Customer Reviews

Beverly Hills Dead

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Mr. Woods has been a favorite author of mine for some time now. Unfortunately each new book lately is less and less. Almost getting like Patterson in that the amount of blank paper (half chapters, half pages, etc.) means the books are realistically only 1/2". Definately not novels!

The Beverly Hills Dead has finally left me dismayed with Mr. Woods. Hardly any action whatsoever. Even at halfway through the book nothing really happens.

I never thought I'd say it or see it but this latest of Mr. Woods was a waste of my money.

So - Mr. Woods, I will buy your next book and hope it brings back a good story as in the past. If not, you've lost a reader (and a buyer) from then on. Oh, and how about a book that has enough reading to last more than 1-2 days.

It is a shame to read such "dribble" from the same author that wrote "White Cargo", Santa Fe Rules", "Palindrome" and "Chiefs".

Stuart Woods has been on a continuing downhill spiral in his recent books and with this one, he has finally hit the bottom. This is by far one of the worst books I have read in some time; quite a statement from someone that reads three books a week.

Perhaps Mr. Woods should start concentrating on "quality" as opposed to his current fixation with "quantity".

Stuart Woods writes well. And that's the only compliment I can still pay him. His last two Stone Barrington novels were utter bores and "Beverly Hills Dead" is a fast, unexciting and ultimately dull read as well.

Rick Barron returns, quite improbably, as a movie director as well as production head for Centurion Studios. Quite a ride for a busted detective only a few years before who witnessed a traffic accident involving the studio's biggest star - and covered up the truth.

It is now 1947 and, depending on the paragraph, Centurion Studios is either a small time operation or a big time studio able to put its movies into the prestigious Radio City Music Hall for Christmas, quite a feat.

Rick Barron had the potential of becoming a pretty good character. Woods, possibly in his haste to crank out one title after another, has reduced Barron to a cardboard cutout. The man is in total control, no crisis too big for him, no detail too small. He is married to Glenna Gleason, coincidentally the studio's big female star. They are building a beach house in Malibu and they visit the construction site. Glenna spots a "half-naked" construction worker, Vance Calder, who it turns out is a 19 year old naif actor from Britain. Poof! Vance becomes the star of "Bitter Creek", Centurion's next picture. Woods seems to become a bit confused or forgetful. Rick Barron and Eddie Harris, his boss, set the budget at a million dollars. At one point, this is referred to as the most expensive picture ever produced by Centurion . . . and it is cast with total, inexperienced unknowns! At the same time, Centurion spends money with abandon on a company owned DC-3 and another charter aircraft. Eddie Harris buys real estate with a freewheeling abandon. In short, the story has more than a few internal conflicts.

Vance Calder succumbs to lust for Susie Stafford, his co-star on "Bitter Creek". Stuart Woods has a thing for unnecessary and frankly silly sex scenes. He writes them with the overheated penache of an adolescent boy. In this case, Susie Stafford is a woman with a "past": she is a bisexual. This comes into play when her naked, battered corpse turns up in a garbage dump. The murder and the ensuing hunt for the killer is a sideshow - and, frankly, a boring one. The "surprise ending" is just plain amateurish.

The real story here is supposedly the "Red Scare" of the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Sidney Brooks, the writer of "Bitter Creek" is summoned to appear before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee. Brooks is a Communist Party member. Poor Sidney. All kinds of bad things happen to him because he refuses to testify and name names. Now the interesting thing is that Woods starts off sounding like a left-winger, mechanically reciting the mantra that Communists were "persecuted". By the end, though, he provides a surprisingly well rounded and reasonably accurate description of the HUAC era.

But the real problem here is that there is no compelling plot. It's just one incident conveniently knitted to another. For example, Rick Barron's assistant is an ardent, ambitious young man, Leo Goldman, who is an anti-Communist. We are supposed to worry because Barron's wife, it turns out, was listed as a Communist Party member as well. But like so many other things in this novel, it fizzles out.

