Customer Reviews

Tough Customer: A Novel

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

Tough talking, chain smoking Atlanta Investigator Dodge Hanley (from Smash Cut: A Novel) receives a late night phone call from the love of his life Caroline King who lives in Texas. Dodge has not seen Caroline in 30 years and now their daughter, Berry, is being stalked by a former co-worker who wants her dead. He immediately returns to Texas. Sheriff Deputy and Afghanistan war veteran Ski Nyland, who is the local investigator on the case, is immediately attracted to Berry. Ski will do anything to keep her safe, but is suspicious of her story. Does she hold secrets that may have provoked her stalker turned killer? I really didn't care. The search for Berry's stalker isn't that exciting and didn't contain any mystery or suspense for me.

Thankfully Brown intermittently flashes back to 1978 to tell the love story of young police officer Dodge Hanley and aspiring realtor Caroline King. The flashbacks were the best part of Tough Customer -- how dramatically they met, how passionately they fell in love, how tragically they split apart, how remarkably differently their lives turned out, and most importantly of all, how enduring their love was.

For me, this was not a story about a murderous stalker, but a story about setting bad decisions right and having hope for second chances.

I hate to say it, but this book was terrible. I almost couldn't get through it, and for me that's rare, especially for a Sandra Brown book. It was so difficult to read, that it took me weeks rather than days to work my way through to the last page.

The characters were flat and uninteresting. I felt like I didn't know who they were at all. You barely even got a feel for what they looked like, so it was hard to get lost in the story. I felt like I was being forced to study for a test rather than reading a novel for enjoyment.

The only saving grace for this story were the few glimpses of Dodge and Caroline's relationship from the 70's. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of their story to actually make this a good book.

Her books haven't been the same since changing publishers, but they still felt like Sandra Brown books. Not so with this one. It felt like a young Literature student wrote this book, not my once favorite author. Save your money, borrow this from the library if you feel like giving it a try.

Let's start out by saying I got the audio book. Sl-o-o-o-ow! The characters were unlikable and flat. Dodge is so unappealing with his crude sexual references and his look-it-me-I's-a-cool-hick, I can't imagine him being in even one book, let alone a series. Caroline is a tramp, and her spitting image daughter is the same, only with zero personality. Why was Orin stalking her at all? Let's not get on Orin, because anyone who's read this book knows about the Lifetime-styled copout ending. Sandra needs inspirational and appealing characters. In the meantime, read some Lisa Gardner and Tami Hoag if you want something to grab and entertain you. LOL, I love it when a hillbilly calls another hillbilly...well, a hillbilly!

Just finished the book and wow, it so could have been cut down to 200 pages instead of almost 400. I was never big on flash backs, but especially in this book, it kept going back and fourth. Anyway Dodge's character was a complete disappointment, but his personality kinda hit home with me, cause I am so like him. Caroline was OK, but Berry, she surprisingly was a vindictive bitch, but she did own up to that, and did change. I loved the deputy. It was slow and a bit boring, but once you get to page 360, it goes really fast and only then does the whole story come together. As for passion, Sandra's losing her touch, between Dodge and Caroline, they were luke warm at best even in the past. Now Berry and the deputy, that was pretty good but could have been better, plus it was only one scene. So I say it so could have been more shorter, more suspenseful, had more action, and for sure more passion. But the four star comes from the ending which was a bittersweet cliff hanger, but still good. If any of her books should be turned into a movie this would be it. Oh and I don't care how good of detective you are, you can not figure out the plot until I'd say page 300, and even then you'd still never guess the outcome.

2 1/2 stars.

Dodge Hanley is a former cop who now does private investigations for his friend, attorney, Derek Mitchell.

Dodge has been divorced from Caroline King for thrity years but still has strong feelings about her. He's taken by surprise when he gets a call from Caroline asking for his help. Before he can answer, she tells him that their daughter, Berry, is being stalked by a madman who almost killed her.

When Dodge arrives in Houston, Caroline introduces him as a friend who is a private investigator. Then, they inform him of what prompted their call for him.

