Customer Reviews

Revenge of Innocents

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I'm sorry, but you just get attacked in a parking lot and nearly are killed and you're going to stop to talk about the kind of guy you're marrying with your ex-lover? That was the last eye-rolling moment I could take in this terrible excuse for a novel. Write some realistic dialogue and situations, and I might buy in to the contrived mystery plot a little better.

Keep in mind I didn't get far into this book when weighing my review against others. I just have a low tolerance for shoddy writing.

There are too many really good books out there to waste time on this one. The growing trend with many mystery/crime writers to use a convoluted and rather implausable plot to build suspense. This is not a particularly well written book, filled with unlikeable characters who behave in a mindless manner.

I totally agree with the person who wrote skip it. This has to be one of the worst books I have read in recent years. I finished only to see if it possibly improved by the end; it didn't. The plot is disjointed and unbelievable ( I certainly hope probation and police departments don't work that way); the diologue is contrived, and the characters, especially Caroline, are superficial,unauthentic and not very likable. How do such books get published?

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg proved her writing chops with her first novel in 1993 and has continued to enthrall readers with such bestsellers as Sullivan's Law, First Offense, Abuse of Power, etc. With Revenge of Innocents, the fourth in her popular Sullivan series, she again uses her experience as a police and probation officer to bring both authenticity and authority to her story.

Some of this authenticity is shocking as we read the opening chapter with its description of a young girl being savagely beaten. From the maniacal cruelty of that event we swiftly move to protagonist Carolyn Sullivan. For her, all is right with the world. She's engaged to be married in just a few weeks to Marcus, a wonderful man. Her two children are doing well, and she's at the top of her field professionally. A probation officer she is now division manager at the Ventura County, California government office.

There is one small problem in her life - she's been so busy that she hasn't had much time to spend with her best friend, Veronica Campbell. Carolyn's almost too busy to notice the dark circles under her friend's eyes. She knows Veronica's 17-year-old daughter, Jude, has been a real problem and she's also aware that Veronica and her husband, Drew, have a rough time making ends meet. What she doesn't know is that Veronica will soon be shot, her body found in a motel bathtub.

As if that is not shock enough when Carolyn returns to her office she is given an envelope with her name on it. The message inside is brief but terrifying: "I know your son goes to MIT. I know your daughter goes to Ventura High. I know you no longer live at the same house. I know Marcus, the man you are going to marry. Keep your nose out of this, or I will kill them all. Then I will kill you."

This is obviously from someone who knows her and does not want her looking into Veronica's death. But, who and how can she keep those she loves safe?

Of course, Carolyn is determined to find Veronica's murderer but as the investigation continues she is appalled to discover how little she really knew about her childhood friend.

One more page turner from the prolific Rosenberg who vivifies her story with the day to day details of a criminal investigation and due processes of law.

- Gail Cooke

This book was just AWFUL. The dialogue was trite and the plot ridiculous. The ending came out of nowhere. It was like this book was plotted and written by different people. I don't know if Nancy Taylor Rosenberg has a ghost writer on her staff, but the plot just seemed disjointed. This was the first Taylor Rosenberg book I have read, and it is probably my last.

I have to admit I did finish this book. Luckily it didn't take long. The main character, Carolyn Sullivan, continues to do incredibly stupid things. The plot doesn't hang together. The conclusion is down right unsatisfying and the dialogue is laughable. Don't even bother taking it out of the library.

I suppose to get into "suspense," you need a pedophile, lots of murders, and a supposedly competent woman who wanders alone into a darkened empty area just after having received a death threat. As some other reviewers noted, to consider a thieving pathological liar who incites others to murder, who pays no heed to the consequences of her actions and who is consistently foul-mouthed and minded a "victim" just stretches things too much. It's as if a pedophile in the plot serves the same function as a demon: absolves everyone else of responsibility and awareness. Add in forensic and medical improbabilities, and this is really a mess.

I have never read any of the authors previous works and after this I probably will not.

I hope that police work is never really as shoddy as it is in this book. The lead female character is all over the place and makes more and more ridiculous decisions/comments as the book progresses.

The victim is not at all sympathetic and I found myself rooting AGAINST her almost the entire book.

With an ending that feels like it came out of left field, you would be better not settling down to read this book. Save yourself some time.

If you've read any other Nancy Taylor Rosenberg books, you'll love this one as well. It picks up where her last one ends and the suspense is non-stop. There's no figuring it out until the very end. Enjoy!

I have read almost all of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg's books, and was quite disappointed with this one. Her Carolyn Sullivan character has gone from being passionate about her job to being foolish, gullible, impulsive, and self righteous. She believed the Jude character over and over and over again, each time convinced that this time Jude was telling the truth.

Carolyn had a very irritating and tiresome preachy quality to her in this book. Over and over again, she lectured different characters about how she was right and they were wrong, and she was convinced that she was the only one who could see the truth -- even though she was repeatedly deceived by Jude. In addition, Rosenberg's need to pepper the entire book with short commentaries on what dogs men are -- illustrated through Carolyn's indignance about this or that -- was completely unnessesary.

This book was a huge disappointment -- Rosenberg just dialed this in and did a barely mediocre job on it. There were many loose ends left hanging. Who wrote the threatening letter? Who did Brad see in the Explorer with Veronica? Just to name a few.

Skip this book -- don't waste your time.