Customer Reviews

Jake & Mimi: A Novel

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

 

 

It's a surprise others have been so generous towards this book. Usually, I'm the one to be positive when a book has let me down but I honestly can't recommend this. The story is marketed as a 9 1/2 week thriller but it missed it's marked.

The first mistake is noted in other reviews...poor character development. Jake's character is tolerable if Mimi's wasn't so weak. You never get the feeling as to what makes her tick or motivates her to the voyeristic behavior she increasingly displays. Just when you think the book could salvage itself (by having Jake & Mimi get together and finding out the results) it doesn't happen. The ending was such a yawner that I barely registered the words. By that point, I just wanted to finish the book.

I don't like wasting my time and money to be disappointed when it could have been so promising.

While eagerly awaiting the delivery of my latest book order, I picked up this "gem" at the grocery store. I want my money back. In a word--or two--it stunk.

Okay, if you're looking to get your rocks off on some very overly-descriptive, dragging, and dark sexual content, there's plenty of it here. Not much "thriller" content. More like a horny writer writing down his creepy fantasies, adding some filler content, and calling it a novel.

The characters are totally contrived, unappealing, and actually pretty darn annoying. Jake, the S&M/CPA playing his vengeful sex games with women to "take away" from them and compensate for his first teenaged sex fling that coincided with the death of his parents. Mimi, the naive, pure, bride-to-be, who becomes a regular voyeur/silent partner to his dalliances. (If she said "please" one more time, I was ready to scream). And the stable of female victims (portrayed as sexually frustrated idiots) who willingly give themselves to a stranger without so much as a second glance. And lastly, the client/ghoul who stalks and preys on these woman, judges as "impure", then causes them to disappear. It was just ridiculous.

The POV of each character (all in the first person) is confusing and adds to the annoying aspects of this story.

The ending was completely anticlimatic, with a feeble attempt at symbolism that fell flat and left me even more annoyed that I'd wasted [money] on this.

Save yourself some money. If you want a decent psychothriller, try Nicci French. If you want literary S&M porn, go buy an S&M mag. But save yourself the [money]. It's like bad, overpriced fast food--heartburn with headache included.

Jake is an effortless seducer. He can have any woman in less time than it takes another man to watch a movie. His conquests get more screaming orgasms out of him in an hour than they will with their husbands or lovers in a lifetime. Jake has torture down to a silken art form - his women don't just have sex with him, they totally submit...and love it.

Mimi works at the same financial firm Jake just got hired onto. She's less than a month from marrying the man she's gone steady with for six years. In a single moment, she's seen in Jake's eyes the power he has over women, and he's sensed her vulnerability - and need. Jake invites her to watch one or two of his overnight conquests, just so she knows what she's getting into. Mimi's weakening. Because she wants to. She can't believe how skilled Jake is. He's to die for.

Problem is, before it's all over, someone will.

This is a very clever, extremely well-written erotic thriller - with the emphasis on "erotic." It's been called a cross between 9-1/2 Weeks and Silence of the Lambs, though it's actually more reminiscent of David Lindsey's Mercy and some of Anne Rice's or Laurell K. Hamilton's works. The story is pretty straightforward, and Hitchcockian - very voyeuristic, and suspenseful. What elevates it - again, like Hitchcock - is the author's style, employing multiple first-person viewpoints to craftily play with the reader's perceptions.

The only real flaw with this book is that it takes a little too long to really get cooking - aside from the sex, that is. But that's a minor flaw, for the ultimate satisfaction.

This was a pretty good book, which could've been a great book if the characters had been fleshed out (no pun intended). Jake's a master of seduction, yet we're never told how or where he's been trained or what kind of training? Kama sutra or tantra - inquiring readers want to know.

Mimi's character was really underdeveloped. Considering what she's risking readers should know what motivates her. The author misses opportunities to draw us deeper into Mimi and Jake's minds. I wanted to feel the passion that rules Jake and the desire that has Mimi risking her fiancé. Mr. Baldwin gets high marks for all else, especially his handling of the scenes between Jake and the ladies. They were arousing without being explicit or uncomfortable (for me).

Unfortunately the ending just didn't hit my spot, it left me unsatisfied, unlike the women who'd been with Jake! More detail and development next time!

I obtained an advance copy of this book a few months ago, and read it because it sounded like an engaging, trashy novel. Well, it's not very engaging...the female characters are all gorgeous bodies for Jake to manipulate, and the sex scenes are overblown and not really believable...as is the dutiful explanation of why Jake treats women the way he does. Mimi is a boring, stereotyped character--hesitant about marrying her fiance because the sex isn't so great...thus begins the voyeuristic relationship Mimi and Jake that somehow isn't very believable. And the mystery stalker that is watching Mimi just seems to be a diversion so the novel can actually go somewhere. This book is better as a TV script for Ally McBeal or something...

