Customer Reviews

At All Costs (Thorndike Core)

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I sort of bought this by accident. I was looking for John Grisham's 'A time to Kill', the one I hadn't read. 'At all costs' was sitting next to it and, as the type face of the author was the same, I first mistook it for a 'Grisham'. After reading the back I decided to buy it as well and it sat in the bookcase while I started on 'A Time to Kill'.

I picked up 'At all costs late on a Tuesday night, was that a BIG mistake! I just could not put the book down. The story starts slowly enough, by quirk of fate an ordinary family guy get's caught up in a drug's bust and hauled off to sit in jail for a couple of hours, then Wham! you are launched into an incredible story of intrigue and suspense that turns so many blind corners you can never guess what's coming next. Thrilling to the last page. Already recommended to my bookworm friends and I am now looking for a copy of 'Nathans Run'.

I read this book after reading the numerous good reviews this book received. But, I believe some of the negative reviews more accurately represent the numerous problems this book has. The author does an excellent job making this book a quick, mindless read, but the author sacrifices realism to keep the plot moving at a frenetic pace. There are several points in the book where I just scratched my head and thought that there is no way the character would act that way. In fact, the reason the good guys are on the run is far-fetched and laughable and could have easily been prevented by the good guys talking to the police right after the incident happened instead of finding excuse after implausible excuse to do the wrong thing. I am now in the middle of a far superior novel called "The Trial" by Clifford Irving, which is a true example of fine, fast paced writing.

Overall this is just a fun book, it moves fast and is easy to read. The characters are Mr. and Mrs. everybody thus you identify with them easily. The story is fun if not a little on the "yea right" side of the bench. Ok so some of the actions the lead characters pull off are really not in keeping with a clean cut pair of middle Americans, but hey it's a fiction book. The plot is a little light, there really is not much going on except the main story line and the writing could give us more depth and details, bur becuase it was exciting I let it pass. It reminds me of the movie "Airplane", everyone enjoys watching it but it is not going to be on the AFI top 100 movies list anytime soon. Go into this book not expecting a lot and you will enjoy it.

The novel At All Costs by J. Gilstrap deals with the pretty topical subjects of international warfare/ arms trafficking and the corruption of FBI. Gilstrap combines those subjects in a very interesting way. The novel is a thrilling page-turner with growing suspense and a real surprising end.
The way the characters are presented is logical, detailed and very realistic, thus makes them rather interesting and gives the reader the possibility to identify with the main characters.
In our opinion the beginning is a little long - winding, but it turns out to be a stylistic device aimed at building up suspense. This "normal life" beginning makes it unputdownable.
Unfortunately the novel gets very violent and even a little artificial in the end, so Gilstrap is kind of breaking the mood.
But all in all we would say that At All Costs is a book worth reading especially because of the surprise of finding out who the guy is who pulls the strings in the background and why.

If you want my opinion, I think that the novel At All Costs written by John Gilstrap is really exciting in so far as the opening is pretty thrilling and suspenseful. The rest of the novel is a bit too longwinded so the reading sometimes gets very boring. The ending is very nice and also a bit surprising to find out who the guy is that pulls the strings in the background and what exactly his reasons are. Moreover, it is a bit shocking that the state is that powerful in manipulating facts. The novel also is so thrilling because sometimes you don't really know what exactly is going on in some passages.
Throughout the whole book you cant help sympathizing with Jake and Carolyn Brighton if they will ever manage to prove their innocence and to make the best of the situation and to make their little son Travis, who is only thriteen years old and really the most innocent person of the novel, feel comfortable. There are many moments when the little family is very close to getting caught by the FBI. These unexpexted twists arouse the readers tension.
So all in all you can say that although some chapters are a bit complex John Gilstrap has a very special way of writing which makes it easy for everybody to understand and sympathize, because the characters speak the language you know from the normal people surrounding you every day.

This book was a big disappointment, especially given the reviews it has had on-line here. The writing is stilted, the characterizations are flat and predictable, and the big "who's behind it all?" surprise is telegraphed three hundred pages in advance. It's billed as a thriller, but there were no thrills in it for me...

At All Costs was a gripping book. It was well written and had enough reality in it to make you accept some implausible happenings. The reader is swept along at such a pace there is no time to question and why should you. Reading if for enjoyment! Other reviewers have given the basic plot so it doesn't bear repeating. I was amazed at how much punishment the human bodies in this work of fiction were able to take, including inhalation of toxic fumes, bullet wounds, beatings, major blood loss, hanging by the neck leaving only a range of motion defect! etc. and keep on ticking. One jarring note threw me off stride for quite a while. The equating by the author of homosexual behavior and a pediophilic activities was inexcusable. We do not need more mis -information tossed idly about as fact on so serious a matter. Pediophiles are actually heterosexual. With that adjustment, I was able to get back to the plot. I am also surprised it is a book recommended for teens as it is very violent and the language is as well.

I read a lot, and having finished the three-book series by this author featuring Jonathan Grave, I approached this stand-alone with a slight "it can't be as good as the others" mentality. I was engrossed from page 1 and found it nearly impossible to put the book down. This family is very sympathetic; the writing is good; the story is compelling. This is a book I will remember for a long time and will recommend to friends.

At all costs is a terrfic story focusing on a wrongly accused family on the run from law enforcement. As always in John Gilstrap's novels the story is centered around sympathetic adults, in this case parents, and their teenage son. Great pacing and editing, richly developed characters and atmostpheric backdrops makes this a must read for child advocates and adventure lovers...

John Gilstrap brings his characters to life with this novel. Although the storyline is a bit hard to believe, it is, no dought, clever and original. A married couple, living undercover, with fake names, and secret identities are uncovered through a twist of fate that no-one could predict. This is the tale of thier journey to prove thier inocence from a crime committed years prior to the time of the story. In a brilliant attempt, by Gilstrap, to create another dilema for the young couple, he throughs thier thirteen year old son into the mix, young Travis has no idea that his parents are fugitives, and when he finds out he becomes a key factor in the plan to protect thier family. This beautifully composed page turner, by a somewhat new author is sure to keep all its readers on the edge of thier seats, and wanting to reach the end "at all costs."