Orin Starks, a former co-worker with Berry, entered her home and confronted her while she was in the shower. He infomred her that he was about to kill her. However, when she screamed for help, her friend, Ben Lofland, who was at the house, ran to her assistance. Starks was taken by surprise, then wounded Ben before leaving the house.

Dodge is a no nonsense, chain smoking tough guy in the Clint Eastwood-Dirty Harry image. He begins working with a local deputy sheriff, Sky Nyland, an Afghanistan War vet.

As the men search, Starks goes off on a killing rampage. He kills a number of people and police find the body of another co-worker who also had problems with Starks.

I wanted to like this novel more but found the characters stereotypical. Other than Ski Nyland, I found no interesting or sympathetic characters. Starks reaction to Berry's insulting rejection of his advances seemed extreme until the reader gets the full story.

By the time the novel ended, I found that I couldn't care less what happened to the characters or what caused Starks to become the crazed person that he was.

Sandra Brown is a legend in mystery writing but this novel disappointed. I wanted to move a 2 1/2 star rating up but didn't because I found that the main elements of this novel told nothing new.

This book didn't seem to be written by a well-known, favorite author whose reputation and name has always guaranteed a great read. If this was the first book I would have read by Ms. Brown, it also would have been my last. It was slow, slow, slow and the pace never changed. I had no investment in the characters because there was no way to connect with them. I kept waiting for the face-paced, edge-of-your-seat excitement that has always been a part of Sandra Brown, but it never materialized. The relationships between the main characters was too fast and for me, not believable. I found this read too predictable, and the ending was easy to figure out. I own quite a few S. Brown books and have reread them many many times. I guess from now on, I'll be researching reviews on Ms. Brown's new releases before buying a book because it has her name on it.

"Tough Customer" is not one of Brown's finest creative productions. Is there a point that every author arrives at where they look to cliché, overused endings as their own? I was bitterly disappointed with her ending. I felt cheated and Brown honestly insulted my intelligence. As part of the reading audience, shouldn't we be given the chance to solve the mystery with hints that the writer drops throughout the book? As far as I can recall, Brown didn't give the reader any such chance to figure out the ending.

What kept "Tough Customer" from bombing completely was the story behind Dodge and Caroline. It gave the book its only pulse. There was more action going on in the flashbacks then there were during the entire novel. Throughout the story I became more and more exasperated with Berry, who kept back a plethora of details from the police and made her less credible throughout the novel.

I'm very disappointed in this book, as I am an avid Brown fan. This was not one of her best - but personally, it's a slight step up from "Smash Cut", which was absolutely terrible.

The Last Saint

Sandra Brown has been writing the same book over and over for years. Once, they were entertaining but after awhile how much of the same sappy, overly dramatic characters can a person take. Even the criminal profiles thrown in for added shock value are ridiculous. This author clearly has been riding the gravy train for far too long. The tired stereotypes of the gruff and macho man whose heart can be melted by one sweet, pretty female who of course can take care of herself have been overplayed. Both her characters and her writing lack dimension but good for her for making a lot of money off inferior stories.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book...I was worried when I read the premise of SB's new book because honestly in Smash Cut, I didn't think Dodge would make an appealing hero worthy of his own book....but of course, Sandra made a believer out of me. I loved that she had two main couples in this book and that I was equally interested in both of them. SB really made Dodge a likable character in this book, I loved the way she flashed back to his/Caroline's romance...Ski and Berry's romance but it didn't get the in-depth treatment as much, but the few romantic moments they had were classic SB, as in 'hot'!

Only disappointment of this book was the Berry's sketchy/ambitious side...didn't like that her character thought that to be ambitious you have to cut corners/take others' work, etc. Also didn't like the fairly lame/soap opera ending...but overall both the couples made the book for me!

Could not believe the reviews were not great on this book! I loved it. I was disappointed in Sandra Brown's last novel. This one made me remember why she is one of my favorite authors and glad I got it on the day it was released!!
It was a little different writing style with the flashbacks but all of it worked. Loved the characters and loved the pace. I could not put it down! I truly feel you will not be disappointed, give Tough Customer a try.