Customer Reviews

The Cabin

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

RIVETING, SPELLBINDING STORY
Ms. Neggers has done it again. She has written a suspenseful, romantic story, with wonderful characters you can't help but like. Susanna and Jack are strong, independent and loving. Jack is a Texas Ranger and Susanna a brilliant financial planner. They are deeply in love, but are having marital problems. Susanna is living in Boston with her daughters and grandmother, while Jack remains in Texas. When Alice Parker, a woman Jack helped put in jail is released, his gut instinct tells him she will try and get revenge through his family. Jack goes to Boston to work things out with Susanna and protect his family. Susanna has purchased a cabin in the Adirondacks. She, the girls and her grandmother are going there to get away for a few days unaware that they are being followed and in danger. Jack follows them knowing they are in dire straits. Once you start reading The Cabin, you won't be able to put it down. The suspense is riveting, the romance superb and the humor exceptional. You'll have a hard time picking out your favorite character. They're all delicious. If you want to do something nice for yourself read The Cabin. Its the perfect way to start the New Year.

From time to time I read a book and dislike the heroine so much that I don't even care what happens to her. In this book, I didn't particularly dislike Susanna but I just flat didn't "get" her. A man is stalking her so instead of telling Jack, her husband who just happens to be a Texas Ranger, she packs up and moves from Texas to Boston. Then, even though she proclaims her deep love for her husband she just can't bring herself to return home to him and instead puts down strong roots in Boston at her grandmother's house and even purchases an isolated cabin several hours north of Boston.

Her husband learns of the danger she is in and goes to Boston to be with her and once again she sneaks off from him...this time running to the cabin. THEN, the woods around the cabin are crawling with bad guys, one of whom is a murderer and is also after her so instead of staying in the cabin where another Texas Ranger is there to keep her safe she decides to go cross-country skiing and surprise, surprise runs into the bad guy who, duh, tries to kill her. Now there's a surprise!

Okay, call me stupid, but if my husband were a CPA and I had an accounting problem, I probably would ask for his help. If my husband were a doctor and I had some sort of mystery ailment, I think I would ask for his opinion. And if my husband were a cop and I had some really bad guys after me, I believe I would see if my husband could help keep me safe!

Like I said, I just didn't GET Susanna. I think Ms. Neggers intended to portray Susanna as being so strong that she didn't need her husband. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to understand that being strong sometimes means realizing when you need to turn to someone else for help. If Jack had been a brain surgeon and Susanna had learned she had a brain tumor, I wonder if she would have insisted on showing how strong she was by operating on herself.

Guess this is a book I won't be keeping.

By the end of Chapter Five, the author had flogged me with the phrase 'Texas Ranger' more than thirty times, with far too many of them attached to the heroine's husband's full name, i.e.'Jack Galway, TEXAS RANGER.' (my caps.) The cast, who supposedly already knew the heroine, spoke in awkward, expositional sentences like, "Hello, Susanna Dunning Galway, stubborn, willful, separated wife of Jack Galway, TEXAS RANGER. How is that ten million dollars you have that you haven't told your Texas Ranger husband about yet and oh, have you told him about Beau Garrity, your secret stalker of one year ago who might have murdered his wife and the reason you separated from your husband Jack Galway, Texas Ranger?" The villains are limp spaghetti and their motivations ridiculous. Iris Dunning, the supposed grand dame is no more memorable than the Galway daughters. I kept hoping for an avalanche but I couldn't read past page 200 because I simply didn't care if they all lived or died.

Carla Neggers continues to expand and strengthen the scope of her work. This strong story of a Texas couple under stress crackles with real emotion and first rate suspense.
Susanna Galway,a highly successful financial advisor, has fled to Boston to straighten out her life. Her sudden financial success, the maturing of her twin daughters who are spending a year in Boston with their great-grandmother, and the intrusion of her Texas Ranger husband Jack's work have led her to the safety of her grandmother's home and its familiar surroundings.
A murder suspect from one of his cases has been stalking her and suddenly unsure of her life she must find a way through this emotional minefield. Things heat up when Alice, a discredited local cop, who blew the murder investigation shows up in Boston as well. Jack quickly follows as does the suspect and the tension mounts.
It is all resolved at the Adirondack cabin Susanna has bought in her grandmother's hometown. The family problems and the suspense plot are expertly woven together and fold back on one another in a fashion worthy of Ross MacDonald. The characters are real and fully drawn. The supporting cast is superb.(Note especially the tavern scenes) The emotional issues are real and realistically settled. The suspense is palpable and satisfyingly resolved. Laced with humor and excitement this book marks a further advance in the author's work. A great great read!

I read quite a bit. I usually have 2 or 3 books going at one time. This was the most boring, uninteresting book I can ever remember reading. The characters are one dimensional, the storyline is ridiculous. There is nothing remotely romantic or mysterious about any of it. I hate to even donate it to Good Will for fear of spoiling someone else's reading pleasure.

