Customer Reviews

Breakneck (Thorndike Basic)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Fans of Spindler are going to get and love this book no matter what I say, which falls under that 'to each his own' category. Please allow me to say my opinion, and enjoy the novel! I'll address readers who may not have read any of her earlier MC Riggio novels and are wondering if they should jump in.

You can pick this up and not be utterly lost as to what's going on in the larger arc of the series. Spindler gives plenty of trackback comments that allow you to figure out what had happened in previous cases.

The actual plot is pretty good.

The policework and the writing, however, killed this for me. For a police-procedural, there's almost no understanding of 'procedure' beyond the lame stereotypes--the angry detective lieutenant, the forensic geek with the long memory, and interagency rivalry. Chain of custody? This case would be impossible to try in any court because of the main character's complete inability to follow police procedure.

The heroine lacks any empathy for her friend, who sacrificed her own chance at reconciliation with her husband to help out MC. There's nothing that makes MC stand out from any of a dozen police-detective heroines on bookshelves today, other than the fact that she's completely unlikeable. I cringed as Ed McBain's police characters made dumb moves, but I somehow still liked them. MC is impossible to like. She lies, cheats, throws temper tantrums, and treats her partner unforgivably badly. She witholds evidence due to petty jealousy and the inability to believe that her cousin could be...not so perfect. Corpses keep showing up around her, and yet, she's never even cursorily suspected of the crimes.

Older readers may be familiar with the host of offensive Italian goombah stereotypes that comprise MC's family--newer readers might be dismayed. Yes, every Italian 'big family, mangia mangia, Catholic, overemotional where's my grandbabies' stereotype appeared in this book. All that's missing is the knitting black-clad grandmother. (Aha! Spindler isn't Italian enough to know that one, I guess).

The writing is execrable. We hear three times about a young man that 'he had his whole life before him.' Verbatim, in three successive chapters. Dullsville. And when I came across this little gem, I almost threw the book agains the wall and gave up. From page 97, "You're twenty-one. You're a guy. And you're Italian. Being a screwup is practically a requirement." What?!(This, from our heroine--I told you she was pretty unlikeable, didn't I?)

The murder plot is okay, and peopled with enough twisted and devious types to hold your interest and not be instantly solveable, which I liked. The codebreaking could have been handled better (not just in a more professional, police-like way that could be prosecuted in a court of law), and the climax has plenty of suspense. If you can drag yourself through the thin writing, and summon up any empathy for MC (honestly, I didn't care if she made it out alive or not), it's a decent read. But for readers looking for a compelling detective, accurate police procedure, or any originality whatsoever in character or dialogue, this, you can take a pass on.

This was an OK book that missed the mark. The story started off well with the author making an honest effort to create suspense and complexity. As it progressed however, it was as if Spindler lost her direction. The demise of the characters felt predictable, choppy, implausable and redundant, the interpersonal relationships distracting and lifeless and I simply did not care much about anyone. Too many words were spent on a rather pedantic/technical presentation of cyber-crime and red herrings were awkward rather than genuinely misleading. In short, do not break your neck to read this one.

This was a really good thriller. The cyber-theft ring was interesting and at least in my reading world, it hasn't been overdone. The killer was interesting and perfectly cold-hearted. Although some people were turned off by the short chapters, I thought it was different and worked ok. I like M.C. best of the two main characters and I think Kitt is okay. I felt horrible watching as the murder victims start to fall, and M.C. knows some of them. I agree with what other reviewers have said about police procedure. I am NOT involved in any aspect of law enforcement but I knew that there was no way some of that would have unfolded that way...but I can see that Spindler had to do things the way she did or her story wouldn't work. I thought this book was very entertaining and I only realized who the killer was a few moments before they did. However much I praise this book, I do acknowledge that this book wasn't nearly as good as Spindler's earlier works. "Forbidden Fruit", "Shocking Pink", "Cause For Alarm" and "Fortune" were just amazing. Those are the books I most recommend that you go and grab.

I found this to be an interesting book to review, because there were parts of it that I really liked and parts that I really disliked. Balancing the scales, I found the book not really worth the read.

Several of the characters were believable and well fleshed out. That said, the vast majority of characters were hollow and I couldn't develop feeling (or interest) for them. With what little description of them that existed, they seemed to be stereotyped...the gruff Chief of Detectives and the always well dressed and well to do psychologist (Frasier anyone?).

Finally, the story was simply not believable. You would have to believe that, with bodies stacking up like cord wood, a Chief of Detectives would let a family member work on the murder of not one, but several victims who were related to the detective. Isn't going to happen...now or ever!

I have to agree with another reviewer who described it as chic lit. This is a mix of chic lit and murder mystery that will appeal to young female readers, but will turnoff the average readers of the police mystery genre.

Let me be honest at the start. I did not like this book. I found the characters to be cardboard cutouts, the plot devices to be contrived, and the presentation to be annoying. 85 chapters distributed over 342 pages, with the content presented in much of a sound bite manner was challenging reading. The brevity of the chapters, of course, made plodding through the story sufficiently episodic to enable eventual completion of the task. But it shouldn't have to be a "task". At the end I decided that perhaps this was an example of what is termed Chick Lit, so I looked up the definition of that term, and here is what I found.

