Out of Order [Large Print] [Paperback]

Charles Benoit (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006

At 27, Jason Talley of Corning, New York, leads an orderly life, precisely processing loans for a mortgage company. Its warmest spot is his friendship with Sriram Sundaram and his lively wife Vidya. One night Sriram secretly confides he's planning a trip home to India to visit his mother and asks Jason to hold her gift, a gorgeous red silk sari. The very next evening Jason arrives home to sirens and cops--Sriram and Vidya are dead. The cops call it a murder/suicide.

Grieving, Jason decides to fulfill Sriram's quest and books himself an impulsive trip to India. It's a package deal, he learns, designed for retirees. But luckily there's a gorgeous young woman aboard, a train buff with an escape plan, and before he knows it, Jason has cast aside all semblance of order and embarked with Rachel on a perilous journey. How dangerous he doesn't guess since only now does he learn that Sriram, computer genius, was a defaulter from Bangalore World Systems, believed by his start-up gang to have sold them out to software CEO Ravi Murty in America. Jason has sent details of his trip to Sriram's e-mail list, hoping to meet up with his dead friend's past. And he does. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Edgar-nominee Benoit's assured second mystery (after 2004's Relative Danger) introduces 27-year-old Jason Talley, a nerdy Corning, N.Y., loan processor whose rare heroic gesture launches him on a journey into danger and romance. When Talley's married friends, Sriram and Vidya Sundaram, are found dead in their apartment, victims of an apparent murder-suicide, the shaken Talley decides to go to India to deliver a special sari to Sriram's mother. He also alerts friends and colleagues of Sriram's from a failed high-tech startup company that he's en route to their country. The sedate tour group that Jason joins is a disaster until he's "rescued" by Rachel Moore, a beautiful train-mad woman who's as adventurous as Jason is not. Soon the two are traveling on their own, meeting up with Sriram's bitter or forgiving ex-colleagues. The search for Sriram's mother, Rachel's madcap unpredictability and the stalking of Jason by one or more of Sriram's former partners add up to a spicy quest tale in an India at once modern and ancient. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Benoit's second novel, after the outstanding Relative Danger (2004), is a bit of a disappointment. He again features a clueless but likable protagonist who embarks on a jaunt to distant lands. This time the hero, Jason Talley, of Upstate New York, is thrust into an international adventure when he travels to India to return a sari to the mother of his friend Sriram, who died, along with his wife, in an apparent murder-suicide. It wasn't, of course, and soon enough Jason discovers that his friend had lots of enemies. Readers of Relative Danger will find this -follow-up tiresomely similar, but the engaging tour of India's back roads helps offset the deja vu. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 363 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590582535
• ISBN-13: 978-1590582534
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,284,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hugely wrong, April 3, 2006

By 

rich stelnick "rich" (iselin, nj) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Out of Order (Hardcover)

after reading l.j. roberts' review of charles benoit's new book "out of order", i was wondering if l.j. and i had read the same book. i thought that "out of order" was of the same high caliber of writing as was "relative danger". i doubt very seriously that many readers, if any at all, would guess that an item that is not a usual part of a something so traditional to the culture of india could contain the "magic" of the real deal. one of the obvious pitfalls charles benoit will have to avoid if he keeps to his great theme of putting innocents abroad into intriguing scenarios will be becoming too formulaic in his storylines. hopefully, his creativity to weave a tale and the wealth of overseas' locales will prevent that from ever happening. critics should keep in mind the immortal words of napoleon; "glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever". charles benoit shouldn't worry about that because thanks to the likes of characters such as douglas pearce and jason talley, his true talent is anything but obscure.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky adventure mystery, March 24, 2006

By 

Robert L. Simms Jr. (Colts Neck, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of Order (Hardcover)

I liked this book a lot. It has interesting characters including a very strong-willed young woman (beautiful too, aren't they all?) and most of the story takes place in India. The author has spiced up the narrative with adventures and descriptions of what it is like in that country in places including Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai. There are twists and suspenseful episodes throughout. Having been to India twice, I enjoyed remembering how it was. I found it hard to put down.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great action adventure, April 11, 2006

By 

T. Keyes "MS HS librarian" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Out of Order (Hardcover)

I think this book's terrific! As with "Relative Danger," Benoit gives us plausible characters, mind-enhancing descriptors and a plot that keeps us guessing 'til the last page. His attention to detail creates such an authentic setting that we're planted right in the center of the action. It's refreshing to find an author who depicts past and present India without romanticism or condescension. Can't wait to see where Benoit takes us next!