Texas Ranger Jack Galway and his wife, Susanna have been married for twenty years and have twin girls. They have a happy marriage and trust each other or so one would think.

Following the murder of his wife, Beau McGarrity, the dead woman's husband pays a visit to Susanna and implores her to convince her husband that he did not kill his wife. Unbeknownest to Beau Susanna has recorded the conversation and when Beau leaves, Alice Parker, an inept officer knocks on Jack and Susanna's door and Susie thrusts the recording in Alice's hands. Never mentioning any of this to Jack, Susanna packs their girls and goes to visit her grandmother in Boston for a "few weeks" which turn out to be 14 months.

Alice Parker is convicted of tampering with the murder scene of the above crime and is sentenced to one year in jail. When she is released she goes to Beau, tells him about the recording, and tells him Susanna has the recording. She tells him she will retrieve it for $50,000. Then Alice goes to Boston, meets Susanna's grandmother,and becomes friends with her. All this contrived plot is to lead Beau to think Susanna has the tape and she, Alice, will steal it from her. How trite. How unbelieveable. Susanna finds out about the friendship between Alice and her grandmother and confronts Alice, then she leaves a message on Jacks's voice mail about what is going on. Jack, of course, flies to Boston.

Then everyone goes to the Adriondaks where Susanna has purchased a cabin in the area where her grandmother was born and reared. The plot thickens, but not much.

By the time you reach the end you don't really care what happens. Jack, it seems, already knew all of Susanna's so called secrets, but the one I like best was that she was afraid to tell him the investments she made for them are now worth ten million dollars. I'm certain most husbans would be upset to find out they are millionaires or so you are supposed to think. This is certainly not one of Carla Neggar's best and I have read them all.

If you see yourself as a strong, intelligent woman, DO NOT read this book. The 'heroine' is anything but! Her rationalizations of why not to report key information regarding a murderer to her 'wonderful Texas Ranger' husband, and her reluctance to 'clue' this hunk in on her lucrative business, is beyond any normal persons reasoning. And her teen aged daughters behaviors? Is anyone that foolish?

Oh, and can she possible squeeze "Texas Ranger" into anymore sentences...on the SAME page?

Normally I consider all books worth reading, but I'll not soon pick up another one of Carla's.

Texas Ranger Jack Galway wants his beloved wife Susanna back, but their separation continues as she lives in Boston making "gazillions" though he has no idea why she left him over a year ago. Their fraternal twin daughters Maggie and Ellen seem adjusted flying back and forth between their parents, but he wants the Galways to become one happy family again.

Seeking solace Maggie buys a cabin in the New York Adirondack Mountains near where her ancestors once lived. She, her daughters, and her grandmother travel to the cabin for a family getaway. However, former law enforcement official Alice Parker sees the four females as the weapons of vengeance against Jack who she blames for her troubles. Alice destroyed a murder crime scene with clumsy police work. To exonerate herself she set up a bogus witness. Jack unraveled her sloppy work, which led to her spending time in prison, her goal to become a Ranger lost forever, and the killer getting free. Alice is coming to Upstate New York.

The suspense of THE CABIN never slows down for a moment as Alice begins her quest. The support cast to include the twins (any fan of Jane Austen as the siblings are has to be a warm character), granny, and several friends add depth to the plot. The split between the lead couple seems contrived and unnecessary adding little except to keep Jack and Susanna apart so that Alice can facilitate her revenge much easier. Fans of action-packed romantic suspense will delight in Carla Neggers' terse thriller.

Harriet Klausner

I have read several of Carla Negger's books to date and plan on reading more as I like the suspense romance books. However, it was impossible for me to finish this book. It was difficult to get through the number of chapters I did.

I found myself wanting to strangle the main character Suzanna. I could not believe that any smart strong woman would act like she was acting, especially to her husband who she claimed to love deeply. I could not enjoy the book as I disliked the main character so much.

When I read a book, I want to enjoy the read and feel like the main characters could be great friends of mine. I want to be taken away from the real world and I want a read that seems plausable.

I think Carla Neggers books are a great read, but I find occasionally I find myself saying "Why would anyone do this? This is just not believable.", which makes the book not as enjoyable. This book just is not up to the level of writing I find from Carla Neggers. I do plan on reading more of her books however. Do not pass up her other series of books because of one book. All authors have books I don't particulary care for.

I really, really liked this book. And, so far, I have thoroughly enjoyed all of Carla Neggers books-of the seven I've read. I like her female characters, who are idependent, self-sufficient women with a mind of their own. Most of them are stubborn. Some make choices that I would never make, but I can understand where they are coming from. And they fall in love with men who are just as independent, self-sufficient, and stubborn as they are, which makes for spicy and intriguing love affairs.

I liked The Cabin because it ultimately pulled the married couple back together by each learning that they need to TALK to one another and not keep so many secrets from each other.