Customer Reviews

Nevada Rose (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Max Allan Collins is the best writer for the CSI novels so far, but Jerome Priesler did a great job. I did find it weird that the cast was split into the swing shift and graveyard shift again. I enjoyed this more than the previous book, In Extremis, by another author.

I'm a huge CSI fan, whether it is on TV, in novels, or graphic novels. I also enjoyed Preisler's work in his "Tom Clancy" series, so I was happy when the Amazon box containing this book showed up and sat down to start reading."Nevada Rose", as is typical of CSI episodes and books, follows two investigations. Both cases are interesting and the stories keep you reading; however, the CSIs in the book don't "feel" like the characters in the show or even in the other CSI novels -- there's just something a little "off" in the characterizations for me.

I purchased this title because I had read many other of the CSI tie in novels and enjoyed them very much. This one was a disappointment. The plot was o.k., but the writing style was uneven and choppy. Many times tenses changed from one paragraph to the next, some sentences had an article missing or a pronoun deleted. The case for the author trying to write it as common speech could be made---if he had done a better job of it. All together it made for a very awkward read. I think this title (and author) could have used some serious editing. Try the CSI novels by Max Allen Collins or Donn Cortez instead.....

Like another reader, I bought this as a reader of Preisler's Power Plays series, but have a much higher opinion of this book. Maybe because I've watched the show but never read the other novels,I had a clean slate going in. Whatever the reason, I thought the characterizations were right on and the dialog was crisp. There are small moments that reveal the "ghosts" these characters carry around--the scene with Sara in the campus quad, the one when Grissom thinks about religion, a couple with the non-CSI characters in the book. They gave me chills.

I've read quite a few CSI books and my personal observation is the following. I like the original CSI tv series, but not the novelisation of CSI.

Consversely, I never liked the tv series of the two spin offs- CSI Miami and CSI NY, but I do like their novels.

And so I'm sure you have guessed I didnt like CSI Nevada Rose much.

It's hard for me to pin down why exactly I feel this way. There were a couple of crimes which required the usualy high level of techinical expertise to untangle. However, I didnt feel there was any great character development, tension in the plots, danger to any of the main characters or any spark.

The one thing I found nice was the revelation at the end which gave the basball player his alibi. It's a spolier, so I would say anymore, but I liked it.

The good:

1. Main characters written behaving consistently with the tv series.

The Not So Good:

1. Kinda boring and short.

The horrible:

- nothing worth mentioning.

Thanks for reading and I hope it helps a little :)

I love the series and so far I did enjoy the books especially the ones set in Las Vegas as there seemed to be a consistency between the books and the TV series. This book however was a disappointment for the following reasons:

- Inconsistencies with the series. The team still is split into two units with Catherine leading the swing shift and Grissom the night shift. Time wise that doesn't work with the fact that Warrick is getting a divorce and the fact that in 'In Extremis' the team was already together again.

- If the team is still split, why is Nick working with Greg? Again inconsistent.

- The case was boring.

In short for me this was the least pleasing of all the books, which is a pity because I loved books like 'Cold burn' and 'In Extremis'.