Customer Reviews

Keeper of the Keys

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I've read all the books in the Nina Reilly series and they were really enjoyable but this stand alone attempt is pretty bad. The writing is long winded and convoluted, the story does not play out well and by the end you realize it doesn't make a bit of sense. I truly hope they go back to the style of writing they are used to and get off this path quickly. This book was a real disappointment.

I won't even go bore you with the storyline of this novel, because that might make it sound interesting and the absolute last thing I want to accomplish in this review it to give you any inclination to read this book. To put it eloquently, it sucked--though not hard enough or long enough to be worth even a good laugh. Don't waste your precious time on it. The whole thing is gratingly cliché. Plow as you will through the miry cast of annoyingly trite characters and mediocre prose in order to ultimately discover the big twist you are so obviously set up for, the big surprise will leave you so thoroughly unsatisfied you just might have to take a cold shower.

I am a Perri O'Shaughnessy fan and eagerly look forward to each new book. However, I must say this book was a complete and total disappointment. The storyline is confusing and completely uninteresting. There is nothing about this story that keeps the reader's attention. I am trying to finish this book but at page 230, it's so boring and dry, I don't think I can keep going.

I highly recommend the Nina Reilly series but unfortunately, this book is no where the calibur of writing exhibited in that series.

I really like all of Perri O'Shaughnessy's books. The Nina Reilly character is a really well fleshed-out character. Unfortunately, none of the characters in this book are ; whether it be Ray Jackson, his wife Leigh, or her childhood friend Kat. I started this book twice and finally muddled through it. It's a horrible story, with a confusing plot and no real crime. I'm thankful at least that I didn't spend any money on it and borrowed it instead from the Library. Skip this book and pick up any of the Nina Reilly series.

I have every book that Perri O'Shaughnessy has written and have enjoyed them all--until this one. Sorry ladies.

I found this story too slow moving and weird. A man's wife leaves him after an argument and is missing for several days. Instead of looking for her or enlisting the aid of the police, friends, and family, (he has strange priorites) he uses old keys (please people, if you buy a new house, get the locks changed)to break into houses where he use to live--he is looking for clues to his past as his mother won't tell him anything about his deceased father and why they so often moved.

I am a great fan of these writers. That alone is why I purchased this book, however, I hope this isn't the only new direction they are taking, if it is I am afraid they just lost a big fan. I am sure they want to write something different than Nina novels but if they do they need to write on at least the Nina level!

Characters and storyline were dull, the best part was the area of the country the book centered on.I only completed the book because I bought it and felt I owed it to the ladies to see what else they write. I know they worked hard at it.

I do look forward, as I always do, to the next book by P.O'S.. However,if the preview doesn't include Nina,the reading of 2 dull books in a row (including "Sinister Shorts") will have seriously damped my interest in these writers.

Unfortunately, not this author's best effort. Muddled plot; gave up two-thirds of the way into the book.

Who's got a secret? According to author Perri O`Shaughnessy we all have secrets. And, at times, these are not just ordinary secrets such as, a black sheep in the family, credit card debt, or something like that. These secrets can be so dark and hidden so deeply that we are not even aware of them. Such is the case with architect Ray Jackson, protagonist in O'Shaughnessy's latest thriller Keeper of the Keys.

Ray's wife, Leigh, has disappeared. He doesn't know where and he doesn't know why. Perhaps most importantly, he doesn't even know whether she is alive or dead. It's strange that he doesn't seem too upset about his missing spouse. Yet, Ray is an odd duck who obsesses about an unhappy childhood and the fact that he and his mother had to move frequently. As an adult and an architect he is now building houses like the ones he lived in as a child.

He stays close to his mother, Esme, but she offers very little information about his father or his childhood. She will only say that his father was a difficult man and he deserted them when Ray was two . A dutiful son, Ray goes to her home to have dinner with her once a week, and she frets that he is so persistent about digging into his past.

This issue is forced when Leigh disappears and he is confronted by her friend Kathleen, called Kat, who accuses Ray of having something to do with Leigh's disappearance. When the police enter the picture with probing questions he takes a set of keys that he has had since boyhood and revisits the houses he once lived in. What Ray eventually discovers is not at all what he hoped to find.

Dick Hill, dubbed a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and

actress Laural Merlington partner on this narration, which is a twofold treat for listeners. Both are gifted voice performers who did double duty as directors of this audio edition.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

I loved all of the books in the Nina Reilly series but this book was a huge disappointment. The premise is wierd to start with, and the characters so utterly boring that I found this book a chore to read. I wished that I had never bought this one!

I have never written a review about a book before, but this one was so bad I felt compelled to help others avoid the mistake of buying it as I did...too bad I didn't read the other reviews first myself.

It seemed disjointed and repetitive (perhaps a problem with having two authors??). There were lots of cliches and a lot of bad writing that sounded like a horny teenage boy came up with it. I like to be given a little credit as a reader, and not have the author repeat the same thing over and over again, as if I couldn't pick up on it the first or second or third time. But I lost track of how many times the book mentioned the traffic in LA, or the burnt, ugly landscape. The characters weren't very interesting or likable, and I found myself not caring what happened to any of them.

I had decided not to even finish it because it seemed like a waste of time, but I kept reading thinking it would get better, and I wanted to give the book a chance. I had guessed the ending long before I got to the last pages, and it seemed to be the culmination of a bad story that only got published because the authors had managed some halfway decent books in the past. This is the kind of book that makes me not want to read another mystery again. It was my first O'Shaughnessy book...and my last.