"Chick lit is a term used to denote genre fiction within women's fiction written for and marketed to young women, especially single, working women in their twenties and thirties. The genre sells well, with chick lit titles topping bestseller lists and the creation of imprints devoted entirely to chick lit. It generally deals with the issues of modern women humorously and lightheartedly. "[Wikipedia,com]

Hmmm. Well, if this author writes chick lit, then that might account for the banner on the cover declaring her to be a New York Times Best-selling Author. She has, after all, written twelve previous novels, so this was not a beginner's effort -- it just read like one.

Using the police blotter time-stamp as a plot device got old by the third chapter, and the extraordinarily short time frame of the entire story begs the credulity of the reader that eight brutal murders by a psychopathic killer who has linked victims could go unstopped until a very contrived ending. I guess that more than anything else I felt cheated that I simply could not engage myself with any of the characters to a level of caring about what happened to any of them.

"Chapter" after chapter is loaded with angst and tears. The Italian-American concept of family is hammered to death (almost literally), and the idea of picking up "markers" with "You owe me one" is treated as a trivial reality.

Sorry, folks, my recommendation would be to give this author a miss.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller, Spindler's writing style is easy yet engaging. This read was well-paced and packed with suspense which made this one a page turner. I really enjoyed the two female detectives; the author has penned realistic characters and a great plot. The author has also included plenty of red herrings to keep you on your toes and developed a breath-taking conclusion that you will not see coming. Highly recommend this one it was a great steady paced read.

This is my second Spindler novel. Her writing style is easy yet engaging and the well-paced suspense kept those pages turning. I really loved the two female detectives- very well-balanced and realistic characters. But not so overly drawn that they took away from the crime story itself. The computer-hacking crime was easy to understand, not weighed down by techno-garble or too far-fetched. Plenty of red herrings to keep you on your toes and a breath-taking conclusion.

Erica Spindler has a long list of well received books and I would guess Breakneck will satisfy her many fans. As a first time reader I was pleased to find a strong attention to police procedurals ala CSI without becoming too complex. In this story the hunt for the killer becomes extremely personal. For the most part two detectives; MC Riggio and Kit Lundgren, equally share the investigative work. The partnership somewhat dissolves toward the end, but finally the two reunite for a unique, exciting conclusion.

Whenever things seem to slow down the body count suddenly increases. At one point I was afraid no one would be left alive to unravel the twisted plot. After reading hundreds of detective stories, I anticipated the ending. Nevertheless I was still compelled to read it to the last word! I suspect Erica Spindler has a few more future sequels for the partner/ sleuths she has created for this story.

A good mystery draws the reader in early on, generates empathy with the hero(es), challenges your powers of deduction, and builds steadily toward an unexpected conclusion. BREAKNECK succeeds on all counts.
A series of seemingly unrelated murders of young adults with no criminal history have one thing in common - missing computers. Homicide detectives M.C. Riggio and Kate Lundgren are faced with double challenges; one of the victims is a Riggio family member, while Kate is trying to overcome her profession's interference in her marriage. They are under heavy pressure to catch the killer while trying to deal with these serious strains in their personal relationships.
While subtle clues to the killer's identity begin to show up along the way, Riggio and Lundgren don't manage to identify him until very deep in the story. After he is identified, catching him before he kills again is still a challenge.
Once you are into reading this book, your adrenaline builds along with the story, and it is very difficult to put down.

Detective MC Riggio is on top of the world. She's doing well on her job (as a homicide detective); she gets along with her partner (Kitt Lundgren); and she's planning on marrying a man (Dan Gallo) she both loves and trusts. Unfortunately, things soon change when he is tragically killed during a seemingly random act of violence. MC soon discovers that everything is not what it seems when she finds herself investigating a series of murders that make her question everything she knew about the man she loved. She soon finds herself asking the question, "Did I really know him", and not sure if she wants to know the answer.

With the assistance of FBI Special Agent Smith, MC and Kitt sort thru a spider web of clues and evidence to identify who could be responsible for the deaths of several computer geeks (from a crisis center run by Dan's best friend, Eric Sundstrand), Dan and two relatives of MC's. As the real motive for the deaths is revealed, we see Kitt and MC struggling with personal issues that stretch the bounds of their partnership and threaten to destroy all that they know and love.

Over all, I think this book was an easy read, fast paced and at times entertaining. When the killer is revealed, you won't be surprised, but you will think that it is a bit anticlimactic. I for one wanted just a little more. What I did like about the novel was that although this was my first Spindler novel and I knew nothing about the characters, I felt drawn to Kitt, more so than MC. I liked the vulnerability that I saw in her character, which is strange because it was MC's character who experienced so much loss in the book. It was Kitt that I sympathized with the most. She struggled to overcome her alcohol addiction and save a marriage that disintegrated following the death of her child. And while I did understand, I did not see why she was willing to at times sacrifice her own happiness (reconciling with Joe) for her partnership. It was extremely interesting to see how Spindler wove the tension into the character. I thought it was brilliant. And at the end of the story, when Kitt seems to have made the decision to "call it quits" (with the department) and save her marriage, I cheer for her, although I know how much her career means to her. That in itself is enough reason for me to read the next installation of this series.

Now, my only criticism about the story was that I had to ignore the investigative procedures/techniques described. Because I work in law enforcement, I know that there were several things that were totally inaccurate or unrealistic. For example, MC (in my jurisdiction) would have never been allowed to work on any cases involving her relatives. I do not care how much she assures the higher ups that she will be in a secondary roll or how she can be objective. Although her instincts eventually lead to the solution of the case, I know that it would have been better had Kitt worked alone or with someone else. However, ignoring that component of the story and just taking it for what it was, it was a decent story and I enjoyed it.