Customer Reviews

The Sky Is Falling

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

If some of you haven't noticed, this book's characters comes from his other book "The Best Laid Plans." You don't need to read that book to know who the characters are, but it helps because it will give you more background information. Anyhow, I thought the plot was interesting, and no doubt a page-turner (especially since I finished it the same day I bought it) however I'm sorry to say that this book was not all that great compared to his other books. In my opinion, it seems like he's losing his touch. I can't exactly figure out what it is, but the book seems to be missing something.. and I guess I didn't get the "fullfilment" at the end that I usually get when reading his books. Anyhow, Sidney Sheldon is one of my favorite authors, so if this is the first book you've read from him, check out his other books, they're awesome! =)

World famous for their goverment service, the Winthrop's, are America's royal family, but as the fifth death ends the family name, Washington anchorwoman, Dana Evans, believes there is something strange surrounding the deaths.

As Dana begins her investigation she uncovers evidence that is shocking, and on her quest to uncover the truth, she will enter into a game of cat and mouse that will take her around the world, bringing her closer to a diabolical killer.

Dana must outwit her pursuers, to expose the truth, and save the life of her son.

"The Sky Is Falling" is vintage Sheldon; fast-paced, exciting, well-written, and always entertaining.

Sidney Sheldon is praised as being the "master of the storytelling game", and deservedly so...he grabs the reader immediately, and pulls them along for a ride they will hate to see end.

If you are looking for a novel you can't put down...grab this one!

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

Right from the beginning of listening to this audio book, I was astounded by how ridiculous the writing was. ("A woman in her FIFTIES with PREMATURELY grey hair". HUH???) Then I got into the plot.

Geez, an entire family of wealthy, philanthropic, high-profile, Kennedy-types is wiped out by "accident" within ONE YEAR, and not only is no one suspicious, but when the heroine dares to question it, is met with skepticism and called a "chicken little". And by experienced journalists yet. One would have thought that a full-fledged government investigation would have been launched after the second "accident".

The protagonist, Dana, follows the story all over the United States, Europe and Russia, with not a single objection from her bosses. Are absences and budgets never a consideration?

As she travels world-wide, her interviews consist of two or three obvious questions, amateurishly phrased and never followed up. Onward to the next country, where this is repeated. This is supposed to be an experienced journalist? I cringed in frustration.

From one plot-hole to another, with one dimensional characters, unbelievable dialogue and a ridiculous, unsatisfying ending, Sheldon once again proves that he is the most over-hyped hack in the English language. Aimed at North America's typical low-brow audience, this book will not disappoint the average reader, who will likely follow it up with one of Danielle Steel's latest literary disasters.

...

It use to be that I would read Sheldon's novels in one day.... fast paced, filled with intrique, twists and turns, characters that made you either love them or hate them or question them.... and when I was finished reading I was not only fulfilled but anxious for Sheldon's next novel.

Those were the days....

Now, I still can read his novels in one day, but.... this book (as many of his books in the past 7 years) are just not fulfilling. The character development is lacking, the story has no intrique and when I finished, I wondered one more time...why do I still buy his books. (The answer is because I remember those that I really loved, like Master of the Game, Rage of Angels, Windmills of the Gods, and I keep hoping he'll have another one that reaches the same heights of enjoyment.)

After this book, I'll read more Amazon reviews before I rush out to purchase the book on its first day of sale. The book is just not worth it... if you are a fan of Sheldon...wait for the paperpack.

If you have never read him before....buy any of the books I mentioned and you will truly enjoy his writing ability.

Almost 30 years ago, I stumbled upon a book by the new to me author, Sidney Sheldon. The title of the book was The Other Side of Midnight and once I read it, the rest is history. History in the sense that from that day forward Sheldon became one of those authors I just had to read as soon as a new book was published. And while I fully acknowledge to others as well as myself that Sheldon never wrote highbrow literature, his books for the most part provided me with a fast paced escapist read. Unfortunately, this hasn't been the case now for several years. I became increasingly tired of Sheldon's books and while I continued to read most of them, some of that old fashioned pizazz was clearly missing. Whne I first saw The Sky is Falling, on the shelves, I seriously thought, for one minute, of not reading his latest book. And that would have been my mistake since this boosk is as intrigiung and page turning as Sheldons' other now vintage titles like If Tomorrow Comes, Rage of Angels, The Naked Face and The Other Side fo Midnight. Part political thriller, part mystery with a dash of irony mixed in The Sky is Falling is a book in the old time tradition of the Sheldon novels many of us have come to enjoy.