None of the characters are well developed. None have any depth or believability. Woods has thrown a lot of stuff into the pot, but never makes it boil. At best, "Beverly Hills Dead" is on simmer. Woods' writing is, as always, smooth, but not good enough to carry the reader over all the plot holes or cover up the shallowness of the characters.

It's not awful, but frankly this is the third Stuart Woods novel in a row that has disappointed me. I used to find Woods' stories a simple way to relax with a light read. Now they are so empty, so ephemeral that they feel far more like a slog than a delight. I'll be taking a pass on Woods for the forseeable future.

Jerry

This is the Seinfeld version of a mystery novel - its a story about nothing. There is no mystery, no tension, no action, no adventure. No characters that are anything but cardboard cutouts. There are even mysteries that seem like they should be mysteries but go nowhere. Really disappointing.

A very boring book. I was hoping Woods had recovered from his last forgettable diaster but I was wrong. Don't waste your time reading this book.

Corny and trite. Simplistic, flat characters. Dreadful dialogue. The audio version is read terribly with fake, ridiculous accents. A total waste of time.

"This entire story was told in dialog" said the Reviewer.
"The sort of dialog you might imagine between cardboard characters or cartoons" replied a stick figure of a character whose fate you will be completely indifferent to following.
"A complete waste" the Reviewer concluded.

As with many other reviews in this section, I think this book was a loser. Little plot, little character development, lame who-dunnit with no clues to lead you to the real killer--many clues were dead end--characters briefly introduce and then dropped out of the text. I'm glad I got it at the library and didn't have to pay for it.

My husband and I absolutely loved "Prince of Beverly Hills" so, when we found out a sequel was coming,
we pre-ordered it and waited impatiently for it to arrive. And, while "Prince of Beverly Hills" was a bit atypical
for Stuart Woods, that was part of its charm. We admit to a positive bias to stories about Old Hollywood and the studio system that created legendary stars like Clark Gable, Bette Davis and Jean Harlow. So, a continuation of that story, sounded like a great idea to us. However, having said that, we must admit that "Beverly Hills Dead" is no "Prince of Beverly Hills." Some of the problem comes from the different periods the books are set in. There is no way the post war Red Scare period can begin to compare dramatically with pre World War II. And, Vance Caulder is no Clete Barrow in the charisma department, for sure. Still, revisting characters like Rick Barron, Glenna Gleason and Eddie Harris (my favorite character in both books) was fun. However, the book was terribly "episodic" and did not flow or hold together very well. Dilemnas are introduced (Sid Brooks' blacklisting, the potential that Glenna Gleason's career might be ruined, the mob threat regarding the Extras Union) and then either dropped or too neatly resolved. No matter what happens, "Good Guys" Rick and Eddie of Centurion Studios are willing to step in with money or influence and smooth over every bump. How much more interesting it would have been if they were conflicted about being involved with Sid Brooks or Rick's career as a studio boss was threatened because his actress-wife was suspected of being a member of The Party? The Vance/Susie romance is tepid, at best, though the twist at the end at least provided a minor surprise.

Finally, I hated The Epilogue. It was as though Woods' editor said: "OK, wrap this up FAST and, while you are at it, throw Stone Barrington in there, too to promote his series of books. Ugh! Nothing like a chapter in
the masoleum to allow the heroes to put a nail in the coffin of this series.

Stuart Woods has been my summer entertainment for a number of years during which I have seen the quality of his books go down, down and down. This book was rock bottom. The Stone Barrington cookie cutter stories are at least entertaining but this book never started. I was down to the last three chapters still wondering when something would happen. Finally, when there was some action, it was like something attached just to make the book end. The ending came out of nowhere with no hints, no red herrings, nothing.
I could have handled there being no real mystery plot if the story of the McCarty era had been fleshed out so I learned something new but even that was just glossed over. I found myself, for the first time, skimming pages that repeated the same informtion several times and bored with the repetive and dull diaglogue such as "sure will" that appeared many times per page.
I will try again with Stuart Woods and hope for better. I recently read Santa Fe Dead and enjoyed it very much. I'm sure the talent is there but the contract for yearly books must be a burden.