Customer Reviews

Blown Away

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've just discovered John Becker and David Wiltse (where have I been?)and what a fortuitous discovery it is! If John Becker is not the most fascinating, complicated, sexy, clever, dangerous--and most interestingly of all--oddly virtuous character in this whole genre, I don't know of any other contenders that even come close. His villains may be be even better. Evil enough even for Dubya's list, but tantalizingly human as well. Most exciting of all for me as a reader is the author's command of the language. The words, the words! This is a genuine writer, not just a potboiler. If Blown Away is any example, I'm going to have a wonderful time with the rest of Mr. Wiltse's work.

DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE DAVID WILTSE IS? ITS GOT TO BE TIME FOR ANOTHER BECKER. I'VE ENJOYED ALL HIS BOOKS. AM DYING FOR ANOTHER ONE.

David Wiltse's A PRAYER FOR THE DEAD and INTO THE FIRE are full-throttle, imaginative, spellbindingly terrifying novels that really get the job done. And John Becker has emerged from them as one of the most interesting series characters in fiction today. Unfortunately, after the remarkably poor BONE DEEP, Wiltse has plummeted even further to banality with BLOWN AWAY, a true stinker of a novel. The villian of the piece, Swan, is a laughable creation, and his association with a repressed homosexual gangster is uninteresting and poorly shaped and detailed. There's no suspense, no plot worth engaging in, and Becker is left with practically nothing to do. The result is a complete disaster from a usual first-rate writer.

The book takes place in New York City. What happenes is this guy named Jason Cole is a terrorist, and is blowing up trancars and bridges. He disguises himself as "Spring". He told the FBI that if they didn't give him $5Million in cash then he would blow up the whole New York City. One of the FBI agents named Karen takes matters into her own hands. She decides to pretend to be this women named Robin. She heard of the guy Spring and told him she would like to go on a date with him. He calls her and tells her where to meet him at. So she gets a rental car and buys a new outfit, to fit the description of Robin. She drove to the place spring told her to meet him at. She was waiting at a red light when someone opened the door, got in and another guy had her at gun point. The other guys name is Donny. He had cole tell her where to go. They drove all the way to Ithica, and Donny had the gun to her head the whole time.
Cole made her drive to the middle of nowhere. He had an abandoned house back there. By this time no one knew where Karen was. One of the other agents got information about this "Spring" guy and drove up to his house, the agents name was Meisner. Donny had a feeling someone was there. So he hid until he heard him come near the house. All of a sudden there was a knock on the door. "Hello,anyone home"? Cole heard the door open slowly , but he could barely see because of the darkness. Then he heard a shot and donny came running. Then out of coles mouth came an evil laugh.
You'll have to read the book to find out what happens to Karen, Donny, and Spring.
These are the literary elements the author used; Foreshadowing, surprise ending, and conflict.
For foreshadowing he gave hints about spring and you always knew when he was going to blow something else up.
The surprise ending wasn't what I expected it to be. I can't tell you what happens so you'll have to read the book!
and for the conflict spring has a problem with the FBI and wants $5million or he'll blow up the city.
Foreshadowing- The use of clues that suggest events that have yet to occur.
Surprise ending- a conclusion that violates the expectations of the reader.
Conflict- A struggle between opposing forces

I really liked this book because you never knew what was going to happen next unless the author used foreshadowing, it made you wanting to read more.

After reading all of Wiltse's previous books--each of which I would rate between 8-10--Blown Away is a major disappointment and should be Thrown Away. Unlike the previous Becker books, Wiltse provides has provided little depth to his plot and to his character development. It may be that Wiltse's "well has run dry" when it comes to stories featuring John Becker.

After browsing through all the reviews on this novel, the latest in the John Becker series by David Wiltse, I can understand why some readers were so disappointed by the latest (and so far last) in this series.

Wiltse does throw anyone who has read the previous five novels in this series a bit of a curveball by relegating his main characters to secondary (almost supporting) roles in this novel. Additionally the high quality of the first five books in this series does tend to set the bar very high for any thing else that follows them.

This book focuses more on the Una-bomber style villan, an unstable ex-professor named Jason Cole. Because of his perceived lack of recognition and injustices done to him, Cole basically brings New York City to it's knees through carefully planted bombs that take a devastating toll on the city. To complicate matters, Cole has no interest in being bought off by the city, rather he is only interested in the city correcting his perceived injustices.

Added to the mix are a complex array of supporting characters including a wise-guy, a gay hit man, and a very intelligent and ruthless young street thug who all see Cole as a means to a very quick payday. Cole's insistence on sticking to his principles and his lack of any interest in any monetary reward causes numerous complications and makes him that much harder to apprehend.

The book moves swiftly if a bit unexpectedly, and the conclusion does seem a bit forced-and is not your typical happy ending. With Becker however, this is not a totally suprising turn of events.

Although this book is not up to the standards of the rest of this series (all of which I would rate at 4-5 stars) this is still an very good stand alone novel which probably would have worked better outside of this series. The development of the supporting characters and the quick twists and turns of the plot make it a very fast and dramatic read.

Since this book is several years old, I won't bother with a precis of the plot, that having been done by others. But I do want to say how happily I was struck by the author's use of character. That's an ingredient missing all too often in crime fiction. Sure, the plot is twisting and involving and there is plenty of tension, etc, but, almost uniquely, it is all performed by some very real, very complicated characters. I found it quite exceptional.

I read this astounding book by chance only last week, with the horrors of 9/11 still haunting us all. Wiltse seemed to be looking into the future with this plot that reveals how terribly vulnerable to attack New York, or any city in the country really is. There seem to be enough characters to populate a city, and what an interesting city that would be for he draws them quickly, deeply, and with a reality that is often funny at the same time it frightens.

see above==i keep looking for wiltse books to no avail

What I really want to know is whether David Wiltse is going to write more Becker books. I have really enjoyed this series and enjoy Mr. Wiltse's writing style. I would recommend Michael Connelly who I also enjoy greatly.