Customer Reviews

Hot Mahogany (Stone Barrington Novel) (Unabridged)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I have all of Stuart Wood's book and have enjoyed them all, this one had the potential to be very good and started off well. The story line of Lance's brother's loss of memory could have taken off and led the story somewhere, however, it was more or less pushed aside and never really had any meat. After the first couple of chapters it just died for me. Each chapter brought in something new, but it was never followed though so just left you thinking "what happened with that". Normally Stuart's books keeping you wanting more after each chapter and it is very hard to put his books down. This one however just leaves you bored.

I have no clue who committed the crime, or even what the crime exactly was. Something about switched-around furniture and a bunch of tiresome plot twists. I came away with two things:

1. Cop Dino Bacchetti never left Elaine's Restaurant, except to commit a felony. Nice.

2. Stone Barrington is a bed-hopping sleaze, trading off partners more often than the average person changes their socks.

I hope Mr. Woods gets back on track after this mess, and we see some of his other serial characters like Will Lee, in new adventures.

I've read all of the Stone Barrington books and I think the middle ones in the series are decent light fiction: entertaining, engaging, sometimes even touching. But lately it seems like Woods has just been phoning it in when it comes to this series. In Hot Mahogany, the writing's poor, the dialogue's stilted, the plot is thin, and the characters are so lightly sketched as to be almost transparent. I recommend that you don't waste your time or money. Skip this one.

I just finished the latest Stone Barrington novel and it is drivel. There is barely a pretext for a plot. It is simply a devise to see how many women this guy can take up to his house in Conneticut and how many men he can piss off. The dialogue is not witty or interesting in the slightest, nor are any of the characters. Disappointed is a understatement. He phoned this one in and I don't know if I will bother to read any more of Mr. Stuarts novels.

I enjoyed Wood's New York Dead and so was looking forward to another Stone Barrington adventure. Hot Mahogany, though, is a clunker, a lemon, a literary calamity. The characters are flat as a pancake, especially the virtually indistinguishable women he beds one after the other. Cliches abound, dialogue suffers from verbosity, and the plot line is thuddingly dull. Let's hope Stone resurrects in Wood's next novel. I certainly won't purchase that next effort without consulting some of the more thoughtful Amazon critics.

I've read several Stuart Woods' books and generally have enjoyed them. This one's a clunker, however. Implausible plot, lifeless characters and overall boring. You'd probably do better by reading one of the 37 other Woods novels listed at the beginning.

if you like antiques this is your cup of tea. if you like mysteries prepare to be bored.an awful disappointment.

This book is not Stuart Woods at his best. It's typical formulaic Stone Barrington: gets sucked in by Lance Cabot to help out his brother, enlists Dino's help, beds a few ladies, yada yada yada. The locations hop around so much they are confusing. Even the cameo appearance by my favorite, Holly Barker, was superfluous and not necessary to the story. It was pretty boring stuff.

I'm a long-time Stuart Woods fan, and generally I keep his books and re-read them down the road. This one will go to Salvation Army. It's a big disappointment and well below his usual books. A weak topic (antique furniture funny business) and boooooorrrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnngggg! Most of the book involves illegal activities that no ethical lawyer would get involved with, illegal use of police assets that would be instantly questioned by any competent supervisor, and having sex at will with the best looking women that turn up in the book one after another. Please! I fear Mr. Woods had to please a publisher and was out of ideas. This is sadly not one of his best efforts, in my opinion!

NYC probably has more wonderful restaurants than any other city in the USA. Yet every other scene in ALL Stone Barrington books take place at Elaine's. Can we assume the author eats there for free as payment for all the plugs for the place in his books. The latest Zagat Guide gives the place a very poor rating of 16 out of 30 for food. Would such a high living man such as Stone really eat there every night of his life? How about broadening Stones universe in the next book?