Customer Reviews

Shanghaied (Ray Sharp Novels)

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

 

 

The tag line is taking from a blog that the Author participated in. While I am not privy to sales figures, in my old neighborhood we would likely state that Eric Stone has "got a set of plums" re: killing off the proverbial "golden goose." With libraries starting to carry the hard cover versions of his latest, it does seem like a risky maneuver. First and foremost, Mr. Stone is very assessable to fans of his work and has obviously put in "the time" via research and/or real life experience on his previous 3-novels. Even before the central character was rather unceremoniously cast aside, I was beginning to have some issues with "Shanghaied."

1.) The story line of the Accountant/Monk going AWOL in HK and experiencing "pleasures of the flesh" was an interesting premise. However, there wasn't enough time to develop the angle and put any type of "face" on the character before he was killed off

2.) The disabled American factory owner/manager with a set of smoking hot female triad kung-fu expert bodyguards is very "James Bond-ish"

3.) The lack of explanation re: the side kick was simple not killed in lieu of being held and addicted to heroin

4.) The blossoming lesbian relationship that didn't seem to add anything to main plot

Essentially, it is like reading 2-books under one cover with neither having reached a conclusion. It took me much longer to finish "Shanghaied" versus the Author's other 3-novels, which very hard to put down.

Here is hoping for a "soap opera" like re-emergence of Ray Sharp!

This is the latest novel published in the Ray Sharp series. It is a great disappointment from which I am not about to recover.

I've had issues with the whole series, which I'll get to later, but this novel, halfway through, definitely slapped the reader across the face with a plot twist that did little to enhance the narrative or character development let alone this reader's interest. Whereas Stone has wonderful descriptive prose which has allowed a reader in each of the four novels to feel and absorb Indonesia, China, Thailand, etc., and he definitely paints a picture of places, cultures, and customs that alternately entice and horrify, this gifted prose does not always compensate for some of the lame plot devices, deus ex machinas, and gratuitous but unbelievable sex scenes. It's hard to believe that Ray Sharp is so irresistible to women, but in every book there is always some delectable young thing eager to pleasure him at a moment's notice.

The sadomasochism thread running through every novel is also here. It's tiresome after awhile because it often seems a diversion from the narrative rather than a driver to the action. Most of the sex and violence of these four books seem imposed rather than organic to the characters. And Ray Sharp has to be one of the densest, slow-witted gumshoes around.

I have read more novels than I could ever remember but I can't ever recall encountering any where, halfway through the book, the reader is treated to a reversal like this one. It was unexpected, inexplicable, and disappointing. It was as if Stone had written parts of two books and decided to paste them together, with the resolution of the conflicts never consummated. The open-ended finale leaves Stone with an easy segue to his next novel with his new protagonist. For what it's worth, I won't be traveling with him. This novel has ended any interest I have in Eric Stone the writer.

I haven't read any of Stone's earlier books, so I can't compare. However, I really enjoyed this book. The surprise ending was upsetting, and I hope the situation will be remedied in the next book.

All four books in the Ray Sharp series immerse the reader in an exotic, even surreal version of China. Like the others, SHANGHAIED is as fascinating and eerie as meeting a succubus. You may get edgy, but you won't stop reading. Stone writes like a demon.

In the fourth Ray Sharp novel, Eric Stone outdoes himself. Set in the aftermath of the British handover of Hong Kong to China, series star and idealistic ne'er-do-well Ray Sharp investigates a Chinese bank for a Tibetan monk. At times harrowing, at times hilarious, Stone takes advantage of his experience as a journalist in southeast Asia to spin a yarn strange and harrowing and utterly genuine. Shanghaied features quirky sex, off-beat characters, gritty, hardboiled action and a shocking twist. One of my must-reads for summer.

The previous three Eric Stone/Ray Sharp books were troubled wise guy PI stories with added hookers, violence, and exotic locations. They aren't classics, but they are entertaining. This recent effort is not.

Without giving away the going nowhere plot, the first half of the book is pretty much as expected, but the second is a complete, unexpected, and disappointing change of story. If you're interested in the unresolved travails of a trying-to-quit drug addicted, maybe-want-to-be lesbian, female dwarf, the book may be for you. I wasn't, so I felt cheated.

All in all it's a half-hearted effort that reads like two unfinished and uninteresting stories that were stapled together.

Big disappointment.