Customer Reviews

Don't Say a Word

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

 

 

Don't Say a Word is an in-your-face novel that practically reads by itself. Although the dialogue is often laughable and the characters are paper-thin, the hundreds of twists and turns are enough to keep you entertained well past your bedtime.
A psychologist's daughter is kidnapped by men who pretend to be able to see everything the shrink and his wife do. They want to get a number from a psychotic patient of the good doctor, a number which, of course, will bring them to a loot worth millions. The doctor has only a few hours to get the number and find his daughter.
The race against time plot is always entertaining. The action is non-stop and the finale is beyoung belief. This is a book you just can't put down. The plot lets you forget that the author has no real style of his own and that the dialogue is often horrendous. This is one novel that satisfies its reader from beginning to end.

"Don't Say a Word," by Andrew Klavan, is an unpleasant book about a trio of perverted criminals who kidnap a little girl for strange reasons of their own.

Dr. Nathan Conrad, a successful psychiatrist, lives in a luxurious Manhattan apartment building with his beautiful wife, Agatha, and his five-year-old daughter, Jessie. He has a new patient, an angelic-looking young woman named Elizabeth, who is accused of murder. Suddenly, Nathan's life is turned upside down. His child is taken from her bed in the middle of the night. What are the kidnappers after? Do they want money or do they want something else?

There is no mystery as to who the perpetrators are. Klavan spends a great deal of time familiarizing the reader with the revolting individuals who revel in torturing both adults and children. That is one of the main problems with this book. The scenes in which these characters are depicted masturbating, cursing, and torturing others are absolutely disgusting. I have read many thrillers featuring sadistic criminals, but few authors dwell at length on the perversions of these individuals.

"Don't Say a Word" fails as a suspense novel. The reader can see where the story is heading long before the end of the novel. The plot is incredibly melodramatic and completely unrealistic; the ending is way over the top.

"Don't Say a Word" doesn't work as a thriller and the repulsive scenes featuring the twisted minds of the criminals make it a book well worth avoiding.

This is a highly entertaining page-turner that had me hooked from the opening line. The plot isn't overly original - a prominent psychologist's daughter is kidnapped by a trio of degenerate thugs who threaten to kill the girl if the psychologist doesn't do what they want. What they want is a piece of information, a number, from one of the doctor's patients, and they are convinced he's the only one who can get it from her.

This is a well-plotted novel that is hard to put down. The pacing is relentless. I also liked that the author created a protagonist who is a little flawed (for example, he has inappropriate sexual fantasies about his young patient) and killers who are not exactly criminal masterminds. (Stupid criminals are almost always more entertaining than smart ones). Overall the writing is solid, in some instances reminiscent of Steven King (notably the extensive use of 'italicized internal dialogue').

One unconventional aspect to this novel is that there are times when scenes happen `off the page'. One of the bad guys for example is taken into custody and the reader only learns of this `after the fact'. This narrative technique is used multiple times in the novel and in most cases works quite effectively. It reinforces the element of the `ticking time-clock' and isolation that drive the story. So many things are happening simultaneously in the novel and, in a world before cell phones, the characters are often functioning in isolation, unaware of what is occurring `off the page'.

As entertaining as I found this novel, I have to admit that some of the plot points are pretty implausible and there are elements of the novel that are painfully melodramatic. A strong warning is also necessary to advise `sensitive readers' that parts of this novel are disturbing. The killer/kidnappers in Don't Say a Word are especially perverse and sadistic and some of their behaviour is so repugnant that some readers may find they can't enjoy the novel.

This is the second novel I've read by Klavan and I've enjoyed them both. The other novel, True Crime, is a great read (even better than this one). Don't Say a Word was made into a movie with Michael Douglas (which I haven't seen). Interestingly, the famous tag line for the film ads ("I'll Never Tell") isn't in the book.

This book got my attention really good even though I was impatient on books where I always stop after ten or so pages.
One thing that caught my attention was that in many of these suspence-mystery novels, the 'bad guys,' in this case will be the kidnappers, is not obvious or even evident in the book. In this book the author shows and tells you who the kidnappers are, what they are trying to do and what they want. This technique of the author indeed makes the story exciting - You already know what the kidnappers next step is, now you wait to see how the 'kidnapped' react.

