Customer Reviews

Rebel Island (Tres Navarre)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been reading Riordan's Tres Navarre novels since the publication of "Big Red Tequila". Obviously, I like them enough to remain interested but after reading "Rebel Island", I have concluded that I miss some things from the past. I miss Tres' wicked almost irreverent sense of humor and wise cracking that was so prevalent in "Big Red Tequila" but has since become less and less visible. And I clearly miss Ralph Arguello whose absence leaves a huge void in the psychological and moral development of the novels.

In "Rebel Island", Tres, his wife, Maia, and brother, Garrett , are trapped in a dilapidated hotel by a powerful hurricane. It is a classic "we're trapped in this place and one of us is a murderer" story that quickly prompts us to start imagining who each character might "really" be in order to guess the ending. Along the way we get mysteries from the past interlocked with the mysteries of today. We also get an old hotel blown apart, hidden passageways, mysteries in an old lighthouse, red herrings, and, of course, trapped guests who are never who they claim to be.

While the mystery was entertaining enough, it never really grabbed me...I never reached that "gosh, I can't wait to turn the page feeling". Maybe this was due to the failure of Riordan to fully evolve the characters--I just didn't care about them. Some come and go so quickly only to resurface later that you need a score sheet handy.

I will stick with Tres Navarre a bit longer but I find the things I miss overriding the things that are left. For example, is anyone else getting tired of Garrett's schtick? He adds little beyond exasperation to the storylines and I'd gladly trade 2 Garretts for one Ralph.

Rick Riordan is proving himself a master of what I've come to think of as the "claustrophobic thriller." "Cold Springs" particularly impressed me with its psychological pressure-cooker of emotions and repressed secrets. "Rebel Island" takes that a step further, with almost all the action in the story taking place inside a crumbling old hotel in the middle of a hurricane. In that sense, this story is like a classic English country-house mystery, where you know from the start that "one of us in this room is ... The Killer" (dum dum dum!). As Riordan's fans will expect, though, the author gives the genre a distinctive South Texas twist that makes "Rebel Island" one of the best Tres Navarre stories in some time.

One of Riordan's storytelling distinctions has always been the twisting plot, with suspicion pointing first one way and then another. As bodies turned up in these pages, I started making a list of who I thought the killer was. By the time I finally twigged to the right answer (satisfyingly close to the end of the book), I had identified and rejected three other candidates. And even then, the author had one or two final surprises in store.

Now that Riordan has been doing it for a couple of novels, I'm more used to his new convention of only narrating some of the story in Tres' first-person view. As with "Mission Road," this technique not only lets other characters participate in the story more fully (always in third-person), but also gives us a glimpse inside the mind of the still-unidentified killer. As I've noted before, telling the story this way necessarily means we get less of Tres than we might otherwise like, but it does help increase the tension and make the story more well-rounded.

In addition to being entertaining and well-written mystery novels, each of the Tres Navarre books has chronicled important changes in the character's life. The changes that have occurred between the last title and this one, however, are perhaps the biggest yet. Tres' long-term fans won't find many of the familiar characters that have made up his supporting cast to this point. As always, though, the case here ends up tugging on significant strings from Tres' own life. It's satisfying to know Tres is not static for Riordan -- the character continues to evolve and mature, and there's still more for readers to learn about his past, as well as his future.

After this fast moving (I read it in an afternoon and a morning) and satisfying story, I am once again looking forward to whatever the author has in store for us next.

*warning--spoiler about previous Riordan novel included in this review*

Rick Riordan is an excellent writer. His Tres Navarre series is one of my all-time faves. This one, however, isn't at the top of my list when it comes to this series. It's not a terrible book; it's just not quite as engaging as the others in the series.

This one takes place on an island as a hurricane roars through. The mystery is complex enough, detail-wise, but I kind of knew who the "villain" was about halfway in. The characters I already liked were all there (Tres himself, his wife Maya, his brother Garrett), but this book kind of suffered from the loss of Tres' best friend, who (spoiler!) was killed in the last book in the series. I miss Ralph (Ralphas) and the way his interactions with Tres really spiced up the previous novels. Ralph could always be counted on to really pump up the moral grey areas. Adios, Ralphas. You are missed more than you can imagine.

In this book, Tres has retired from his previous job as a PI and is teaching full-time at a local university. The action of this novel throws him back into investigatory mode, but it seems that while it comes naturally to him, he isn't really into it. As a result, neither was I.

Oy.

Well, I still really enjoy Tres. Hopefully he'll be a bit more thrilling next time around.

