Customer Reviews

The Dying Game

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

 

 

The latest victim of the "Beauty Queen Killer," has been discovered, this time alive, and hopes to catch the culprit are raised as the FBI and a special private investigative team race to identify her attacker before she succumbs to her injuries. The BQK has stalked former beauty queens throughout the southeast the last five years in an apparent game of murder, which they discover when the victim manages to tell them that she was worth 20 points due to her red hair. PI Lindsey McAllister has been in on the investigation since the beginning; she was a detective in the case of the first victim, Jennifer Walker. Along the way she managed to fall in with Jennifer's grieving husband, who wants nothing more than to find solace in alcohol and wallow in his misfortune.

When she is summoned by her boss Griffin Powell (who has appeared as a minor character in many of Barton's thrillers) to bring Judd Walker in on the case, Lindsey's checkered and painful history with Judd must be dealt with head on, just as Judd needs to finally reach out for help. But he BQK is not done, in fact, he is escalating as his five year anniversary of death nears.

Though graphic in some parts, particularly the gruesome methods that the killers employ, the story was riveting from cover to cover as the FBI and Powell's detective agency race to unmask and find the motivation of the killers. As always, Griff steals the show and makes for a very charismatic lead. Lindsey and Judd were not as charismatic as her other pairings, but this was more a thriller than a typical romance novel. Barton has cleverly only given small clues to Griff's past, making readers hungry for his story (which won't be out until 2008). One aspect I could have lived without is the ESP and other paranormal activity attributed to Dr. Meng; I hate this overused and trite plot device (and Barton seems to employ it a lot). If you can stomach the cruelty of the BQK, check this one out!

A serial killer is on the loose and his victims are all former beauty queens who are found mutilated and with a single rose placed by or on their body. Lindsay McAllister knows the killer's pattern all too well. A former police officer in Chattanooga, Tennessee (now a private investigator), her first contact with the brutal killer was when the beautiful young wife of attorney Judd Walker went out one evening to sell a house, and lost her life instead.

When the killer strikes again, Lindsay must put aside her feelings about Judd and convince him to leave his ever-deepening grief to help solve the case. The murderer is picking up speed and leaving an ever-increasing number of dead women behind. If Lindsay isn't careful, her idea to solve the murders just might mean she will become a victim herself.

The Dying Game is an interesting twist on the usual serial killer thriller and I didn't see the twist coming. The plot is unique and the characters are to be loved, hated, feared or pitied. At times I felt that the story bogged down in extraneous detail, but overall, this is a novel worth reading.

Armchair Interviews says: If you like thrillers, The Dying Game will keep you turning the pages.

Beverly Barton usually delivers, but she lost me with The Dying Game. The lead characters are pathetic, needy, and unlikable. By the end of the book, I didn't care what happened to them. The only reason you should read this book is to get the background set up on Grif and Nic. Now there's a pair I'm looking forward to reading more about. Grif and Nic outshine the lead couple so much so that I found myself skimming parts just to get to Grif and Nic's interactions. Grif is really overbearing, but I have a feeling Nic is going to knock him down a peg or two in the next book in the series. The story line in The Dyine Game will keep you interested but you'll definitely get tired of the lead couple. Guaranteed! Treat this book as a prequel to the "real" story that's coming in Febuary, 2008.

I never thought I would be writing a bad review for a Beverly Barton book. She has been one of my favorite authors for yrs. But the main characters in this book are overbearing, whiny, inept, selfish, and stupid. The secondary characters have the integrity, loyalty and character you expect from the main characters. I was disappointed and mad by the time I finished this book. This is like a prequel for her next book which I hope will be better, and also give me the closure I need to the story.

Lindsey Macallister is a whiny, stupid little girl with out an ounce of sense. She constantly asks to be slapped and I simply couldn't stand her. She is our romantic lead.

Judd Walker is an alcoholic who has wallowed in his wife's murder for four yrs. His wife sounds like a bitch and I don't believe they would be married now if she hadn't died. According to the book they had nothing in common. Both he and Griffin Powell, his PI buddy, are millionaire playboys as well as friends.

Griffin Powell runs an Investigative Force and they make the FBI look like inept boys. OR should I say girls, the lead agent of the FBI is Nicole Baxter who has a chip on her shoulder so big I wonder how she walks.

There are enough characters and violence to sadisfy anyone. But the people are not people you would like. At least I didn't. By the end I was just disgusted and if the secondary characters are to be leads in the next book maybe it will be better.

Also one of my main complaints is the fact the blurb on the back sounds like a good book unfortuantely that is not the one we have.

I did not like this book and I encourage you to wait for the next one. It cannot possibly be as bad as this one. There were no redeeming qualities in these main characters.

The characters are annoying, unlikable and stereotypical. I was skimming through the pages at the end of the book. Not a good sign. There are also some blatant author errors, like a pregnancy where the birth is 10 months away, and a major clue thrown to this brilliant detective agency and the FBI that went completely unnoticed. If you're into the 70-80's style of romance writing that makes the guy a jerk and the girl an idiot, then this is the book for you.

I was so looking forward to this book when she gave us a preview in her last novel but the entire book read like a prologue for her next book. The hero was a drunk and a bully and the herine was a [...] push over. I am however looking for to the next book with Nic Baxter and Griffin Powell. They have great chemistry and I found myself skipping over Lindsey and Judd parts of the book just to get to more of Nic and Gif. Their book will be out in Feb 2008.

