Customer Reviews

Reckless Abandon (Stone Barrington Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

As an avid reader of Stuart Woods, I was really looking forward to this book, where both of his series characters would meet up. Overall, the plot of the story was great, but there were too many incidents that it all too unbelievable. Stone and Holly managed to escape death too many times, and their personal relationship with each other was a little too hard to believe. I have to give it 3 stars, however, for the good plot, and also the great continuation of characters, interlocking all the books together. I really love that quality about Woods' writings, that he always brings back past characters. However, I am still waiting on Arrington Carter to make an appearance in a Stone Barrington novel. So if you are a reader of the series of Stone and Holly, then you definitely need to read this book to keep up with these characters. If not, then I wouldn't recommend this book, because you would be completely lost in the history of the storyline involved.

In "Reckless Abandon," Stuart Woods brings together two heroes from his previous series, lawyer Stone Barrington and police chief Holly Barker. They work as a team along with Dino Bacchetti of the NYPD to track down and arrest a mob hit man. Things get complicated because the killer also happens to be helping the FBI on an Arab terrorist entrapment, is in the Witness Protection Program, and is under protection of the Mafia. Soon Stone and Holly are in danger, but it is unclear if the FBI, the mob, or the terrorists are after them... perhaps it is all three. There are additional side plots involving the FBI, the CIA, and a thickheaded photographer that caused Stone problems in an earlier novel.

Not only are Stone and Holly together in this story, with the requisite romance on the side, but almost every other major character from Wood's previous books (with the glaring exception of Stone's old flame Arrington) is either part of the action or peripheral to it. It seems like Woods is running out of ideas and is delving into his previous books for material. As a result of the reintroduction of so many previous characters and cases, there are a lot of brief recaps of old story lines, and this distracts the reader from the current plot.

This latest novel is not one of the author's better ones. First, it appears to be a patchwork production into which Woods only put a mediocre effort. Second, some of the plot details are so unbelievable and the reasoning so naive that they are laughable. But in many ways, it is typical Woods: lots of glib and comical dialog, five-page chapters, meals at Elaine's, romps in the bedroom, chases, narrow escapes, and fast-paced action. I don't recommend this for readers new to Stuart Woods because of all the references to past adventures, but for the knowledgeable Barrington/Barker fan, this is an entertaining and light, though mildly lacking, read.

Eileen Rieback

Stuart Woods is at it again bringing the character Holly Barker to find a man she thought she killed already only to find him a live. She is trying to track him down and finding road blocks every where. He's now in the witness protection program hired by the CIA to work for them. If you're looking for a book to keep you on the edge of you seat then this book is for you. A must read- Larry Hobson- Author- "The Day Of The Rose"

This is Stuart Woods' most disappointing yet. After starting as a serious writer (Chiefs was brilliant) he moved on to light "beach reading" that I always enjoyed in the car on audiotape. The first few were fun and creative, with interesting characters. He has now destroyed his best two characters, Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, by making them charicatures of their former selves. Not even a sexual relationship involving these two formerly interesting characters can save this attempt to get money from former loyal readers. Woods may live well on the proceeds, but he has lost his audience. As a talented writer, he must now decide whether to continue to fall into disrepute or to suck it up and write something worth reading. I hope he has made enough money to do the latter, because if he has not he will never be able to keep us former fans buying.
On another note, the narrator on the audio version was horrible. He made the lame dialogue of the main characters completely implausible, and especially made the formerly interesting and strong character, Holly, a bimbo. This was a disappointment.

The action, and characters, that populate this latest Stuart Woods book are predictable to say the least. It's expected that the heroes will rule the day, and, as is usual in these books, they (in this case Stone Barrington and Holly Barker) overcome impossible odds (including almost getting killed several times) to get the bad guy. This time, besides fighting the bad guys they have to go head to head with some of the most obnoxious FBI agents ever written (is it necessary that they have NO positive traits??) and get some help from a shady CIA operative named Lance who was just annoying by the end of the book. I'm finding that the tried and true characters of Stone Barrington and Holly Barker (heroes of other Stuart Woods novels) are wearing thin.
What is it about Stone that EVERY woman he meets has to sleep with him, that he always has all the answers and large amounts of money coming at him from many directions? The superman bit with this character has gotten old. Maybe if he were a little more human he might become interesting again. This was a quick read, quickly forgotten.

When Holly Barker, Chief of the Orchid Beach Police in Florida travels to New York to apprehend a fugitive, she contacts Stone Barrington who invites her to stay at his home. They met when Stone witnessed a bank robbery in which Holly's fiancé was killed. Trini Rodriguez, who is part of the Mafia, is wanted in the murder of over a dozen people after he bombed a church. Holly couldn't keep him behind bars because Trini was a very important informant who the FBI put in the Witness Protection Program.

