Customer Reviews

L. A. Dead (Stone Barrington Series)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

I have read all of Stuart Woods' previous books -- and loved many of them; however, the latest "Stone" novel is the worst book I think I have ever read. It has a reasonable plot, but very shallow characterization, poorly written dialogue, and contrived situations to create conflict between Stone and his lady friends. The author does little to make you like the characters, even the main character. Sad to say, I know Mr. Woods can do better. (Note to author: What happened, Mr. Woods? I am very disappointed and may not continue to read your work. However, I doubt that you would care -- the little note from you at the end of the novel certainly puts your readers in their places.)

I've read every one of Stuart Woods' books. Some of the stuff he did early on was pretty good, and "Palindrome" was brilliant. His recent books were spotty, but interesting. This one is downright awful.

The "hero"--Stone-Lunkhead-Barrington--runs into all kinds of beautiful women who just want to sleep with him. Yeah, right. Since he's no bright light, it doesn't say a lot for these ladies. The plot is stupid, all about a murdered lothario movie star. Who killed him? Who cares? And the writing stinks. Every so often a character faces Our Hero and Woods has him "turn to Stone." Could it get worse? You betcha.

Woods' other books are saved by a twist ending, a "gotcha" that you wouldn't expect. Nothing like that here. Woods is clearly treading water, and time spent with this book is time wasted.

Popular fiction doesn't need to be great literature, but Woods is clearly spreading himself too thin. He could learn something from some of his contemporaries. Sue Grafton took herself off of the yearly grind before her books got stale, so she can craft them a little more carefully. And Nelson DeMille can leave you hanging from one book to the next because the ride is so good that you don't need a satisfactory resolution. What happens to Stone next? Who cares? Instead of the next Stone adventure I'll just buy a book about what happens when paint dries.

I just started reading Stuart Woods about six months ago and I think he is a great writer. I especially like his novels that includes his main protaganist, Stone Barrington. I have been looking forward to L.A. Dead for months. I think this novel was one of the best novels that Stuart has wrote. Stone Barrington is in Italy getting ready for his marriage to Dolce, the daughter of a rich Mafia man. At the last minute before he gets married, he gets a call from the police in Los Angeles, saying that Vance Calder, Arrington's new husband, has been murdered and that Arrington is the main suspect. (If you don't know who Arrington is at all, then you need to start with the earlier Stone Barringon novels or you will be confused!) Stone dashes out of Italy and arrives in Los Angeles. Stone along with Dino Bachetti, his old partner and friend, must prove that Arrington is innocent and discover who the killer is before someone else dies. The only problem is that Dolce, Stone's fiance, is incredibly mad at Stone and she even gets a little violent. One of the things that will shock the readers is the ENDING! You will be in shock. I'm looking forward to Mr. Woods' next novel coming in the future.

This is the third Woods novel I have read, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first two. LA Dead misses the mark badly. It is almost as if the author is too caught up in painting the Hollywood jet set that he forgot there is supposed to be at least some mystery and suspense. This novel has niether of these attributes. The characterizations are overdone. I cannot recall an appealing female in the plot. The "non-ending" is a perfect fit for this most imperfect novel.

Normally one of my favorite authors and my favorite series, I found this book to be pretty bad. The dialog was shallow (do we need to hear his telephone calls word for word, including details of him identifying himself and leaving word on how to reach him?), the characters even shallower (are there *any* women in this book besides Mary Ann who don't walk around buck naked and throw themselves at Stone?). Even the main characters were pretty unlikeable this time around -- doesn't Stone have anything else to do but boink everyone in sight? Doesn't Dino have a job to do in NY? Why is a mob boss so easy on Stone for dumping his princess daughter? Why isn't Arrington at least grieving for a husband she certainly didn't dislike? Why would Mary Ann invite her sister to dinner knowing the circumstances?...

I really was disappointed. Is Mr. Woods going through male menapause? I know he can do much better than this, glad I got it from the library and didn't spend good money on it.

