Customer Reviews

Red Lightning (A Larry Cole Mystery)

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

 

 

Once again Hugh Holton has hit the police action on the head. Being a police officer for over 30 years, I find that 'Red Lightning', puts me into the life of Larry Cole. Hugh knows how to make you feel that you are there. His villians are bad and they know how to inflect pain and death on their victims. I plan to read his books as they are published. Also, 'ZORRO', will get his.

Red Lightning strikes swiftly to entrap the reader with its many twist and turns through Chicago's changing landscape. As a Chicagoland resident, I find myself riding shotgun as Detective Commander Larry Cole goes lights and siren to capture the villainous felons who cast death and destruction in Chicago's most popular neighborhoods. Hugh Holton balances political scandal, quality of life and surrealistic chance with back alley detective work and gut reaction instinct. With his Glock 9mm blazing, Lt. Larry Cole, and his team of top gun detectives, bring the reader into a each fire fight as if we were one of his team.

Although sometimes too unrealistic, this only adds to captivate the reader to grasp the cat and mouse game being played out. I really enjoy how Mr. Holton mixes outside governmental agencies to complicate this action adventure. This is another excellent novel in his string of successful Chicago reading adventures.

You never know what to expect when you read one of Holton's book! There are two thing that you can expect. One thing is how insanely dangerous his villians are! Holton's villians are so warp that they make Hannibal Lector look normal! The second thing is how Cheif Larry Cole handles them.

Just completed Red Lightning and I hope that Mr. Holton continues for a long time. Dectective Cole and his unit are again impressive in solving a complicated and exciting case. It's great reading more and more about these characters.

Red Lightning is incredibly disappointing. Hugh Holton seems to be a good writer, if he could just keep the plot from becoming more and more unbelievable. To his credit, I did read the entire book, hoping that Mr. Holton would concentrate on developing the characters and plot elements already introduced; instead, he kept piling on the gimmicks, cliches, and details about everything *but* what you want details of. It *is* refreshing to see a black author and black characters in the mystery genre, and I hope that Mr. Holton will continue writing after evaluating the flaws in this novel.

See my review of "Presumed Dead."

I was extremely disappointed. I was spoiled by Mr. Holton's Windy City and Chicago Blues, both fine works, but "Red" does not carry on in the fine Holton tradition that one would expect. The writing wasn't nearly as crisp as in past books and the story line was predictable and boring. What's more, our hero, Chief of Detectives has divorced his wife, his son is now fatherless, another family bites the dust because it's more important to be super "Chief" than super family man. Now super stud is running after skirts. I'm not impressed. And what happened to the other characters that we've come to enjoy? They barely made an appearance. How sad.