Customer Reviews

Top Ten

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Because of FBI Special Agent Ariel Grace's excellent reputation, her supervisor Jack Trale, Chief of the Atlanta field office, allows her to deliver Mills DeVane to him. So confident in her abilities, Jack sets up a press conference. A chagrined Ariel fails to convey Mills and an irate Jack transfers Ariel to Task Force 10. Her new boss welcomes her because he needs agents to catch # 10 on the FBI's Most Wanted List, serial killer Michelangelo who uses his victims as a canvas.

The superego Michelangelo is livid with the FBI for leaving him at the bottom of their list. He feels he has earned the # 1 slot and takes out his frustrations by hacking a postal clerk to pieces. Ariel finds a clue that leads her to believe that # 10 plans to kill the other nine individuals sharing the list with him. She participates in a special task force meeting that includes her former supervisor. Jack informs her that Mills is an undercover agent with a vital mission that requires his full protection at any cost. However, Michelangelo, Ariel, and Mills appear ready to defy physics and occupy the same space when the inevitable collision occurs.

Readers will recognize that TOP TEN is one of the top ten thrillers of the year. Ryne Douglas Pearson, author of SIMPLE SIMON, has written a one-sitting reading experience that keeps the audience compulsively hooked to learn what happens next. The author provides a brilliant depiction of what it feels like for a law enforcement official to go so deep undercover that he becomes a perpetrator committing the same crimes as the people he infiltrated. FBI buffs and thriller fans will gain much pleasure from this exciting tale.

Harriet Klausner

Yes, it is predictable in some parts only because you know the goal of our serial killer. Other than that the book has awesome imagery that makes some horror novels look like children's books.

Ryne Douglas Pearson knows his audience and gives them a roller coaster into the mind of a mad man!!!

Not for the overly sophisicated person who can't allow his imagination to run rampant.

An entertaining and exciting thriller that reads like a Hollywood action movie. A bit over the top sometimes, but hey : it's fiction !

5 stars, not a masterpiece but very good in its genre.

This is the first book I've read from Ryne Douglas Pearson. I enjoyed the read. The premise is plausible with a few different parallel story lines woven together to create a story that first makes you wonder what's going on and then carries you along with characters you care about to the end.

Ryne has included some scenes in the kindle version that were too graphic for the publisher in the paper book version. These scenes add to the psychotic view of the antagonist and make you think about what else he could do as he works his way through the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Read this book. You won't be disappointed.

It's nice to have a novel actually look at the origin of its badguy/killer like the author does here. And Michaelangelo is a gripping antagonist whose murders are written about in sometimes excruciating detail. The one with the rats was just a bit too much for me, but when I shared how it played out with my husband he said 'Cool.'

If that sort of thing doesn't bother you than this is a fast ride. It starts fast and moves at full speed all the way to the end, but I never felt like needed detail was being sacrificed just for the pace.

A well written book. Great characters and plot. I encourage you to read this if you love gory stories.

I could not put this book down! This action packed story begins on page one. With a very well thought out beginning made it nearly impossible to put down. I read it in two sittings.

The characters are very well developed, especially the murderer, Michaelangelo. He is a very complex, insane pervert. When his horrific past is revealed, I could ALMOST empathize with him. It takes a very gifted writer to compel a reader to feel that way about someone so horrible. As the story progesses, the violent murders expose what a monster he has become.

A must read!

The premise of this novel is incredibly clever and I have to give props to Pearson for coming up with such interesting ideas. I recently read this, even though it's one of his older books. Be warned: it's pretty gory, but if you like that kind of thing, you won't be disappointed. Top Ten moved very quickly and some of the elements of the plot really surprised (and alarmed) me. I like the way Pearson writes; he definitely makes his characters come to life. I'm a fan of crime novels and am particulary fascinated by serial killers so this was a perfect read for me. It's definitely something you could knock out in a couple of days. I've read a couple of Pearson's more recent books, but for some reason never got to this one. I'm glad I did. Pearson's got a great sense of humor and, judging from his website, appears to have a bacon fetish, which would make me like the guy even if I didn't like his books.

"Top Ten" is a good story on a good premise: Someone is killing the members of the FBIs Top Ten Most Wanted list. The book does a good job of giving you someone to root for, as seeing the Top Ten knocked off might not be such a bad thing for some readers. The ending was pretty far-fetched (like the rest of the book wasn't? LOL), but was enjoyable all the same. My only problem with the book was that it seemed to be grisly just for the sake of being grisly, like it was trying to out-murder other writers. Overall, though, it was a good read.

I liked this book a lot. Just finished it not 5 minutes ago.

I thought the writing was very good, and the plot was pretty consistent. I didn't find the problems that some of the other reviewers found. I was hoping for a tiny bit more development of the main characters in the epilogue, but what he gave us was decent enough- a look at Ariel and Teddy walking into the proverbial sunset together. I would have liked to see a scene with Teddy and his father in the end as well, just to make sure things were right with them.

I thought the killer was dark, and somewhat scary- the violence wasn't too much for me, didn't see anything that effected me at all, maybe I have seen too many horror movies? He was clever in his method of killing, and I thought Pearson explained his motivation fairly well. There were a couple tiny issues with the story meshing with reality, but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the story at all.

I liked how he introduced a number of different characters, and that there were a few different storylines in the book- the serial killer, the arms deals, the drug trafficking...tho, I don't really fully understand what happened with the Russian guys who found out the truth about everything...

Really good book, and I enjoyed it a lot.