Although it got better as it went along... I was quite surprised. Be warned this is NOT for the young. I go through books like crazy and picked this up because I thought it was going to be a muder/mystery type. None of that happened until the last pages. Meet Jake. Jake makes all the ladies heads turn... and then some. At first you think he is a physco. His life revolves around sex. Enter Mimi. A classier type woman he is attracted to. Mimi is engaged to be married but her sex life is lacking. So Jake lets her watch how he suduces women. Mimi sits in closets spying while extremely aroused. This drags on and on, with drawn out chapters of how Jake suduces different women and Mimi hides and watches. How Jake nearly tortures women into pleasure. Makes you wonder if thats all the writer Frank Baldwin thinks about, there is over kill here. There are added, non essential chapters, bits and pieces of Jakes life, how he lost his parents, how he bartendered at too young an age for his WW II vet grandfather and war buddies of old, that you discover later have nothing at all to do with the story line. Just filler. Then finally you get to a semi interesting story, literally at the last pages. Women Jake has suduced turn up missing. When finally Mimi, who now wants a part of Jake herself and is ready to give into him, goes missing too. Without giving too much away, there is always a hero in the end.
There are much better reads out there, this was more of an erotic romance novel, that sappy stuff I hate. But this was grossly sexual, more than the classic "knight in shining armor" romance. It barly kicks into any gear until literally the last 2-3 short chapters and you can figure it all out for yourself. There are a very slight few creative twists, but it truly isnt worth weeding through for. I say skip it, or if you have nothing else to read and you can borrow it off of someone, give it a shot, but dont waste your money on it, thats for sure.

I guess you could call Jake & Mimi an erotic thriller. The book is certainly erotic-- the sex scenes go on for pages and pages. As for the thriller part, that is not so successful. It is like dressing up a hooker in a business suit. There is insufficient psychological depth to adequately explain the motivations of the characters, which is not helped by the fact that the identity of the villain comes out of left field. The use of multiple narrators is sometimes confusing, and the author would have us believe that Jake can instantly make any woman fall for him and submit to his kinky games. The villain is seemingly omniscient and is able to move about undetected like the invisible man, making him look like he stepped out of a 1930s pulp story. The author also gets sloppy at times, having us believe, for instance, that prominent women can disappear without the media (or anyone, for that matter) taking much notice. The rating is somewhat of a compromise, as I would give it 5 stars for eroticism and 1 star for its thriller elements. Had I not known the publisher beforehand, I would have guessed it was Masquerade or Blue Moon or one of the half-dozen others that publish quality erotica.

This book is horrible. I must admit i only got 1/2 way thru, and HAD to quit reading it, it is so bad. It is a like the movie 9-1/2 weeks, but instead of 1 Kim Basinger character, there are many. So, it is about the many conquests of this one guy. But it is so fantastical and the women are so weak and stupid, it is agonizing. There are SO many other quality books out there, don't even bother w/ this one.

The title of of my review was basically my reaction when I flipped the last page only to find out that it REALLY was the end. So what happens between Jake and Mimi? I suppose the story leads you to believe that they "end" up together but the ending doesn't give much of an indication. I'm just glad I didn't have to spend $$$ to read this.

Dark erotic thrillers are scarce these days, which is why I'd looked forward to reading Jake and Mimi. What a big disappointment! I couldn't agree more with the critic that said that this erotic thriller is neither erotic nor thrilling. Jake and Mimi is about a successful career woman (Mimi) who is considering having an affair with her co-worker (Jake). She is engaged to be married, but her relationship lacks a sense of danger and adventure. Jake promises rough, BDSM sex -- something that both scares and thrills Mimi. But little does she know that her life is at stake. Someone doesn't want her near Jake, and things take a spin toward bizarre...

I forced myself to finish this novel. I admit that I almost gave up on it. I couldn't get into it. The author goes around in circles too much. The sexual descriptions, especially the ones that illustrate Mimi's voyeuristic tendencies, are borderline ridiculous and the overall story is too contrived to be believable. I didn't care what happened to the protagonist by the time I reached the last few pages. As said earlier, this novel is neither erotic nor thrilling. Jake and Mimi is one of the most lackluster thrillers I've read. I suggest you skip this and read Topping from Below by Laura Reese or Three by Julie Hilden instead.