FULL CRY [Paperback]

Rita Mae Brown (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (2003)
• ASIN: B000OVSNR2
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of the Sister Jane novels-Outfoxed, Hotspur, Full Cry, The Hunt Ball, The Hounds and the Fury, The Tell-Tale Horse, and Hounded to Death-as well as the Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries and Rubyfruit Jungle, In Her Day, Six of One, and The Sand Castle, among many others. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars whoops, November 19, 2003

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Full Cry (Hardcover)

So who got fired at the publishers for making such a huge mistake with the book's blurb? I assume that shortly after she began writing Rita Mae Brown fell in love with her intended victim and decided to spare him. I fell for the character too and was very glad that she did. Apparently someone at the publishers didn't get the message and wrote up a blurb with the orginial plotline. Oh well.

Now for the book itself. I love the character of Sister Arnold. I love the interplay between her and her pack and the flawed, maddening and fascinating souls in the hunt club but this was NOT the best book in the series. I'd say that honor belongs to Hotspur. I'm happy that Brown managed the trick of making black characters behave like humans and not stereotypes and I'm glad Sister found some love in her life, I'm even gladder that the I wasn't treated to a long love scene. I really didn't want a full blown description of how Janie Arnold gets her groove back but the relationship with her new love interest didn't seem natural. What was it about this man that made him more appealing that all the other men in Sister's life? I never saw it.

Here's what I didn't like: The animals didn't get their due. All of their conversations and scenes were too short.
One major character who we've come to love to hate does not get his comeupance. I felt let down.
The victims weren't interesting. In Outfoxed, the victim is a fascinating individual who almost deserves what happens. In Hotspur you care passionately about Nola and Guy though they've been dead 20 years by the time the story gets going. In Full Cry I didn't care about the victims. They are just "off camera" throw away characters. It was as if Brown was in a hurry and just wanted to get the murder over with.
In both Hotspur and Outfoxed the killer is interesting and in Hotspur, sympathetic. In Full Cry the killer is drab.

I was thrilled by Hotspur and Outfoxed so this half hearted effort was really a disappointment. I hope that Rita Mae Brown will do another Sister book. I want this series to get back on its feet.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Read, September 29, 2004

By 

K. Koesler (Tx USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Full Cry (Hardcover)

With _Full Cry_ Ms Brown has recaptured the feel and intrigue of her first in the series, _Outfoxed_.
However, I will have to say that whomever wrote the editorial review/back flap copy didn't bother to read the book. Sam Lorrilard isn't the murder victim or a Harvard allum, He's a dried out alcaholic horse trainer. The victim isn't stabbed, he's poisoned. Sister doesn't announce her new Joint Master at the New Year's Hunt, it's done at the regular meeting, and nothing is said at all about dishonest goings on in another hunt club. It has nothing to do with the real plot of the book which is about 3 drunks being murdered, and Sister finding herself a beau in the handsom Grey Lorrilard, a black tax lawyer. An intriguing installment in the Jefferson Hunt soap opera. If you like _Outfoxed_ and _Hotspur_ you will enjoy _Full Cry_.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars only for foxers, January 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Full Cry (Hardcover)

First I have to admit to a Rita Mae Brown bias; I love her work. However, this is just not up to par. The story, not really a mystery, barely a novel, goes off on far too many side excursions with fox hunt stories, hunt clothes, brand names to buy, hoof care for horses, etc. etc. A real yawn if you aren't a "Master" of the hunt.
As usual, Brown manages to work in a few things to annoy everyone (a fact that usually has me chuckling); i.e., animals are superior to people, biracial sexual encounters between senior citizens, her characters opinions on some people just being 'born bad'etc.)
Her editor was asleep a the wheel this time. With about 100 less pages this could have been a good book, As is, Brown's fans will be disappointed. Best advice: If you (like me) MUST read anything she writes, borrow it - don't buy. Save your money for saddle soap.