Customer Reviews

Deviant Way

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been a mystery/crime reader for a lot of years, and I don't get fooled by most contemporary authors. DEVIANT WAY stunned me. It is a fascinating puzzle, solved by a flawed but engaging hero, peopled with a number of intriguing suspects, with enough red herrings to keep you guessing until the very last page.

I've read some of the negative reviews here and, quite frankly, I'm a bit surprised. To those readers who think Paris makes a "dumb" move at a critical point in the novel, I suggest reading that section a little more carefully. Paris isn't following that car because he believes the killer is inside. At that point, he is being led by, well, another part of his anatomy.

I am a big fan of Richard Montanari's work. He writes heart-pounding, complex whodunits that are virtually impossible to put down. Is DEVIANT WAY great literature? Probably not. Is it a great thriller? Absolutely.

The story told is logically inconsistent in several areas, and the inconsistencies ruin the book. At one point in the book, detective Jack Paris follows the killer's white BMW, but apparently makes no attempt to get the license plate number. Shortly afterward, Paris is voyeuristically window-peeping at "Pharaoh" and bit character Andrea Heller, but is unable to get a glimpse of "Pharaoh's" face. Does he do anything to catch "Pharaoh's" attention to make him look at the window? Of course not! This is one stupid cop--but he's supposed to have solved eighty-one percent of the homicides he's investigated. The superhuman strength and stealth attributed to "Saila" are entirely implausible and unexplained, and the way women keep throwing themselves at Paris boggles the mind, especially since he's described as rather ugly, and something of a loser. Montanari gets two stars for style, but no points for a very weak story.

Deviant Way by Richard Montanari is full of surprises! Throughout the multiple murder investigation there are secrets that add to the "who done it?" possibilities. Suspense builds throughout until you almost have to read the last page long before you get to it... but it won't help! Saila and Pharaoh are an extraordinary team; beautiful people who kill for the thrill of the game. Jack Paris, an alcoholic cop, learns to fit into this glamorous night life. It is the only way to catch the pair. That he is an alcoholic is important, for he cannot drink on the job - and the job takes him into high class nightclubs and bars. The life style is repulsive yet compelling; especially for a divorced man who suddenly finds that he is attracting beautiful younger women. Will one of them lead him to the killer? Will she be the killer? Jack fights his personal demons in order to fight the demons that are turning the nightlife into a deathtrap for the Cleveland elite. It is not only the elite who are in danger, but it is too late when he discovers this and his young daughter is thrust into the fray. Deviant Way grabs and holds your attention from page one; you are not free even when the book ends - for it lingers in your imagination!

This is the second of Mr. Montanari's books I have read. This title introduces the jaded cop, Jack Paris. His pursuit of a pair of vicious serial killers makes for exciting reading. This is not a book for the faint hearted, since there are graphic descriptions of the murders and the sexual tone of the story is quite explicit. The characters are well developed and believable, with Jack Paris portrayed as a middle-age cop with a lot of baggage. There is also a plot line that is left unresolved that stretches the credibly of the story. Otherwise, if you like a tense, exciting, hard-to-put down murder/cop novel, this one is for you.

Deviant Way was a thrill ride from beginning to end, and I'm not sure how I was ablt to take time to breath. I must have gasped for air as I turned the pages. Jack was a flawed hero, but he seemed very real to me, and I really cared about him. If you enjoy dark thrillers with a to-die-for mystery, then this book is for you. I voted it best mystery and thriller the year it was released. I highly recommend it!

"Every large city has its sexual underground," Richard Montanari writes in his debut thriller, DEVIANT WAY, "its network of gender misfits, tomcats, he/shes, pedophiles and assorted other deviants - people who, for the most part, don't function very well in the sunlight."

One would like to think Montanari knows this territory as a result of the writing he has done for The Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press and a host of other publications, as opposed to having come by it by other means. He knows the topic well and, thankfully, he knows how to write.

