Customer Reviews

Tracking Time

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

 

 

Psychiatrist Dr. Maslow Atkins uses running in Central Park just before twilight to relieve some of his stress. One particular day, a patient, Allegra meets Maslow at the entrance to the park. He reminds her that he will see her in his office tomorrow. However, the next day Maslow fails to show up for an appointment with his mentor Dr. Jason Frank, who calls his friend Lieutenant April Woo to see what happened to Maslow.

April conducts a search even employing a K9 team but all she learns is that a wino witnessed two people attack a third person that might be Maslow. April meets Allegra at the doctor's office, but has no grounds to detain the woman who they find out later is Maslow's half-sister. Allegra is the next one to vanish. April believes two teens associated with both victims have something to do with the incidents, but no one can find them either.

With each new work, the April Woo tales seem to get better which is no mean feat since the quality has always been sky high. April continues to mature, as she becomes stronger due to her new experiences. Her newfound independence begins to separate her from a dependence on her Chinese relatives and the rest of the Chinese community. Leslie Glass uses her beguiling heroine to provide a humanized police investigation that turns TRACKING TIME into a wonderful treat for anyone who enjoys a great story starring a strong individual with a touch of romance to add flavoring to a tasty stew.

Harriet Klausner

Tracking Time, the most recent book in this series that features Detective Sergeant April Woo suceeds not only as a thrilling suspense novel but a disturbing look at today's society. April takes on the whole department as she searches for missing psychoanalytic student Maslow Atkins and uncovers shocking family secrets and teen violence right out of today's headlines.

Tracking Time is well-plotted with the added dimension and depth of well sketched characters and relationships that keeps you turning the page.

When Dr. Maslow Atkins, a young New York psychiatrist, goes for his jog in Central Park and does not come out, an immediate investigation is prompted...

Leading the investigation is detective sergeant April Woo.

After being urged by friend Jason Frank, to look into the psychiatrist's disappearance, April will dive into every aspect of Maslow's life, as well as his patient's...including a young girl who likes to cut herself and harbors a dark secret.

Even when the entire police force puts pressure to close the case, April, will proceed to look for the missing doctor and solve the case.

"Tracking Time" is another great entry in an already excellent series. April Woo is the toughest, smartest and most genuine of all characters in suspense fiction, and Leslie Glass continues to turn out fresh, suspensful plots with each new novel she writes.

Any fan of suspensful, police procedurals should look to the April Woo series for a great read.

"Tracking Time" could happen in no other place. The urban wilds of Central Park, the pseudo-sophistication of the very young, the myriad of indulgences available, the hyper-success driven adults, and the pounding pace of life are unique to New York City.

Ms. Glass deftly presents an excellent suspense story that has its small surprises throughout, but is not a whodunit. The strongest area of the narrative is characterization; the extremely sympathetic Dr. Maslow Atkins, the thoroughly distasteful over-privileged teenagers, the self-absorbed parents, and the homeless bum, PeeWee. The regulars: April Woo, Skinny Dragon, Mike Sanchez, and Jason Frank remain fresh in this series.

The tale hinges on Dr. Atkins disappearance. He takes off for his regular jog in the park at dusk, not even carrying his billfold, and drops from sight. He is known as a man of very regular habits, and when he fails to show up for an appointment, Dr. Frank is concerned enough to call in his friend Detective April Woo. The suspense notches sharply upward when we find out the would-be killers were interrupted in their attack on Dr. Atkins, and have hidden the wounded man in a culvert in a remote part of Central Park. Will the killers come back and finish the job? Will the police and K-9 dogs locate him first? Will Dr. Atkins somehow effect his own release? I found the scenario a real page-turner.

I get exasperated with April, who goes from a splendidly efficient police officer to giggling girlishness over her infatuation with chauvinistic Mike. However, this is an ongoing trait in the entire series, and I put up with it as you do with a friend who seems to have a glaring weakness. A larger theme of the story is how children who "have everything" can go so disastrously wrong. Unlike some other readers, I had sympathy for the parents who, while gravely flawed themselves, had such monstrous offspring. Most troubled children do not have the advantages of the best schools, and the best counseling money can buy. In their inept and offhand way, these parents did love their children and surely, whatever their faults, did not deserve to be saddled with these juveniles from hell.

This is a worthy addition to a good series with an added bonus that it gives you something to think about after you close the book. Recommended.