First of all - don't watch the movie. It really butchered the book, changing its core elements into something quite different and less interesting.
This book is the closest you get to Hitchcock, without watching the movies. The main character is an ordinary man, who is face with the order: "We have your daughter, we are watching you, do as we tell you and don't say a word, or we'll kill her".
Thus he is sent on a task he doesn't understand, and he is trying to deduce the wereabouts of his daughter and the mystery of the number the villains are trying to get out of his patient in a mental hospital.
The pace of the novel is superb, and the language is perfect for this kind of book. This is really the kind of book to keep you through the night.
The situation the characters are put in is really your worst nightmare - when the violence shatters your cozy little world, and you have to fight for everything you hold dear.
This book is equal to "Marathon Man" by William Goldman, shame it didn't manage to get as good movie version as that novel.

I enjoyed this book because it was clever with good plot twists and pretty interesting characters, especially the character Elizabeth Burrows. I did think that they could have made it where you didn't know who the kidnappers were, but in a way you didn't, if you read the story and see what I mean. This book was better than most and worth reading.

I bought this book after seeing the movie. Of course, that can sometimes be a big mistake. However, knowing that the book is usually different from the movie, I kept an open mind as I began to read the prologue. After that, there was just no putting the book down. I couldn't wait to find out what happens next!
Psychiatrist Nathan Conrad has a flourishing practice, a gorgeous wife, and a beautiful daughter. He considers himself a bit run-down, but is happy with his life. Until he meets Elizabeth Burrows and his happy life is turned upside down. Elizabeth is a patient placed in a city-run psychiatric hospital. She has committed a brutal murder and Nathan is called by a colleague who seeks to discover whether she is fit to stand trial for the crime. As Elizabeth begins to trust Dr. Conrad, someone else takes notice. A man called Sport has a large stake in the doctor-patient relationship. If Elizabeth trusts Dr. Conrad enough, she might tell him everything, including the number that can make Sport a very rich man. How will he ensure that this comes about? ... What follows is a fast-paced suspenseful journey to discover the number that Elizabeth has locked in her head.
I really enjoyed reading this book, but gave it three stars because some of the graphic language in the novel turned me off a bit. If you are a fan of the movie, you may be a bit disappointed as the book goes on a completely different tangent. The premise is the same: psychiatric patient has a number that the bad guy needs, so he steals the psychiatrist's daughter to ensure his cooperation. However, the rest of the novel is almost completely different. No matter! The book is a great read! You won't be able to put it down!

Ask yourself what you want of this book. If its an entertaining, reasonably suspenseful timekiller you seek, then this is a great choice. It's an old book experiencing a (slight) renaissance due to the release of the Michael Douglas movie. I would rather pick my own eyes out with a grapefruit spoon than see that movie but the book is the source and introduces a flawed psychiatrist and his small family and then subjects them to psychotics of every stripe. As a parent, I feel compelled to warn adults with children in the house that the novel preys on basic child-kidnapping fears. But you already know that, don't you? The ending is a bit pat and the improbable seems to trump the likely at every turn. Even so, it's a nice little romp, sort of thriller lite. It is particularly effective in its compression of time and its varied perspectives. If you've ever wondered about the mind of a psychopath, Klavan will gladly oblige you a peek.

Don't miss this one. All the characters are full dimensional and the main cop is a winner. I was reading so fast in order to find out how this would all end that I had to go back and re-read the final chapter! To show how much I like this author, I scoured the book racks for other of his works and bought two. So far I have passed this one on to a lot of people in hopes this author gets read. BUY THIS BOOK!

that I enjoyed by Andrew Klavan, I first read "Don't Say a Word" in 1992. With the 2001 movie starring Michael Douglas (probably good in the role, although I don't equate him physically with Nathan Conrad), I decided to revisit the book I once enjoyed before I see the movie (probably on DVD when it comes out). I was not disappointed. Klavan writes a suspenseful tale, but also tells the story of a very old-fashioned modern day marriage between Conrad and his admirable wife Agatha, a romance that is disrupted when his young daughter is kidnapped.

Central to the suspense is the tie in to a new patient of Conrad's, Elizabeth Burrows. The mystery encompasses her relationship to the kidnappers, who are observing the Conrad's from the apartment across the way, while pretending they have hidden a camera and microphones in the Conrad apartment.

Klavan uses an interesting author's palette, telling the story by the use of various points of view for various chapters, weaving the story as viewed by Conrad, Agatha, Elizabeth, and the head of the kidnapping gang, a cruel man known as "Sport".

The book is hard to put down, because your expectation is not of a happy ending. Klavan focuses more on events and dialogue than he does on character motivation and development, which makes for a brisk, page-turner of a suspense novel.

Klavan is an interesting author, formerly a journalist, of many suspense novels, and this, one of his oldest, is also one of his best.

Enjoy!