I am a huge Beverly Barton fan and I was so looking forward to reading the Dying Game. I've never thought I would give Ms. Barton a bad review, but the Dying Game is disappointing. Lindsey is the most whiny, pushover, weakest, "heroine" in romantic suspense history. I wanted to slap her every time she showed up in the novel. She and Judd had zero chemistry and I found it unbelievable that those two belong together. Like some of the other reviewers, I found myself skimming past the Lindsey and Judd bad soap opera storyline to get to the rest of the story. I do like Griff and Nic Baxter and I am looking forward to their story. Hopefully Ms. Barton redeems herself with her next novel.

I bought this book before I read the previous reviews or I probably wouldn't have bought it. After reading 'The Dying Game', I find that I'm not in agreement with those reviews. While it was a bit too graphic for my tastes, the desire to see these sick murderers brought to justice drove me to read on. This is not a romance novel so I don't understand why the previous reviewers hated the main characters in the book. Judd was fighting his own demons and not the typical romantic male lead that overcomes adversity easily. Lindsay loved him enough to help him fight those demons even though her assistance was not initially appreciated by Judd.

I loved the ending and also look forward to the next book but thought this was worth the read for its own story and not just for the introduction to the next book.

I've tried to figure out who disgusted me most in this book, Judd or Lindsay and it's too close to call.

When Jenny Walker is murdered and her hands cut off, Lindsay McKenna is the first detective on the scene. She witnesses Judd arriving and holding his dead wife in his arms while pouring out his grief. She supposedly falls in love with him right then. She even quit her job and took one at the Powell Agency so she could be near, and help, Judd.

Judd was a self-pitying, obnoxious, entitled, arrogant, mean drunk. If I'd heard one more "my Jenny" from Judd I would have screamed. He and "his Jenny" seemed to have had nothing in common except that they looked good together. They didn't like to do the same things so Judd always caved and did what she wanted. Jenny was constantly flirting with other men in front of Judd and had dated both Griff and Cam before she "honored" Judd by selecting him. Judd used Lindsay as his whipping post, abused her, used her love against her and she kept coming back for more

Lindsay was pathetic, whiny, and masochistic, following Judd around like an adoring puppy for FOUR YEARS. For all that time she makes no secret, to anyone, how much she loves him, even though he's treated her with complete contempt from the beginning. Six months earlier when making one of her visits to "poor Judd" at his hunting lodge, he nearly rapes her, shoves her out of bed, laughs at her and tells her when he "screws" her he'll be pretending she's Jenny just like he has with all the other women since Jenny's death. He constantly hurt and humiliated her in public and out but she kept making excuses for him. Lindsay had no self respect, no pride, no dignity and continues to make a complete fool of herself for the entire book. She's an embarrassment to women. I rolled my eyes so many times it's a wonder they're not stuck to the back of my head.

Griff is no prince either. He's an arrogant, chauvinist user who thinks his money entitles him to anything, legal or illegal. I liked him in other books but not crazy about him in this one.

Why did I give this a three instead of a two? The plot was unique and riveting. I liked the characters of Sanders and Nic. Hopefully Griff will improve in the next book and Judd & Lindsay will be nowhere around!

This was the first Beverly Barton book I ever read. I picked it up in my desperate attempt to find an author as good as Sandra Brown (been an S.B. fan for years and am nearing the end of reading all of her books). Barton is yet another mistake in my quest to find a Brown substitute. Like so many female authors on the bestsellers lists, she simply cannot write. She has decent ideas, but no skill in executing them.

Barton is one of those "redundant for the sake of redundancy" authors who reiterates one phrase three times because she somehow thinks that makes the writing more stylish. You know: "She wanted to make love to him, go to bed with him, have sex with him". And let's not get into how many times she repeats information such as when the BQ murders began ("almost four years ago"!), when Jenny was killed, etc. as if after the 500th time, the reader can't remember these details. She repeats this information at least 3 times per chapter. The heroine, Lindsay, is a disgrace to the female sex. A pathetic, needy, masochistic, whiny excuse for a woman who "loves" the abusive Judd Walker so unconditionally, she actually forgives him (and still wants him!) after he tried to rape her. Thanks, Barton, for setting women back about a hundred years before feminism.

Barton introduces too many secondary characters (mostly agents) who contribute nothing to the plot and have no substance as characters, serving only to crowd up the pages with useless names. I don't understand why she chooses to skim over information that is essential to the plot like developments over the past 4 years of the BQK case, in regards to the case itself, the agents' involvements and how it relates to L&J's relationship, as well as to Griff's and Nic's. In doing so, she makes things that happen in the present seem far too random and improperly set up, such as the bitchy Nic Baxter's rivalry with Griff. Out of the blue and unexplained. We are simply supposed to accept that they hate each other for no reason, or rather Nic hates Griff though no reason is provided. If there are two types off female characters I can't stand, caricatures that untalented writers always resort to, it's the spineless doormat and the bitchy ball-buster. Neither emulates a realistic, believable woman and lo and behold! Both stereotypes are found in this book.

Apparently, the Griff and Nic relationship will be developed in the sequel (and this book really is nothing but a set-up for The Murder Game, so don't bother reading it). I just finished said sequel, as a way to give Barton a second chance to prove herself, but she failed. She is a terrible writer who lacks original style and has absolutely no skill in basic creative writing elements such as proper pacing, set-up, exposition and plot/character development.