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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 Stars - Solid Read, August 2, 2008
A mark of a book that has captured my full attention is that I was so engrossed in reading it that I missed my stop while riding the bus which is exactly what happened when I started reading this novel. Intent to Kill seems like such a simple story on the surface. A young wife is killed in a hit and run accident. The perpetrator was never found. Those left behind continue to struggle with the fallout. But what happened on the night that Chelsea James was killed was a lot more complicated than her still-grieving husband or family knows. The strength of this story is that Grippando starts it out simple. We meet Ryan and Chelsea James. We get a glimpse of their happiness (and some of their frustrations) before it is taken away. As the plot reveals the intricacies of what happened, why it happened and why there is a danger in finding out who did it, Grippando continues to present the story in a straightforward fashion so the reader doesn't get lost in fancy imagery or overdone emotions. Because of that simplicity, the reader gets to know Ryan, Babes, Emma, Rachel, Paul, and Chelsea in a way that is easy to relate to. I understood them and their motivations behind what they do. Even though there is a compelling mystery that needs to be solved, the mystery didn't overtake the characters which can sometimes happen in these types of novels. The characters and the plot worked hand in hand. Besides good characterizations, the mystery and its unraveling is well done. I honestly did not know who the culprit was until it was revealed and when it was revealed, the pieces all came together. If there is a flaw in the novel, I would say that it is in some of the popculture references used for description. At one point, a female character's hair is described as "Debra Messing hair". That was distracting because I had to stop and think of who Debra Messing was. Not having been a fan of "Will&Grace", it took me a few moments to put a fix on her. So again, that quirk of Grippando's was distracting. But that's a minor thing because overall, the novel was a very enjoyable read and I can recommend it to anyone who wants a decent mystery/thriller populated with characters that are likable and real.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"A truth that's told with bad intent beats all the lies that you can invent." William Blake, November 15, 2010
With "Intent to Kill," James Grippando delivers a stand alone thriller. Star minor league baseball player, Ryan James, gets the word that his wife, Chelsea, and daughter, Ainsley, have been in an auto accident. He rushes to the hospital only to be crushed by the news that Chelsea has died on the operating table. The story's setting in Pawtuket, Rhode Island and Boston. With the story, the reader is given a glimse life in minor league baseball and the ball player's dream of reaching the big leagues. Three years pass. Ryan's depression and insomnia have led to his release from baseball. He is raising Ainsley on his own and works as a morning radio show host on a sports show. We see Ryan's early days of hope and happiness dashed to sorrow and guilt, since Chelsea was on her way to see his game when the accident occurred. Emma Carlyle is a prosecuting attorney in Providence and had worked on Chelsea's case. On the third anniversary of the accident Emma finds a note on her car. There is a newspaper article about the accident and with it, the sender states, "I know who did it." The case moves forward and we learn more of Chelsea's younger brother, Babes, a childlike person suffering from Aspergers Disorder. He has trouble relating to people due to his affliction. Complications occur when Babes goes missing and Emma believes that he may be the source of the message on her car and a later email. The author is very talented and the pacing of the story is done to perfection. Just when the reader has a feeling of knowing where the story is headed, things change into an entirely new and interesting direction. The characters of Emma, Babes and Ryan are enoyable and the reader is drawn to their story. What will become of them? Will Ryan find happiness again? I think that readers will enjoy this story and learn of the dreams that people have, how those dreams can fall apart but more importantly, being strong and with continued hope, dreams can again come true.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Inaccuracies and plot holes - 2.5 stars, June 29, 2009
In my opinion, most popular mystery/thriller books tend to be just average. Few writers in this genre are particularly gifted in writing or characterization, but tend to excel in plotting. In other words, the writer compels the reader's attention with the facts of the story rather than the characters and writing. Typical of this genre, Intent to Kill won't win any writing awards. The characters are flat, and the dialogue is tired and filled with cliches. The plot gives the book its entertainment value, and I have to admit that I wanted to find out what was going to happen. Unfortunately, Intent to Kill contains some distracting inaccuracies and fairly big plot holes. As another reviewer noted, Grippando doesn't explain why this one-car accident is considered a crime until about halfway through the book. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why a prosecutor spent so much time agonizing over an unsolved accident, and how anyone had determined it was a homicide. The information that made this fact obvious was withheld from the family of the victim, so why was that family so obsessed with finding a "killer" when there was no smoking gun to their knowledge? Ultimately, the resolution of the novel is unsatisfying. The author really has to stretch the fabric of the tale to make the red herring he throws out work with the truth that is finally revealed. Another red herring is so obviously ridiculous that it's laughable to see the police take it seriously for most of the novel. My greatest issue with the novel is the portrayal of Babes, the younger brother of the woman who died in the car crash. He is portrayed as having Asperger's Syndrome, but his dialogue and behavior don't fit with the behavior of someone with Asperger's. The major symptom of Asperger's is social awkwardness - an inability to make normal eye contact, to participate in the normal give-and-take of a conversation, and to respond appropriately to social cues. Some of the things that are SAID about Babes show that Grippando did his research. For example, the characters talk about how Babes laughed at his sister's funeral, and his doctor notes that his writing contains overly formal words. In fact, people with Asperger's speak and write with very formal language rather than slang and colloquialisms. The problem with Babes is that he doesn't behave or speak like someone with Aspergers. Babes's dialogue makes him look either like someone with a more severe form of autism or someone who is mildly retarded. If Grippando actually spent time speaking with or spending time with someone with Asperger's, he could have done a much better job with Babes. For that matter, if he had read John Elder Robison's excellent memoir, Look Me in the Eye, he would have learned quite a bit about the way someone with Asperger's syndrome thinks and behaves in the world. The other annoying thing is all the textbook diagnostic exposition Babes's mother spouts about Asperger's Syndrome. This was a lazy way for a writer to get the information across. Why not have Babes act like someone with Asperger's so you don't have to tell the reader what it is? And nobody I know (and I have more than one friend with an Asperger's child) refers to it as "A.S." as Mrs. Townsend does in the book. Grippando does some other lazy writer tricks too, like having a character look in the mirror so you know what she looks like. I don't really expect much skill in a genre writer, since they tend to write the same kind of book over and over, but I would expect more accuracy on a topic that is so intrinsic to the plot of the book).
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