Customer Reviews

Remote Control

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

 

 

Dr. Alan Gregory is a durable hero. He's been shot, stabbed, pushed off of cliffs, almost pushed off of cliffs, stalked, variously assaulted, and attacked by at least one wild animal. And yet he remains a mensch - tiresomely physically fit and over-addicted to healthy living, perhaps, but still a mensch. He admires his wife, cherishes his friends, and generally respects his patients. He loves his dogs, present and past. The supporting cast is equally attractive/compelling: Lauren Crowder's independent intelligence and relentless bravery, Sam Purdy's common sense and generosity, Adrienne Arvin's dementedly charming chutzpah, Diane and Raoul's wit and whimsy, all serve to anchor the series. And the presence of Grace in the later novels promises to develop into a great child character, possibly rivaling Lucy Karp in the early Gruber-authored Tanenbaums. The incidental characters are vivid and generally believable, almost without exception. Some authors are better at male characters than female, or the reverse, but White is excellent at people, all people. Most of the books are first-person narration by Gregory, but White can shift to third-person with aplomb.

Aside from the great characters, the plots of this series are outstanding. We learn about a private end-of-life corporation, cold-case volunteer groups, the Mormons, DB Cooper, the cult of personality, Grand Canyon adventures, and the fallout from the JonBenet case, all without stretching the seams of the community based in Boulder, CO. When the plots call for suspense, the books are literally terrifying, real white-knuckle reads. White is witty and insightful and the very best craftsperson of the English language I've read in years. His casually correct use of the subjective fills me with delight, as do his always-agreeing pronouns, and his elegant but unpretentious syntax. His prose is a pleasure to read.

The settings are wondrously vivid - views, trees, coffee houses, the streets and walks of Boulder and environs. White brings food to the table and vistas to the eye. You can track his characters on GoogleEarth and see just what he describes. I fell into this series at a gruesome time for me, professionally, and reading them all in a period of a couple of weeks has been an exercise in staying sane. Some are, of course, better than others - Kill Me, The Program, Higher Authority, Manner of Death - and there are some weak links (Cold Case, Private Practices), but I can't imagine reading 15 books by any other contemporary author sans break and still wishing for more.

That said, this ties for my least-favorite of the series, along with Private Practices (second novels are often dire.) The focus of the plot is celebrity and the intrusive assumption that everyone has a right to a piece of a person who has caught our interest. White makes the point well - the point that it's an obscene paradigm - but this is one instance where his excellent character-building lets him down. Emma Spire is a shallow bitch. That wouldn't interfere with anything were not Lauren and Alan so consumed with admiring her. That's the piece that doesn't work here. For Lauren to risk so much for a person of such little value is inexplicable. Emma never thinks of anyone but herself. She usurps people's time and trouble as casually as she would "borrow" a Kleenex, appearing and disappearing with no regard for anyone's feelings. We are used to Alan being taken advantage of, but that Lauren never objects to this behavior is deeply troubling. Nothing about Emma - adjectives aside - comes close to justifying Lauren's uncritical devotion. (OK, that might be White's point, but I don't like Lauren looking stupid.)

As a long time White fan, I read this book shortly after it was released. I raced through it and my overwhelming reaction was "weird." I recently checked out the tape for my husband to read and decided to give the book a second chance. I suspect that the slower pacing of the tape forced me to pay attention to the many details that make this book make sense. The cyber part of the book is still pretty weird but now the mystery worked.

Alan Gregory's wife, Lauren Crowder, has center stage in this book. She's befriended Emma who has been blessed/cursed with Kennedy-like fame after the assassination of her father, the Surgeon General. Emma gets involved with a computer whiz and things start to turn ugly. The book is written in alternating chapters of present time and short-term flashback. In the present time, Lauren is standing outside of Emma's house during a blizzard. She fires her gun to warn off a stranger. The stranger is shot. Lauren is arrested -- and then goes into a medical emergency. Did Lauren shoot the stranger? What's going on in the first place?

This book is complicated. Alan and Lauren, who I normally love, are caught up in hiding too many secrets to be believed. Their refusal to confide in old friend, detective Sam Purdy, stretched their credibility considering all he's been through with them. Still, there are some truly page-turning moments and some good laughs along the way. The vision of the electric pink "bunny" on the snowplow is wonderful.

Bottom-line: This is definately NOT a book to read cold-turkey. Readers are strongly encouraged to have read at least two of the previous four Alan Gregory novels before attempting Remote Control. Then, my advice is to read this one slowly. It's not White's best work but can be a good read with the right approach.

Stephen White, Remote Control (Signet, 1997)

Remote Control is very much one of _those_ mysteries, the kind that makes you read a couple of paragraphs at every stoplight. (Please control the urge to read while driving.) By now, we should all be familiar with White's cast of characters (Remote Control is the fourth Alan Gregory, psychiatrist-turned-don't-wanna-be-detective, novel) and his method of dropping loads of bricks on us when we're not looking, and slipping the clues in while we're still rubbing our head and cursing the building contractors. This time around, White gives us a self-absorbed technowhiz entrepreneur, a law-student intern with a recently-dead Senator father who falls head over heels for him, his abrasive partner, and a parallel thread running through the novel at the end of everything, where Alan's wife Lauren is being interrogated for the shooting of an unidentified man. Problem is, no one, including Lauren, is sure she actually shot the guy.

