Customer Reviews

Strange Robby

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Selina Rosen has done it again. A kick-butt detective named Spider Webb and her partner, Tommy Chan, are tasked with finding "The Fry Guy" -- a vigilante who is killing scum and making their jobs just that much easier. Except that there are men in black suits called the SWTF who are more interested in Spider than "The Fry Guy."

Rosen has taken the black helicopters and made them real in this story. There was one twist that blindsided me and kept me reading through this imaginative thriller. If you like Ms. Rosen's books, this is another you won't be able to put down. Read, enjoy and have fun. And root for the Fry Guy for cleaning up the streets.

Selina Rosen seizes a particular time and place of her own creation and brings us along for the ride. Her characters are gritty, real-life folks who are trying to do the best they can with the skills and personalities they possess. This book, at times, makes you think about what-if: What would you do in the character's place? The book is a fast read, well worth the price.

Selina's ability to tell a story is wonderful. This book is a little diffrent than her others, but she still creates a great story. i enjoyed it so much i bought both versions of the book..... You need to buy it if your a Selina Rosen fan

I had the option of getting this book in hardcover or in paperbound, and I'm glad I elected for the hardcover.

I can't claim impartiality, since I know Ms. Rosen, but I also had the pleasure of hearing her read excerpts from the work at conventions, and would have been encouraged to buy it had I not known the writer.

The characters are all fully realized, with depth and weight, and Robby Strange is probably the most appealing of all. He's the "Fry Guy," the serial killer who is being supposedly hunted and generally protected by the protagonist, Spider Webb and her partner, Tommy Chan. The plot has more twists and turns than a roller coaster and moves at about the same speed. And some truly scary people.

The only caveat is that the protagonist is gay and people offended by loves scenes between women should probably be aware that this book contains such scenes, although it never becomes graphic or pornographic.

This is one of the best purchases I've made this year.

A thriller with supernatural overtones. Spider and Tommy are strong, intelligent characters who get up off the page and take you along for the wild ride. A page-turner, well worth your time. - Mrs. MB Moe

STRANGE ROBBY is one of the wonderful new breed of cross-genre novels, a breathtaking mix of Chris Carter and Joseph Wambaugh laced liberally with a dose of black humor. Selina Rosen has come up with a cop pairing for the ages -- the sharp, funny, and ever so slightly strange Spider Webb, busily trying to juggle her job and an undercover romance with a DA, and her stalwart partner and straight man Tommy Chen. On the verge of burnout, they're secretly cheering on a mysterious serial killer who's systematically ridding the city of dangerous criminals by microwaving their brains, an act that gains him the nickname "The Fry Guy." When a secret government agency get involved in the case, however, Webb and Chen find themselves caught between the Fry Guy and their own government. Meanwhile, Webb finds herself targeted by the agency when she discovers a horrifying secret in her past...

Selina Rosen has been a master storyteller for years; her CHAINS trilogy (CHAINS OF FREEDOM, CHAINS OF DESTRUCTION, and CHAINS OF REDEMPTION) is Asimovian in its SF extrapolation of the rise and fall of governments, and her Drewcila Qwah novels (QUEEN OF DENIAL and RECYCLED) are downright hilarious. With STRANGE ROBBY, she stays closer to home, exploring the themes of individuality and personal autonomy in the face of an ever-encroaching government, while also maintaining a crackerjack of a plot (reminiscent of the best of THE X-FILES) that is guaranteed to keep you turning the page.

This is the good stuff!

I really enjoy Ms. Rosen's work, and this is one of her best pieces. ROBBY is a true breakout book that highlights her talent as a storyteller.

She still has elements of dark humor in this work, but this book shows her deeper, more serious side as she leads the reader through this thriller.

Her near future characters Spider Webb and Tommy Chan are gritty and tough. They investigate a series of murders where the victims are as much "bad guys" as the killer. Rosen explores the gray line between vigiliantism and common justice but all the while avoids beating us over the head with "drama".

This is the type of book people want to read.

As another reviewer has mentioned, this book is a little bit different than most of Selina's others. However, it is typical Selina Rosen in one very important respect: its a helluva great read and a lot of fun.

One thing you can always count on with Selina is a very strong, intelligent female lead character. There was Drewcilla in QUEEN OF DENIAL and RECYCLED, there was RJ in the CHAINS books, etc. STRANGE ROBBY introduces readers to Spider Webb, a tough, sassy police investigator. She and her partner Tommy Chan are following the trail of a very unusual killer whom the press has labled "The Fry Guy". It appears he has some sort of weapon with which he kills people by microwaving their brain instantly. And here's the thing: his victims are all convicted criminals, usually repeat offenders. Spider and Tommy, battle weary from working so hard to catch these creeps only to watch the revolving door of the justice system put them back on the streets, are in no hurry to catch this guy, as he's dishing out the justice that these criminals deserve but aren't getting. And Spider doesn't think this guy actually has a weapon. She thinks he *is* the weapon.

And that's just the starting point for a quick-reading book with lots of twists and turns, lots of action, and lots of vivid characters. The story has some "X-Files" type elements to it, as well as something of a cliff-hanger ending.

If you're new to Selina's work, this is a good place to start. One you've read this, I also highly recommend the second CHAINS book, CHAINS OF DESTRUCTION, for an explosive read with a great deal of humour and a very colourful cast of characters. Plus, one of the most butt-kickin' female heroes I've ever read!

Once I started reading this, I couldn't put it away until I had finished it. Great story, great characters. Hopefully, some non-defunct publisher will pick this up and re-issue it. Otherwise, buy it here or in the electronic version(which is how I read it).

They made those stupid sparkling vampire books into movies, however they somehow passed this one up. What? WHAT?