Customer Reviews

Unzipped

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Christina "Chrissy" McMullen is a psychologist in California. Ex-football player and celebrity Andrew "Bomber" Bomstad is one of her clients. He is, that is, until he drops dead in her office. He'd come to Chrissy for help with his impotency problem. The police believe she killed him because there is an open bottle of wine in her office and evidence, in his unzipped jeans, that he had been cured of his problem. Things are not what they seem, but Chrissy can't make police detective Jack Rivera see this. He just keeps hounding her to tell him why she killed the Bomber.

Chrissy ends up asking an acquaintance from her cocktail waitressing days, an acquaintance she'd rather forget, to help her get some information on the Bomber because everything she's being told since his death doesn't match with what he'd told her when he was alive.

I like the way Chrissy plays with Rivera's name to get to him. She knows she didn't kill the Bomber even though the police think she did, so she sets out to figure out who did. This puts her in some sticky situations that are very funny.

I laughed out loud almost every time I picked this book up to read more. I found it hard to put it down. I just wanted to keep reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to read the next one. Chrissy is a hoot and a fun amateur sleuth. There is a love interest as well which kept me wanting to read more to find out what would happen.

I highly recommend this book and can't wait for the next one. I want to see what trouble Chrissy can get into next.

This is the most entertaining book I have read in a long, long time. Her "thoughts to herself" had me laughing out loud so often my husband demanded I read some of the paragraphs out loud. They were pictures for the mind's eye. If I take time from my horrendously busy schedule to read, I want to have a good time doing it and feel happy afterward. This book was perfect. Great dialog. Funny situations. Steamy but believable. Things that could really happen ... many have, to me. Self doubts that any woman has. A down to earth coctail waitress who has worked her way through college to a private practice, she works hard to look totally sophisticated but still runs on her blue collar knowledge at heart. She is a strong woman but this author doesn't take it too far. She doesn't make her try to be so independent that she just looks stupid. I get so frustrated with authors who make the heroine want to be established as so independent from her hero that she makes absolutely moronic choices putting everyone in danger.

I could not put this book down. Christina McMullen is a 30-something cocktail-waitress-turned-psychologist. The story begins when her client, former football pro "Bomber" Bomstad, chases Christina around her office seeking "therapy" and drops dead. In walks hunky detective Jack Rivera, whose prime suspect is Christina. I got a kick out of Christina's efforts to maintain an outwardly professional manner, which stood in sharp contrast with her still-a-cocktail-waitress train of thought. Christina's internal dialogue and her intentional trouble using Rivera's name kept me grinning. The unfolding mystery, the suspense and the sparks flying between Christina and Rivera kept me reading.

It's fun. It's light. It's a page-turner. So go ahead... get Unzipped. You'll enjoy it!

I was drawn to this book based on its similarities to the Stephanie Plum series. Although I tried not to compare the two characters (Chrissy vs Stephanie) I would say that it was hard not to make comparisons to the authors' writing styles. It became a bit annoying to me that every other word spoken by the main character (even her thoughts) were all sarcastic or "wanna-be" witty statements. It made the humor much more hit and miss (mostly misses) as opposed to calculated funny hits. I think that the book would have been much funnier if the witty lines would have been more selective than "every other sentence."

There are many books that give you a visual representation of what the author is describing - this is not one of them. There were many "action" sequences that were just plain confusing. The more I think I about it, there were a lot of things not to like about how the story was told. *Possible spoiler* There were many times that I found the supposed chemistry between Chrissy and Rivera just plain awkward. If the book was funny, it may have been easier to dismiss these inconsistencies.

There were many chapters that were in the book that I didn't feel advanced the story at all. After getting half way through the book I found myself just trying to get it over with. I think that the book had a lot of promise and although I enjoyed some of the characters, I can't say that I'm drawn to the rest of the books in the series to see how their stories develop. I'll be checking out a few other authors before making my way around to Unplugged (the next in the series.)

Its not horrible, but I wouldn't recommend it to a person that was familiar with the Stephanie Plum/Evanovich series as being anywhere close to being entertaining like the Plum series. Evanovich makes the Plum series feel effortless, in this story its almost as if I could feel Greiman reaching for that same effect. However, the effort shows and it starts to feels a bit forced (unnatural) very early in the book (like chapter 3.)

Move over Moonlighting! If you recall that TV series (or even if you don't) you will not want to pass up this first-in-a-series--"Unzipped!" by Lois Greiman.

Enter Chrissy McMullen, an L.A. psychotherapist with a penchant for fancy ice cream, sensible cars, and a seemingly unattainable lover/detective; Jack Rivera.

After a hunky patient, in a rather `Un-zipped' situation, drops dead at Dr. Chrissy's feet, the chase for his murderer is on. Though the chase, according to Rivera, points directly to Chrissy, there are oodles of suspicious characters, possible motives and tons of dead-ends (as well as dead bodies) swirling about.

Greiman's knack for showing us the interior thoughts of Chrissy's complicated world keeps those pages turning; yet the ultimate fascination as a reader, is the steamy-heat between Chrissy and Rivera. It burns and smokes, buttons go flying and in the end...

Don't miss it--and thank goodness this is only the beginning!

After working 12 years as a cocktail waitress while completing her psychology degree, Chrissy McMullen and moved to LA with her friend 'Brainy' Laney who acts as her secretary/receptionist in-between acting gigs. When the famous football star Andrew "Bomber" Bombstead arrives for an appointment, Chrissy feels her new career has become established. Her shock when "Bomber" attempts to rape her during a session is compounded when in the aftermath she finds herself the #1 suspect in his murder.

Detective Jack Rivera is more than skeptical of Chrissy's version of events. Since there is no flavor of ice cream to cure being a murder suspect, Chrissy decides to do some investigating of her own. So begins a series of contretemps and misadventures mixed with attraction and skepticism that make this an entertaining sit-com style mystery.

The promise of romance throughout the story despite personal differences is entertaining. The past and family relationships are hinted at but not fully explained which left a noticeable gap, but hopefully as the series progresses we will learn more [Like why not have mom come when she's hurt?]

For those like me who enjoyed the secondary characters of Elaine 'Brainy Laney' Butterfield and J.G. "GeekMaster" Solberg, you will be happy to know they will provide more adventures in UNPLUGGED [May 2006] during the continuing adventures of Chrissy McMullen, LA Psychologist. For those who enjoy Stephanie and Ryker in Janet Evanovich's mysteries, I recommend you investigate Chrissy and Jack's story in UNZIPPED.

Reviewed by Cy Korte
For eBOOKISLE

This book is a wonderful start to a series that just keeps getting better! Chrissy is a great character, her friend Laney is the best friend we all want and Jack Rivera rivals Ranger in the hot and protective department. The books are a bit like the early Plum books but Greiman is a better, more daring writer than Evanovich has turned out to be. The whole series is a light and funny read and I highly recommend it!

I've been looking for a book to take my mind off things and this was the perfect one. It's light and fun, but the protagonist's oddly charming relationship with her clients (she's a psychologist) makes the novel feel warm and special. Not to mention her relationship with the cop...which is just hot. Really enjoyed this one.

Unzipped by Lois Grieman was a fun read. There were laugh out loud moments and enough of a plot to keep me reading. I will be reading the other books in the series.

I read in another review that if you like the Evanovich Plum series, then you should try these books. Boy, were they right! Each book in this series gets better so go ahead and buy them all--you won't be sorry you did. After the 4th book (Unmanned), the covers of the books change, which threw me off at first. The 5th one is "One Hot Mess".