Very Bad Deaths [Mass Market Paperback]

Spider Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 2006

Aging baby-boomer Russell Walker wants only to retreat from the world and the shattering death of his beloved wife, into the woods of British Columbia. But the real world won't let him become a hermit. Instead, he finds himself thrust into the mystery of a series of mass murders by a monstrous sadist and serial killer who makes Hannibal Lector look like a boy scout. And he is caught in a frightening predicament: He is the only possible intermediary between a telepath called Smelly, so sensitive he can't stand to be near most people, and a skeptical police officer who needs to hear and believe what Smelly knows about the fiend. This involuntary trio may be the only ones who can catch the inhuman butcher before he kills again-if he doesn't catch them first.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Award-winning author Spider Robinson is renowned for his "Callahan's Place" series of bestselling novels, the latest being Callahan's Con (Tor). With his wife, Jeanne, he has written the Hugo- and Nebula-winning "Stardance" series (Baen). He has been a favorite with readers from his earliest stories, which won him the John Campbell Award for best new writer. Since then he has garnered many other awards for his amusing, Heinlein-inspired SF, with the current total at three Hugos and a Nebula Award. He is frequently a guest at SF conventions across the US and Canada. His last book for Baen was the novel Lady Slings the Booze, an offshoot of the Callahan series.

From AudioFile

Best described as Stephen King on acid, this flashback-laden thriller has a paisley sense of humor and a grow-your-own sensibility. Our hero is an aging freelance journalist (played realistically by author Robinson) who is saved from the brink of suicide when an old college roommate suddenly bursts into his life. Quicker than you can fire one up, we are embroiled in a stream-of-consciousness battle between a highly sensitive psychic (the roommate) and a serial killer, clumsily assisted by the narrator. An inside-out crime tale with a warm and friendly aura provided by its author, VERY BAD DEATHS is humanistic entertainment. D.J.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Baen (August 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141652083X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416520832
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Set's your spidey sense tingling., December 7, 2004

By 

J. R. BOATRIGHT "-_ Rick" (Topeka, KS) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Very Bad Deaths (Hardcover)

Spider Robinson's iconoclasic view of North America from his chosen retreat in rural Canada always provides a useful distance to view the oddities of the modern world. This was clear in LifeHouse, and in his other recent non-Callihan's books.

This extends the trend once again pitting a Spider-like hero against forces beyond his ability to understand much less conquer.

It's a gripping tale, held me tight, and I read it in one setting. I only wish that the antagonist now did not live in the back of my head. I've avoided reading Hannible Lecter, or the tales of Ted Bundy, but now, Spiders take on evil is going to have residence in my head for quite a while.

It was worth it. Five starts with an asterisk. Don't leave this one lying down where your precosious ten year old will come acrossed it late at night.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky entertainment, January 20, 2005

By 

C. Baker "cbaker" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Very Bad Deaths (Hardcover)

Very Bad Deaths is quirky and entertaining. We meet some very unusual people in this adventure.

It all starts when an old college roommate knocks on Russell Walker's door in the middle of the night. Poor Russell is a recent widower and columnist for a Toronto newspaper and not feeling too good about the world at the moment. This knock on the door in the middle of the night and the request for help by his old college roommate, Zandor Zudenigo, aka Smelly, jumpstarts Russell, reluctantly, back to action. Now Zandor is a very, very strange character and happens to know that a man named Allen plans to kidnap and kill an innocent family in a very painful and horrible manner. Allen is the worst kind of sadist imaginable and Russell feels he has no choice to help stop this monster. The problem is - Zandor can't go to the police himself, for reasons you'll find in the book. So Russell must do it for him. Fortuitously and by happenstance Russell runs into Constable Nika Mandic (both literally and figuratively), a Vancouver cop whose career is stalled. I don't want to give away too much of the plot - but Russell has a lot of work to do to convince Nika that his request is legitimate and he's not some nut, another fun part of the story. But eventually the chase is on as this odd troika sets off to find Allen and put an end to his heinous plans.

This is a very quirky and entertaining novel and is as much about the characters and their personal plights as it is an adventure story. It's a real page turner from beginning to end and is hard to put down. Definitely a thumbs up.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The author as star, September 16, 2006

By 

L. A. Turner (Saskatchewan, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Very Bad Deaths (Mass Market Paperback)

I did enjoy the actual reading of this book. It's a fun read. When I was done, however, I found myself disappointed. The concept of a suicidal writer teaming up with a telepath and a female cop to catch a psychopath is a good one. The "suicidal" part doesn't affect the plot at all, which was too bad because it could have been interesting. The end came too quickly, especially considering all the time he spent on his character battling bureaucracy.

The most annoying part about this book was how it was used to beat the reader over the head with how "marijuana is great". I don't smoke it and I'm neutral on the subject myself.

I expected more imagination from this author.