Customer Reviews

Dark Lady

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Like other reviewers, I was also disappointed with Richard North Patterson's "Dark Lady." When you can't be truly interested in the characters it is difficult to become involved in their lives. It took about half of the book for it to really get moving and even then it was too late, because we already knew what was going to happen. I personally am getting very tired of authors deciding to 'kill the cat' or the dog for that matter. I don't enjoy predictable books and this one didn't even begin to stretch my mind. I surely hope RNP will take some more time, if that's what it takes, to get back to his former stature. I did enjoy "No Safe Place" unlike the critics, but this one should not have been published, at least under his real name.

Dark Lady starts with a bang and never lets up. The crime is startling and complex,the legal atmosphere authentic. Patterson uses his trial lawyer's gifts to create a character in Stella Marz who seems to turn the pages by herself. Patterson again deals with real issues most writers shy away from. He never pulls his punches and Dark Lady is a knockout.

If you've read one of Richard North Patterson's previous suspense/crime novels (among them, "Silent Witness," "Eyes of a Child," "Degree of Guilt"), you know him to be a first-rate storyteller. His law degree guarantees fine details of prosecution. His experience as a fictioneer shows that every time he asks himself "What if?" he comes up with a stunning new plot line. Patterson has special talent for terse and telling dialogue. As real-life crime becomes more bizarre, crime writers must dream up more complicated and grisly narratives. Patterson succeeds here, too. The setting of his new novel is the fictional city of Steelton. Stella Marz, the narrator and heroine, is a determined lady who works her way out of a turbid working-class background and through law school to become an assistant county prosecutor, head of the homicide unit. The "Dark Lady" of the title, she's an intriguing female who can hold her own in an all-male enclave. Jack Novak, Stella's onetime employer and former lover, is first introduced as a mutilated corpse dangling from his closet door. He's wearing a garter belt, stockings and high heels. Next, an officer in the development company building Steelton's stadium is found dead in bed from a heroin overdose. He's got a needle in his arm and a dead prostitute at his side. What's particularly horrifying is that victims' lives and reputations do not match their modes of death. Political corruption in Steelton and deceitful colleagues in the homicide unit make Stella's self-appointed task of solving the two murders a formidable challenge. Let the squeamish reader beware: Patterson's novels are always hypnotic, with in-your-face situations that make you blink. On the other hand, fans of psychological/suspense drama will relish the good read Patterson always provides.

I love the other Patterson books I've read so was very surprised with this one. Very slow start and then I kept finding myself having to go backwards to check if I'd missed something. I hate books that do this to me. Not sure what happened but this book definitely gets a thumbs down.

Patterson has the unique ability to make the reader care about the chapter he is reading alone by itself. I found myself reading because I wanted to see what happened next, even though the climax wasn't for another 200 pages. Patterson makes the characters interesting and constantly reveals new info which makes each part of the book valuable. Unfortunately the deep mysteries or tragedies that haunt some of the characters turn out to be much more minor than one would expect.

This is a good story, although Patterson does like to write about twisted sex a lot.

Glad I got this one from the rental rack at the library! No courtroom drama, characters you don't care much about, and predictable local "intrigue" all make for a disappointing read. Hardly what I expected from the author of Degree of Guilt and Silent Witness. Too bad.

Having read all of RNP's books, I was expecting a lot more. I even "saved" the book to savor on a long flight to Bangkok, thinking that it would provide ample divertissement. Wrong. The first two thirds just dragged and dragged. (Hey, the idea was to keep me *awake* and reset my internal time clock, not bore me into somnolence!). The denouement is tricky and brings together all the disparate plot elements, but by then I coulda cared less.

The title should be "Dark Novel." The characters are generally not likable, even the protagonist. For much of the book, you will say "Who cares?" At other times, you'll say "I don't believe that." I have not been a HUGE Patterson fan, but even I was surprised and how much I disliked this book. The plot line explaining the crimes makes some sense, but several of the details and the buildup will leave you shaking your head. Silent Witness is a better alternative.

The book has all the variables of a Patterson book, but it doesn't jell. It does not have any of the i-have-to-keep-reading stuff of his past books. I wish it had started 2/3 through.

This book started out slow -- petty politics and not really understanding who the players are and how they are related. Story pick's up about half-way through for about 70 pages or so, and then down hill again. You are left with the feeling, who cares and what did all this mean? Why was this story interesting to us? Die hard fans will probably still enjoy this book, but after No Safe Place and this one, I don't plan on picking up another hard back of his soon.