Customer Reviews

Working Stiff: A Sofie Metropolis Novel (Sofie Metropolis Novels)

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

 

 

3.5 star but I chose to go above rather than below....that's for the hopes that the authors will move FAR AWAY from the Stephanie Plum plot lines and define themselves as well as Sofie in a more original manner.
(My fingers are crossed with Hope.)

The four stars I gave is also for the enjoyment, as well as the frustration I experienced while reading this book. As the reviewer stated, I did want to turn the pages.

Having gotten thru the 14 Plum books, and with the last of them in the not so hot category (read that as I'm ready to peel away from Plum-pun intended), I don't need a clone to take its place. So I will read the next Sofie, but will not spend my hard-earned money and take it out of the library. With any luck at all, the Carrington's will see the error of their ways and GET ORIGINAL...

I am a Greek American woman. When I see there is a book or a character that I can relate to, I am delighted to support and enjoy.
The Sofie Metropolis series has been a roller coster ride for me. A Greek girl from Astoria Queens who stands on her own feet making a living as a PI (in training) makes for a great premise. Add the Greek factor - Astoria is as Greek a place as you can get this side of the Atlantic - well, it is a premise for a lot of fun...except...this series has been a Stephanie Plum wannabee from page one of the 1st book. A shame because it could have been awesome. Sofie meets a handsome Greek baker, whom she is now having a secret affair...not very believable from my experience of being a Greek in a Greek community, but I liked Dino and said great - now we're getting somewhere...no. It doesn't work out smoothly and is messed up in Working Stiff. The dynamic between Sofie, Dino, and Porter (the Aussie man of mystery) doesn't work as well as Stephanie, Joe and Ranger from the Plum series -
There are more eye rolls in this series and particularly Stiff, you need Dramamine. Every other page it seems. Don't get me wrong - it has a place - just not the only thing. It seems this is the only reaction the characters are capable of...
I appreciate that there are Greek recipes at the end of the books - especially for frappe, (in earlier books) which is a biggie in Greece - not my cup of tea, but it is very Greek. The recipes are a great touch and seem to be accurate.
Sofie Metropolis is a cute premise. Has a lot of potential. But it needs a great deal of attention to make it a viable series with a big following.
It didn't come together for me.
I will peek at future books of this series, but for now, maybe I'd buy paperbacks of this series.
Also the ending of this book has a word in Greek I think supposed to mean 'end' - telos - it is spelled TELOF - a looksee would have been good. It may be refering to something else, but...

Sofie's at it again. Only this time her cousins body goes missing and her aunt wants her to find it before news leaks out.
In her normal pattern of chaos and accidental blunders Sofie does this
and more--like catching her boyfriend and sister together--Is this for real? Sending Sofie over the edge. All comes together in a very creepy end. I waiting for a 5th novel.

This fourth installment in the Sofie Metropolis series is a solid entry. There is a lot of fun, as well as character development. The writing is not of especially high caliber, but you don't get the feeling that was the goal of the husband/wife team. They simply wanted to write an enjoyable, light read, and they have done just that.

Not the ususal Sophie we have come to love, she is evolving but I'm not sure if I like this new Sophie. I was disappointed in the book. After looking forward to reading it I wasn't happy with it at all.

I picked this up at a deep discount store, never having heard of "the author". The main story is about a young man accused of murdering his girl-friend. Many things suggest he is not the killer but he's given up hope that he will not be convicted.

I join another reviewer in my opinion that I don't think this book was intended as anything other than what I sensed in it. This is a quirky female "almost-detective", supposedly of Greek background, who pokes good humored fun at herself and interactions with her family as she goes through her days in the effort to solve a crime. There are several other series by different female authors within range of the spirit with which this book seems to be written - all female lead characters as well.

Since I had not read another of these books, I have no others for comparison. Some reviewers found it disappointing compared to others in the series they have read. I found it a light hearted, not-too-serious book with some funny situations tossed in.

