Customer Reviews

The Plantation (Payne & Jones Series)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have to start off by saying that I loved THE PLANTATION.

32-year-old Robert Edwards, a ski instructor from Icy River, Colorado, is hunted down like an animal and taken hostage. At Longview Regional Hospital in Longview, Colorado, 33-year-old Tonya Edwards, who is eight months pregnant, walks into an elevator. When the doors shut, a man walks up and sticks a needle in Tonya's neck, puts her in a wheel chair, and rolls her to a waiting van. In Mars, Pennsylvania, Ariane Walker is dragged from her apartment and whisked away. Many disappearances are taking place in different cities. To Jonathon Payne and his best friend David Jones this is personal because Araine Walker is Jon's girlfriend, and they will do any thing to get her back.

The characters are multi-faceted with plenty of soul to them. Jon and David are my personal favorites; the author really lets you feel the close relationship and how special and rare that is these days.

THE PLANTATION takes you to Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Orleans, and Nigeria on a wonderful rough and tumble ride with many twists and turns. I was breathless wanting to read every last word slowly so I wouldn't miss a single thing. When I reached the ending, it was phenomenal, everything was all tied up into a nice tight bow.

This is one of those books that I couldn't stop thinking about or how awesome that it was. Thank goodness that Mr. Kuzneski is working on another Jonathon Payne novel. Three cheers.

Isn't it wonderful that we don't all like the same things? How boring life would be! I am not going to repeat the basic plot because I think it has pretty much been covered. For a first book, I thought Chris Kuzneski created a book that will really hold your attention. The first 50 pages are too loosely connected, but the reader begins to see where the plot is heading. I am an avid reader, and I devour two to three books per week. I found it hard to put this one down once the girlfriend was kidnapped. Yes, the characters needed to be rounded out a little better, and I wanted to warn Payne & DJ not to trust Levon. Their approach to the problem doesn't match what special forces soldiers would do. They are just too trusting. Even I questioned the scene at the tattoo parlor; however, the suspense starts to build, and I am afraid I neglected my chores so I could finish the book. It is a very entertaining read. I was not offended by the black enslavement of whites, as one reader noted. The writer did a nice job of justifying why a black man would be motivated to create this project. It was plausible. I did get a little squeamish over the torture scenes, but the sexual byplay was minimal. I can imagine what an author like Jack Ketchum would have done with the scene in the cabin or the one with Susan Ross and the knife. This is not great literature, but I don't think anyone would consider their money wasted. I, also, look forward to the next book, but I hope his characters are a little more developed.

From the opening scene where you enter the action in the middle of a chase until the story's exciting conclusion, The Plantation is an adrenaline-filled book that never lets up. This is one of those novels that has a little bit of everything -- revenge, violence, romance, and humor. Lots of humor. The interaction between the two main characters (Jonathon Payne & David Jones) is hysterical at times, yet it never takes away from the tension of the plot. One minute you're laughing out loud, the next you're screaming in fear.

Overall, this was one of the best books I have ever read. I can't wait for Kuzneski's next one to be released.

The book caught my attention on the first few pages with the brutal abduction of an innocent man and through the pages lead me into a look at the dark, brutal life of a slave on the plantations of the south. The author did thorough research on slavery in the south and even "softened" up some of the stories to make it more readable. This first book from the author was unpublished until the author self-published and sold out of the trunk of his car. One buyer happened to be a publisher that snapped him up quickly after reading the book. The book starts out with what appears to be random crime stories of abduction around the US. You are given hints as to what is about to occur (abductors dressed in Ku Klux Klan type outfits, only in black), but it doesn't prepare you for the sinister brutality of the actions taken against slaves. The author didn't dream these up, they are actual accounts from actual slaves and the mentality behind those actions are from actual slave/plantation owners. The reason why certain people are abducted is not a surprise as the justifications are hinted at throughout the book. The MANIAC group is the weak part of the book, a seemingly infallible group of government mercenaries that ride in to the rescue. But we are, after all, reading a fictional adventure/thriller story here. I recommend this book, but be prepared to read about, and think about, the brutal reality of slavery.

