Orchid Blues (Holly Barker) [Paperback]

Stuart Woods (Author)

Book Description

Series: Holly Barker | Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Holly's wedding festivities are shattered-by murder-and Holly vows to find the culprits. With nothing to go on but the corpse of an innocent bystander, Holly discovers evidence that leads her into the midst of a clan whose members are as mysterious as they are zealous. Holly's father, Ham, a retired Army chief master sergeant, is her ticket into their strange world. What he finds there boggles the mind-and draws Holly, Ham, and Holly's Doberman Daisy into a whirlpool of crazed criminality from which even the FBI can't save them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This second thriller in the series Woods inaugurated with Orchid Beach starts with a bang a literal one. While series heroine Holly Barker, a former military police commander turned police chief of smalltown Orchid Beach, Fla., waits at the local courthouse to marry lawyer Jackson Oxenhandler, her fianc‚ gets himself killed in a shoot-out at Orchid Beach's bank. Once past this shocker of an opening, the thrills quickly deflate. Holly stifles a few sobs, gets back into uniform and sets off to track down the gunmen, a gang of highly organized robbers who planned to heist $4 million in payroll cash. It soon becomes clear that they aren't ordinary robbers, however, appearing to have some connection to a weird little town in a neighboring county, where the average resident is white, male and a gun nut. In the course of his meandering tale, Woods deepens his portraits of Holly and her father, Ham, a retired army noncom, and dog lovers should enjoy the antics of Daisy, the Doberman diva who is Holly's constant companion. Stone Barrington, the cop-turned-lawyer from such Woods bestsellers as L.A. Dead, makes a couple of important cameo appearances. But pages of lifeless dialogue and too much dead air in an already thin narrative eventually stifle most of the book's energy. Woods knows how law enforcement agencies from local cop shops to the Secret Service work, and his action scenes are clean and sharp. But in between there are a lot of empty spaces. 16-city author tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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

From Library Journal

"Orchid blues," indeed: Holly's wedding day is ruined by a nearby bank robbery that leaves no clues but one unfortunate corpse, and when she investigates she finds that the robbery has political trimmings.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Signet (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451206711
• ISBN-13: 978-0451206718
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,895 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

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Plot to Nowhere...., December 1, 2001

By 

Roz Levine - See all my reviews

This review is from: Orchid Blues (Holly Barker Novels) (Hardcover)

Orchid Beach Police Chief, Holly Barker, is working on a bank robbery and murder that's hit close to home, and turned very personal. The well planned crime was almost perfectly executed, and the thieves didn't leave a shred of evidence behind, except for the body of an innocent bystander. Now they're four million dollars richer, and Holly is on a mission to find the culprits and bring them to justice. As she begins investigating what appears to be an inside job, she discovers evidence that points to an unknown little town inhabited by a mysterious and closed-mouth group of gun lovers. With the help of an old FBI friend, and her father, retired Army chief master sergeant, Ham, the three decide to infiltrate this clan, and find out what's really going on..... Stuart Woods' latest is a silly and mindless read that goes nowhere. The writing is uninspired, the dialogue, inane, and the story line thin, and neither suspenseful nor very compelling. This book needs to be tightened up and given some direction. His characters are lifeless and one dimensional, and need to be fleshed out. At times, it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys, and even harder to care. Mr Woods' all time favorite character, Stone Barrington, makes a cameo appearance, but it's never clear why he's there, and he adds nothing to the plot. Add to that a predictable ending, with a lot of loose ends left hanging, and you have the makings of a mediocre novel, at best. There are a lot of great thrillers out there, unfortunately Orchid Blues isn't one of them.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TWO VOICES = TWICE AS GOOD AUDIO, November 24, 2001

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orchid Blues (Holly Barker Novels) (Audio Cassette)

Just as two heads are better than one two voices, those of Dick Hill and Susie Breck, beat one in this satisfying reading of the second adventure of Police Chief Holly Barker and her erstwhile companion, Daisy, an unbelievable Doberman.

Holly isn't thinking work but wedding as she's about to tie the knot with her boyfriend, Jackson Oxenhandler. The path to the altar turns rocky when a crime occurs - a bank robbery in Orchid Beach, Florida, and a vicious one at that as the thieves take everything with them except for a dead body.

Her investigation takes Holly and her father, Ham, a retired Army sergeant to a rather strange town, Lake Winachobee. Despite its name not much is placid in this little burg as it turns out to be a hotbed of white supremacists who are planning the assassination of an important leader.

Stuart Woods has once again proffered a rapid fire plot and a stunning conclusion.

- Gail Cooke

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A terrific writer continues a downhill slide, December 19, 2001

By 

Don M Howard "Don M. Howard" (Rimrock, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orchid Blues (Holly Barker Series) (Audio Cassette)

"Chiefs" was a terrific novel, richly detailed and with fully-fleshed out characters you could really care about. The plotting was intricate and believable - in short, a great, satisfying read, and I looked forward to much more of the same from this author.
Unfortunately, he is turning out to be a one-trick pony, as everything he's written since a great beginning has been glib, facile and formulaic. One dimensional, unlikeable characters for the most part (Stone Barrington is a pleasure-loving sybarite who'd screw his brother's wife if he had the opportunity) and flat, unexciting stories.
I hate to see it. Writers with real talent are rare, and Stuart Woods used to be one of the best. Now he's become something much less.
I don't think I'll be reading any more of his books.