Customer Reviews

The Mist

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I used to look forward to every Carla Neggers release. After the last few I really debated about buying this hardcover at release. Now I regret I did it. The main characters were poorly developed and there was no chemistry between them. The plot wandered and if you have not read the previous books in the series to know the secondary characters and back story you will never catch up. More secondary characters were introduced on top of those. The only interesting addition was Myles Fletcher, who I assume will soon have his own book. That one I will wait to buy until I have read reviews, and I certainly won't buy hard cover.

Billionaire Norman Estabrook is charged with money laundering and abetting drug traffickers but his wealth allows him house arrest on his Montana ranch. Used to doing whatever he wants, Estabrook targets a killing list of those who interfered with his lifestyle. At the top are FBI director John March and Agent Simon Cahill; he also wants to murder the not so anonymous snitch, hotel owner Lizzie Rush and Cahill's lover Kiera Sullivan as well as other loved ones.

Rush believes Estabrook is a deadly predator who will hunt down his adversaries in a thrill seeker equivalent of the Deadliest Game. She goes to Ireland to warn Sullivan and meets SIS Agent Lord Will Davenport. In Boston, March's daughter Abigail Browning vanishes following a bombing of the house she lives in with her fiancé. The Feds know Estabrook arranged the hit, but are unaware that the wealthy psychopath has begun his contest using mercenaries.

The latest Carla Neggers FBI romantic suspense thriller (see THE WIDOW, ABANDON and especially THE ANGEL) is an enjoyable tale filled with a gloomy atmosphere as the audience and the heroes expect the worse. The story line is fast-paced but does not spin far away from Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game but fans of Ms. Neggers will enjoy the hunt.

Harriet Klausner

I have read many of Ms Neggers books, and do enjoy them. My only complaint on this novel, was that I had a difficult time keeping the characters separate in my mind. I know that this is sort of a sequel, but I still think that there should have been a more thorough character set up, which would have made the book easier for me to read. Conversely, the descriptions of Ireland and the other places mentioned in the book were wonderful... I could visualize and "see" the settings in my mind... I wish the people had been as clearly identified.

This book had some potential, however it was lost in the tangled complicated plot. There was so much going on; so many minor plot lines that magically intersected and so many secondary characters that magically intersected as well. It was very confusing to someone who hadn't read the previous books in this series. There was so much going on with the other two couples, someone's uncle, cousins, etc that the story felt disjointed or diluted in a way.

Lizzie was an interesting and resourceful character, and I liked her for the most part. Will felt very underdeveloped to me - maybe this is because I haven't read the previous stories in this series, I don't know.

If you like spy novels with a bit of romance tossed in, you might find this book entertaining, however make sure you read the previous books first. Also, check it out of the library or buy the paperback - don't waste your money on the hardcover. However, I have to admit, I would like to read more about one character what was introduced here - Miles. Hopefully that story will make more sense to me.

Norman Estebrook is a wealthy fund manager who loves danger and adventure. He gets caught up in his own love for danger after being arrested for working with drug lords. He is able to strike a deal with the government and as soon as he is out of custody begins his plan to exact revenge on the people who were part of his arrest. One of the people he is searching for is an anonymous source the FBI had throughout the full year of their investigation. We follow this source throughout her attempt to bring Norman down and keep him from exacting revenge on all those involved.

This was my first book by Carla Neggers, and although I did enjoy it, I do think I would have liked it much more if I had read the two preceding books in the series. This book continually talks about the events in the past and it made me feel as though I had lost the ability to enjoy the earlier books if I did read them because I knew too much about what had happened. It also was annoying to have the past continually rehashed and relived throughout the book. I understand the need to do this, so new readers could understand how all the characters fit together, yet it was annoying. Also, it seems that those who have read the earlier books in the series loved this book, those of us who have not were not as excited about it. I have a feeling it's because we didn't understand the significance of many of the plot twists when they were unveiled.

Otherwise, I stayed very engaged in this book. The characters could have been more fleshed out and interesting but I was still able to root for their ultimate survival. The romance wasn't great, but I am much more interested in the suspense of the story. The ending was good and I am definitely interested in reading the other books in this series. Once I do, this book may seem much more interesting. Bottom line, read the first two books before reading this one.

