THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO AUSTIN [Paperback]

Rick Riordan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books (2001)
• ASIN: B0013SRM3G
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,346,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, and the Heroes of Olympus. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults.

For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. In 2002, Saint Mary's Hall honored him with the school's first Master Teacher Award.

While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery novels for grownups. His Tres Navarre series went on to win the top three national awards in the mystery genre - the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus. Riordan turned to children's fiction when he started The Lightning Thief as a bedtime story for his oldest son.

Today over 30 million copies of his Percy Jackson, Kane Chronicles, and Heroes of Olympus books are in print in the United States, and rights have been sold into more than 35 countries. Rick is also the author of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones, another #1 New York Times bestseller. In 2011, Rick received the Children's Choice Book Award for Author of the Year.

Rick Riordan now writes full-time. He lives in San Antonio with his wife and two sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Mess with Texas, June 19, 2001

By 

"edwardn" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Went Down to Austin (Hardcover)

Author Rick Riordan is on a roll! In this story, a murder investigation of Tres Navarre's friend, yields Navarre's brother as the #1 suspect. No room for error in Texas--a certain death sentence is looming. Riordan displays quite an aptitude for characterizations, as well as a great grasp of the great state of Texas.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rick Riordan's Back and Better than Ever....., August 3, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil Went Down to Austin (Hardcover)

Tres Navarre, San Antonian private investigator with a PhD in English Lit is, as the saying goes, hip deep in alligators. It seems his paraplegic brother, Garrett, a programming phenom and Jimmy Buffet parrothead, has mortgaged the family ranch to help pay his portion of a high-tech start-up, Techsan Security Software, and the lender is about to foreclose. Techsan's software product has run into all kinds of problems and bugs since a corporate takeover offer was refused and now lawsuits are being filed by all their beta-testers. When Garrett's oldest friend and partner, Jimmy Doebler is found murdered and all the evidence points to Garrett, Tres decides to head on down to Austin, wade into this mess, against his brother's wishes, and see if he can sort out what's really going on..... Rick Riordan has outdone himself with his latest unforgettable mystery/thriller, The Devil Went Down to Austin. His compelling, intricate plot comes at you from several different directions and is full of powerful, riveting scenes and his cast of terrific characters are original and well drawn. But it's Mr Riordan's sharp, witty writing and attention to detail that really make this novel stand out. With a stunning climax that ties up all the loose ends and a very satisfying ending, this is an intriguing story that's a "must read" for all mystery/thriller fans. If you're new to the Tres Navarre series, start at the beginning with The Big Red Tequila and read them all. If you're already hooked, you definitely won't be disappointed this time out!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riordan has hit his stride, October 22, 2001

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Devil Went Down to Austin (Hardcover)

English professor-cum-PI Tres Navarre heads from San Antonio up to Austin just in time to see his brother Garrett arrested for murder. A highly personal case becomes even more personal when attorney Maia Lee, the past love Tres never got over, arrives to defend Garrett and uncover facts about one of her own ex-clients.

I read 'Devil Went Down...', the fourth Tres Navarre title, immediately after finishing the first one, 'Big Red Tequila.' It's clear that author Rick Riordan's style and plotting have improved over time. Not that they were ever bad to start with -- far from it. But though still packed with Riordan's trademark twists and turns, the story in 'Devil Went Down...' was easier for me to follow than the often convoluted plots of earlier titles. Part of the difference may be that there seemed to be fewer characters to keep straight in this story.

There's one element of this book I'm not so sure about. From time to time, Riordan interrupts the narrative to include anonymous email messages. I won't spoil anything by saying what relevance, if any, these have to the story. But for the first time in the series, the reader has information that's not available to our narrator. As I said, I'm still not sure what I think of that.

On the other hand, I want to thank Rick Riordan for not allowing this novel's scuba-diving scenes to become James Bond-movie-style underwater mega-battle parodies. That would have been a tough hurdle for me to overcome.

This story takes place almost entirely in Austin, not Tres' hometown of San Antonio. But the South Texas atmosphere is still strong, Tres is maturing as a person (in his world) and as a fully drawn character (in ours), the other characterizations are solid, and the story itself is powerful. Of the four Navarre titles so far, the third and fourth have been my favorites. Which suggests that even greater things are to come -- he wrote hopefully.