Customer Reviews

Trust Me

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

 

 

I am not a regular reader of crime/thrillers in the commercial fiction genre, but have recently been reading a number of them. As with most others, if you aren't used to reading much purely commercial fiction, it is surprising how poor the writing is. Occasionally one can tell that the author sat and pondered the possibilities, and carefully chose his words, but not often. The language is just too common; street language, basically, which I suppose largely defines the difference between literary and commercial fiction. It's like reading a TV cop show. (Why didn't the editor encourage Abbott not to begin two sentences in a row with "but"?)

The first two reviewers don't seem to have paid attention to the book. Luke isn't a low-life, nor is he a "lonely braggart" by any means. He is duped by his stepfather and drawn into a real mess, which then has this psychology student fighting off terrorists like a pro in order to save himself and a woman he has become attached to, and to clear up some mysteries from his own past.

Like watching a TV show with a similar plot, one can get hooked and want to continue to find out what happens, but as another reviewer mentioned, the plot will induce a lot of "oh, right" comments from readers, with unreal and unbelievable occurrences left and right. Abbott tries to sound like a well-researched writer with book recommendations for readers interested in terrorism, but make no mistake: this is not a book that presents a real-life picture of global terrorism, nor is it filled with details that hint at a researched effort, unless you consider name-dropping a pistol ("Glock 9") or the US State Department ("State") to count. Abbott's terrorists don't behave with much professionalism or secrecy, and come off rather as a bunch of unorganized goons.

I read the book, but wish I had audio-booked it as a jogging companion instead.

I have about 70 more pages to go and I quit and I should have quit reading earlier. "Trust Me" gave me no thrills at all and I found it to be rather lame nd weak. Here we have the hero, Luke a 24 year old just out of college and suddenly he becomes a pivotal character wanted by all factions because of his Night Road ventures. Namely going into domestic terrorist chatroom and chatting it with all the baddies. Then Luke gets kidnapped and Lukes adventure begins. There are a plethora of characters populating the story like his step father, his mother, his dead father, his living father, some domestic terrorists out to catch or kill him. And Luke evades them all like some new James Bond.

Implausible? The domestic terrorists are going to unleash 140 bombs throughout the US and this kid is going to stop them? Give me a break.

I give it 3 stars just because he finished it. Not a very good story otherwise and one to miss.

I began reading this yesterday, and persevered into the evening, but it didn't improve. The plot is elementary, and the characters are not credible. So it's joined the other unfinished novels, because as I get older I'm becoming more picky.

This is my first Jeff Abbott novel and it will not be the last. I have already started reading the second. In this novel, a young man finds himself thrust into a war between a highly organized anti-terrorist organization and a terrorist organization. The young man, Luke Dantry,became a target after doing research for his step-father on extremists who post incendiary comments on the Internet. Then after seeing his step-father off on a flight,Luke finds himself kidnapped and embrioled in a flight to avoid two assassins who are chasing him.

The author ekes out clue after clue until you come to surprising climax at the end. A believable tale of a young man caught up into events and a battle he never knew existed.

A good read.

Terrorism is certainly in the news today, and it's the focus of Jeff Abbott's race-against-time thriller. Luke Dantry has what is really a pretty uneventful job (although he likes to pump it up a bit for friends). He's employed by his stepfather to put in computer time tracking extreme thinking folks who may be possible terrorists. A lot of them let off steam, make threats, promises, and Luke calls one such group "Night Road" because of their nocturnal doings.

In Luke's mind most of thesepeople are probably loud mouths showing off. But when his life is suddenly on the line he realizes that at least one group, "Night Road," is dead , literally dead serious and he must move fast to keep America and the world from becoming vast devastation.

The chase to find the masterminds behind this devilish scheme takes Luke from Houston to Chicago to New York to Paris, always one small step ahead of his pursuers.

Professional actor Luke Daniels (yes, another Luke) gives a no-holds barred reading to this fast paced story of an incipient terrorist act that threatens our homes and our world.

- Gail Cooke

This book never held my interest. I realize that it's fiction, but this one was too over the top for me.

That being said, at least I know that the group was called "Night Road" not "Black Road".

That reviewer needs to spend more time actually reading the books than cutting and pasting the book description then calling it a review.

Am I alone in wishing the baddies would finish off this Luke Dantry character. I reached 162 of 430 and gave up. Verdict 'Must try harder' sorry.

Well, this is an okay thriller. Young man finds his life is a lie and has to run for his life, while not knowing who the good guys and the bad guys are. In the mix we have The Night Road a collection of on-line terrorists who are scaling up to a big event, and our young hero may be the only thing that can stop them.

Well as a one off, this was okay, but the author seems to have a formula that he is sticking to and his books are starting to repeat themselves. Sadly the plots are not clever or different enough to carry this off and this just didn't stand out. All these types of books stretch the plot and co-incidence a bit, but when the same themes just get re-hashed then I have to question the value of reading any more. So three stars if you have not read anything by Mr Abbott before, two stars if you have.

Although he is a low life in his stepfather's think-tank in Austin, Texas, Luke Dantry brags that he is a big shot in the global war against terrorism. His actual task is to monitor by joining the night time chatter of apparently angry web users. He calls his nocturnal Internet friends the Black Road.

Luke quickly recognizes who he is communicating with as these are lonely braggarts like he is. Few if any have the will let alone the way to carry out terrorism acts. However, Luke soon revises his opinion of at least some of the Black Road Internet users when he is kidnapped and left dead at a remote cabin. He now knows his web comrades are much more organized and prepared for what he thought was inane chatter. They rehearse for the big event Code name hellfire by causing plane and train crashes and chemical plant explosions. Dantry escapes with Black Code and those pursuing the terrorists chasing after him; as he begins a desperate quest to prevent a plan to make 9/11 look like a minor incident.

This fast-paced thriller filled with several spins and twist is a fun lighthearted tale that requires a major ignoring of plausibility as no one will accept the nerd turning into a superhero almost overnight. Still the audience will enjoy Dantry's efforts as we root for him to overcome the odds; reminiscent of Patrick Dempsey's enjoyable but improbable 1991 movie Run.

Harriet Klausner

The war on terror takes on many forms. "Trust Me" follows Luke Dantry, a man who is charged with infiltrating a group known as the 'Night Road'. Underestimating them, he soon finds himself kidnapped and left in a forest. Finding that the 'Night Road' goes deeper than he thought, he has to live on the edge of his life to stop catastrophe. "Trust Me" is a riveting story of infiltration and how sometimes one has to work with the bad guys for the greater good.