Customer Reviews

Hot Ticket

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Author Janice Weber is definitely a talented writer. As narrated through her heroine, Leslie Frost, "Hot Ticket" provides a steady stream of sharp, sardonic prose, interlaced with vivid descriptions of Belizean jungles and Washingtonian power balls. Unfortunately, Weber's skills as a writer are far greater than her skills as a novelist, and therein lies the problem with this overlong book. After playing a recital in the White House, violinist/superspy Leslie Frost discovers the nude corpse of a sister secret agent in a Watergate apartment. Her search for the killer takes her back and forth between Washington and Belize, and involves her with a bizarre cast of characters: randy President Bobby Marvel (resembling---guess who?); his wicked witch of a wife (resembling---guess who?); dikey White House aide Vicky Chickering; ambitious Senator Aurilla Perle; a fabulously wealthy, brilliant, overweight power broker/pianist named Fausto Kiss---the list is practically endless, as are the plots and subplots: Who infected the Vice President with a dengue virus? Where is the Vice President's brother? Will Frost be able to keep the pawing Bobby Marvel (and his double!) at bay? How deeply will Frost become involved with the aforesaid Fausto Kiss? And on and on. Shakespeare also did this sort of thing, but without loss of tempo. Here, however, the story becomes unfocused as Frost deals with these cardboard caricatures. The most intriguing subplot in the novel----the mutual seduction of Frost and Kiss----is about as slow and verbose as an Eric Rohmer movie, and culminates in something less than the Clintonian definition of sex. The only thing that kept me going to the end of "Hot Ticket" was Weber's witty writing. Along the way, however, it was too easy to forget where the story had come from, too hard to remember where it was headed.

This book is witty and full of great humor. It is half parody, half serious... about a narcissistic maestro violinist who is also an expert spy. The story goes fast, and with Smith's wisecracks and sarcastic sense of humor it will leave you laughing aloud. Leslie Frost, aka Smith, is the perfect, smart heroine for the intensely serious espionage world.

I totally enjoyed this romp through the salons of Washington and the jungles of South America. Very timely topic, considering the horror currently occupying the White House. This book is perfect for a rainy weekend, a day on the beach or just an escape!

I had a hard time believing in the authenticity of this character,whose love life is ridiculously hard to keep up with. She reminds me of people who are reckless in their pursuit of love, and I'm wondering if the author is being somewhat autobiographical.

Maybe I liked this book so much because I'm a musician -- well, I admit it: an over-the-hill ex-musician. Leslie Frost, the heroine of this book, is a world-class violinist, the widow of a European orchestra conductor, beautiful, athletic, intellectually brilliant, and an international spy! Much of the action takes place in *my* familiar ground of Washington, D.C. Leslie is pursued by the President (a hilarious cartoon of a person who has the brains of a bush and the concupiscience of a cigar-wielder of our experience); she has a stone hideout near Rock Creek and the National Zoo; she is a natural athlete. She meets a super-rich dude who is also a topnotch pianist, and as things unfold, she ends up with the money but not the marital duties. SHE gets pleasured, though. The plot doesn't have to be perfect to make me happy (and it isn't -- those who complain about the Belize segments are justified). This book is a laugh, a comic book, a hoot! Ladies, this is the James Bond life as lived by . . . .US! Not some man's fantasy of superwomanhood, a WOMAN's fantasy of superwomanhood! Go for it!

I don't know about you, but I often get a feeling about the credibility of a novel when I am told the characters' names. Here are some of the people you will meet in J. Weber's Hot Ticket: Fausto Kiss, Krikor Tunalian, Tanqueray Tougaw. Saying Hi to these folks made my heart sink. Am I going to have some serious difficulty in suspending disbelief? Yup.

I was one of JWs biggest fans up until the moment I opened this book. Our protagonist Leslie Frost, concert violinist and secret agent, is assigned the task of solving the Washington D.C. murder of another beautiful, female agent. We meet a lecherous president, and his ambitious wife - at least this is believable - plus a variety of other Washington insiders who all seem a bit strange even for Capital dwellers. Leslie becomes closely attached to Fausto Kiss, a big person around town - big in physical size as well as being influential.

