Loitering with Intent (Stone Barrington Novels, No 16) [Hardcover]

Stuart Woods (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2009

The newest addition to the New York Times- bestselling Stone Barrington series.

Dumped by his glamorous Russian girlfriend during dinner at Elaine's, and running low on cash, Stone Barrington is having a bad week. So his luck seems to be improving when he's hired to locate the missing son of a very wealthy man-lucky because the job pays well, and because the son is hiding in the tropical paradise of Key West. But when Stone and his sometime running buddy Dino Bacchetti arrive in the sunny Keys, it appears that someone has been lying in wait. When Stone very nearly loses his life after being blindsided at a local bar, he realizes that the young man he's been hired to track may have good reason for not wanting to be found. Suddenly Key West is looking less like Margaritaville and more like the mean streets of New York. . . .

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Never one to avoid a glamorous vacation spot, Stone Barrington travels to Key West, Fla., in this easygoing entry in bestseller Woods's long-running series (Hot Mahogany, etc.) to feature the New York cop turned lawyer. Stone is supposed to track down Evan Keating, a young man whose signature is needed on documents allowing his father to sell the family business, except that Evan doesn't want to be found and when he is, doesn't want to sign the papers. Meanwhile, there's always time to enjoy good food and romance. Stone and Dino Bacchetti, his former NYPD partner, eat a lot of conch, while a beautiful Swedish doctor, Annika Swenson, learns the hard way that being involved with Stone is the most dangerous job in America. Woods handles the proceedings with dispatch and good humor, the pages fly by, and contented readers will sit back and eagerly await the next installment. Author tour. (Apr.)
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From Booklist

After a less than thrilling turn in Hot Mahogany (2008), Stone Barrington is back in top form with this twist-filled page-turner. Stone is at his favorite New York hangout, Elaine’s, when Bill Eggers brings him Warren Keating, who’s hoping Stone can track down his 26-year-old son, Evan. Warren wants to sell the family business, but he needs Evan’s signature to do so. Stone agrees to go to Key West to hunt for Evan, and takes perennial sidekick Dino Bacchetti along for the ride. When he finally tracks Evan down, Stone is surprised when he refuses to sign the contract, which is worth more than $20 million. Before Stone can press the issue, he’s knocked out by Evan’s zealously protective girlfriend, Gigi. The experience isn’t all bad: Stone ends up falling for Annika Swenson, the beautiful Swedish doctor who examines his head wound. Stone continues his increasingly dangerous pursuit of Evan, now questioning Warren’s intentions. Sure enough, Evan believes his father is up to no good, and Stone agrees to help Evan, unaware that the decision will cost him dearly. An exciting entry in prolific Woods’ long-running series. --Kristine Huntley

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (April 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399155783
• ISBN-13: 978-0399155789
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #418,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stuart Woods is the author of forty-four novels, including the New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington series and Holly Barker series. The last twenty-eight of them have been New York Times best-sellers. He is an avid private pilot, flying his own jet on two book tours a year. His latest novel is Santa Fe Edge,to be published on September 21st. You may see his tour schedule and learn more about the author on his website, www.stuartwoods.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting Stone thriller, April 26, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loitering with Intent (Stone Barrington Novels, No 16) (Hardcover)

After being publicly dumped by his girlfriend at Elaine's in NYC, Stone Barrington, attorney at large for a big firm, is delighted with an assignment that takes him out of the Big Apple. He heads to Key West to obtain the signature of Evan Keating on a document that will enable his father Warren to sell the family business; Evan will receive twenty million. Accompanying Stone to Florida is his friend NYPD Captain Dino Bachetti.

When they arrive at the Conch Republic they have a difficult finding Evan. When Stone finally corners the elusive man, someone hits him on the head knocking out the visiting New Yorker. A beautiful Swedish doctor helps Stone's two heads recover; he is drained and happy when he meets up with Evan again. However Stone learns Evan is getting a tiny percentage of the worth of the business and that his father committed his paternal grandfather to an institution to get him out of the way. A hit on Evan fails, but someone else is killed. Father and son are in danger though dad set events in motion. Stone and Dino protect Evan while hoping to bring the killers out into the open.