Yes, it all comes together perfectly (think Memento, except that both threads are moving forward-- one just moves more slowly than the other). White is one of those guys who writes good, clean, fun mysteries that are on the level of the big guns, but never gets the press they do. If you haven't yet picked up a Stephen White novel, give him a shot next time the New York Times Bestseller types are between books. *** 1/2

I enjoy Stephen White to the point that he's made my list of authors whose books I buy the hardcover edition the second they come out. Wow, each book by this author is better than the last. I found this one to be the most suspenseful by far. The short time period of the novel makes its pace urgent and its plot tight. It even made me fond of Lauren Crowder, who I found to be a largely unsympathetic character previously. The subject matter was fairly original.

Some people become famous as a result of a whole lot of hard work, talent etc. Other people, become famous for no good reason. Think...Star Jones, Paris Hilton, Regis Philbin, Rosanne Barr, Ryan Seacrest, Nicole Ritchie. As far as the media is concerned, celebrities (regardless of how they obtained their status) have no rights of privacy.

In Stephen Whites fifth novel in the Dr. Alan Gregory series Emma Spire has obtained unwanted celeberty status. It started because she was present at her fathers assisination; he was the Surgeon General of the United States. It continued because the cameras loved her grace, charm and beauty, and the public couldn't get enough of her.

When Lauren befriends Emma and tries to protect her from becoming abused by her fans in the worst way, Alan tries to help his wife help her friend. Lauren is arrested, and so the plot thickens...

The story's premise had promise. The climax was exciting and had me turning pages. However, the ending was disappointing and left me with the feeling that the whole story was - like Emma's celebrity status - for no good reason.

This is the fifth installment of the Alan Gregory series. As usual with a series, reading them in order helps to understand and follow the recurring characters, inside jokes, etc. In this one, Lauren is arrested when she fires her gun and gives it to a police officer after a man is shot. We get a police procedural in arrest and see it from the prisoner's (Lauren's) point of view, limited as it is. Her MS is exacurbating and she has very limited vision. Without reading the previous books, I think one would be lacking in being able to understand Lauren's choices in this book and the way she reacts to different things that happen.

I've started reading this series from the beginning and to me they just get better and better. I don't understand the limited reading audience that Stephen White seems to have, or at least that is represented in the Amazon book reviews. This series give us mystery, suspense, psychological profiles, legal aspects and police procedurals.

I got a prerelease copy of this book, and read it in two nights. It was very suspenseful, and a very god read. After reading it, I went and found all of the other Stephen White books and read them. The only unfortunate thing is that he has only written five books. <g> But, they are very good. They remind me of my favorite series, the Dismas Hardy books of John Lescroart. Very good, highly recommended

I have read all of Stephen White's books, and this is the best one yet. I could hardly believe it when I reached the end. I began reading the book and then "boom" it was over and I don't think I had taken a breath during the whole thing. The main characters were all familiar from his previous books, but this time they were like old friends and not just names on a page. The plot of the book, which involves high tech use of computer and the abuse heaped by the press on celebrities, is timely and intriguingly combined. Hats off to White and I hope that he hurries his next Allen Gregory book along.

I picked this book up for $1 at my library's used book sale. This is the first Steven White book I have read. Based on the cover and the fact that I enjoy mysteries and thrillers I picked it up. Overall, I read it in three train trips (1 hr each) and it held my interest. The plot was a little strange and not very believable. I won't bore you with the details, others have written plenty.

Apparently this is one in a series of books about the doctor, Alan Gregory. Based on this book I suppose I will read another, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find them either.

In Boulder, Colorado Emma Spire, the daughter of the assassinated Surgeons General, is an intern in the District Attorney's office, working directly for Lauren Crowder. While a blizzard was raging, in order to protect Emma from a potential kidnapping, Lauren fires a shot at a distant, blurry figure. Later on, the police report that they have found a person critically shot in a nearby street. Lauren informs the police that she fired a shot at a abductor. ..... The police bring Lauren in for further questioning, but she responds in a vague manner in order to protect Emma's privacy. Her answers upset the police. Meanwhile Lauren wonders whether the kidnapping attempt and the disappearance of a computer disk containing personal information about Emma and her boy friend are associated with the antiabortion movement's killing of the intern's father. With the help of her husband, psychologist Alan Gregory, Lauren plans to prove more than just the fact that she is innocent. She plans to uncover the identity of the culprit behind the nefarious plot against Emma. ..... REMOTE CONTROL is an exciting installment in the Alan Gregory series in that the novel focuses more on his spouse. Though the reader will have to suspend some minor credibility, they will find it worth doing because of the fast-paced story line, the incredibly charming lead couple, and a fabulous support cast, especially Emma and Lauren's legal defense team. Stephen White's fifth Gregory book is a refreshing return to some old friends. .....Harriet Klausner