Aside from the strange characters, and the "what's this all about" story, I had problems with the plot mechanics. For a significant part of the book Leslie does no sleuthing, evidently thinking that if she hangs around Fausto long enough someone will spontaneously present her with evidence. Then when she wants to locate someone to interrogate she calls her boss, Maxine, in Germany, and has her locate the desired person. Maxine calls back the next day with the desired information. Wow, what a detective is our Miss Frost. For diversion she makes two trips to Belize. How believable is this? She travels at night to a hidden camp by walking across two jungle mountains in pitch darkness, arriving at dawn the next morning. I live in a rural area without streetlights, and can't even see my house at night when I stand twenty feet away from it.

The humor falls flat; the metaphors and similes are strained; the story drags - although near the end there is an interesting murder with a most unusual weapon. Don't read this book, but do read Janice Weber's other books.

I don't know about you, but I often get a feeling about the credibility of a novel when I am told the characters' names. Here are some of the people you will meet in J. Weber's Hot Ticket: Fausto Kiss, Krikor Tunalian, Tanqueray Tougaw. Saying Hi to these folks made my heart sink. Am I going to have some serious difficulty in suspending disbelief? Yup.

I was one of JWs biggest fans up until the moment I opened this book. Our protagonist Leslie Frost, concert violinist and secret agent, is assigned the task of solving the Washington D.C. murder of another beautiful, female agent. We meet a lecherous president, and his ambitious wife - at least this is believable - plus a variety of other Washington insiders who all seem a bit strange even for Capital dwellers. Leslie becomes closely attached to Fausto Kiss, a big person around town - big in physical size as well as being influential.

Aside from the strange characters, and the "what's this all about" story, I had problems with the plot mechanics. For a significant part of the book Leslie does no sleuthing, evidently thinking that if she hangs around Fausto long enough someone will spontaneously present her with evidence. Then when she wants to locate someone to interrogate she calls her boss, Maxine, in Germany, and has her locate the desired person. Maxine calls back the next day with the desired information. Wow, what a detective is our Miss Frost. For diversion she makes two trips to Belize. How believable is this? She travels at night to a hidden camp by walking across two jungle mountains in pitch darkness, arriving at dawn the next morning. I live in a rural area without streetlights, and can't even see my house at night when I stand twenty feet away from it.

The humor falls flat; the metaphors and similes are strained; the story drags - although near the end there is an interesting murder with a most unusual weapon. Don't read this book, but do read Janice Weber's other books.

It has been almost ten years since concert pianist Leslie Frost began working as a secret agent under the auspices of Maxine, not so affectionately dubbed the "Queen" by her employees. Leslie's latest tour, starting in Munich, has been delayed as she is assigned to investigate the murder of a peer, Polly Mason, better known to Leslie as Agent Barnard. Maxine knows that Polly had shared a bath with the lecherous President Marvel, who only lives up to his surname when he chases after skirts.

As Leslie seeks out the identity of a murderer, she constantly runs into the DC stereotype of the government official whose only mission is either advancement or being reelected. The trail soon leads to Belize and back to the White House. As she gets closer to the truth, Leslie needs to be extremely cautious because the killer has no compunctions of eliminating a second member of Queen Maxine's crack group.

The fifth novel in the Leslie Frost "I Spy" series is a well-written thriller that will provide pleasure to the sub-genre fans, but sadly lands in the category of should-haves (novels that should have been a classic, but ...). The story line is loaded and the characters are engaging. However, HOT TICKET never makes up its mind as to whether its wants to be an espionage thriller or a political satire on the current DC head games (pun intended). In spite of that flaw, which takes little away from a fine novel, Janice Weber's tale is worth reading as Frost remains an interesting protagonist. Her previous exploits (see FROST THE FIDDLER) as a secret agent are also worth perusing.

Harriet Klausner