Customer Reviews

Riptide (FBI Series)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(62)

 

 

Well, this was a great read. I was a bit uncertain after the last hard cover release by Coulter (The Edge). I was glad to see Coulter return to her 3rd person style of writing. I also enjoyed the plot twists. It was a bit of a challenge to pull the different plot strings together from time to time. It was almost as if there were two books in one. I really did enjoy the primary characters of Becca and Adam. The only missing element in this great suspense was the deeper development of the romance between Adam and Becca. It was almost an afterthought in the story. However, I truly was engrossed and couldn't put it down until I finished it. So, overall it was very enjoyable.

I have always found it difficult to part with a book once read, so I keep building bookcases. However, Riptide is the second book in my many years of reading that I cannot wait to get out of my house. I bought the paperback because the name Catherine Coulter was familiar and she was a "best-selling" writer. Then there was all this critical praise in the front pages. Was I ever stupid to believe that. This book is so poorly written that I found myself underlining and cross-referencing all the stupid things that were written. (It reminded me of one of the two Danielle Steele books I read - I only read a second one to give her a chance, but she failed again - in which one of the female characters is descibed as having "endless legs" over and over again. Gag.) Where was the editor of Riptide?? Was this originally published unread?? Here's a couple examples from early on in the paperback edition of Riptide:

Chapter 5: Becca is in her rented house on the coast of Maine when she checks the weather report on TV and hears that the worst storm in years is approaching and everyone is being warned to go to shelters. The wind and rain hit. The lights flicker. She has bought candles and set them on her bedside table (perhaps in case the power goes out??). The thunder is deafening and the house is rattling. Get the picture? Then the last line of Chapter 5:

"Suddenly, with no warning, thunder boomed, lightning streaked through the sky, and the lights went out."

Suddenly?? No warning?? This was a surprise?? I should have thrown the book away right there.

Then there's page 45: "Had she come here just to be killed in a ferocious summer storm?" followed on p.48 by: ". . .making her wonder if she'd come to Maine only to be done in by a wretched storm." Did Coulter think we had forgotten she's already said that?

I could go on and on. My personal opinion is that anyone who thought this book - with it's convoluted plot(s) and inane, unrealistic dialogue and narrative - is a good read has NEVER read a really good book. Or they are 12 years old. This book stinks. I am not even giving Coulter the second chance I gave Steele. My review in a word, Yuck.

Becca Matlock is the senior speechwriter for New York's governor, she is also the victim of a stalker. Becca pleads with the police department to believe her, and even after the murder of a homeless woman, and an attack on the governor himself, the police still don't believe her claims.

Becca moves back to her hometown of Riptide, to try and make peace with her mother's death, and the threating letters and phonecalls from the stalker. After settling in her new home, she runs into an old friend from college, whose wife has left him to raise his son.

During a rough storm, Becca's basement wall cracks, revealing the skeleton of a young woman. As her life begins spinning out of control, Becca, becomes faced with the stalker (who has found her in her new home), and the fact there are lies in her family history...lies that are resurfacing present day, and may cost Becca her life. Becca finds safety in the arms of Adam, the man protecting her. Adam will work with Sherlock and Savitch (characters from previous books) to solve the mystery involving her family's past.

"Riptide" is fast-paced, and enjoyable, the only flaw is in the juggling of the two plots (The family history, and the stalker). The plot featuring the stalker is the most interesting and an important part to the shocking climax.

Catherine Coulter keeps the reader in suspense by switching the plot themes, and by revealing many secrets along the way. If the entire book was focused on the stalker it would have earned 5 stars.

A good read for fans of fast-paced entertainment.

Nick Gonnella

I have thoroughly enjoyed Impulse and Beyond Eden, but Riptide is definitely not Coulter's best work. The storyline is fairly good and at times I was very engrossed in the plot. However I did not become too invested in the characters as they were not likeable. The heroine is somewhat annoying as she tries so hard to be strong and tough, but in the end you realize how stupid she actually is. All in all, I would not recommend this book.

