Customer Reviews

Evening News, The

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I wish I could give a better rating. This is by far one of the worst thrillers I have ever read. The story is predictable, plot too simple, characters too powerful. Imagine resuing someone of the huge jungle of Cuba. It took only a chat and a map to locate the hostages.

This is my first Hailey book and probably my last.

Perhaps Hailey is overrated.

Okay, I guess I'm spoiled. I became an Arthur Hailey reader beginning with "Airport" and then doubled back to "Hotel", "Final Diagnosis" and "In High Places". This one's got a good premise--TV network news. An iconic anchorman and the veteran field reporter who's looming in his rear view mirror. Along with various other players, the way Hailey's always done it, never totally focusing on the big stars. The bad guys are a narcoterrorist group, which may seem dated given that America's current bete noir is based in religious extremism. It would be easy to forget Medellin and the Shining Path given the pervasiveness of the word "jihad". Also dated in the sense that no terrorism incident had yet struck America itself when this story was written. But one other thing occurred to me on re-reading this book. Whenever the TV Guide website hasn't gotten any data yet from the networks about whether a particular episode is first-run or a rerun, they'll say "a procedural drama which yadda yadda...". Which I guess outs me--I'm not into sitcoms, those doofy "reality" shows, "American Idol", whatever--I'm into cop shows, doc shows, lawyer shows. But the point is that TV has given us a generic term for fiction based on professions. Translate that concept into book fiction, that means the legal drama of Grisham and Patterson, the police drama of Wambaugh and Caunitz, the medical drama of Robin Cook. But Arthur Hailey has predated them all without having been a cop like Wambaugh or Caunitz, a lawyer like Grisham or Patterson or a physician like Cook. Which might very well make him the father of modern procedural fiction.

Well if you like Sidney Sheldon, you might be in the range of just liking it-but with a difference. You know what to expect when you pick up Sidney Sheldon - there's an entertainment value at the least. This is one of the worst books I've ever read. The book is highly predictable, when author first tells you story and then what follows is an investigation of what has already been told to you. You can't put the book down - simply because you won't like taking it up. This was my first Arthur Hailey book and boy, I swear this will be my last. Its bad to judge author from one book, but impressions lasts longer especially when you feel you wasted your time by reading a book that claims to be a best seller

This book brings out the behind-the-scene stories of the network news industry. It vividly describes the fast-pace, intense life of a news person. It also reveals the exposure and danger of being a popular anchor person. However, this book has its share of let-downs. For example, the bad guys are meticulous but they are uncharacteristically careless when they did not clean up their hideout before leaving. The ending is uncommon - not one that you will find in a Hollywood movie - the bad guy did not die, the good guy did. On the flip side, this is the reality, bad guys don't always die.

This book kept me up till 7am and I completed the first 2/3 of it in one go (Then I had to get some sleep..). It describes the TV news networks very well, down to the detail of how the technical side works, and at the same time the story keeps you spellbound till the last word.

It is the first book I have read by Arthur Hailey, but it sure won't be the last!

Anything Arthur Hailey has written I have enjoyed. He takes the time to make sure of the topic he is presenting and he presents information as well as an outstanding novel. This type of work is almost unique in my experience and I am grateful to him for writing in this manner. The research is superb and he weaves it into the plot so well you are unaware of the the effort which lies behind it.

A good read.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

El secuestro de la familia de un famoso presentador de la televisón norteamericana en Nueva York y su posterior traslado a la selva peruana por los esbirros de Sendero Luminoso desencadena una actividad frenética en la cadena de televisión CBA de rastreo, investigación, búsqueda y difusión de cada una de las pistas que van a descubriendo los periodistas, presentadores, realizadores y técnicos de dicha cadena y presentando sus descubrimientos en primicia en sus noticieros.
A través de la trama, nos sumergimos en el mundillo del periodismo de investigación, las técnicas de edición y presentación de los noticieros así como los entramados e intereses de las transnacionales que controlan los medios de difusión masivas en el mundo globalizado y el filón económico que pueden sacar con las noticias sobre secuestros y terrorismo a escala mundial.

As a media student, I enjoyed Arthur Hailey's observations of the news broadcasting media, and technical stuff that most people would find boring kept me interested. It was detailed and insightful and I could sympathise with the news people's hectic lifestyles and split decision-makings. But when it came to the action...ah. I simply cannot swallow why Harry Partridge would imagine that he is better equipped to save prisoners from a Peruvian jungle than the FBI or CIA, nor why the FBI seemed so clueless. News people are news people, when did they become action heroes and superhumans? The entire action at the end was centred around Partridge and his team, and the FBI was non-existent!

And I felt the criticism of Les Chippingham was not deserved; he had plenty of reasons for acting the way he did, and he was given a lot of stress from above. But what bugged me most was the ending: WHY would Hailey want to end it that way? Was there any reason to kill the person he did? Not really, just to add more drama. Which he definitely accomplished. 'The Evening News' is an interesting book packed full of action that is enjoyable though unrealistic.

This one is very likely Hailey's worst book. In fact, in my opinion, it stank. The plot is formulaic, and Hailey, as he has tended to do over the past 20 years, mistakes overpessimism for profundity. But I digress.

In "The Evening News" we are supposed to believe that the electronic news media functions as a form of superagency that can and does outperform the FBI and CIA while simultaneously acting at a level above that of the government. What nonsense. The whole plot is permeated with this tripe.

I will give Hailey credit for keeping the book moving. Although this book had little to say, it at least says it at a brisk pace that makes for a quick, if unsatisfying, read.

A mediocre book from a writer capable of much better.

Published in 1990 the novel is old but it is still timely especially since it deals with an international terrorist kidnapping. And it is definitely a page turner.