The Short Forever (A Stone Barrington Novel)

this particular Stone Barrington novel was a little slower than most of other stories. I thought there was a lot of things left unexplained, but since I really enjoy the character of Stone Barrington I would still say it's a good read!

I have enjoyed other Stone Barrington novels more than this one. I did like that it was set in London - that was a nice change of pace. Otherwise, there is little to the story that is compelling, or suspensful. Just an ok read.

This whole series stinks. The author is a pretentious jerk, using the same literary devices over and over throughout his books. His stories are all about rich people doing rich people things. I am extremely regretful that I spent any money at all on this trash from Stuart Woods.

Was disappointed with this offering by Woods. None of his books would be considered literature, but at least some of his other books give you an entertaining read while on a long flight or waiting an hour or more to see your doctor for 2 minutes. I thought the beginning was unrealistic, with Stone taking an assignment to fly to London to talk a man's niece into leaving a lover she's greatly obsessed with...and he can't use force or kidnap her. Really? Well, most of this turns out to be a pack of lies anyway, except that the NON-niece IS greatly infatuated with her lover. From early on, it seems to go down hill. Stuart describes the fancy booze and meals Barrington indulges in on every 2 or 3 pages. Sometimes even booze with breakfast, and Barrington suffers from a hangover many of the days. It got so redundant that a couple of times I had to put the book down and find something more interesting to do. There is a story, of sorts, and there does seem to be conflict once in a while, but I much preferred a book like "Santa Fe Dead" to this book, but then, I find it hard to identify with a well-heeled attorney who seems preoccupied with eating scrambled eggs and drinking exotic liquors I've never heard of, plus being sexually assaulted by women who can't seem to keep their hands off him.

Not one of his better stories. I read to completion, after laying it aside several times, and it just left me yawning.

Get ready, folks, here comes yet another high flyin', rip roarin' Stone Barrington adventure! The Big Apple's favorite cop cum lawyer cum, um... law firm... guy (whatever his title is) is doing what he does best in merry old England! (Cue the usual stereotypical, cliched jokes about driving on the "wrong" side of the road, how much better baseball is than cricket, and English food. Stuart doesn't let us down in that regard.)

This time, Stone is hired by a man that wants him to go to England to bring back his niece, because she is supposedly hot-trotting around with some nefarious sounding scumbag that is allegedly smuggling drugs into the country. When he's not having the ubiquitous (in Stone's world) beautiful, wealthy women literally line up to hump away his jet lag, he actually gets down to some sleuthing and uncovers a bit more to the story than was originally let on.

Will he solve the mystery of the yacht drowning incident? Can he convince Erica to come home? Will he ever figure out what the mysterious item is that Lance is trying to sell, the one that's made "of exotic metal alloys, with very tight machining tolerances"? Should he have the Chenin Blanc '66 with his fillet of sole, or the Semillon '72? Will he get his suits tailored in time for lunch and sex at whichever 5-star (natch) hotel he's staying in?

Who cares? With books like this, you don't read it for the plot, or character development, or any other pesky traditional hallmarks of a good novel. No, you read this because you want SOMETHING to read, and T.V. Guide just won't cut it. That, or if you're flying, and you need something to distract you from the fat, coughing guy sitting right next to you. Why do you ALWAYS get sat next to some fat guy that coughs the whole flight? I bet Stone Barrington never had to sit next to someone like that. Then again, with his unlimited expense account, he'd just charter a Lear jet. With bourbon on ice. And hot stewardesses who all want to jump in bed with him.

Hmmm... Sounds like a good idea for the next book! It has everything in a Stone Barrington book- liquor, hot uninhibited women, jet-setting... I'd totally send this idea forward to Stuart Woods, but he specifically asked, in the back of the book, for people not to do this. Probably afraid that he'd come across an actual original idea.

When the annoying trend of product placement, which has been annoyingly prevelant in movies, finally makes it full-scale to books, Stuart Woods will be in the forefront cashing the checks. His suave and sophisticated character Stone Barrington never drops into the local fast food joint for a burger like the rest of us. