Customer Reviews

The Widower's Two-Step

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Immediately after finishing Big Red Tequila which I loved, I dived right into this continuing saga of Tres Navarre, his cat, his mom, his friends and his adversaries! Too much fun...I don't know much about the music business, but I do know about being an English major and teaching. Rick Riordan understands it, too. As he writes more and more about Tres Navarre, the reader gains even more understanding of this very self-sufficient but vulnerable character. Tres is all bound up in his past, but unafraid to face the present. He didn't have as much opportunity to use his tai che skills in this book...maybe the bad guys have heard about his prowess in the martial arts and just give him more space. It's fun to experience Tres as he interacts with friends from high school who have chosen questionable career paths--but they all seem to have particular talents that Tres can take advantage of as he works to solve whatever mystery has captured his attention. Everyone in this book has vulnerabilities so they are very believable characters. The plots twists and turns and keeps the reader wondering just how much more can happen. I loved this book. I can hardly wait for the Last King of Texas...it will be fun to see what happens to Tres and Robert Johnson, the cat. I know one thing--it will be thrilling and it will be fun!

In this second book in Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre series, PI-in-training Tres gets off to a bad start when the person he is tailing dies before his eyes (murder? suicide?). From there, our hero finds himself pulled into the worlds of drug dealing, family politics, and -- most deadly of all -- country music.

This title, like 'The Last King of Texas' (the third book in the series) starts off with a literal bang. But I found both 'Big Red Tequila' and 'Last King' easier stories to get into than this one was. Once the story starts moving, 'Widower's Two-Step' bears all the hallmarks of the Tres Navarre series: a plot that twists and turns, lots of characters (most with complex and hidden motivations), dramatic fights and confrontations, and truckloads of South Texas character. This book also introduces the Manos Detective Agency -- the employees of which have become regular characters in the Navarre series.

Devotees of the series will definitely want to read this title. I would recommend newcomers start with the first book ('Big Red Tequila') instead of dropping into the middle of the series, like I did. But even on its own merits, this interesting and atmospheric mystery is definitely worth a read or two.

The Widowers Two Step is everything you could want in a mystery. The hero, practicing P.I. ' Tres Navarre' is one funny guy, some of his encounters with various 'Texans' are laugh out funny. Using Texas as a backdrop, each page comes alive as Tres moves about the state investigating and getting into peoples hair.

The story Tres finds himself involved in concerns a missing demo, a demo so important that people are prepared to kill for it. The paces quickens as the missing demo leads to some more and more dire situations.

Author Rick Riordan's dialogue crackles, Tres's 'friends' are truely memorable, and his enemies uniquely sinister.

Tres is cut from the same cloth as Robert Crias 'Elvis Cole' and a long lost relative of Chandler's 'Phillip Marlow'. He's a hero with a heart of gold, a loner looking for something more.

Believe the hype this guy can write!

Highly Recommended

Award-winning author who writes well with humor and great descriptions. First time read for this author, will definitely read additional titles in this series, like the protagonist, Tres Navarre - recommended !

I was really looking forward to the second Tres Navarre book. Big Red Tequila was fast-moving and a good read despite the foul language that I do not like. However, over 80 pages into the Widower's Two-Step Tres had not done anything except kick a guy in the shin. Talk, talk, talk. Then I found pagination errors: the book skipped to page 278. There were more skips, and I could not or would not spend the time to figure out where to go next. The book was not interesting enough to sort it out.
What a shame. I really enjoyed the juvenile series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. They are good stories and fast moving but with such character development that afterward I was left wondering what happened to the characters. Anyone who can write an impossible story about impossible characters and leave you wondering what happened to them can't be all bad. And the juvenile series shows that Riordan can write a good story with good language.
I am going to toss the Widower's Two-Step because I do not want to put a bad copy back in circulation. Yes, the single star is based a lot on the publisher's errors.

I really, really want to like the Tres character, after all, anyone who shares his home with a cat can't be all bad, right? However, after a pretty good start with "Big Red Tequila" this one took a giant leap backward. Mr. Riorden puts too many characters in his books, and then doesn't help the reader keep track of everybody. A woman we were barely introduced to in the first book, all of a sudden pops up as a sort of live-in in the second. Perhaps if I was able to read the books in one setting, I could keep everybody straight, but put it down for a couple days and I kept thinking I should have taken notes.

The first book had an interesting storyline, what with his old girlfriend and the murder of his father to keep him busy, but the story line in Two-Step gets all jumbled up, and in the end, isn't all that intersting anyway.

I am going to give Mr. Riorden another chance and I will read his third book in the series, but if the same problems persist, it may be my last. For me to enjoy a book, I have to like the character, and so far, I just haven't been able to care that much for Tres.

Although not nearly as good as the Last King of Texas, my first introduction to the series, The Widower's Two-Step was a good addition. I'm not usually a mystery/cop novel lover but Tres Navarre is a great character, and I've liked every book with him so far. Some other reviews said that there were too many characters to keep straight, but I don't agree at all. This is a series with reoccurring characters, and all of the non- reoccurring ones have an important role in the mystery. Another reviewer said that this isn't award material, and I won't begrudge someone their opinion, but perhaps these books are just not for everyone. I personally find them funny and smart. A PI with an English Phd who practices Tai Chi? Can't you see the humor in that?

Reminded me of a UT student on the 7 year plan. A great 200 page story that is told in 380 pages. Hope the next is better.

Rick is really strong in his representation of characters, situations, and scenes, and Tres is a very compelling protagonist. His representation of the San Antonio and Austin cultures is wonderful. However, the "mystery" part of this book is a bit weak. Still, it's a very worthwhile read, and I look forward to the softcover release of the third book in the series.

Dan

I've enjoyed Tres from his outing in "Big Red Tequila". The Widower's Two-Step left a lot to be desired. The murder in the beginning and the investigation was interesting but peters out. As the book progresses the story looses steam. It seems the editors rushed the ending and the book leaves a number of loose ends hanging. Hopefully The Last King of Texas will be the better go-round.