Stuart Woods has written some very good novels. Chiefs, his first, may even be great. Several of the stories in the continuing story of the Lee family of Meriwether County have been quite good. Palindrome was as fine a mystery-thriller as one could ask for. His Stone Barrington stories, the latest of which is L. S. Dead, have steadily declined. The series recounts the adventures of a New York homicide cop turned lawyer named Stone Barrington. His recurring lady love is Arrington Carter. The tone of their relationship was set when (in Wood's Dirt) upon being introduced Arrington quipped that she could never marry Barrington. Well, she didn't, although they have had a continuing relationship. Stone planned to propose while they were on a Carribean sailing vacation (Dead in the Water), but Arrington did not come, and ended up married to a movie star. In L. A. Dead Arrington's husband is found murdered and Arrington is the prime suspect. When Stone receives her call for help, he drops everything. The problem is that he is in Venice, has just finished the civil wedding ceremony and is about to head to the cathedral for the church ceremony. His almost-wife is not pleased that he must interrupt marrying her to head for Los Angeles to see about his former girl friend. Her father, an organized crime kingpin, is much more understanding. The jilted Dolce (who is not very sweet - Woods does have fun with naming his characters) pursues Stone and insists that she is Mrs. Barrington. Stone does get involved in the murder investigation, gets involved with movie stars, gets reinvolved with Arrington, and works on becoming uninvolved with Dolce. The ending resolves some things and leaves more options for continuing the series. I would rather see Woods work more on the Lee family, introduced in Chiefs. Those stories have been more interesting and less adolescent. Woods is a skillful writer, and L. A. Dead is a good way to kill a long wait at the airport or otherwise passing time. The reader who does not expect much will not be disappointed.

This is my fifth Stuart Woods book, and it was dreadful. His characters are horribly drawn, and don't even remotely resemble what they were in earlier books. The character of Arrington went from an interesting woman, to a horrible cliche of one. For a woman who supposedly respected her husband, I don't think there was one mention of ahh gee....my husband is dead. The other women were written very badly too, and Stone seems to have turned into a male version of a skank. Men can be sluts, and for someone who is supposed to have a measure of integrity, Stone seems to have lost his. The minor story in the book is the murder and mystery. It was treated as a sub plot to the horrible depiction of the characters.

Don't buy this book. There are better and more realistic books about the movie industry out there.

This is the first Stone Barrington novel I've heard by Robert Lawrence; the others were read by Tony Roberts. So for those of us listening to audiobooks, we get to rate the story itself AND it's telling. I find the story to be just 'light reading', or what my book group calls beach trash; mindless, a little mystery, a little sex, a no-brainer. Other Stone Barrington stories have had more depth. Also, Robert Lawrence reads in a flat tone of voice without any real enthusiasm. He sounds as if he's reading a textbook. Tony Roberts reads with much more life.

I recommend Joe Mantegna reading Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" novels, and Tony Roberts reading the Stone Barrington series.

Save your time, money and patience. This may be the worst book I have read since the equally monotonous, predictable Stone Barrington novel "The Short Forever". Wow, this one stinks. Like others, I put up with the shallow characters, ludicrous dialogue and endless parade of showers, boobs and guns to figure out whodunit. Unfortunately, this book had an ambiguous ending that seeks to be clever but is instead is just stupid. Who on earth did kill Vance? And come to think of it, who gives a damn? I don't what women did to Stuart Woods but he sure seems to hold them in complete contempt. Every female character, save for Isabel the maid, felt compelled to practically rape our handsome hero. Each is flawless and gorgeous but also all are dumb, vacuous, self-centered and thoroughly unlikeable - hey a couple are even truly psychotic! The only normal female character who spared Stone, Mary Ann, unfortunately has a room temperature IQ. I am hardly a prude, but I lost count of how many women either Vance or Stone made love to in the course of one short novel and felt the need to take a long hot shower to rid myself of the feelings of filth. Mr. Woods either lives in a world of complete ignorance or the reading public is a lot less discriminating than I thought.