I really wanted to like The Mist. Within the first forty pages, there's a knife fight, a bombing, and a kidnapping. Unfortunately, the remainder of the novel is spent with a cast of over a dozen characters dealing with the events of the first forty pages in awkward, dry, repetitive, dialogue-heavy ways. The trouble began with the sudden introduction of too many characters within the course of two chapters, each with their hair and eye color described, and each connected by blood or past relationship to other characters. For about fifty pages, I was constantly turning back and forth to remind myself who's who, who's related to who, who once worked with who, and who has a mysterious, unknown past connection to who.

I followed the novel right through to the end hoping for a complex web of relationship revealations, and despite the agonizing four-chapter conclusion that weezes and groans long past the climax, I found little satisfaction and justification in having learned all the various connections between the characters. In the end, very very little of that mattered. Much like the entire novel, actually. The heroine, Lizzie Rush, was difficult to visualize as a globe-trotting, adventure-seeking hotel heiress -- like a cross between Paris Hilton and Lara Croft. Like almost every other character in the novel, she was not believable for me as a character, and the over-the-top James Bond-like villian never seemed menacing or threatening despite all of the other characters constantly reminding readers he was. For a story involving spies, bombs, international criminals, a kidnapping, and such, there's an embarassingly low body count to make it believable, and as a result, you never really worry about the characters. This, in turn, makes all of their constant fretting seem forced and almost comical.

I have seen this novel listed as "suspense" and "romantic fiction." While there is a certain amount of suspense, the novel is pretty light on the romance, unless you count the ending where it seems that every young man and young woman in the large cast suddenly hooks up with one another in a painfully forced happy ending.

Like I said, I tried to like this novel. I wanted to like this novel. But Carla Neggers made it too difficult. I was very disappointed.

If a reader has not read the previous book about these characters, he or she is out of luck. This is a "series" book with too many characters and no strong focus to pull the reader forward. There are too many references to past events outside what should be the narrative arc of the present story.

The bad guy of the previous book, Norman Estabrook, is again on the loose using his money and international connections to attack the people who stopped his previous crime spree. From a thug with a knife in Ireland to a bomb on a back porch in Boston, his reach is wide.

But why would the local Irish thug know about the bomb? That seems stupid, as does the author's ignoring the time zone differences. The appearance of a big black dog in the stone circle to frighten the truth from the thug strains the reader's credulity. The kidnapping of one of the people in the bombed house seems to indicate that the author is desperately throwing in plot elements to cover the lack of a real plot. She keeps interrupting her own story to shift to another set of characters. This book was disappointing in view of all the good things I'd heard about this author.

I wait for Carla Neggers books. I admit I'm a relationship freak and I get what I must have in these stories--strong attachment and a sense of commitment. Then it gets braided in with a great thriller and I'm in heaven.

This is the third in the BPD/FBI series which began with THE WIDOW and continues in THE ANGEL. Much of the action in this novel are consequences of events from the previous ones, leaving the reader often times wondering just who these characters are and why are they behaving this way. Additionally this book is promoted as a romance but frankly that aspect of the story was pretty much limited to longing looks and some wistful musings.

The action, and there is quite a bit of it, in this volume centers on the escape of a murderous millionaire out to get revenge on the traitor in his entourage who had helped bring about his downfall. The events lead the featured characters from Ireland to Boston and beyond as murder attempts, explosions and hints at long kept family secrets move the overall story arc along, albeit rather slowly.

As a stand alone novel this is one to definitely pass by but to those who have enjoyed one or both of the earlier volumes it is a must read. The story is interesting enough that this reader will be seeking out the earlier volumes.

I was hoping this book would break the "bad streak" I've been on lately, but when it rains it pours. This book was worse than all the "bad" books I've read lately!

This book was frustrating because I don't know what it was. I thought I was reading a romantic suspense book. I love romance and romantic suspense is a genre I've just now been getting in to. I thought that this book would be a "slam dunk" because I have heard so many good things about this author and I was in the mood for a good "edge of your seat love story". The Mist is what I got, and it wasn't what I was looking for!

The Mist starts out strong, but again, is part of a series. I have never read Neggers before and this was painfully obvious when I found myself not knowing what in the world was going on. Many characters existed that I thought I should probably know...and I didn't. There is NO ROMANCE in this book. Be aware of this. I want chemistry, I want a relationship, I want suspense. Instead I got confusion, mock suspense, and a "thrown together at the end" so called romance that left me completely cold. Not good.