Customer Reviews

The Color of Death (Commissario Brunetti Novels)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have been a fan of Elizabeth Lowell's for some time now, and I have to say that she has gotten back on track with this book, much better than her last few novels, which I felt were not balanced in the way of combining romance and suspense.

The hero and heroine were much more fleshed out, the secondary characters believable and with their own unique quirks. Lowell has a good sense when it comes to characterization and dialogue that kept the book fast-paced. The mystery was a good one, and even I was a little surprised at the curve ball she threw at the end.

My only quibbles with the book were: one, she needed at least one more chapter to clear up loose ends and explain more at the end. Second, although you see the love grow between the characters, they never explicity say it, which would be nice.

But to all readers out there, be forwarned. Her novels are more suspense based now than romance based. This is a trend anyone can see if they have been reading her last few books. Not that this is a bad thing, I think she has real talent writing in the suspense/mystery genre. But readers expecting a straight romance will be disapppointed. The romance has taken a secondary place to the mystery. The clues to this trend can be seen by the title and the cover art of the book (which I hated.)

But all in all a good read. You see the trademark Lowell style of writing in this book and she is able to combine both suspense and romance into a well written book.

Ms. Lowell is one of the few authors whose hardcover books I would purchase simply on the strength of her name. The latest book, however, will be the last of hers that I buy in that same manner. (I'll wait 'til the softcover edition comes out, if then). Simply put, this book is just dull. The characters generate very little interest or excitement for the reader, and the plot doesn't do much better. The characters are barely physically described, their backgrounds barely touched, their inner beings barely hinted at. I can barely even get a mental picture. In Ms. Lowell's previous books, I could get a sense of why the hero and heroine were attracted to one another but not in her latest couple of books, including this one. And this story is a cookie cutter image of the stories in the last 3-4 of her books. They follow the EXACT same formula. Just plug in the valuable item (gem, mineral, precious metal, expensive art); plug in the incessant details about said valuable item; plug in the hero (rich guy OR current or ex law enforcer type OR all of the above investigating or protecting said valuable item/heroine) and heroine (expert, tactician or practioner of said valuable item); plug in the situation (bad guy who wants to protect his investment in or procure all said valuable items assets); plug in the denoument (hero or heroine almost gets murdered by someone who the reader did or did not suspect); and you have your latest Elizabeth Lowell book.

I could barely finish this book. In fact, I skipped several dozen pages to quickly read the ending. I get the sense that the author doesn't want this book and her last few to be pegged as romance, rather, "suspense novels". However, this book doesn't even measure up to either category.

Ms. Lowell's books past books have brought me much enjoyment over the years, so I can't honestly say that I am done with reading her books. I'll just be more cautious in the future. I wish the author better luck with better books.

I believe my title says it all. I have been an Elizabeth Lowell fan for so many years yet, the past 3 books have left me terribly disappointed. Just like the reviewer "just plain dull" said - just plug in the new character names and you have the same repetitious plot, same everything to these disappointing novels. It seems as if she wants to attract a readership of another group (or perhaps her publisher, editor, agent or best friend has advised her to go in this direction. ITS NOT WORKING, MS. LOWELL!. Yet, it is her romance fans who are the loyal group who keep purchasing her books, only to be disappointed once again. IT IS THE ROMANCE FANS THAT KEEP THE BOOK SALES GOING, IN HOPES OF BEING REWARDED WITH A BOOK THAT IS QUINTESSENTIALLY ELIZABETH LOWELL.

I absolutely refuse to purchase any future books from this author and will go to the library to borrow it. I will borrow it because I find it is difficult to break away from this talented writer. I really don't want to, yet how many more of these books must your most loyal fans suffer through? If you are reading this Ms. Lowell, it is not my intent to hurt your feelings. Alot of work and research go into a book of this length. But I will say to you is that you really don't realize what you have until you lose it. As each of these lack-luster books come out each year, you are losing fans by the droves. I am sure it is ultimately showing in your book sale numbers. Perhaps that is the only way that your publisher, editor or agent will realize that going into another direction was not a good idea. Please return to what you know in your heart is a winner, the Donovan series. Those are characters that stand on their own and live in all of your fan's minds.

