Customer Reviews

Popped (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 7)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Regan Reilly, P.I. in L.A., gets a call from Danny Madley, an old school friend, requesting she fly to Las Vegas to help him out. He is producing a pilot for a reality TV show featuring three married couples. They have all had some problems in their marriages but say they want to make it work. They are vying for a chance to renew their vows in a wedding-cake-shaped hot air balloon and win one million dollars. Apparently things haven't been going very smooth. Many things have happened and he wants Regan to come help him keep any more things from going wrong.

He is in competition with Bubbles who is producing a pilot for a comedy TV show. Unbeknownst to him, she has been having trouble with her actors and things haven't gone smoothly for them either.

Many things continue to happen including Danny's parents arriving only to lose a bag of mail for advice columnists helping on his show. Worse than that, his mother read one of the letters and if the advice columnists don't pay overdue alimony, his pilot might not be finished in time. Since his parents helped cause some of this trouble, they find themselves in deep to help resolve it.

Regan begins to question whether all of the married couples are truly who they say they are. Then there's Roscoe, the man behind the contest of the two pilot shows. He is a real character and Regan doesn't really trust him. She has her boyfriend, Jack who is a New York Detective, checking into their backgrounds.

While I liked this book, first one I've read by this author, it was definitely not your normal mystery. There wasn't any murder. There was some investigation into the various characters, but not the normal investigation to solve a crime or murder.

I found this book to be an easy read and enjoyed the story line as it was different than anything else I have read. Even with many characters, I felt the author did a good job of describing them so that I was able to keep everyone straight. I recommend this book.

I picked up this book at a bookstore because I needed a book to read on a 6 hour flight and had already read all the Mary Higgins Clark novels available. Hoping that writing talent was genetic, I picked up this book. Quite frankly, it made me want to jump out of the plane. MARY HIGGINS CLARK FANS: do NOT assume that just because CHC is the daughter of a brilliant writer that she is a brilliant writer herself, because her books are shallow and awful. Terrible plot, terrible storytelling, and the "mystery" isn't mysterious at ALL.

Wow. This is one of the all time worst books I have read in the 24 years since I learned to read. I couldn't figure out how to give this book no stars at all, but I would have. The plot is bad. The characters are bad. The book is in third person from Regan's point of view, but you hear from her so rarely, and she is so unimportant to the plot, that she might as well not be there at all. I didn't care about any of the characters, and never believed that these were actual people, since they never acted like any real person would ever act. Character development and plot were so bad that every mention of a new character or "clue" was painfully obvious and seemed forced. The whole balloon thing was one of the lamest bases for a novel ever. Even the names of the characters seemed ridiculous and obviously made up. Aunt Agony and Uncle Heartburn? Alice Mars Jupiter? Seriously? The "resolution" at the end was a total farce. I didn't find anything about this book to be funny, let alone "light and quirky" as indicated on the jacket. Well, not ha-ha funny, anyway. Was this book published solely on the basis of her mother's success? My only theory to explain Carol's success is that people pick up a book seeing "Higgins Clark" and think they are getting one of her mother's mysteries, because that's what happened to me.

A mystery based on a cable network dedicated to Hot Air Ballooning? Is CHC serious?

I couldn't even believe this dreck was published. All of the characters are totally unbelievable and impossibly named. Even in my worst, food-induced haze would I EVER come up with Aunt Agony and Uncle Heartburn.

CHC must be on drugs. This was worse that Robin Cook's "Shock". At least I finished that book.

I'll stick to Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. While I have issues with that series as well, at least it's entertaining.

This book was awful! I had the unfortunate experience of getting the audio version of the book to listen to in my hideous Atlanta commute. It was juvenile, to say the most! I think this Reagan Reilly character is supposed to be a pathetic likeness of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone (whom I love, by the way).

Even more unfortunate was the book was read by the author who had a pronounced lisp, especially when speaking the letter "S". Though I mean no disrespect toward anyone who speaks with a lisp, it made listening to these CDs very painful.

Please do not waste you time on this book and especially not on the CD. If you want a sure bet look to Sue Grafton ...

I've read books Carol Higgins Clark co-authored with her mother, but this was the first of her own I tried to read. I strugged thru page 65 & decided it wasn't worth the effort. The story, plot & characters were so rediculous I'm wondering how she could even dream up such a tale. I'm anxiously waiting for a good price on her mother, Mary Higgins Clark's, newest "Where Are You Now?" as I know it will be a good read but I don't think I'll ever try another of Carol Higgins Clark's book.

Private Investigator Regan Reilly is asked by an old boyfriend to help him sniff out who is causing trouble on the set of his new reality TV show. His show is competing with a sitcom for the attention of Roscoe Parker, who runs the Ballooning Cable TV channel in Las Vegas. Silly characters abound in this amusing story. Nonsensical happenings occur also, with bad actors, slot machine jackpots, crazy overaged cheerleaders, etc. Although this isn't a mystery in the usual sense, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Take it for what it is... an amusing story that reads well and isn't hard on the brain.

Since I'm not allowed to say the S word on here I'll just use poo poo.

As another reviewer on Amazon stated, possibly the worst fiction I've ever read. How does this author keep getting published?

What? Her mother's name is Mary Higgins Clark. Okay, never mind. I understand now.

With this book, I did something I haven't done in years: I gave up and put it down in the middle. It's just too much work to read. The characters are one-dimensional charicatures and have very few distinguishing features, the plot is silly, and at this point, I'd give anything to be the one sabotaging the idiotic TV shows.

Because I cannot finish the book, I'll never know whodunnit, and frankly, I couldn't care less.

I guess I was expecting something on line with Carol Higgins Clark type mysteries - forget that - not even close!! The characters are ridiculous and the storyline - well I am not sure you can even call it a storyline - is simplistic and just dumb! Don't even think about this one. Read a magazine!