Customer Reviews

Gideon

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

A great thriller, that keeps you guessing. I'm looking forward to "Russell Andrews" writing more books. I'm usually a Tom Clancy / Dale Brown reader, and this was every bit as good as anything by those two. The characters have a wonderful depth, and even though you know who the bad guys are early on, it still keeps you guessing until the end. Straight into my top 5 all time books. Good work Peter Gethers and David Handler, or should I say Russell?

The other reviews tell you what it's about so I won't bother. Instead I'll just say buy it, you won't regret it.

Carl Granville is the writer hired to take the pages of an old diary and turn them into bestselling fiction. The identity of Gideon is a secret and all the names and locations in the diary are blacked out...Granville will be fed bits of information as the novel progresses. The deeper Carl becomes involved with this project, the closer he gets to danger, resulting in several deaths, information being stolen and his apartment ransacked.

With Carl the main suspect in the murders, he must run for his life to prove his innocence and bring together the secrets and identity of Gideon. His race will bring him to need the help of ex-girlfiend, journalist, Amanda, and together the two will discover a chilling, cover-up.

"Gideon" is so fast-paced, you will be likely to finish it in one sitting. The novel does not give much information until the end, and what an ending it is! You will be guessing from the first page all the way to the end.

Russell Andrews has written a novel that teases you with plot twists, and intricately twists and turns them to the shocking climax.

A great summer read.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

It's been a while since I've read a straight out thriller, and I didn't regret reading this one. To be honest, I'm the kind of reader who tends to "lurch" through books...read 50 pages, set book down for a few days, read another 50, etc. Gideon had me turning the pages and coming back every day until I finished it, so I must say that I found it engrossing.

The plot had some good twists but wasn't so complicated that I needed 3x5 cards to figure out what was going on. There were a few memorable characters, good villians, decent hero...if a bit stereotypical. Good action, high body count. Overall, I think most people would find it very entertaining.

One other opinion...the identity of the Closer was laughable. Still makes me chuckle when I think about it.

Remember when Robert Redford's character in Three Days of the Condor struggled to understand why all of his colleagues were assassinated? All he could explain was he "just read books". Well, Carl Granville was hired to write a book about GIDEON. Little did he know anyone connected with him or the book would also be systematically eliminated as with Redford's character. This is a fast-moving, heart-wrenching, politically explosive ride that has this reader seeing John Cusack (Pushing Tin, Con Air, Grosse Pointe Blank)as Carl Granville and Tammy Lauren (ex-Ginger of t.v.'s Homefront and Walker: Texas Ranger) as Amanda Mays. Somewhere between the power and greed one has to know the difference between right and wrong. As the body count rises, so do the stakes. All because of ONE secret. (Actually, there are a few more stunners as well!) And these two are more than up to the challenge. In this day and age of computer technology and information databases, these two use every bit of high-tech equipment, common sense, a good bottle of hair dye and a savvy computer hacker/friend with an attitude to stay alive. There are a many twists and turns through this story and some truths more shocking than others. There is a conclusion this roller coaster ride. Yet one wonders of all the untold stories out there, how many more Gideons will never know justice or be able to rest in peace? I, personally, want to see Carl Granville and Amanda Mays get back to what they do best, investigative reporting! Maybe they right a few more wrongs after resting up at Big Willie's! :-)

P.S. There is a mistake between Page 268 - 270. If anyone spots the problem, please e-mail me at: sheshabee@uswest.net or let the author know you spotted the same mistake.

"Gideon" gets off to a good start, quickly paced and roller coaster fast. The reader's interest is speedily engaged in the "who is this happening to and why?" Somewhere around page 150, the book becomes a chore. The writing and pace become uneven and dead spots occur with more and more frequency.

The collaboration between Peter Gethers and David Handler doesn't seem to gel and become seamless. Sometimes I had the feeling I was reading a rough draft. It is difficult to accept a hero whose nickname is "Granny" and all that word implies. One of the two "deadly" assassins is an overweight, not-to-bright rogue ex-cop whose main concern seems to be furious bigotry. We are expected to believe the richest, most powerful man in the world could do no better in the assassin market than to select this dim bulb. The choice of victims is ludicrous. Those that are truly dangerous to the powerful man's schemes are overlooked in favor of innocents who have only the most tangential connection with the plot. The surprises are telegraphed so far in advance that the only person still in the dark is the hero.

There are curious lapses, as if the fact checker took a holiday. How often can one draw $1000 from one ATM machine? Why is a broken down Subaru with DC plates entirely invisible to police and FBI?

The strongest element of "Gideon" is the following of clues as the hero and his ever-loyal former girl friend get closer and closer to the answers. Their odyssey through the Deep South is well done, particularly a chapter dealing with what has to be the ultimate Elvis Presley fans.

"Gideon" has it moments; there are just not enough of them.

Carl Granville is a struggling New York City-based writer who has just received a most precarious offer. He is contracted by top editor Maggie Peterson to turn the contents of a top-secret diary into an instant work of fiction. She mentions that this is a rush job of the highest order ("the kind of thing we usually save for terrorist attacks, wars, or dead royalty"), and once the secret manuscript is finished, it could literally change the course of history. Carl is not told who the diary belongs to, just that the real owner wishes to remain anonymous and will be known simply as "Gideon". He is instructed to speak to no one about the project (including Maggie who says officially he does not exist) and is not permitted to ask any questions about the confidential information that will be fed to him. In return for his silence, Carl will be paid six-figures and have one million copies of his ghost-written book printed.