Stuart Woods has written another exciting Stone thriller filled with plenty of action on top of more action. Evan is naively innocent so people take advantage of him including the go between the hit men and his father. Putting aside the heady doctor tryst that is an enjoyable and funny sidebar, Stone is at his sardonic best as he keeps LOITERING WITH INTENT focused on Key West.

Harriet Klausner

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Subpar for Woods, April 28, 2009

By 

Robert Busko (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Loitering with Intent (Stone Barrington Novels, No 16) (Hardcover)

I'm giving Loitering With Intent 4 stars, but to be quite honest, 3.5 would be more appropriate. I haven't read every Stuart Woods book published, but I've read a few. To be candid, I see slippage in the quality of the stories that he puts together. Don't, get me wrong, technically the books are okay, but the plots are definitely not up to par.

In Loitering With Intent, after being publicly humiliated in NYC, Stone Barrington gets an assignment that takes him to Key West. The only thing required of Stone is to get a signature from Evan Keating allowing his father to sell the family business. You can predict that this chore is going to develop into more than a simple mission. That's what I'm talking about when I mention story development. The story is obvious from the very beginning. There are a number of twists and turns, but no major surprises. Loitering With Intent simply isn't up to the same standard as New York Dead, Dirt, or even L.A. Dead.

Woods has been publishing three novels a year. I realize I don't work in the publishing field, but certainly going from two novels per year to three seems to have hurt the quality of the output.....at least in this readers mind. Perhaps they've killed the goose to get to the gold and spoiled it for all of us.

Wait for the paperback.

Peace always.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Reviewing: "Loitering With Intent" by Stuart Woods, June 28, 2009

By 

Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Loitering with Intent (Stone Barrington Novels, No 16) (Hardcover)

Stone Barrington is back and this time he soon will be in Key West. Having just been dumped by his latest romantic interest the fact that Bill Eggers wants him to go track down the son of a client is a great excuse to get out off New York. Warren Keating needs to finds his estranged son, Evan Keating, so that he can sell the family business. A deal worth millions is at stake and Dad and Son are not on speaking terms. Bill Eggers wants Stone to take the legal paperwork down to Key West, find the son, get him to sign off on everything, get the paperwork back to New York. The whole deal has to be done within the week.

It's the dead of winter and Stone's friend and NYPD Detective Dino Bacchetti jumps at the chance to tag along to Key West. Their plan is to find the son quick and get the work done so they can have a few days to just hang out. Getting to Key West is easy enough since Stone has a private plane. Finding the son is easy enough as well. Then, things get weird and difficult.

This is typical Stone Barrington. Plenty of expensive food is consumed, plenty of expensive liquor, Stone gets action with someone of the female persuasion repeatedly in great detail, and there is plenty of mystery and deception to go around. People die, relationships end, and Stone is bummed for a few minutes before something gets him going again. Introspection is a fleeting concern and is thought of much more than birth control or safe sex.

The very limited complexity and subtly in this book reside with the mystery. An apparent twist that Mr. Woods has repeatedly used before and shouldn't ever again use is used in this novel. Readers familiar with his various series won't be surprised when the twist turns out not to be a twist after all. Once that happens, it becomes a completely formulaic read as events play out exactly as expected with no surprise for the reader.

No doubt a NY Times Bestseller at some point, the latest fluff from Stuart Woods is typical super stud Stone Barrington. If anything, this novel is weaker than the last several novels in this series and shows that it is possible to backslide just went things were looking a bit better from a reader standpoint. It does serve as a momentary distraction and a quick way to pass the time between books of substance. Not that there is anything wrong with that, per se, but one does miss the meatier books that came from Woods early in his career. Lately it would appear that Stuart Woods is doing the exact same thing as this title with his career and he has shown that he can be a much better writer than that.



Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2009