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52 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I am thrilled to introduce Dave Gurney, retired homicide detective!, June 13, 2010
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Edward X Delaney has long been my favorite detective in a crime fiction series. Until now....Allow me to introduce Dave Gurney, Ret. NYPD Detective, famous for catching serial killers, now the main character in "Think of a Number," by first-time novelist John Verdon.
Advice to Mr. Verdon: Keep those Gurney books coming. You've got a long, bright future with this character, his driven nature, and his smart wife. Can you tell I loved this book?!
So how does Dave Gurney compare with Det. Delaney? Gurney does not eat drippy tomato sandwiches over the kitchen sink nor does he drink exotic liquors or beers. But both men are very methodical, very minute in first figuring out how the murder was done, then finding the killer. Delaney had a dying wife, but Gurney has a very smart one. In fact, on at least two occasions, she provides the key to discovering the mystery behind two of the murders.
What Lawrence Sanders does in the Deadly Sins series and Verdon in this (hopefully) new Gurney series is give the reader very human detectives with positive traits and negative ones. Gurney is very rational, logical, number-driven, and possessing a powerful work ethic that won't rest until the murder is solved and the murderer arrested.
"Think of a Number" is doubly tricky. What would you do if a mysterious letter arrived and the contents indicated that the writer knew of your secret history and could identify a number that he asks you to randomly pick right then. And voila! The number in the second envelope is exactly the wild, random number you picked out of 1000. Your number is 658; the number in the second envelope is 658. How in the world!!? And how does he know your past. You continue to receive communications from this unknown person, each more ominous.
The receiver is Mark Mellery, a college acquaintance of Gurney, one he barely knew, but one who knows Gurney's record for catching serial killers. Mellery is really frightened and pretty much begs Gurney to find out who the letter-writer, then telephone-caller is. Madeleine, Gurney's wife, pretty much begs him to not get involved. He is retired; they were supposed to do things together. She was a patient wife during all his absences of active duty cases when his steel-trap mind was working non-stop to solve serial murders.
Then there's the art teacher who is attracted to Gurney, despite his marital status and despite also having Madeleine as a student in the same art class. This class was Madeleine's effort to have them do things together in their retirement. But what annoys her is that this art teacher is encouraging Gurney in his new art effort. He takes photos of his serial killers and uses a photo program to enhance the killer look. Too chilling, too horrifying, too downright reminiscent of the killers' sick psyches. And this woman would hang these in her art gallery! And call him on pretext!
Oh, I could wax on all night about this book. Short version: Gurney is hooked. New York pays him as a consultant. There are murders and such spooky mysteries concerning each case. How are the victims related? What is the connection? Does Gurney maintain his record and solve them? You would think so, wouldn't you?
John Verdon, please keep Dave Gurney alive by writing another book! He is too fascinating a character, as is his smart wife, to let them rest in just one book!
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35 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
3 1/2 Stars -- A Good (Not Great) Debut That Is A Step Removed From The "Same Old, Same Old" In The Mystery Genre!, May 18, 2010
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John Verdon's first book, Think Of A Number, provides some needed freshness to the mystery genre, which is filled with books that can be characterized as "same old, same old." While Think Of A Number has a few too many peaks and valleys, it, overall, is an interesting, suspenseful and intelligent book that I found enjoyable and entertaining. Without going into a lot of detail, the plot kicks off with some people receiving a taunting letter that ends with a simple declaration: "See how well I know your secrets -- just think of a number." Those who comply find the letter writer has predicted their random choices exactly. For the retired police investigator brought in as a consultant, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but then ignite a massive serial murder investigation. Besides its well-written (though at times uneven) plot, Verdon does a good job in creating some realistic and multi-dimensional characters. That should be enough to help you decide if this is a book for you.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3 3/4 Stars from "Red Adept Reviews", October 28, 2010
This review is from: Think of a Number (Dave Gurney, No.1) (A Dave Gurney Novel) (Kindle Edition)
Plot/Storyline: 4 Stars
With a very smart plot, this book kept me guessing right up until the end. Gurney, a retired NYPD Homicide Detective, is sucked into a mystery when an old friend, Mark Mellery, contacts him about what he thinks may be a stalker. Mark has received a note stating that he should "Think of a number", then when he opens the note, the number is there. It's not just a number from one to ten, either. Also, Mellery has no connection with the number he thought of; it was just random.
As Gurney tried to figure out this mystery, I was trying to figure it out, also. I failed for a bit. I did figure out the trick used by the killer with the second note. That one didn't take me but a moment to figure out. The disappointing thing was that it took Gurney, a supposedly `genius' detective so long to get it.
On that same line, Gurney's wife seemed to be a far better detective than Gurney himself. For all of her hatred of Gurney's old job, she sure managed to solve the crime for him.
I was not only intrigued by the mysterious number trick, but I was also impressed with the ingenous answer. Often, authors seem to throw out silly answers. It's like they had a good idea, but no good ideas for resolution. That was not so here. Mr. Verdon planned and executed a wonderful mystery with an interesting and believable resolution.
The storyline did not move quite as fast as I would have liked. The amount of time spent on Gurney's relationship with his wife was a little unbalanced.
Character Development: 3 1/4 Stars
Gurney was a pretty well-fleshed out character. He was annoying at times with his constant worrying about what his wife would think. He was also inconsistent with his reputation, as indicated above.
Gurney's wife was not well done at all. She hates his job and doesn't appear to even like Gurney very much.
Mellery could have been a more sympathetic character. Instead of empathy or fear on his behalf, I found myself wanting him to just go ahead and get killed off so he wouldn't annoy me anymore.
Writing Style: 4 Stars
The writing style was pretty good. However, for a murder mystery, there were a few too many `flowers.' In other words, the descriptions of landscapes, etc. were just too detailed. I didn't need two paragraphs spent on every view of the scenery that Gurney experienced.
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