Customer Reviews

The Consultant

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book could have used a good editor and proof reader! the story is not bad, but the errors and the improper use of the english Language is Jarring! The hook and the plot line have great possibilities but I would prefer better character development. Overall, I might have given this book 3 to 4 stars if it were cleanly edited. I recently read a very good thriller by a new author: "Deviant Ways" by Chris Mooney -- Hanible Lecter Watch out!

Kind of a fun story kept me going to the halfway mark. But the syntax and grammar are so awkward and stilted that I gave it up. This book needs a major proofreading and rewrite to make it fluent and readable.

MoneyXXX is absolutely correct, the fractured syntax and grammar errors are VERY distracting and jarring. Some aspects of the story are refreshing: the protagonist has a loving relationship with his wife and parents. When is the last time you saw that in a novel? However, the characters all speak in the same "voice", that is, they all use the same slang and the same sentence structures. Dick Francis is a good example of an author who distinguishes his characters with dialog. There are lot of glaring grammatical errors. There are also several minor plot errors: eg, a character showing up in a different place than he was minutes before. This book really needs polishing before it's ready for the general public, but I think this guy has a future as a writer. This book's plot was a refreshing change of pace.

I started reading your book "The Consultant" with much anticipation and was really looking forward to it. But now after about 100 pages I deeply regret ever having spent money on this book. Not because of its contents, I guess it will develop to an exciting story, but because of Mr. Donzi's poor research, I admit maybe in unimportant issues but still a matter to me as an European citizen. First of all, Germany and Austria are two different countries, a fact which should have gotten to him, secondly, giving opinion about shower habits of "average Europeans" (page 96) is an insult to everybody and is only able to feed prejudices which are very hard to extinct among the Americans. We do have inside plumbing and we are aware of how to shower. And by the way, who is he to judge women whether they shave their armpits or legs?

A bigger part of the Europeans are capable to read and understand this book and many will feel like me. I definitely will not continue and will tell everybody to do as well.

If possible, I would have given zero stars!

There aren't too many novels or books for this matter that deal with the very serious and realistic danger of the nuclear threat from North Korea. But THE CONSULTANT by Donzi does and amazingly he puts hard facts into this fast-paced fictionalized account. At the same time we learn about the ethics of corporate America where undeniably greed is the dominating factor. This novel is an exciting read and is full of exotic locales (from Naples, Florida to the Far East, to Europe incl. Paris, France and through Bermuda). And the action never stops.

Over the past couple of years I've read through all the new books by Grisham, Clancy, Crichton, Harris, Patterson and others. A few books like Hannibal by Harris, The Testament by Grisham and A Man in Full by Wolfe I found worth reading. But I was searching for an international thriller and Rainbow Six by Clancy came pretty close. Then came The Consultant by Donzi and this was it. His voice is fresh and unique. He arranged the book into 76 chapters which adds to the electricity of this high-profile thriller. True, I might be biased to some degree because some parts of this novel play in my 'backyard' in Naples, but the whole story is so very engaging and extremely interesting that you just can't put this book down. Also, Donzi introduces the reader to a lifestyle on a completely different level and he makes you understand how rich folks really think. Great book: it's the best novel in years!

I'm willing to overlook a lot when I'm reading a book that is otherwise good -- perhaps because it has a good plot, or the writing is wonderful, or it contains new information on a subject I'm interested in. This book had nothing at all to recommend it. Nothing. The writing is abysmal. The plot is contrived. The characters are thinly drawn. If this book has 17 reviews that give it an average of 4+ stars, then the author and his family/publisher must be writing them. I admit, I read a review like mine before I bought the book, but thought it must have been written by someone with rigid tastes. NOT. Do not buy this book unless you just want to throw away money. I threw away the book. I wouldn't even give it to the Goodwill.

I devoured my copy of the "The Consultant" within 48 hours. Every decade or so, there comes along a book that you just have to read as it introduces us to a new era of storytelling. I still remember Grisham's "The Firm" back in '91 which was such a memorable book, and now there's Alec Donzi's "The Consultant." This novel is everything a new-millennium thriller is supposed to be and more. Aside from the action and the twists and turns, Donzi communicates valuable information about the reality of the nuclear threat in the Far East, and this authenticates the book. As a former investigative journalist, Donzi has researched his subject well and it shows. I also found the characterizations very well done. The story about a wealthy corporate consultant who gets involved in his last big deal moves like a hurricane through 76 chapters. Along the way, Jerome Birchner, the consultant, encounters high-level terrorists, a renegade CIA agent and a seductive female executive. Readers get a behind-the-scenes look of how Corporate America really works and how shaky world peace really is--it's scary to say the least. The settings of this novel include Naples, South Florida, Dallas, North Korea and Europe (Vienna, Zurich and Paris), as well as Washington. Fact is, I'll take my time to read this book next weekend again. "The Consultant" is a rich and engaging story and I know it is one of these rare books most avid readers will truly enjoy.

Donzi's book The Consultant was refreshing! I learned more than I ever knew possible about the job of a high powered, worldly-wise consultant! Great intrigue and an engaging story line! It's a good read!

One thing is for sure, you either love this book or you hate it. I love it because of its unique insight. I know it's supposed to be a novel, but this book reads more like an investigative report, although the author borrows heavily from the fiction genre. What's amazing to me is the fact that this book was published in late 2000 and the author probably conceived the idea and wrote the book a few years earlier, and the results would normally qualify as a prophecy as Donzi wrote history before it actually happened. Right now we're seeing much of the content or at least the general premise and various situations fulfilled before our eyes. Nevertheless, Donzi's style is predominantly one of an investigative journalist and that takes time to get used to, but it's a work of suspense and a very interesting subject matter. I'm looking forward to the movie release, if that is in the works as the storyline in The Consultant is great film material; it would make a great action thriller.