A slight twist on the Stephanie Plum of Evanovich. Author even mentions it on cover. Enjoyed the 3 so far in the series.

As soon as I opened the covers of my advanced review copy of Working Stiff, fourth in the Sofie Metropolis detective series by husband and wife writing team, Lori and Tony Karayianni as the combo name Tori Carrington, I was reminded of those long ago days of reading Nancy Drew mysteries by Carolyne Keene. I was, fair to say, obsessed with sharp and sassy girl-detective Nancy Drew as a young girl. Gee, that was long ago. I'm not sure why, but I have steered clear of mysteries ever since. Go figure. Why avoid a genre that I liked so much as an avid adolescent reader?

Because I am no longer an adolescent? I'd be hard pressed to explain why there are two genres of writing that I avoid in the bookstore: mysteries and science fiction. If I have read a spotty few in either genre over my adult years, it is usually because there is some overriding personal reason to do so. Perhaps I know the author. Perhaps a fellow reader whose literary opinions I respect has given a particular title a high recommendation. Those few times that I have crossed the line and dipped a reluctant toe into the detective and/or science fiction waters, well, it wasn't too bad a dip. Sometimes even enjoyable. And yet. Next time I am in a bookstore? You got it. I avoid those sections.

I could be very wrong, but I would guess that women, who dominate today's book buying clientele, tend away from the hard-boiled detective tome, and may not be the keenest sci fi fans, either. (That said, I have met some women who would argue that they love these types of books, so consider this my personal observation only, completely unscientific.)

Okay, so what all that means is that when I sat down to read my first Sofie Metropolis book, the decks were stacked against the authors. And it stayed that way through several of the first few chapters. Sofie's voice, in my mind, was too distinctly male. She spoke, moved, behaved, thought, too much like those by now cliche Bogey types, the Mike Hammer PIs, the fedora-wearing, minus the hat, cool dudes who were tough and cool and impossibly (annoyingly) sauve. Yeah, now I remember why I bypass the mysteries. The main characters make me cringe. Sofie even has a version of her own girl Friday, the sidekick who is ever faithful and efficient, voluptuously shaped, with seemingly little to no life outside of the PI office. And, Sofie even expressed what smacked of a male perspective of sleeping habits. The nice guy in one bed, the bad cowboy in the other, meenie minie mo. Huh. Not working for me.

But then, page by page, a metamorphosis started to happen. I realized a few hours had gone by and I had yet to put the book down. Each chapter tended to end on a teaser, and it worked to keep me reading. And, I had to admit, Sofie was kind of growing on me. She could be fun. She could have a bit of that wacky Bridget Jones quality that made chic lit big. A little goofy. More than somewhat confused about her bed partners. Vulnerable and a little bruised. Even her cranky pup, Muffy, was winning me over.

Two days later, I had finished the book. I read through it like I used to read through those Nancy Drew mysteries. Couple of big bites and done. Not exactly the literary tomes I love, the type of writing that moves me to tears or shakes up the ground I stand on, but a bit of good, lighthanded fun. I liked her ethnic background (and the Greek recipes at book's end are a nice touch). The dialogue between characters was strong and convincing.

Yeah, so the murder mystery was a bit weak in its construction, and the revelation of what happened to the stolen corpse made me wince aloud. (The adolescent reader in me would say, eeuuww! gross!) And I had to wonder, with this duo of authors writing, which author set up the scene where Sofie lingers too long to watch her girl Friday getting ready to shower, admiring her perfect nude breasts ... and which author remarked with disdain, "Dogs, I was coming to understand, were a lot like men. In the heat of the moment, they didn't have two brain cells to rub together." Who knows. I might be surprised.

But here's the thing. I had a lot of fun spending a couple days with Sofie Metro. Not a bad break between my more serious reading. I realized I'd kind of missed ol' Nancy Drew and the fun of watching her solve another light mystery. I could even be convinced to read the previous three Sofie books ...

~Zinta Aistars for The Smoking Poet, Summer 2008 issue