Customer Reviews

Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Tom & Scott Mysteries)

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

 

 

For years, I have been a faithful reader of Zubro's Tom & Scott mysteries (and still am!), but sadly must agree with the previous reviewer that this one was just not one of Zubro's best. While I do love horror films & have nothing against gore, the level of violence in the novel seemed very out of place and overly jarring for a T & S mystery story (especially when the cute cover makes this look like it's going to be a fun romp). It was difficult to tell one character from another and the storyline was very difficult to follow. Usually character & story development are flushed out very well by Zubro, but, unfortunately, it just seems jumbled & messy in this one. Even the normally enjoyable stabs at humor T & S make at each other seem out of place in this novel with all the grisly killing going on.
Don't get me wrong, I am still a fan of Zubro, and hope his next Tom & Scott installment is up to it's usual high level!

I have been a faithful follower of Tom & Scott series for years.
Days after finishing this latest in the series, I haven't decided if I like it. I like my mysteries to be simple yet challenging enough to leave me guessing to the end and the "whys" to center more on the complexity of relatinships and the human nature. "Everyone's Dead but us" is too convoluted for my liking. It has too many characters. I could hardly follow who is who without having to flip back. The plot is too gruesome, too many mindless and brutal killings, that it seems more like a battle ground. Finally the reason for the murder is just not there, the killers not believable! It is also too wordy towards the end parts, with the killers clarifying their reasons and methods...er would any killer actually spend so much time doing that! Finally I do not favor the idea of so many rich gay men being tagged with rotten personalities, maybe this is just to justify their murders.
Still the plot is fast paced and addictive enough to keep me turning the pages and I always have a weakness for a gay couple playing sleuths. So I will remain a faithful follower but I would rather the writer stick with the past themes of this series.

Scott Carpenter, the openly-gay former baseball star, along with his longtime high school teacher spouse Tom Mason, are vacationing the week after Christmas on the remote Aegean island of Korkasi, site of a little known resort catering to rich gay men. Their "r&r" is broken permanently when, shortly after finding the resort manager shot dead in their room, an explosion in the resort's main building results in several other deaths, at a time when all communication is cut off from the main world due to a massive lightning storm. Tom and Scott try to organize the survivors they find to search the outlying villas, to inform others what happened and perhaps get some clues as to the cause of the explosion, but are soon frustrated by the selfishness and lackadasical attitude of their fellow guests. And, as other shooting victims are found, it becomes apparent that a dangerous killer is at large, perhaps one of their own, putting them all in danger, in a complex tale of greed, stolen art treasures and false identities.

This 11th installment in the "Tom and Scott Mysteries" series by Zubro is a bit different than most, primarily by having taken duo out of their familar suburban Chicago locale, but also in its somewhat activist tone, including numerous digs on the political apathy of many gay men. Although, like all of Zubro's works I have read, it is excellently written with vivid characters and flawless timing, the departure from its usual tone made the book resonate with me a bit less than previous books in the series. Escapist fantasies aside, I also don't think many readers will identify with the uber-rich characters in the story. The exposition chapter at the end also seemed more than a bit forced and disjoined to me. But, otherwise, the book is recommended, especially for fans of the series, and gay mystery lovers of all kinds. Four stars out of five.

These are the problems with the kindle version compared to Hardcover as of April 16, 2011.

All italics and non-standard fonts were replaced by the words "Sex and"

Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 301-2 | Added on Sunday, April 17, 2011, 05:02 PM

thought? He continued prattling. "How can I help you gentlemen? There's probably not much I Sex and do.
========== s/b "can" page 20
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 1605-6 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:27 AM

dusted. I ran my hand over a few of them--a first edition of Sex and by Radcliffe Hall, a signed copy of Sex and I wished I had years to examine this treasure trove
========== s/b "The Well of Loneliness", s/b "The Importance of Being Earnest" page 106
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 1759-60 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:37 AM

Then in Thasos's handwriting on the Post-it note, Sex andSex and
========== "I have seen no such documents" page 116
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 2073-74 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:46 AM

This was too grotesque, too awful. The horse's head in the bed in the Sex and ghastly, yes. This was worse. I
========== s/b "Godfather" page 135
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 2231 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:52 AM

"It's a code. I told you you should have read Sex and It's written backwards."
========== s/b "The Da Vinci Code" page 146
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 2304-5 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:55 AM

I gasped. A Sex and hung directly across from us. We approached it. "This has to be a copy," I said.
========== s/b "Mona Lisa" page 151
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 2320-21 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:55 AM

