Customer Reviews

Santa Fe Rules

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I brought this book along with me to read during an originally short plane trip. I started reading it on the way home and after two planes and a 5 hour delay in the middle, I easily finished this book in one day. This was a great book to have with me because it was really a page turner and helped to quickly pass the time. One thing I think Stuart Woods does well is put several twists into his books which made me look up and say "No way!" throughout this book.

The main character is Wolf Willet who we get to know in the start as a guy who likes his routine and has made a large amount of money in the entertainment business. In the beginning he flies from Sante Fe on his way to LA and has plane troubles and lands near the Grand Canyon. He reads the NY Times headline which says that his wife, his best friend, and him are found shot dead at his home in a guest bedroom. Through the entire rest of the book, Wolf continues to find out who the killer and the dead people really are. You are introduced to many characters who you consistently question...who do you really trust?

This was a great mystery by Stuart Woods and I would definately recommend it to anyone!

Very disappointing. Stuart Woods can be very good. That's why I read him. Chiefs, Grass Roots, and Run Before the Wind were excellent. Other books have not been so wonderful and this was one of them. I kept finding myself saying, "Oh come on" way too many times during this book. Wolf doesn't seem to have a conscience, and I found it hard to find any redeeming qualities in him. This book was just too slick, and the characters way too shallow. Your wife is just killed, so you fly off to L.A. to finish a script? You start an affair? What's missing from this picture?

I could not put this book down, it was so intriguing. Not only was it fast-paced, but it had an unusual and different story line, and that's what I liked the most; something different for a change.

At the beginning of the novel, the murders take place and from then on, you haven't a clue as to who the killer is, even though you suspect the main character, as does the police and the district attorney. However, it's not until the end of the book, the very end, that you find out who the killer is, and it will just give you the shock of your life!!! It was a great book and I would recommend it to anyone that likes murder mysteries.

This is one of my favorite Stuart Woods' novels. I found it at a local used bookstore and decided to try it. This was my second novel by Stuart Woods and I feel, one of his best. Mr. Woods studied and described the atmosphere and terrain of the south-west in great detail, which was enjoyable. Another winner for Stuart Woods.

One of the strangest nuances of this book is Ed Eagle, who everyone seems to think is a Native American, but as we learn later, he is really a Jew and was accepted as an Indian because of his basketball prowess. Okay, Mr. Woods, that's original. Too bad the rest of the novel isn't quite so fresh; but indeed SANTA FE RULES manages to weave an involving, if somewhat hard to believe tale.

Anyone who's read a great deal of mystery novels will see the truth in this novel very early on. Woods does manage to throw in a neat twist at the end, but it only enhances what an astute reader will have already figured out.

Woods writes like a screenwriter; much of his narrative would transfer well to the big screen. A little faster pacing would have enhanced the book as well. But if you're in the mood for a superflous but highly entertaining read, SANTA FE RULES delivers.

I am stunned this book got so many great reviews. I worked in Sante Fe for a while so thought I would enjoy it on that level at the very least, but I thought it was a complete waste of time. the good news--its a very easy read and you can finish it quickly.

As someone else says, the characters are shallow and unsympathetic beyond belief. The women are all drop dead gorgeous and the men are handsome and successful--and rich--so much so that the main character Wolf, finds his young wife dead and hooks up with another younger woman almost immediately! And he's so great even her 8 year old daughter is happy to find mom in bed with him the first weekend she meets him! I guess that's all supposed to be okay once we find out the first wife was pond scum.

The mystery is solved easily half way through the book but for some reason these brilliant men are not able to figure it out--because they are too busy being in love and /or feeling sorry for themselves.

There is not a single character that I liked or found believable. This is not even a book I will give to anyone. I expected more of Mr. Woods. Now I'm afraid to read anything else he wrote.

This is an excellent mystery novel, set in author Woods' then home town. If you like Michael Connelly's and Ross Thomas's books, you will like this one as well.

I read this after reading the sequel ("Short Straw"),because I wanted to see if author Woods could really craft a real story. "Short Straw" wasn't that. "Short Straw" was written about a dozen years after "Santa Fe Rules," and set about 2 years after "Santa Fe rules."

Well, in 1992 author Woods could craft a real story with plot, scenes, mystery, and the snappy dialogue I found in "Short Straw." This is the type of work product which established his then reputation as a first-grade mystery writer.

This book, and its sequel are really about three sisters who want to be something more than what their parents raised them to be. What they wanted was to be rich, and beholding to no one. Both books are about how they go from being young Jewish maidens through prison and murder(s) to temporarily meeting their needs, and death.

All three sisters interact with the two male protagonists - one a Santa Fe lawyer, and the other a movie producer. The latter is implicated in a triple murder which included some of the three sisters, and the former defends him and has a relationship with one of the sisters. While the story in "Santa Fe Rules" is about proving the innocence of the movie producer, the theme is the changing lives of the three sisters.

There is not a lot of action, but mystery is who the sisters really are and what they did to whom. This won't be the best mystery you ever read, but if you like mystery novels you will like "Santa Fe Rules."

Affluent Hollywood producer Wolf Willet cannot remember what he did the night before, but thinks nothing of it as he is flying on his private plane from his Santa Fe home to Los Angeles even with Thanksgiving being the next day. Engine trouble forces him to land near the Grand Canyon. While waiting for the repair with the holiday in the way of any maintenance occurring, he reads the New York Times only to find his wife Julia, his business partner and himself murdered.

Instead of reporting that the third body is not him, Wolf flies to Hollywood after his plane is repaired to finish his movie. A week later he hires defense lawyer Ed Eagle to defend him as he expects legal trouble. The Santa Fe cops suspect him of murder and have identified the other dead male as the ex-husband of Julia's look-alike sister Barbara who has a tryst with Ed. Soon another homicide occurs and Wolf is arrested for the murders just when he leans his late wife stole over three million dollars from him, but remains ignorant to a hit called on him.

This is a reprint of an exciting fast-paced early 1990s thriller that is fun to read, but stretches plausibility further than the distance between Santa Fe and Hollywood. The twists starting with the insanity of finishing the movie instead of either going with a lawyer to the cops or gong underground as an amateur sleuth to spins on siblings that seem unreal, but in fairness add entertainment. Far from Stuart Woods' best work, his most dedicated fans will enjoy Wolf playing hardball by Hollywood make believe rules in Santa Fe.

Harriet Klausner

A story that makes you wonder if you are awake or having a nightmare.. A wonderful story told only as Stuart Woods could tell.

I have not read Stuart Woods before. I am not sure I've even heard of him, even though there are claims of him being a NY Times best-selling author. That is probably true considering the level of intelligence of many Americans. What is true, though, is what kind of book this is. I was drawn to it because of my interest in Santa Fe. Well, my bad. I got what I deserved. This is, plain and simple, a plain and simple book. Silly. Stupid. Shallow. It's a children's book for grown ups. It probably took him no longer to write than it would take you to read. So, in the end, the joke's on me...I did zip through it. Actually what I found most entertaining about the whole hour and a half experience was his so-called Author's Note at the end. That's where he "writes" about how happy he is to hear from his readers...but probably will not see your note or care to because he's such a busy and important author and there is no need to really bother him. Are yuv fookin kiddin me, Stuart?

So there.