This is the first novel that I have read by Leslie Glass. "Tracking Time" explores the lives of the rich and selfish. Two teenagers named David and Brandy have parents from hell. Their parents are too wealthy and self-absorbed to know what is going on in their kids' lives. Brandy and David are twisted and bitter youngsters who embark on a campaign of violence and terror for the sake of a few thrills. The protagonist, Detective April Woo, is investigating the disappearance of psychiatrist Maslow Atkins and she senses that Brandy and David are somehow involved. There is little suspense here, since Glass lets us know up front who did what to whom. April has little to do in the way of investigating. The novel's best moments come from the analysis of the protagonists' lives. We learn about April's tortured relationship with her mother, whom she calls (disrespectfully) "Skinny Dragon," and with her good-looking lover, Mike Sanchez, who loves April but has a roving eye. The most wicked and enjoyable writing is reserved for the parents in the book and the two teens, who are all spoiled and nasty people. Glass is sarcastic and funny in the way that she dissects these warped individuals. The novel is well-paced and the dialogue is crisp and often amusing. "Tracking Time" is entertaining and I recommend it for fans of psychological suspense.

"Tracking Time" could happen in no other place. The urban wilds of Central Park, the pseudo-sophistication of the very young, the myriad of indulgences available, the hyper-success driven adults, and the pounding pace of life are unique to New York City.

Ms. Glass deftly presents an excellent suspense story that has its small surprises throughout, but is not a whodunit. The strongest area of the narrative is characterization; the extremely sympathetic Dr. Maslow Atkins, the thoroughly distasteful over-privileged teenagers, the self-absorbed parents, and the homeless bum, PeeWee. The regulars: April Woo, Skinny Dragon, Mike Sanchez, and Jason Frank remain fresh in this series.

The tale hinges on Dr. Atkins disappearance. He takes off for his regular jog in the park at dusk, not even carrying his billfold, and drops from sight. He is known as a man of very regular habits, and when he fails to show up for an appointment, Dr. Frank is concerned enough to call in his friend Detective April Woo. The suspense notches sharply upward when we find out the would-be killers were interrupted in their attack on Dr. Atkins, and have hidden the wounded man in a culvert in a remote part of Central Park. Will the killers come back and finish the job? Will the police and K-9 dogs locate him first? Will Dr. Atkins somehow effect his own release? I found the scenario a real page-turner.

I get exasperated with April, who goes from a splendidly efficient police officer to giggling girlishness over her infatuation with chauvinistic Mike. However, this is an ongoing trait in the entire series, and I put up with it as you do with a friend who seems to have a glaring weakness. A larger theme of the story is how children who "have everything" can go so disastrously wrong. Unlike some other readers, I had sympathy for the parents who, while gravely flawed themselves, had such monstrous offspring. Most troubled children do not have the advantages of the best schools, and the best counseling money can buy. In their inept and offhand way, these parents did love their children and surely, whatever their faults, did not deserve to be saddled with these juveniles from hell.

This is a worthy addition to a good series with an added bonus that it gives you something to think about after you close the book. Recommended.

I am a big mystery fan, but basically only English mysteries with a few exceptions. When I read/ skiimmed this book, I knew again, why I don't usually read american mystery. Salacious, gory and characters I don't give a tinkers damn about. The only marginally interesting character is det. Woo's mother but she is a characterture. On the whole there are no really convincing humans here & I didn't care what happened to them.

Leslie Glass ran out of things to say after her first three "Time" books. Her once-clever series on the strong Asian female detective in love with a Hispanic added some fun and humanity that New York detective series needed.

But Leslie Glass doesn't know enough about the Asian cultures nor the Hispanic cultures of New York City. If she does, she doesn't convincingly write about them. She takes plenty of pages to develop a story of a missing psychiatrist, but it is a plodding attempt. She left out the suspense. She forgot to include interesting characters. I was glad when it ended.

Lets hope Ms. Glass gets her verve back. She is capable of much better stuff.

This was an exciting story. We learn of the the missing Dr Atkins from the very first sentence. There is a race against time to solve the mystery of the missing Doc.

The paradoxical Sargeant April Woo continues to fascinate me. She is portrayed as smart, mentally and physically tough yet vulnerable and docile with her Mom Skinny Dragon. There was not much emphasis on Woo's romance in this book just a bit of lovers' conflict to keep the spark of romance interesting.

Dr Frank is another paradoxical character. He is the psychiatrist that is obsessed with clocks and tracking time.

The parent/child relationship and the confusion of adolescence were major themes . The question that this book seems to leave you with is, Do you know where your child is?

I'm apparently missing something here-- or perhaps if I'd read the earlier books I'd feel more loyal and then be more forgiving. Or I might just be the wrong audience.

In any case, I found _Tracking Time_ tiresome even for airplane reading. I thought the plot was contrived, the characters quite thin (particularly the monsterous parents who were clearly set up to "deserve" the children they got), and I didn't find April Woo particularly compelling as a heroine.

I could see that the writing was fluent, and Glass seems to have a good feel for police procedure, so perhaps it really is just that it hit the wrong notes for my taste. You be the judge.