Customer Reviews

Black Mountain

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A transit cop receives a respite from patrolling the subways of New York when the brass assigns him to guard the state governor who is making a speech in Central Park. He sees a suspicious character approaching the governor and chases the individual into the nearby subway. Corrigan fails to apprehend the suspect. A train hits the fleeing villain when he falls onto the tracks. The governor and the media hail Corrigan as a hero. Governor Dawson invites Corrigan to accompany him on a wildness expedition in the Ansaroka National Forest, Wyoming.

Corrigan accepts, but the expedition goes bad. The seaplane that is to pick them up explodes in mid-air, forcing the group to hike back to civilization. A series of accidents occur that leads to people dying. Corrigan knows this is not coincidental misfortune, but a cunning killer eliminating each one of them, one person at a time.

BLACK MOUNTAIN is a free following, fast-paced suspense thriller that will send adrenaline racing through the bloodstream of fully absorbed readers. The story line is filled with a gritty, atmospheric novel that focuses on survival in a harsh wilderness. The characters (the good, the bad, and the ugly) are fully developed so the audience knows what they are dealing with. Reminiscent of Deliverance, Lee Standiford has written a work that will prove to be a yardstick for future works of suspense.

Harriet Klausner

Wow! What a story. Who'd expect a NYC Subway Cop to be the hero in a murderous tale set in the rugged Wyoming mountains.

A hotshot New York Govenor (read presidential aspirant) arranges a wilderness trek in the Rockies. Included in the Gov's entourage are his wife, political sycophants, a political reporter, and a reluctant NYC subway cop the Governor thinks he's rewarding for bravery. The story is chock full of marital discord, politics, and egos, along with infidelity, terror, and murder and the expedition party being stranded in a blizzard. The NYC tunnel cop, John Corrigan, and the political reporter, Dara Wylie, team up to guide a dispirited group back to civilization and safety. A great story. Read it.

The governor of New York, contemplating a trek to the Oval Office, decides that a week of Wyoming mountain air, along with a personal film crew and entourage, will give him clarity of purpose. But from the get-go, someone is leading the unhappy campers down a trail of death and destruction. And like all politicians, Governor Fielding Dawson has his share of enemies, as well as future foes. And he probably has his share of unhappy staffers who cannot stand another adventure with a self-absorbed elected official.

New York City subway cop Richard Corrigan, a last minute addition to the wilderness party, does not like politicians or unpaved paths without street signs and sausage vendors. And he does not like what his instincts are telling him about the unexplained events that are happening among his tenting group. He shares his concerns with fellow hiker Dara Wylie, a magazine reporter, whom he enjoys towing the line with.

The race down BLACK MOUNTAIN is a heart-stopping adventure of survival, cunning, political mystery, and romance. The characters have to weather the dark side of nature, and the dark side of man. The ending unearths the truth, in a satisfying way, but leaves open the rhetorical question of which is more vicious: mankind or the BLACK MOUNTAIN.

Les Standiford's books always hit the ground running and Black Mountain maintains that tradition. Corrigan, the Transportation Cop, an unlikely hero, is gritty and gutsy and Dara Wylie is teriffic. Politics, inflated egos, marital discord, complicate a murderous plot and combine for a great story. A NYC subway cop and a reporter pooling their wits to save the day in the rugged Wyoming mountains is unusual and effective. Lots of action; lots of suspense. A couldn't put it down read.

Standiford has given us the most exciting wilderness adventure I've read since Deliverance. The character he calls "Bright" was surly the darkest and most sinister human/animal since Hannibal Lechter. Fielding Dawson, a political piranha sends chills up my spine. The only time I'm able to breathe normally is when Richard Corrigan cop/extraordinaire...comes to the rescue...not as a cop but simply a guy falling in love as he watches it all slipping away in the peaks and valleys of Black Mountain.

This book starts off fast with the psychopathic killer then quickly introduces the hero Richard Corrigan, a cop. The thru the wilderness chase is fun, you're always wondering who is going to buy the farm next. And I found myself shifting several times back and forth on the actual "killer", always a good sign.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I called the ending about 3/4 of the way thru...but a good suspenseful read. If you like thrillers, check it out.

The setting for Black mountain is a wilderness that frightens and thrills the reader all at once. Richard and Dara are falling in love yet you get the feeling they may never make it out of this wildly insane trip. Bright, the evil and sinister killer finds a great burial place for himself among the buffalo chips. This mystery madness is the definite sequel to Deliverance. Once you pick up this novel, you can't put it down.

"Black Mountain" is one of those guilty pleasures, sort of like the Stallone movie, "Cliffhanger." The characters and plot are as cliche as they can get, but you still find yourself embroiled in it. The setting is new and original, but the story is nothing more than a "Ten Little Indians", who-will-survive-the-murders? story. I'm astounded that so many well-known authors, as well as some of our Amazon reviewers, found the characters "Well-developed." Other than the lead, Richard Corrigan, we don't get to know too much at all about the other characters. Dara is the typical spunky reporter, who amazingly knows about the street person Corrigan chases in the novel's flamboyant opening; the governor, president-wannabe is your typical get ahead at any cost politician; his wife, Elizabeth, we know nothing about except her clandestine affair; I'm not sure I remember any dialogue at all from her. The rest, including staunch guide Ben Donnelly, and the others, are merely players in the chess game of murder. The ending is predictable, and the reason for the murders quite obvious. Also, what happens to Fielding's wife, Elizabeth? No clue to that one. Also, the killers, Bright and Nelia Esteban, are almost funny in their over-the-top villainry. Not a bad book; just doesn't impel me to search out other Standiford novels.

Having lived near the Tetons as a youngster, I was initially attracted to this book because of its setting near Jackson Hole, Wyo. I was not disappointed. The physical descriptions of the mountains, forest and rivers were excellent. The story did not disappoint either. The plot was plausible and the story line thrilling and moved along at a rapid pace, making it difficult to stop reading for very long. The characters had substance and were developed enough so I cared about what happened to them.

Early in the story the bad guys were introduced. The driving force of the story though, besides survival in the elements while being pursued by ruthless killers, was waiting to discover the motives the bad guys had for their behavior. It kept me interested to the final page and Mr. Standiford has earned another fan.

Mr. Standiford knows exactly how to staple you to a chair for as long as it takes to finish his equisitely sweaty-palm tour through the dark and dangerous culture of our American wilderness--the exact place we go to find our innocence and, instead, have to squirm in our hero Corrigan's skin through constantly ratcheted-up confrontations with the creepiest, crawliest forms of evil. To quote one of his characters, 'just when you think it can't get any worse..." If you love John Sanford's "Prey" series, you'll find that sweet little thrill of discovery in Mr. Standifornd's with an uptick in literary style. I'm back to the bookstore to check ou the author's "Deal" series, and would suggest that any reader who loves it when bad things happen to good people do the same.