Sidney Sheldon needs to be told that someone else is using his name to write and publish garbage. For years Sheldon was one of my all time favorite writers. I have always considered Master of the Game one of the best books I have ever read. Likewise, The Other Side of Midnight, Bloodline, Rage of Angels and If Tmorrow Comes were excellent books. However in recent years his writting has really fallen off. But,The Sky is Falling is by far his worst effort yet. It is worthless. I have never read a more predictable book in my life. Surprise ending? What surprise ending? I couldn't agree more with the other reviewer that said, had this been a first novel it never would have been published. SKIP THIS BOOK! If you want to read Sheldon go back and read the ones he wrote in the 70's and 80's-even if you've read those same books before-I promise you they will have more surprises then this one! If this is the best he can do now he needs to quit writing, before a new generation of readers judge him on these books and not on what a lot of us know he is, or was, capable of.

See storyline above.

As far as the story goes, it is a real page turner. I must admit this is my first Sheldon novel. I'm a little disappointed in the brevity of his writing style. It reads somewhat like cliff notes. It is, no doubt, fast paced, but written in the summary style that it is, it would be hard to be slow paced. If you just want a fun read, and really quick, this is the book for you.

Recommended...For younger readers and older readers who like thrills.

I'm not sure if it's age or what, but Sheldon is definitely slipping. I was appalled when I read this book. If it wasn't Sheldon who wrote it, it probably would've never got published. As the earlier reviewers said, the plot is thin and predictable. When I look back on my experience reading this book, I remember going through a series of disjointed paragraphs, as the scenarios are incredibly short. I've read all of Sheldon's books and have observed this gradual decline of the quality of his stories. Looks like it started with "Nothing Lasts Forever" and went downhill from there. So don't judge Sheldon by the quality of this book, or you'll miss out on incredible fiction. I highly recommend "Master of the Game," "If Tomorrow Comes," "Rage of Angels," "Windmills of the Gods," and "Doomsday Conspiracy." A good rule of thumb will be to stick to the books he wrote before "Nothing Lasts Forever." I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

"Rage of Angels" was one of my favorite books and when I seen this one also written my Sidney Sheldon I decided to read it. I found it a very quick book to read, but I was extremely dissapointed with it. The storyline was flat, I didn't care about any of the character (with the exception of Kemal) and most of the plot twist were predictable.

The main character Dana Evans travels to all ends of the earth to investigate the "accidental deaths of all 5 members of the Winthrop family. Meanwhile she leaves her troubled son for long periods of time with anyone she can hire and she never even questions why he is sleeping all the time. Nor does she ever question why so many people that she has just met are extremely helpful to her. Plus I don't know any woman who would just let her boyfriend take care of his ailing supermodel ex-wife, when the ex-wife probaly had enough money to hire a whole nursing staff.

The better story would have been the relationship between Dana and Kemal. Kemal is an 11 year old orphan who lost his arm during the war and Dana decides to adopt him. He is always afraid that she will send him back and I can not blame him for thinking that because she never spends any time with him.

If you want to read a 5 star book from Sidney Sheldon pick up "Rage of Angels" and skip this one.

When we read the first work of an author and it is bad, we might throw away the book and simply forget about it. But when we read a bad book by an author whose work used to be good, we feel deeply offended and even angry. That is how I felt after I finished reading The Sky is falling. Does Mr. Sheldon think his readers are stupid? Superficiality is the bottom line of this book. Card board characters, banal events, a stupid heroin, catastrophic dialogues are a few of many negative points of this book. I read it to the end to see how worse it can get and in this one aspect, the book was a winner! It started bad, got worse and ended up to be the worst book I had ever read.

Dear Mr. Sheldon, it is not the sky that is falling, it is YOU!