San Antonio based private investigator Tres Navarre radically changes his life as he retires and marries his eight month pregnant girlfriend Maia. Tres' older brother wheelchair-bound Garret persuades the newlyweds to go to Rebel Island on their honeymoon; Garret and some long time pals will be at the Texas Gulf Island where the two siblings spent family vacations.

At the Rebel island dock, Tres meets rumored cold blooded killer U.S. Marshal Jesse Longoria, who believes the sleuth is on a case. They last met at the grave site of the former sleuth's best friend when Jesse wanted to insure Ralph Arguello was dead. While Tres and Maia settle into their suite at Rebel House Inn, a shot is fired. They along with Garret and the manager investigate only to find someone killed Longoria. Tres makes inquires and follows clues even as others are murdered and a hurricane heads towards the island.

Although hurricanes attacking the Gulf have flooded the mystery genre since Katrina, the latest Navarre thriller is an exhilarating tale as the audience learns about the lead protagonist's salad days and his current relationships. As he digs for clues and finds hidden tunnels and passageways, the killer steals the show as the villain seems always one step ahead of Tres. Readers will enjoy Rick Riordan's terrific murder caper, Texas style.

Harriet Klausner

This is the seventh entry in the adventures of Tres Navarre, a part-time English Literature college professor and part-time San Antonio PI. The series is above average with a cast of captivating characters and fairly engaging plots. Unfortunately Rebel Island is a very weak addition.

The book opens with Tres marrying his 8 ½ month pregnant girlfriend and then honeymooning at a childhood vacation spot - Rebel Island - on the eve of a hurricane. As implausible as that sounds - things get worse. Once on the island the hurricane hits, one of the other guests is murdered, Tres is "enlisted" to solve the crime and then things grind to a standstill - for 300+ pages. I think the goal here was to write a Key Largo-like story, (the old Bogart/Bacall/Edward G. Robinson movie), and the author uses flashbacks and switches the narrative from one character's perspective to another to move things along - all to no avail as there really isn't an engaging story here.

This mystery also employs one of my pet peeves, which for the lack of a better term I'll call the "placeholder murderer", i.e. the character who serves no purpose to the story-line only to be named the villain at its conclusion.

As mentioned the earlier books in the series are fairly good reads, so if Tres sparks an interest, read those but avoid this one.

I had this figured out a third of the way through.
This books was a re-do of every tired Agatha Christie "locked up together" plot you've ever read. I expected more of Riordan.
The only thing missing was a poison gas pinata.
Really disspointing.

I thought te book was very good. Rick Riodan is a great writer and I like his other books. Tres Navarre is a great character and in this book his pregnant wife adds suspense to the whole story. The assassin is not what you would which surprises you in the end

I'm a huge fan of Rick Riordan's writing. I think anyone who can swing back and forth between adult mystery/suspense writing and great young adult writing, and do so really well, does have an amazing gift. Mr. Riordan is one of those rare inidividuals.

One of things that makes his Tres Navarre series so interesting is his wonderful capture of unusual south Texas characters - grimy, gritty back-street barrio crooks, beat-down druggies, old half-crazy cowboys and hippies, rednecks, illegals trying to make a life in this country, and in general some of the odd characters that inhabit San Antonio, New Branfels, Austin, and the far outlying counties. I don't live in Texas, but reading his books make me want to hop a plane and head for San Antonio.

Not this time. Several of the other critiques complain that this book has something missing - it does. It's missing all the south Texas characters, places and dialog that make his other Tres Navarre books so interesting. Hell, I even miss the cat!

This book finds Tres and his 8 and 1/2 months pregnant wife Maia honeymooning on an isolated island off the Texas coast at the request of his brother Garrett, to help out Garrett's friend Alex who owns a hotel on the isolated island. Alex has some mysterious problems. A hurricane crops up while everyone is stranded on the island, and during the storm several guests get picked off. (Suspending belief enough to accept the part where an 8 and 1/2 months pregnant woman would want to go ANYWHERE, much less a remote island with dicey accommodations) I was reminded uncomfortably of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians for about half the book. Later, I recognized that the plot was starting to lean a little too heavily towards the movie Vertigo. I really enjoy Mr. Riordan's originality in his story lines, and his unusual plot twists (and I'm one of those awful people who like to read the ending before I finish the book just to see if I'm wasting my time!) Sad to say, this time I didn't have to - I already knew what was coming!

All in all, not his most original work. That being said, please, please, please, get the new one out (Fire Falls). I still want to know what's going to happen next!

Loved this book as I did all of his previous "Tres Navarre" works. Although I'm thrilled for Rick Riordan's success with young adult's latest books, I wish he would find the time to write some more based in San Antonio with "Tres". Highly recommend all of them.

I just discovered this author in the past 6 months, have read all his books to date and highly recommend him as a fresh perspective on the mystery genre..