Soon after Carl decides to take on the project, Maggie Peterson is murdered, and when he decides to come clean about the Gideon project (in an effort to cooperate with the authorities) he is told that there is no record of him or his project ever existing. That's when more people start dying and Carl becomes the prime suspect in all the murders. The only person he can trust is his ex-girlfriend, journalist Amanda Mays, who has her own doubts about becoming personally involved with Carl again after a rather stormy relationship. Soon they are both thrown into a world of murder, greed and politics as they go underground to catch the real killers before Carl is caught himself.

Interestingly, Russell Andrews is a pseudonym for the writing duo of Peter Gethers and David Handler. Gideon is their first team effort and it is an exciting one. The book serves up an endless series of twists and turns that unravel over an exhausting 8 days. Just when you think you have things figured out, the author(s) throw another curve ball your way. This is a sharp novel will keep you awake and guessing until the very end. I also enjoyed pondering the present day implications of this plot. The truth behind the world shattering secret is all too possible in today's high tech information hungry society.

Four stars because it missed the truly gifted mark ever so slightly...the ending was a bit bland when compared to the roller coaster ride Andrews provides between the covers, and the identity of the "Closer" was not very imaginative. These minor details notwithstanding, this is definitely worth a buy.

Enjoy.

This book amazed me. I have never seen such masterful story telling and such pure junk combined under one cover.

The plot and its execution was wonderful. I was held on the edge right to the unexpected ending. What bothered me, and detracted from the book, was the change in writing. A few chapters of excellence, then without warning, a few chapters that almost caused me to give up my pursuit of the ending. The worst were the phony and stilted computer exchanges, then the editorials and speeches.

Overall, the book is worth reading. The undefined and mystery laden beginning does not unfold into a definite plot until the middle of the book, but it catches and holds the reader non-stop. The slender thread that holds it together starts to thicken and by the time you think you've got things straight... it skillfully yanks you in another direction.

This is a novel that is all too believable in terms of abuse of power, and it peeks into corners that most of us would prefer to overlook. Were it not for the unfortunate sections of junk writing this book would deserve five stars. Well worth the read however, if you can over look those parts that just do not fit.

If you don't know the meaning of "body count", you will find out rather soon when reading this gripping, fast, interesting, well written book.

The story is about a ghost writer who obviously knows too much about a person playing an important role in the society, although he doesn't know his name. Soon, writer Carl is suspected to be the murderer of his editor and his neighbor. On the run, he takes refuge with his ex-girlfriend Amanda. After two more dead bodies they are forced to find the truth about the story Carl was writing. But obviously a killer follows them closely (is that the reason why this guy is called "Closer?").

Finally, they find out what happened in the life of this important person (with some more dead bodies being piled up around them) and return to confront the responsible people with their knowledge. Knowledge is power, and that is known also by a multi-billion media tycoon who plays an important role in the book.

The page-turning style and high speed of this novel keeps you going from the start until the end. This of course makes it possible for you to forget the usual questions which come up when it comes to thrillers: Why don't killers simply shoot their targets but usually try to talk to them or make some "show" (bombs, unusual dresses,...)? The true story about the "popular person" can surely kill a political career, but is it the reason to commit suicide? Why are fired former policemen always fat and sweating? Especially, the murder of the two women at the very beginning is even after the end of the book not fully understandable.

But - excluding the body count which is comparable to typical James Bond movies - the story was really fun to read. The author won't get the Nobel Prize for that, but you can have some entertaining hours with this novel.

"Gideon" seemed to start out a little slow but I feel that was because, in the beginning you do not know who the specific characters are. It is not until later in the book as the story unfolds that you find out about them. The book was so interesting and suspenseful that I couldn't stop reading. When I was finished I went back to the beginning to pull the whole book together. I felt that it was written very well. It is a different form of writing than I am used to but I enjoyed it immensely! "Gideon" is one of those "must read" books. I have been recommending to all my friends.

This is the first time I have read anything by the two authors that wrote "Gideon" and I hope that they are presently working on another one.

First I'll say that once I decided to overlook the errors and try to focus on just enjoying the story, I did just that. The story is kind of compelling, the lead characters kind of likeable.

But had the authors ever ventured into the South themselves, they'd not have characterized it the way they did. They'd know the Coca-cola in the South isn't sweeter, unless you happen to buy it in a Mexican grocery (and there's one on every corner of my little Southern town, actually) because Coca-Cola bottled in Mexico can use real sugar, whereas Coca-Cola in the US has to use HFCS instead because of a dispute with sugar farmers over 20 years ago.

Had they read up on Catholic hierarchy, they'd know that an archbishop is not a "higher-up bishop" but is just bishop over an archdiocese, which covers more area than a regular old diocese. It's not like a better diocese, just bigger.

Lots of cliche writing, starting with the opening sentence. But the writers eventually do flesh out Granny's character well enough to make him likeable, and Amanda grows from being cold and bitchy to more warm-hearted and tender--and the transformations are believable.

If you're looking for a great literary read or a really compelling, exciting thriller, this is not it. But if you need something to kill time in the doctor's office or at the beach, it's perfect.