Cold Paradise [Paperback]

Stuart Woods (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Signet (2001)
• ASIN: B0011MU40M
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,042,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stuart Woods is the author of forty-four novels, including the New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington series and Holly Barker series. The last twenty-eight of them have been New York Times best-sellers. He is an avid private pilot, flying his own jet on two book tours a year. His latest novel is Santa Fe Edge,to be published on September 21st. You may see his tour schedule and learn more about the author on his website, www.stuartwoods.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cold Decadence, August 21, 2002

By 

John J. Grassi (Norman, Oklahoma United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Paradise (Stone Barrington) (Mass Market Paperback)

Meet Stone Barrington, a Bond-like attorney/investigator/playboy with exquisite taste and dangerous habits. In Cold Paradise by Stuart Woods, Barrington suffers through another New York winter, but his outlook improves dramatically upon meeting billionaire software tycoon Thad Shames. Shames has fallen hopelessly in love with a mysterious woman named Liz after meeting her only once, and hires Barrington to find her. The only lead Barrington has is that she lives in exotic Palm Beach, so Barrington takes up residence on Shames' 240-foot yacht off the Florida coast, where he is soon ensnared in a web of conspiracy and murder.

Cold Paradise is the seventh novel in the Stone Barrington series, first introduced with 1992's New York Dead. Woods is an amazingly prolific writer, having already published dozens of novels and two books of non-fiction. One of his previous novels, Dead in the Water, provides the back-story for Cold Paradise.

The first seventy pages of Cold Paradise moves well, as Dead in the Water's Allison Manning reappears after swindling twelve million dollars in an insurance scam. The book is peppered with clever dialogue between Barrington and his sidekick Bachetti, and the setting is vivid, for Woods has an uncanny gift of making the wealthy decadence of Palm Beach come alive.

There are plot and character problems, however, starting with an inexplicable coincidence: Allison Manning is Shames's Liz. She is also Barrington's former client and lover, so things get complicated; Allison still lusts for Barrington, but so does every other woman in Cold Paradise. Before long Palm Beach is crawling with Barrington's girlfriends, past and present, and one needs a libretto to keep them straight. This leads to another problem--the author's inability to develop female characters. The two female leads, Allison and Callie, seem incapable of doing anything meaningful, their lives limited to shopping, cooking, and bed hopping. Barrington's ex-wife Dolce (Italian for 'sweet') wants to kill him for reasons unknown, yet readers can safely assume that her psychotic state was induced by Barrington's sexual persona.

Midway through the novel, there is a second case of mistaken identity that has no real function in the story except to distract the reader and waste a hundred pages. One wonders if Woods has been influenced by filmmaker David Lynch with his constant manipulation of identity, yet where Lynch dazzles his audience with a unique vision, Woods merely irritates his readers with trivial nonsense.

The discriminating reader may soon tire of the crass materialism in the book; conspicuous consumption abounds, with many references to luxury cars (Shames orders three Mercedes convertibles for his house guests), jewelry (Allison impulsively buys a $30,000 necklace) and designer wardrobes (the working-class Bachetti inexplicably goes shopping for an Armani suit). Woods's style in Cold Paradise is infected with narcissism, and readers may feel little empathy for these characters.

One can argue that books like Cold Paradise shouldn't be held to the same critical standard as more 'serious' fiction. If the author's intention is 'fiction light' (the argument goes), then critical standards must be adjusted or even ignored. Cold Paradise thrives in that curious realm of books targeted for beachcombers and frequent flyers. Undoubtedly Woods is mining this market.... Cold Paradise will appeal to past readers of the Barrington series; there is a formula at work here that is undeniably successful. In addition to the faithful, the book will attract the Wish-I-Were-Rich crowd, who can, at least vicariously, live the good life between the pages of this novel.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A STELLAR READING OF A SENSATIONAL THRILLER, April 27, 2001

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cold Paradise Audio (Audio Cassette)

Broadway, film and television actor Tony Roberts offers a sensational reading of the latest thriller by Stuart Woods. With a skill born of confidence and experience he easily segues from character to character in this suspense riddled mystery.

With "Cold Paradise," lawyer cum private investigator Stone Barrington returns - this time to the gilded streets of Palm Beach where he eventually confronts old friends and foes. Mega rich Thad Shames has asked Barrington to go to this playground for the wealthy to trace a woman Shames met at a party. There are a few perks on what initially appears to be a routine assignment, including a yacht stateroom and Shames' beguiling assistant, Callie.

Barrington locates the woman in short order but is surprised to find that she is Allison Manning, now known as Liz, the same person he defended against a murder charge on a Caribbean island in "Dead In The Water" (1997).

Allison is in almost as much trouble now as she was a few years back. She turns to Barrington for protection and to help find a mysterious man who is stalking her. Never mind the insurance fraud charge she's trying to outrun.

Barrington calls in his partner, Dino, for help as they track the elusive stalkert from Manhattan to the luxurious manses dotting the Gold Coast.

What a page-turner, what a setting, and what a reading!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cold Paradise, June 13, 2001

By 

Ricky N. "Ricky C. Nelson" (Commerce, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cold Paradise (Stone Barrington) (Hardcover)

"Cold Paradise" is the latest Stone Barrington novel by Stuart Woods. Stone is hired by rich man Thad Shamus to find a woman named Liz that he met in the Hamptons and wanted to see again. Stone travels to Palm Beach, Florida and finds Liz Harding rather quickly. Liz is actually Allison Manning, Stone's former client with whom Stone had a brief affair. Allison (Liz) retains Stone to do some legal work, and the rest of the book is devoted to finding Allison's husband, Paul Manning. For Stone Barrington readers, Stone once again beds a beautiful woman, Callie Hodges, Thad's girl Friday. This novel is not bad, but I expect better from Stuart Woods.