I definitely agree with the reader who suggests Eliz. Lowell is either very good or very poor. She is one of my favorite writers, but lately (past several years) her books are not the same writing style as her earlier ones (except for one or two I can think of).

This story seemed uninteresting (too many gem details), lacked strong character charisma and development. I always think you can tell strong character development by how long the characters "live on in your memory". These characters will probably be forgotten after reading a few other books. I also did not think the mystery or plot was very strong.

Perhaps Lowell is trying to appeal to a different audience than her long term fans.

I'm glad that I chose to check this one out at the library (hold list) rather than purchase. I would have been very disappointed if I had purchased it.

I love Elizabeth Lowell and will continue to look for her "strong" books.

I'm happy that some readers disagree and enjoyed this one. She deserves the support.

Happy Reading!

I'd give this 2 1/2 stars if I could; this is -half- of a good book. Plot and background - fine. (Several reviewers have mentioned they felt there was too much 'gemology' in this novel, but frankly, it's the only interesting thing here.) Character development and characterization - completely absent.

If the author had spent HALF the time developing her characters as she did presenting the stone details, this would have been a good book. It reads as if she was following one-two word descriptions of each character - Kate, beautiful and talented; Sam, rebellious and honorable, etc.

A good editor (or even a half-way literate and disinterested reader) could have told her this.

Wait for the paperback or get this from the library if you must read it. Not particularly recommended.

I just finished "Die In Plain Sight" and thought it was terrific! It was the first book I'd read by this author, and I was so excited to have found a new (for me) author. I was lucky enough to find "The Color of Death" at the library, but I was sorely disappointed. It seemed to me like the same book as "Die In Plain Sight", the characters just had different names. The male protagonists use the same term of endearment -"darling"- and the author keeps using the same annoying turn of phrase - "his/her smile was all teeth". And there was much more, as some of the previous reviewers have mentioned. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed all the similarities if I hadn't read these books so close together, but that's not really my fault is it?

When I first starting reading Elizabeth Lowell, her characters were sexy and smoldering. Now she writes treatises on gem cutting, art collecting, etc. with a tiny bit of sexy and smoldering thrown in to the mix. Well, it's not enough for me or for many of her former fans (read the other reviews). Too bad - she used to be one of my favourites.

I'm usually an Elizabeth Lowell fan, however this was a quite painful read. There was way too much dry textbook information about gems and sadly, the characters were flat.

The most frustrating thing about Elizabeth Lowell is she's either really, really, really good or stunningly bad. This book definitely falls in the latter category. I pray that this is the absolute LAST book she writes dealing with the tired theme of gems. She does not spend enough time cultivating the romance between the hero and heroine. They have a few steamy moments buried beneath the lectures of gemology! If I wanted to learn this much about gems, I would definitely take a class instead of buying a suspense novel. The only thing suspenseful about this book was whether or not I would be quizzed at the end.

There were also too many characters to keep up with. It's so aggravating to have to go back in the book to try and find out who in the heck this person is because the author has introduced you to 20 characters in the first 5 chapters. PLEASE!! 15 of these people were not even needed.

I really like her writing style but I refuse to buy another one of her books until she has something interesting to say.

Color of Death gives lots of details on the gem industry that the general public would never know. Kate Chandler is a dedicated and hard-working professional towards her craft of gem cutting; after all its part of the family business. Kate has been rattled the past five month because her half-brother Lee Mandel, a courier with a precious and rare delivery has gone missing. Kate goes in search of the seven sapphires known as the "Seven sins" ones that she herself had cut trying to connect the stones with Lee's killer. She meets up with Special Agent Sam Groves in Arizona, who at first believes Kate herself is a thief. As he is educated in the field by Kate, Sam tries to stop himself from falling in love with Kate. The "electricity" between Kate and Sam is palpable when he lets go of his cop's façade. The FBI task force has its hands full when additional couriers and two jewelry owners are murdered. Kate herself is targeted but survives with Sam's help. There were many additional characters with stories that were barely touched upon causing the story to lose its "luster" at the end.