The CACTUS GARDEN [Paperback]

Robert Ward (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996

Rescuing former B-movie star Charlotte Rae, daredevil DEA agent Jack Walker finds a chance to infiltrate her husband's drug-smuggling empire and emerges in a viper's nest south of the border. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Novelist and TV writer Ward presents a thriller about an undercover DEA agent trying to bust a group of drug smugglers.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067188266X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671882662
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,684,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A TV writer does not a novelist make, February 12, 2007

By 

Thomas "Reader, Writer, Music Fan" (Bay Area, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The CACTUS GARDEN (Paperback)

According to the blurb, this is the debut of a TV writer and novelist.

While the quality and depth of this book may well prove sufficient for TV (hardly a compliment, I'm afraid), it ultimately tanks as a novel. The characters are too one-dimensional and express themselves best in one-liners. The plot has never met a cliche it didn't like. Plot turns are too predictable. The lust story does not hold up (considering how much attention it is given).

If you're traveling and desparate for reading materials between naps on the plane (as I was) this may do the trick. Otherwise, there are just too many better books out there...

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed every minute, January 7, 2007

By 

C. Hezlep - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The CACTUS GARDEN (Paperback)

I could not put this book down. I highly recommend it.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood or bust, April 9, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cactus Garden (Hardcover)

I pictured this book as a movie, almost from the opening page, and the fact that a large portion of the book is set around Hollywood is no coincidence. This probably would make an entertaining action thriller on screen with all the tongue-in-cheek comic-book violence and one-liners, but as a book, the frailties are a little more obvious.

Take the hero with the hero's name, Jack Walker. First of all, in order for any of the book to be taken at face value, you must be prepared to believe that he is rather stupid and terribly hampered by arrogance. Each plot twist can be deciphered shortly before it is revealed, and then the twist at the end seems arbitrary, tacked on instead of the result of insight and forethought. The heroine, Charlotte Rae, who it initially appears will be a mysterious, dark, seductress is also in the end bound down by stereotype, conventionalized and predictable.

Still, if you can put aside Jack's obvious lack of intellect, and try to ignore what Ebert would call the "Fallacy of the talking killer", where the bad guys decide not to dispose of the hero as they would anyone else, until they have prolonged their life by talking to them and left them alone just long enough for them to plan and execute an escape, then this is a mildly entertaining saga with a few nice touches.