Customer Reviews

The Legacy

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I dont really like Stephen Frey but decided to give this book a chance because the plot sounded interesting. BIG MISTAKE. Frey totally botched this one. How come all of his characters have to be gorgeous? The man has no range as a writer. I got about 150 pages into this book and ended up tearing it apart page by page in a fit of rage at my stupidity for believing Frey could put out anything that might actually be interesting and thoughtful.

All right, I've had it. I have officially had it. I have had it with Stephen Frey's repugnant dialogue, cliched characters, implausible plots, and refusal to research anything outside the financial world. All of which come into play in his latest offering, The Legacy. We are asked to believe so many ridiculous events and characters that it ultimately becomes far too much for Frey to ask of his readers. Even Frey's always interesting description of the high-pressure enviroment of a Wall Street trading company isn't enough to save this one.

What a terrific first two chapters!! How did the rest of the book go downhill -- or was it nowhere?-- so quickly? I'm a fan of all Frey's other books but I was majorly disappointed with "The Legacy." For the first time, I didn't find too much sympathetic about the flawed hero; the female characters are still cardboard; and DAMN IT! The entire chase around the tape was built around vague, neverly fully defined or explained motives. If you read this book thinking you're really going to get an interesting "what if" tale about the JFK assassination, forget it. Go read all twenty-some volumes of the Warren Report, they'll be just as gripping. On the other hand, if you thought John Grisham's "Pelican Brief" was a terrific book you'll be sure to like "The Legacy." Please try again, Mr. Frey, I really enjoyed your other work.

With the writing of this book Stephen Frey mamaged to write an
interesting book about the Kennedy assassination.The central
character in this book Cole Egan is a bond trader who is on the brink of financial ruin.He has a mortage that is too big for him to pay and he owes the Mafia a small fortune in gambling debts.His father Jim Egan leaves him a surprise inheritance.It is a key to a safe deposit box.Inside the safe deposit box is a videotape of the Kennedy assassinationThis tape proves that a
second gunman was involcved in the assassination.
Suddenly everyone is after the tape and Cole's life at the same time.The D.I.A.(Defense Intelligence Agency) has a plan
called Operation Snowfall that is reenacted to prevent the tape from being made public.This group is headed by William Seward and Commander MaGee.He also makes the Acquaintence of Bennett Smith who was his father's friend.He also runs into Victoria Brown who wants to get the tape for NBC news.Another group who
wants the tape to dissapear is the Mafia in the person of Anthony Bianco,the Chairman.Cole has to figure out who he can really trust because nothing is really what it appears to be.
This is a good book.

In order to demonstrate the level at which Mr. Frey writes, I give you a paraphrase of some dialog in the book: Cole: I am going to Montana / Tory: No, you need to go to New York / Cole: I am going to Montana and that's final / (Cole heads for the door) / Tory: Where are you going? / Hello? I believe he said he was going to Montana. This type of hideous dialog is throughout the book, filling pages between stupendously ridiculous plot twists.

Whenever you open a novel, you know what you are reading isfiction. You sign a silent pact with the author to suspend yourdisbelief, to enter the world of the story.

That only works if the author respects the readers enough to present a plausible story. It didn't happen, of course, it's fiction. But it could have...

The basic weakness of this novel is that there are too many "out of the blue" plot twists. The reader feels jerked around, manipulated, and the story comes off as completly unbelievable.

She's his friend...no wait, she's a government agent...no, wait, she works for the mafia...no, wait, she has a heart of gold. It's too much, even for someone who has signed that silent pact to suspend disbelief.

The basic plot here is intriguing. As a JFK assasination buff, I was drawn into the story. But once inside, I found it far less than satisfying.

END

This book avoids a one star rating because of the main idea of the story, a second tape of the Kennedy assassination on the other side of his motorcade. Fry could do so much with that story, but instead writes a very bad book. He puts his hero into many corners, and doesn't know how to get him out of them. So, Cole (the hero) always has a gun, knife, or set of keys nearby which appear from nowhere. Another problem is the whole father-son business. Cole's father is dead, then he isn't. His dad as only one copy of the tape, then two. And, whgy would someone who has seen their son less than ten times in their entire life send this tape to him? Why not sell it himself? Oh, his dad is in another agency, caled the DIA. Do yourself a favor, do not get this book!

This book has received quite mixed reviews. However,to my taste, I considered it to be quite compelling. I really hated to put it down. Basically it's a story about a Bond trader who seems headed towards ruin. His father, who he really didn't know and was a covert DIA agent left him a video tape of the Kennedy assassination which proved there had been a conspiracy. The current President, in cahoots with the Mafia boss, were working together to keep the truth hidden. Tremendous drama, thrills and excitement along the way.

A tape proving the conspiracy theory in the Kennedy assassination was an intriging premise, however, the execution of the idea was so contrived that it deserves 2 stars - at best. Within 10 minutes of being informed of his father's death and taking delivery of the tape, the hero is running around New York being shot at, bouncing off taxi cabs and having his apartment blown up. Everyone is a good guy, then a bad guy, then a good guy. Don't bother, this is just too unbelievable to be enjoyable.

Plot is tired but OK. Another book with an inept principal; apparently the new style for leading and supporting characters. Almost every American reader must know what DIA is and who cares - other than that is a US intelligence agency. I was suckered in to buying it because I mistook the author for THE 'PREY' author.