I read this book back when it first came out. It took me only 3 days to read. I barely slept and my mom at that time would have such a hard time waking me up for school, since I was up reading all night. Since then I have read the book 7 more times and I still have the problem of not wanting to put it down. This book has made me finally find my favorite author. The Plantation has made me not want to quit reading the Payne and Jones series. I'm now waiting for his next book to come out. Because of this book my father and me finally have something in common. He had to read the Plantation because of how much I talked about it, and now he is also waiting for his newest book to come out. This book and the others in the Payne and Jones series are so good I hope they make them into a movie. I'd be the first in line to watch.

This is a pretty good book by a (noticeably) first time author. If you can you deal with the sometimes immature and contrived conversation between the two main characters, you will find yourself hooked on an excellent storyline. This thriller was chock full of suspense, and kept me turning the pages as quickly as I could... Definitely a worthwhile read. I am anxious to explore future titles by this author.

The Plantation
by Chris Kuzneski
Reviewed by Robyn Glazer, Myshelf.com
Jonathon Payne and Ariane Walker have been planning their long weekend
together for a quite a while. Nothing is going to keep them from having a great time together. Well, except for the fact that ten minutes before Ariane
is supposed to meet Payne, she is kidnapped. When Payne arrives to find
Ariane gone, he automatically knows something is wrong. He calls his best
friend, David Jones, who just happens to be a private investigator. Together
they begin an investigation that will take them places that they never knew
existed. Using every tool that Jones and Payne have access to, their plan to break into the Plantation is the only thing that can save Ariane's life.
The Plantation is the kind of book that can sky rocket an author's
career. The writing is crisp and never falters. This book never let's you go
and will keep your heart beating triple time. Jonathon Payne is the shining
star of the whole book. He is so funny, it gives the reader a chance to
laugh and ease up on some of the seriousness. I absolutely loved this book! I highly recommend you run out and buy The Plantation.

My husband gave me a copy of this book. I hadn't been much in the mood for reading lately, but I thought I would give this book a try.... I found this book to be exciting, fast-paced and I thought it was a great read. I read some of the negative reviews and was very surprised. I thought the banter with the two main characters was very humorous (perhaps the other readers are the homophobes)and I thought the story line was original. I like James Patterson and I would put this book right up there with his work..... I've already recommended this book to both family and friends.

I will look forward to reading Kuzneski's next book.

The one problem I have isn't with the book, it's that I can't turn the pages fast enough. I'm now reading it a second time. I simply had to get online and tell everyone that you have to check out this book. But I warn you: set aside a whole weekend to read it, because you won't want to put it down after just a chapter or two each night. Come to think of it, I guess I do have a second problem - trying to figure out what else I can read that will hold me over until the next Chris Kuzneski book is ready!

I don't even know where to begin with a review of this novel. What is it that bothers me so much about this story? Is it the constant adolescent, homophobic banter between the two main characters? Is it the fact that the characters are all one-dimensional without any seeming motivation for their behaviors or even a shred of realistic humanity about them? Is it the cartoonish "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids" twist that the story kept taking? Was I just in a bad mood while reading this story?

Perhaps the author is writing for a demographic that doesn't include me. That's fine, and I can accept that. Perhaps I just don't understand the inner male mind. I can accept that as well, although I have to say that I do not know any *adult* males who joke constantly about gay sex, genitals, buttocks, and bodily functions. Perhaps I was just unable to suspend disbelief to the extreme that I would have needed in order to relax and enjoy a story like this. I will accept the blame on all counts.

But this story just never rang true for me at all. The villains were not very believable. The "slaves" were passive sheep with no independent thought. Ariane was, at best, a watered down version of a heroine. Payne and Jones were supposed to be super trained military experts who were the best in the world but who couldn't figure out some pretty basic things about their quest. Every character seemed more like a caricature to me rather than a real human being. For me, this book read like a straight-to-video action movie screenplay.

This novel features some rather graphic violent scenes. Actually, these were the highlights in my opinion. Kuzneski indicates that he did extensive research into plantations and the treatment of slaves and wanted to convey the extreme horror of their treatment in his story. None of this bothered me in the least, and this level of violence made sense within the context of the plot. I just simply could not get into the story because of numerous typos, misspellings, and outright errors and because of a narrative that was quite disjointed. This is a novel that is heavy on dialogue and short on character development. I wish this author the best of luck in his writing career, and I hope that opinions like mine are few and far between.