give the tension or darkness. I very much enjoyed the book and usually read 100 pages at a time because of that, but I just want people to stop calling everything with a little ambiguity a thriller. It's a mystery novel. Nothing wrong with classifying something as a mystery instead of a thriller.
Snaps for Wyatt because he seemed to be the only one with a brain at times. Inspector Juhle was insufferable half the time. I'm glad the author gave Gina the internal monologue about how our legal system isn't there to prove innocence or guilt but to merely settle disputes. Truth and innocence have nothing to do with it. I'm glad he recognized that truth, as many innocent people have paid the price of the faulty system and detectives who are so single-minded that they can't see the truth that's right in front of their eyes.
Overall, an enjoyable reading experience for me.
Snaps for Wyatt because he seemed to be the only one with a brain at times. Inspector Juhle was insufferable half the time. I'm glad the author gave Gina the internal monologue about how our legal system isn't there to prove innocence or guilt but to merely settle disputes. Truth and innocence have nothing to do with it. I'm glad he recognized that truth, as many innocent people have paid the price of the faulty system and detectives who are so single-minded that they can't see the truth that's right in front of their eyes.
Overall, an enjoyable reading experience for me.
iniye's review against another edition
3.0
First time reading Lescroart. Was really excited, but I was disappointed.
The storyline was good, but the author went off point towards the end. So many things were too farfetched and not even explained.
“I mean to your defense. In any event, since David, I’ve been having some trouble committing to things, to getting involved. And then suddenly, last night, I finished your book and was just so glad that I was going to get to do this. I mean, defend an innocent man. Do you know how many innocent clients I’ve had in twenty-some years as a lawyer?” “I don’t know. Ten? Fifteen?”
“Zero.”
Entertaining book nonetheless.
The storyline was good, but the author went off point towards the end. So many things were too farfetched and not even explained.
“I mean to your defense. In any event, since David, I’ve been having some trouble committing to things, to getting involved. And then suddenly, last night, I finished your book and was just so glad that I was going to get to do this. I mean, defend an innocent man. Do you know how many innocent clients I’ve had in twenty-some years as a lawyer?” “I don’t know. Ten? Fifteen?”
“Zero.”
Entertaining book nonetheless.
martyfried's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book, and had a hard time putting it down. I haven't read much by this author, but I plan to read a few more.
There were a few frustrating things about the story, but maybe that's just me. I kept wanting to tell them what to do about certain aspects of the case, but I'm just a reader, not a lawyer or detective, so maybe there were reasons other than plot that they didn't do certain things that seemed obvious. For example, an eye witness testimony about seeing the suspect's car (a dark SUV) at night, which was key evidence, and nobody tried checking to see how clearly you could determine that it was more than just a similar car that had the garage door opener.
I was a little disappointed that some of the opposition (prosecution, etc) were not heard from after the case was solved. Some of them were out of line in working on little more than assumptions, going over the top about assuming guilt. But that's probably just everyday occurrences in our so-called justice system.
There were a few frustrating things about the story, but maybe that's just me. I kept wanting to tell them what to do about certain aspects of the case, but I'm just a reader, not a lawyer or detective, so maybe there were reasons other than plot that they didn't do certain things that seemed obvious. For example, an eye witness testimony about seeing the suspect's car (a dark SUV) at night, which was key evidence, and nobody tried checking to see how clearly you could determine that it was more than just a similar car that had the garage door opener.
I was a little disappointed that some of the opposition (prosecution, etc) were not heard from after the case was solved. Some of them were out of line in working on little more than assumptions, going over the top about assuming guilt. But that's probably just everyday occurrences in our so-called justice system.
bev_reads_mysteries's review
1.0
Natural Suspect (2001) is a collaborative mystery story devised by William Bernhardt and contributed to by ten suspense novelists--most of whom I had never come across before. I suspect I know why. The Goodreads blurb says that Bernhardt has put together a "Dream Team" of "today's hottest suspense writers" and makes it sound like he and Carl Hiassen (who did the same in Naked Came the Manatee) had come up with a brilliant idea that had never been done before. Hello? Ever heard of folks like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers and G. K. Chesterton? They and other members of the Detection Club did collaborative mysteries long before Hiassen and Bernhardt even knew how to write (and quite probably before they were even born)--and did them much better.
The best thing about this book is that all proceeds were donated to the Nature Conservatory. That and brief episodes of humor (very brief). The plot is a well-worn one--Head of the Family with Big Bucks threatens to divorce wife and cut everyone out of his will and winds up dead on a big holiday/at a big family gathering (in this case, Thanksgiving). Wife is the prime suspect and winds up on trial. Rest of book is spent making things so convoluted that anybody else might have killed him and no clues really add up and throwing in multiple torture scenes with psycho dressed as a clown (or a ninja or an employee of Footlocker) either really cutting off people's extremities or threatening to as well as an abnormally large rabbit just for fun. I started to give this two stars, but then I realized that there was no way I could rate it higher then the Michael Innes book I just gave one star. So ★ it is.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
The best thing about this book is that all proceeds were donated to the Nature Conservatory. That and brief episodes of humor (very brief). The plot is a well-worn one--Head of the Family with Big Bucks threatens to divorce wife and cut everyone out of his will and winds up dead on a big holiday/at a big family gathering (in this case, Thanksgiving). Wife is the prime suspect and winds up on trial. Rest of book is spent making things so convoluted that anybody else might have killed him and no clues really add up and throwing in multiple torture scenes with psycho dressed as a clown (or a ninja or an employee of Footlocker) either really cutting off people's extremities or threatening to as well as an abnormally large rabbit just for fun. I started to give this two stars, but then I realized that there was no way I could rate it higher then the Michael Innes book I just gave one star. So ★ it is.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
shelbyl's review against another edition
3.0
I think it was good, not great. But this isn't my kind of book and I wouldn't have read the whole thing if it were it if wasn't a book my spouse selected for me in a reading challenge. I did like the location and Northern California references.
rfwads's review against another edition
2.0
I felt this book was super slow. Stuart was a very annoying character, along with his daughter. The book could have definitely been cut shorter. While the ending had a twist, by the time you get there you just don’t care. Not John’s best work !
aturtlesnestbookreviews's review against another edition
5.0
My first John Lescroart book and I loved it! At first I expected it to be long and drawn out but he surprised me at every turn of the page. I was also genuinely surprised at the end, just when you believe you have it figured out he throws a curve.
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