This was a ridiculous book that made me want to throw it after I was finished. I won't bore you with the details since other reviews have them. The main problem with the book is that it involved both the FBI and CIA and they obviously don't know how to protect anyone. The author suggests that the protectors would allow the heroine to wander about freely and call all the shots when obviously that wouldn't be the case. During one part of the book, the government agencies neglected to think that someone could enter a house from a tree onto the roof to enter via an Unlocked HATCH which just happened to be on the roof of a house. The CIA and FBI certainly wouldn't be looking for something so obvious that one of the Little Rascals could do it. Another scene has them hoodwinked by a bad guy shooting a gun at a house. During the search for him, all those guarding a house abandon it. When they return to find an empty house, of course, they don't search the house. The pitiful story is filled with these type of plot twists. Everything in the book is very predictable as far as the major two plots concerning a murder and a stalker. DON'T BUY THIS PIECE OF TRASH!!

This was my first Coutlter novel, so maybe this book isn't indicative of her other books, but this one was very poorly written and a real disappointment.

Her characters have no authenticity and are poorly developed. For example, the main character at one point is almost hysterical at seeing a skeleton, but soon after is boldly engaged in a gunfight with a madman. These kinds of glaring character problems pop up through the entire book.

At times the writing is very stilted, with short, simple sentences strung one after the other. It reads like a draft rather than a finished novel. The dialog is also poorly written, and sometimes I found myself having to read it twice to figure out what was being said.

The romance aspect is very poorly developed. We get no sense of a developing relationship, it seems as though the two characters barely know one another, and yet they get engaged at the end of the book.

Coulter throws in a subplot that is clunky and doens't integrate into the main story at all. Because of this subplot, the book ends up with not one, but two deranged psychos who try to kill the heroine (two psychos for the price of one!), and it seems just silly and unnecessary.

I'm glad I merely checked this stinker out from my local library and didn't spend money on it

As a long time mystery reader, I was interested in reading my first book from this author with 42 New York Times best selling novels. Imagine my dismay when after 50 pages, I couldn't bear to continue. This may be the most poorly written book I've ever attempted to read. The premise of the book, the character development and the prose are something I would expect from a fourth grader. It amazes me that this book ever got published- apparently Ms. Coulter is living off of her reputation. The GOOD news is that according to her website, she only writes one book a year. Perhaps when she's not writing she could attend some creative writing and English composition classes at a nearby university.

How this author actually got anything published is the real mystery to me.
As an aspiring writer, I try to read a little bit of everything. That's how I came to read this book. What is strange is that this book seemed to have gotten good reviews by the media. But when I read the first few chapters of this book, I wondered if somehow the first draft had accidently been published without an editor.
The characters are unimaginative and cookie cutter. They talk in long-winded paragraphs like only Hamlet would. It's like the author uses dialogue instead of narrative to tell the reader how the character is thinking and feeling. Successful dialogue has witty banter and people interrupting each other.
And sometimes, it bores me to read what the characters are wearing. Who cares if her shorts are brown or whatever!
Come on Catherine...if you are a New York Times Bestseller, then hire a good editor. And Jove Publications, you should look elsewhere for authors. There are some good ones out there! Me! Me!

This book was TERRIBLE! I don't know why I bothered to finish it. The premise wasn't bad to begin with, but the plot was disorganized to me. People and events just sort of appeared from nowhere, like they were thrown in randomly. However, my major complaint was the dialog. It was flat, repetitive, and didn't do a lot to either move the plot forward or develop the characters. Some of it was just stupid. For example "I know I'm not dead beacuase I would kill for some water. And I don't believe that if someone is dead, she's particularly thirsty. May I please have some water?" The attempts at "witty banter" or "romantic antagonism" just didn't ring true at all. I've read a few of her other suspense/ romance novels, and I don't remember them being this stilted. I definitely don't recommend spending your money on this book -- borrow it from the library.

Written in 5 year old prose with an adult theme.