Customer Reviews

The Actor's Guide To Greed

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this based on the overall good reviews and the fact that I like light/cozy mysteries. I had just finished Joe Keenan's hilarious new book "My Lucky Star," and perhaps my standards for funny escapist fiction were unnaturally high because of that. Whatever the reason, this book fell flat for me.

As another reviewer observed, it's loaded with errors and the plot is incredibly unrealistic. Normally I can live with the first and what the heck, I've been known to live with the second. I mean, I was a Xena: Warrior Princess fan, and in the Xenaverse, Alexander the Great and Julius Ceasar were contemporaries. Accuracy? Realism? Ptooey.

But to make that leap, something in the story has to take you by the hand and get you there, and this book didn't do it. We're told he loves his cop boyfriend, but we never see it or feel it. We're told these actors are good or bad, but again, we never see it or feel it. Not even on the level of a farce or screwball comedy. It's just kind of dull.

There's nothing horrible about this book, and it's a good enough way to fill an hour or two, maybe while on a plane ride or at the beach. But there are better fluffy escapist books.

Another winner in the series of books about Jerrod Jarvis, ex sitcom child star and self-described "high maintenance boyfriend". A lot of laugh-out-loud zingers and a hilariously Dickensian mop-things-up finale that left me gasping. The plot, I hesitate to say, is the most utterly preposterous that I've ever encountered, but Copp keeps things moving along so fast you forget to disbelieve. A few signs of hasty writing in this every-six-months series (a dinner gets paid for twice, on p. 149 and again on p. 150), but it's just as much fun as the first two books, and I look forward to the next.

I am a huge fan of 'The Actors Guide to...' series. The series not only features a head scratching whodunit, but it is absolutely hilarious. Jarrod Jarvis is a "self-obsessed, sarcastic, career-obsessed former child star", it might sound like he's a character that one would hate but it is the exact opposite. Jarrod is one of the most charming and funny characters I've come across in quite a while. He also has a beefy, hunky policeman for a boyfriend, Charlie. In this entry Jarrod is off to London to do a play with an all star cast and during the opening night Oscar winner and the plays lead Claire Richard, Jarrod's one ally in the play, is murdered. From that point on the book begins to take twists and turns until a staisfying ending. The main disappointment for me was the lack of interaction between Jarrod and Charlie, I enjoyed their playful banter that was found in the previous series and hopefully there will be future books and Charlie will have a larger role. A great book, fun and entertaining. This book definitely won't disappoint fans of the mystery genre.

I wanted to like this novel. Who after all goes out to buy a novel to hate it or pick holes in it apart from literary critics... As someone who has spent summer vacations in London and has an interest in the theater (or theatre for any Brits reading) the errors on this book were ridiculous... So many of the errors could have been avoided... Michael Caine has NEVER appeared on stage in a Shakespeare (or any other classic play). His one performance was as Horatio in a television production.

In British theaters they do not have make-up stations...

So many of the errors could have been avoided by using Google or come to that even a street map. (The writer has a character walking to the theater where he is working quickly but by a route that would have taken him out of his way!!!)

The Savoy Hotel is NOT in Covent Garden!!! It is on the south side of the Strand! Covent Garden is to the north of the Strand! Where was the editor? (Was there an editor??)

It smacked of a novel written quickly by someone working in television or film who hasn't worked in a professional theater in his or her life. As a result of these errors one's attention as a reader was continually being distracted from the plot...

I hope Mr Copp learns from these disasters and writes about what he either knows, or is prepared to find out about!

I've read all three "The Actor's Guide to" books by Rick Copp, and this latest installment is certainly evidence that Rick keeps getting better and better with every book he writes. The humor is sharper, the twists are more harrowing, and the fun of it is like riding a roller coaster!

Greed opens a few short months where the second book ended with Jarrod watching himself in the horror movie he's sorry he ever made. When Jarrod gets an offer to star in a new play penned by a former sitcom writer for his show "Go to Your Room" he jumps at the chance, especially when he finds out he'll be opening in London!

The murderous mayhem of the play imitates life as someone in the cast ends up dead, and when Jarrod is considered a suspect it's up to him to find the real culprit and clear his name.

We travel from Los Angeles, to London, to Greece, to Mykenos for a thrill ride of witty humor and intelligent intrigue.

The best part, for me, of Rick Copp's books is the continued and deepining relationship between Jarrod and his partner Charlie, it's nice to see an important part of such a story take the front seat next to the murders, as it should be!

I hope to see more from Rick Copp in the near future, he's definately got my attention, and I'll be on the look out for more of his work.

The Actor's Guide series is a delight - and this latest book is a hoot - this time our hero, Jarrod Jarvis, former child star, is treading the boards in London's west end in a play written by a former writer of his show - things go downhill by the end of the opening night. These books are sharply written and delightfully funny - if you enjoy a great mystery get it - also read the previous Guides to catch up on the cast of characters. (although this can be a stand alone book) - I love the books, and would love to have a friend like Jarrod. I think you will too.

If you're expecting some heavy-duty mystery here, prepare for disappointment. If you're expecting major drama and angst, ditto.

However, if you're hoping for some humor, a bit of sexiness (nothing majorly explicit), and a handful of interesting characters you can like, this is a great book for you to pick up.

I've not read any of the other books in this series; I picked this one up because I found it on major sale at a local book shop, and I have the other two in the series on order.

Jarrod Jarvis is an actor who used to be a child star in a sitcom of sometimes-dubious merit (think "Growing Pains" and others like that). He's struggling to find good roles while also sustaining his relationship with his partner, a cop.

In this particular novel, Jarrod is signed on to do a play in London, and when he gets there, the lightweight mystery begins. He spends a good chunk of the book hunting down his partner, who may have left him after an argument or who may have been kidnapped. I'll leave it to you to decide whether there's any real mystery there; I found this whole question pretty unexciting.

However, Jarrod himself is funny and clearly loving and self-aware, and I found myself liking him even at his worst. Ditto the other main characters (his partner and his best friend).

This isn't a distressingly short book, like so many other mysteries where the protagonist is gay (what's up with that, by the way? do publishers and writers think that gay protagonists can't carry a 400 page book? sheesh). It also isn't, as I mentioned before, a raunchy book. I read this one in one day, mostly while on the bus, and I found it satisfied me for that period of time.