Most of the hype surrounding this book has concerned itself with the author's creative descriptions of kinky violence, but I don't think this is the book's best point. Rather, we are treated to a remarkably sensitive, brutally honest portrayal of a cop, a veteran detective in a depressingly crime-ridden province of Cleveland. Jack Paris feels more like an Everyman than a cut-out hero, a painfully flawed, borderline alcoholic divorcee with enough vestigial perspective to still get sick at horrific crime scenes. He has indeed seen it all, but some part of him still can't believe it, until it is thrust uncompromisingly into his face as the events of the novel unfold. Then, everyone becomes a suspect, and there are sufficient red herrings tossed around to warrant his encroaching paranoia, along with our dawning perception concerning the truth of the notion that a paranoid is simply someone who knows all the facts.

A serial killer(s) is on the loose in Cleveland. The police are not sure if it's one person or two, but we know better, because interspersed throughout the book are chapters written in the first person from one of the killers' perspective. We know how he thinks, and pretty much what the game is; what we don't know is who he and his partner are. Neither does Jack, but he's got a lot of suspicions, and these only escalate when the case is declared officially closed following an apparent suicide.

Complicating matters is the seemingly innocent game-playing of a closet voyeur and his increasingly adventurous wife, a couple who think they are boldly exploring the subterranean caverns of depravity without realizing that they are only lightly skimming its edges.

The plot races along adroitly - you might get the impression that you missed a reel if you don't pay careful attention - and is neatly wound up with one of those great final chapters that requires you to re-think what you thought you were sure of (I immediately went back and re-read Chapter 36, with great delight). But in the end, it's not the plot but Jack Paris that will linger with you.

I think Richard Montanari is a coming force in popular fiction. His writing has the kind of finger-popping flair that makes you want to re-read passages just for the style and rhythm, especially the dialogue of its more colorful characters.

I have a sneaking suspicion - and a fervent hope - that we will hear from Jack Paris again. I highly recommend this book.

--Lee Gruenfeld, author of THE HALLS OF JUSTICE

Richard Montanari's debut thriller, Deviant Way, has too many flaws to be considered a good book but it does show signs of the potential that this author has fulfilled in his books since The Rosary Girls. Montanari succeeds in writing a book that holds your attention from beginning to end and his writing style enables the pages to fly through your fingers. These qualities in Montanari's debut are ones that he has subsequently come to master. However, Deviant Way's flaws strongly overshadow its fast-paced plot, which involves Detective Jack Paris' search for a serial killer in Cleveland. These flaws include the cast of characters (and especially the main character) not being very well-developed or credible, the author not providing a sufficient explanation into the murderer's motivations for the crimes committed, and the ending being somewhat implausible, not particularly satisfying and somewhat predictable. What made reading Deviant Way interesting for me was to see how much Richard Montanari has improved his writing and storytelling skills since his debut. As a matter of fact, since reading The Rosary Girls and each of his subsequent books, Montanari has become one of my favorite thriller/mystery writers.

Good plot and dialogue. Deviant Way is excellent. Mr. Montanari please say there will be another book with Jack Paris, he's so very likeable albeit far from perfect. The last two pages had me wondering about him though. Is it just an innocent meeting or is there more to it??? I'm going right out to buy "The Violent Hour". Thank you for the wonderful read.

Jack Paris was interesting, but as a main character, he seemed predictable. The story was engaging without giving us a clear picture of why someone would engage in such horrific acts.

I think this plot was very well thought out, but the author fails to provide enough detail for us to understand the demons that would lead someone to commit these crimes. The reader is left unsure of exactly who did what to whom, as if Montanari was told he only had five pages to wrap up the story. It shows a lot of promise for future endeavors. Good debut thriller by a veteran writer.

If you're on a plane, or the beach and want a page turner, Deviant Way will satisfy. If you're looking for depth, analysis, plot related research, or closure, you'll be sorely disappointed. There is no question that the book holds one attention, and Montanari deserves credit for that ability, but what he gains in style, he quickly loses in depth. There is no obvious research or attention to detail as in a Chricton novel. There is no analysis into the central characters' psyches as in a Harris novel and there is no closure or satisfaction in the end as in a Steven's novel i.e. "By Reason of Insanity." In short, as a fan of intelligent, creative, provacative, and well rounded mysteries, I was disappointed.