I held the light up close to the Sex and There was no Plexiglas between me and it as there was in the
========== s/b "Mona Lisa" page 152
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 2367-68 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:56 AM

next to a Sex and A portion of the wall swung back. Scott and I looked inside. Virl Morgan with his head crushed sat in the middle of the floor.
========== s/b "Venus de Milo" page 155
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 2369-71 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 09:56 AM

I said, "This is not good." Movado said, Sex and Scott said, "You can't
========== s/b "Ulp" page 156
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 3026-27 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 01:47 PM

the path rose, was not a path up to dry land. We were in the low middle of a Sex and A new wave was coming. We ran.
========== s/b "W" page 199
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 3549-56 | Added on Monday, April 18, 2011, 06:12 PM

"You don't get it. Your type never understands." "Understanding isn't the problem. When you say `I don't understand,' what you really mean is I disagree with you, and you don't have any logical arguments to present in rebuttal. Or what is it that you think I don't understand?" I'd buy the talking-killer cliché even though, currently, he was the one tied up. "You don't understand the need for action." "Perhaps we have a different definition of action. Mine doesn't include murdering innocent people." "Action can work sometimes." "Why wait until now?" "You're presuming I have waited until now." "You've been out killing rich gay people for years?" "There are more causes than just gay causes." "You've been killing all kinds of people for silly causes for years?"
========== no paragraph breaks, page 235
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 3941 | Added on Sunday, April 17, 2011, 05:44 PM

"No one would notice a Sex and in someone's parlor?"
========== s/b "Mona Lisa" page 258
Everyone's Dead But Us: A Tom & Scott Mystery (Mark Richard Zubro)
- Highlight Loc. 4228-30 | Added on Sunday, April 17, 2011, 05:52 PM

You've seen the headlines?" I held out the Sex and Sex and There were lurid headlines about the island of gay death. "It'll be another excuse for
========== s/b "International Herald Tribune" pages 278-9

I'm returning the book after posting this. If they fix the formatting, I'll repurchase it.

I thought that this was absolutely the WORST of the series!
In fact, it was so BAD that I didn't finish it. After circa 1/2 way through I threw it into the trash. And this was one I had purchased, as opposed to getting it from a library. I will not buy any more of this series!

I've read many books in this series. It's been just plain enjoyable. They're an easy read so you can just relax in the Tom and Scott world for several hours. It reminds me of the same kind of feeling, when I was young, as The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, and others...more intense but really pleasurable!

I guess that Zubro had to write this. Chicago had just about run out of probable scenarios for an couple in trouble. The characters weren't terribly interesting, but I think Zubro doesn't particularly like the A+ list and their "wealthier-than-thou" attitudes. (That's worth 3 stars.) The perfect timings were hokey, but not hokey enough that you just can't stomach the story. I have to admit that one more gotta-save-my-man scene would have ruined it.
Although I like some of the other Tom and Scott mysteries better, this one was a good bed-time read. What a shame that Zubro doesn't teach creative writing, because his pacing and stories are good enough to make a reader care about the protagonist and try to solve the mystery. His writing is better than the other death and sex gay mysteries. The think that I really would love to have read was a better denouement.
I always liked Tom better than Scott. He's the kind of man that I'd love to find at home. I've a feeling that Tom's alter-ego is just as brainy and good-hearted.

After a very public marriage ceremony in which baseball great Scott Carpenter outed himself, he and his spouse Chicago high school teacher Tom Mason go on vacation to the exclusive Aegean island of Korkasi. This island caters to old world rich gays. Current guests include a football star and the son of the pretender to the French throne. After enjoying a sexual episode together, the newlyweds return to their room to be greeted by the murdered corpse of the island's owner.

When the lovers go to report it to security at Port Atrium, an explosion occurs at the castle destroying the edifice and knocking out all communication to the outside. A major tropical storm prevents anyone from sailing off the island at the same time that other vacationers are being killed one at a time. Scott and Tom try to uncover the identity of the killer when they are not hiding from the culprit.

This is a delightful variation on the classic Christie thriller And Then There Was None. Told in the first person from Tom's somewhat frightened yet ironic perspective, the gallows humor eases the tension when events seem overwhelming. There is plenty of action in this exotically atmospheric amateur sleuth story as the honeymooners receive a lot more than they bargained for in Mark Richard Zubro's fine tale.

Harriet Klausner