Customer Reviews

Whitewash (MIRA)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have read all of Alex Kava's books, loved them all, and couldn't wait until her next book arrived! Whitewash was terrible. I just couldn't get into it and after a few chapters, donated the book to the library.
Guess I'll wait for her 'usual' mysteries.

What's to say about the book ? Mrs. Kava tried to write something like a political thriller but in my opinion it didn't work out.
The plot as it self is a good one but honestly, I missed a lot of details. It seems like the publisher just shortened the whole story which lacks information for the reader.

This book lacks several things: well written characterization, coherent plotting and professional writing. You never get to really know the main character, Sabrina Galloway, which is why it is hard to care about her. All of the characters were like cardboard cutouts. The manner in which the story was presented was disjointed and lacked any discernible flow. Plot pieces flew around like they were in a blender and some of them just didn't matter or add to the story. Many of these bits were left hanging with no explanation of their relavance. Some characters were so thinly written that you forgot who they were a few pages after they appeared. Then when they reappeared, you wondered who they were and what they meant to the story. This book was too many plot-pieces in search of a unifying whole. Save your money.

I couldn't make head or tail out of this book. I guess it tried to be a political thriller, corporate conspiracy & terrorist thriller all in one & ended up being a muddled mess around a trivial storyline with vapid characters.

I have enjoyed Alex Kava's other books and this one was a bargain - but after two CD's I realized not only didn't I get what was going on, I just didn't care. Too many characters, too much "set up", no action, nothing tied anything together. I couldn't figure out what the point was. I gave up.

Both my husband and myself enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The suspense kept you glued to the cd player until the book was done.

It is a refreshing change to read a book where the main character doesn't become a super-hero as soon as they are faced with challenges to their unremarkable, regular life. This makes for an enjoyable read as a mix of circumstances and concurrent and overlapping plans by various power groups leads to a satisfactory ending.

Be warned that you need to get a long way into the book before you get to see where it is going, but I found my patience was rewarded. Short chapters that switch between several interwoven, concurrent threads along with the occasional misdirection are effectively used to maintain interest, with nothing resolved until the final chapters.

This is the first Alex Kava book I've read and I'll certainly look at other books by this author.

Sabrina Galloway is a scientist working for EchoEnergy--a company with a revolutionary technology which can turn slaughterhouse scraps into oil. Her boss is particularly dedicated and committed to the technology so Sabrina is quite surprised, and curious, when he unexpectedly resigns. Her curiosity leads to some disturbing discoveries and her curiousity doesn't go unnoticed With an upcoming International Energy Conference, Senator John Allen, a big supporter of EchoEnergy, and the company's CEO, William Sideline, can't afford anything to go wrong. Will corporate greed win out over human life?

Alex Kava entwines several subplots into a single cohesive story in White Wash. The Middle East connection was unnecessay in my opion but the chapters were short and the intrigue kept me turning the pages. All-in-all a unique and well thought through plot.

Being my first time reading a Kava book...I liked the story. I got to hear the unabridged audio. I enjoyed the male/female reading. The fishing captain with his collection of boats was my favorite part...and Miss Sadie! The only thing I would have changed was the amount of profanity. I always get the thought- an author has misplaced the dictionary and run out of words, in real life too. It is always refreshing to read a book full of quality words.

This is the first Alex Kava book that I have read. After finishing it, I really feel no need to read another. The story was decent, though it never really got on its feet and started rolling.

The story itself was mainly about Sabrina Galloway. Sabrina is a scientist working at a plant that created fuel out of waste matter. In the opening chapter, the head scientist get knocked off and the story takes off from there. I grew a little frustrated due to the fact that around half of the book, Sabrina tries to find out what happened to her boss. This is always tough for an author to pull off. When the reader knows what happened and the main character is searching for clues we know about before hand. I think that this took a lot of the tension away from the story.

Other aspects that dragged this story down a little in my opinion were the half dozen first person accounts (it was pointed out to me that this book contains no first person accounts... I am sorry, I meant only to say that the story jumps around from one character to another in a difficult to follow fashion). Every time Kava did this, jump from one character to the next, it took away from Sabrina and her search.

I could go on, three stars might be a little generous for WhiteWash. If I were you, I'd skip this one.