69 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you sell your soul to the devil, what's to say the check won't bounce?, August 17, 2010
This review is from: Tempted by Trouble (Hardcover)
I usually hate when people compare authors, but damn if Eric Jerome Dickey isn't racing toward the "Walter-Mosley-Atmosphere" of writing. Not sure if the term `intelligent-thriller' has been coined or not; but either way Eric Jerome has it on lock! His books are a literary paradox; his writing is so clean that you can't help BUT devour his work, unfortunately if you devour too fast you'll miss the flavor. `Tempted by Trouble' is another high adrenaline rush from the man who lives on the road.
Dmytryk is a man who is asked to sell his soul to the devil. Of course you would never think that the person that begs you to sell your soul to Satan would be an angel. His angel answers to a very common name. Wife. Our tax dollars have financed the salaries of the people who have orchestrated this recession, and Motor City is losing jobs like a Las Vegas stripper slowly loses her soul. If money is the root of all evil, Eddie Coyle is the bush that grows from that root. That would make Bishop and Jackie the rotten branches. Dmytryk would be the gardener trying to prune said bush while getting caught in the vines, and his angel-wife Cora would be the fertilizer.
The predominate question in this book is "how far would you go to protect/save what is yours"? The mental anguish Dmytryk goes would weaken even the strongest cerebral athlete. He's down and out. He has no money. Eddie Coyle tells him that he can make easy money in two minutes. In the time it takes a minute man to put a smile on his face and a frown on his woman's, Dmytryk can become recession proof. At least for a while. At least until the money runs out. Again. Two minutes and you could live your life like it's golden for the next six months. Two minutes and your soul could dissolve into black forever.
As I was reading this book I was thinking how easy it would be to be a wheelman and make a few thousand just for driving. How much fun it would be to spend all that cash. What it would be like to waltz off a deserted island with a nineteen year old nymph. But you know what? I'm bet Dmytryk thought the exact same thing. I'm sure he didn't factor in his wife doing the things she did because of that money. I'm sure he didn't factor in becoming the bloody dispenser of pain to strangers. And I'm damn sure he didn't factor being trapped in an M. Night Shyamalan black hole. While there are shockers throughout `Tempted by Trouble', there is one you won't see one coming.
Trust me, you won't. I actually had to go back and re-read a few pages because I really thought I missed something. I did, but it wasn't anything like I thought. Eric writes on a level that most people dream. Saying that his books are magnificent is just redundant. My admiration of this man goes beyond a fan's infatuation. I'm a booklover who reads these books because Eric has that very, very rare gift of being able to tell a story and not just write a book. I relish the read, I take pleasure in the literary vacation, I hardly breathe on the thrill ride from cover to cover, and what's more, it's a necessity. I'm the junkie and he's the dealer. (just call me Pooky)! And like most junkies, when I find something good I spread the word. So everyone, slap your forearm, find that vein, and O.D. on a drug called EJD
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Another thriller, August 23, 2010
This review is from: Tempted by Trouble (Hardcover)
For an author that started out writing from the woman's point of view, Eric Jerome Dickey has certainly evolved. If you've followed his writing career, you'll remember the days when his stories were considered the male answer to Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale. They were funny, they were romantic, they were light. I can remember commenting to a fellow reader years ago that he wrote with a woman's voice so well that if I didn't know he was a man, I would have assumed he was a woman.
I've noticed in recent years that he has shied away from romantic lit as a whole and has begun to hide it within darker, sexier novels. Though he started bringing the sexy in 2003's The Other Woman, the first time I noticed him bringing a whole lot of sexy was in 2008's Pleasure. An older relative gave it to me for Christmas and I blushed so much through out it that all I could hope was that she hadn't read it prior to giving it to me.
With the beginning of the Gideon series, 2007's Sleeping with Strangers, Dickey introduced us to the darker, more masculine side of his stories. If I remember correctly, this was really the first time that his lead character was a male. A killer for hire, Gideon is the focus of four books, which is somewhat unusual for the author. He seems to like to utilizing characters for one story and then moving on from them. It would seem that he found his voice within Gideon.
Tempted by Trouble introduces the reader to a new character, Dmytryk Knight. An out of work former executive turned assembly line worker, Dmytryk is struggling to maintain his home, his marriage and his sanity in Detroit. His out of work wife, Cora, has taken to stripping to bring money into the house while Dmytryk picks up odd jobs here and there. A chance encounter in the strip club introduces Dmytryk to a way of life that he never imagined, as the getaway man for a crew of bank robbers.
Dmytryk isn't cut out for the life of a thief, but if it keeps Cora happy, he's willing to do it. When his latest heist goes wrong and Cora disappears, Dmytryk has to decide if this is really the path he wants to continue down. With fast paced writing and several twists and turns, Eric Jerome Dickey has created yet another page turner.
What did you like about this book?
There were quite a few unexpected surprises and I loved that.
What didn't you like about this book?
Dickey never comes out and tells the reader what race Dmytryk is. One could infer from his parents names, as well as his, that his origins are European, but the fact that he was born and raised in Detroit and attended Cass Technical High, a predominantly black school leads you to wonder if he's black. I would suspect that the author wanted to leave it up to the reader to decide. Ultimately it doesn't matter what race Dmytryk is since this isn't a black or white story, but a human story.
What could the author do to improve this book?
Dmytryk is the lead character and so much of the story is built around him. I would have liked more background on the other players though.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed, August 30, 2010
This review is from: Tempted by Trouble (Hardcover)
I am a huge EJD fan. I've read all of his books and enjoyed them (especially the Gideon series). When I finished reading this book, I wanted to kick myself for wasting my time on it. It didn't feel like I was reading an EJD book at all. The plot dragged on, the characters were not relatable, and it was very predictable. I love EJD, but he really dropped the ball on this one. I hope his next book does not disappoint like this one did.
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