Holly hopes to find him in New York City and arrest him on a fugitive warrant but the FBI wants her to hold off on serving it until Trini's infiltrates an Arab terrorist cell so the government can arrest them on information the thugs delivers. After the cell is broken up the FBI spirit Trini away with Stone and Holly trailing them all over the country to hand down the warrant. While perusing Trini and company, Holly and Stone begin a hot and steamy affair that gets her mind off of her obsessive need to find her criminal.

In RECKLESS ABANDON, the FBI comes across as bumbling idiots who can't shake a tail or keep their informant hidden. The fact that they are willing to protect him after he killed over a dozen innocents will enrage readers as much as it does Holly. The teaming up of the protagonists from Stuart Woods' two series works so well together, it is to be hoped that they will pair up in future novels

Harriet Klausner

Stuart Woods must have had to meet some contractual obligations, otherwise why would he write this book?!? I've been reading him for years and in the last several books the trend towards stupid dialog and mindless plots is getting worse. This book was only 283 pgs., hardly a novel! He must have wrote this one on a flight from Florida to NY, that's how much thought seems to have gone into it.
Another thing I'm sick of, the constant references to oral sex whenever Stone is in bed with anyone! Come on already, give it a rest. There were way too many pages devoted to Stone's sex life that should have been used to develop a plot. Also, how does Dino afford to eat at Elaine's every night on a NYPD salary? The drinks there alone have to be $10 a piece.

I thought this book would be good, with the teaming up of Stone and Holly, but he made her sound like a moron. The lousy ending leads me to believe that Woods will whip out another quick story with Holly in it, but guess what, I'll be skipping it.

Stuart Woods used to be one of my favorite authors. But he has fallen into the trap of using the same characters and similar storylines, while letting the dialogue go. Hollys most frequently used sentence was "Oh, okay!". This is grade school dialogue and certainly not worth buying. The last several Woods books have been heading downhill, this one reached the bottom. It is time for him to quit!

This could also be called, 'you get what you pay for,' 'whatdya expect?' or 'it's still the same old story, a fight for . . . hmmmmm and glory.'

Stone's just not the guy you want to leave alone with your daughter, your sister or your wife. The guy's just unbelievable!

I would discuss the plot now but really, is it any different than the preceding 9 plots? Huh? No.

Mr. Woods writes a compelling novel. The only other author who writes like this, predictably, repetitiously, same characters, is Parker, who churns out Spensers at the rate of one a year. I happen to prefer Spenser because I believe he is imbued with a code of sorts that he can't define but other men admire and seek to emulate. Spenser's an honorable man. Stone is really a good looking, wealthy guy that has the morals of a cat. An indescriminate cat if you will. Which is why Parker usually get a 5 and Woods usually gets a 4. I like Spenser more.

But I'll always read Woods. Like everything else, it's a matter of your mood. 4 stars. Larry Scantlebury

As an avid Stuart Woods fan, I had the interesting experience on my honeymoon of reading two Woods books: RECKLESS ABANDON and an older novel, IMPERFECT STRANGERS back-to-back. Needless to say, IMPERFECT STRANGERS was far superior in quality of writing, character depth, imagination and just about every other measure of quality fiction I can think of.
In RECKLESS ABANDON, I found myself entertained as usual by the plights of Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, this time together in their exploits, and enjoyed their excursion to meet with Ed Eagle in Sante Fe. The book is a decent beach read and I found the ending to be fine. However, the book also has parts that severely strain the credibility of the entire novel and its characters - the scene where Stone and Holly have sex within earshot of a mafia thug moments before their death because, hey, it might be their last time, just about made me put the book down... I can understand people having sex under strange circumstances, but this simply defied any concept of reality (even beach-read reality) - I laughed out loud because it was simply pathetic. The Stone and Holly of their respective prior novels would have spent that time in mafia captivity figuring out a creative way to escape, perhaps using a sexual plot as a means of doing so even, then saved the real sex for later... Aside from that, though, the book is a quick, easy and relatively enjoyable read. I liked The Short Forever and Imperfect Strangers far better. It is obvious that Woods can do better - he gets a "pass" on this one... as others here point out, perhaps it is a transitional novel leading toward a deeper storyline in the future.

As a side note, Woods should ditch his author's note he places at the end of each book these days - the tone is condescending and borderline offensive. Considering that he makes money from his readers buying these books, you would think that a simple "thank you" or note of appreciation would suffice - instead he expresses frustration with the various means by which readers attempt to contact him or ask repetitive, redundant questions (hmmm... if you're selling mass-market paperpbacks, does it seem all that odd that hundreds of people will ask you the same questions or spot the same errors in the book or will have failed to visit your not-so-up-to-date website (which as of the date of this comment still refers to the Clinton impeachment proceedings in the present tense)? not to me, but apparently so to Woods).