Customer Reviews

Every Step You Take

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

 

 

I had high hopes for this novel when I saw that my favorite author, Harlan Coben, found it to be "a powerhouse of a thriller". His recommendation was all I needed to pick up the book. However, after reading "Every Step You Take", all I can say is that Coben may be a brilliant author, but when it comes to reviewing novels, he is far too generous.

This novel was not worth the work it took to read. There were so many subplots mixed in that all I was left with was a flurry of inconsequential characters to muddle through. Although the character of murderer B.B. Lebeau had the potential to be fascinating, the author never fully developed this.

This novel continuously hinted at there being more to its plot, but never reached its potential. The ending was especially unsatisfactory, as it was implausible and even ridiculous. Motives given for crimes committed were weak and absurd.

This novel was, unfortunately, a letdown.

I have read 5 of Judith Kelman's books so far, and enjoyed every one. This one was particularly gripping. HOWEVER, every ending so far has been ridiculous. I have come to realize that this author always leaves loose ends hanging, and always has an ending that doesn't make sense. However, I am still happy to read her books - the enjoyment I get for 95% of the book more than compensates for the weak endings.

The only good thing that I can say about "Every Step You Take," the new thriller by Judith Kelman, is that the author had the germ of a good idea at the beginning of the novel. The heroine, Claire Barrow, becomes a widow after her police officer husband, Noah, apparently takes his life. It seems that Noah was despondent after being accused of witness tampering and obstructing justice while investigating an important case involving a vicious serial killer.

Claire's life subsequently goes from bad to worse. Her teenaged stepdaughter, Rainey, becomes increasingly rebellious, and Claire, who is under contract to write a new novel, gets a new editor who resembles Attila the Hun. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, Kelman is not content to explore the themes of Noah's death, Claire's struggle to be a competent single parent, and her efforts to write a new novel. The author brings in a host of other plotlines, including one about a scraggly dog that Claire takes in, another about the theft of Claire's identity, still another about a club of forensic experts who are looking into the same murders that Noah had been investigating, another about a disreputable boyfriend of Claire's stepdaughter, and yet another about an aunt who tries to civilize Rainey.

This book becomes increasingly busy until it reaches an ending that is so outlandish that it left me scratching my head in bewilderment. I have nothing against surprise endings, as long as they flow logically from previous events. That is not the case here. "Every Step You Take" loses its way after a promising beginning and never recovers.

Please tell me the major plot line for this book is actually in this book somewhere! I'm on page 158 and they have hardly mentioned it! And people keep getting murdered but no one mentions it afterwards! "Oh,theres money missing from my account? Oh well its the weekend I'll take care of it later!" Everyone assumes the bad guy is the cause of all evil, no exploration of who else may be at fault,or who or why. I don't know about anyone else but I personally like suspense/murder/mystery books that actually talk about the people who are murdered and try to figure out why. I would throw this book away if I hadn't paid full price for it. I would never read this author again and I know this only half way thru the book! Please tell me the rest of this book explains all the quirks of the characters I don't even care about! Please tell me they talk about the murders and explore other options instead of just going in one direction.

Claire Barrow is trying to please her demanding editor with a new book proposal, so she details her own chaotic life. She is constantly battling with her stepdaughter and trying to stem the theft of her credit accounts while learning to live with the grief of being a new widow whose husband suicided. All a good premise for a gripping novel... Lots of potentially fascinating characters appear and just as quickly disappear, never to be heard of again. The villain of the piece is so evil and deranged that NO court in any land would release him under any circumstances and the ending reads as if an enthusiastic 10 year old wrote the final scene of a pantomime. I just can't understand why such a usually good writer went beserk!

I love reading suspense thrillers but after ten pages, knew that this book was dreadful. I continued to read, hoping that the book would improve. It didn't. Please don't make the same mistake. This book is an experience of suspense writing at its worst. Sloppy plotting. No research. Gross technical blunders. Numerous subplots and subcharacters, mostly unconnected, irrelevant, no sense of reality.

The plot is built around an egregious assumption: an obviously guilty mass murderer is released from deathrow on a technicality. I described the circumstances to my husband who works on death penalty cases - - under no circumstances could the situation depicted in the book occur. The plot line is insulting to the reader's intelligence and is an affront to the legal sytem. For example, can anyone really believe that double jeopardy could prevent a retrial or that DNA evidence can not be retested? The whole premise was ludicrous!

Also, identity theft was an important theme in the book - again, the plot was fraught with inaccuracies and false information (I'm a banker and aware of financial regulations and banking policies).

There were many odd semi-plot lines throughout the book, none of which added value to the storyline or reached a satisfactory conclusion. There was an expert at hand-writing analysis who had an eating disorder and called everyone by first and last name (I kept wondering why). He can predict a person's weight within 5 pounds by looking at their writing (I bet!). Then there was a criminal psychologist with threatening clientelle and an evil ex-wife who makes things difficult with the kids - a fire starts in his apartment but we never find out who started it or whether it was relevant. We also find out that the psychologist falls for a gorgeous FBI agent but that's the last we hear on that. So why even mention it?

The last ten pages of this book were a relief because an end was in sight. It was consistent with the rest of the book: totally unbelievable. It seemed as if the author knew that she just needed to end this terrible, implausable mess. It's a shame that the author's editor didn't provide more guidance, but perhaps the editor realized that it was beyond any sense of credibility.

This is the first book that I have read by this authort and I enjoyed it. I would read another book by this author.

The characters and plot are good and believable. You start pulling for the heroine Claire Barrow.

Mystery readers will enjoy this book.

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

Kelman writes well. Too bad she wasted her talent on absurd plot twists, annoying psychotic characters and a ridiculous ending. I started speedreading halfway through just to see how it ended, and even that was a waste of my time.

This is a thriller in the grand tradition. Twists, turns and endless surprises. Kelman knows how to hook a reader from the first page and keep it coming.

This is the first and last book by this author I have read. This is without a doubt the worst book I have read in years and I read a lot. While the premise of identity theft is both interesting and contemporary, the execution is awful. Filled with trite phrases, pointless wordiness, and characters without character, Every Step You Take is simply a painful and unrewarding read. Pick a book at random and you are practically guaranteed to be better off. How Kelman became a bestselling author and winner of some sort of award is incomprehensible. Pass...Pass...Pass..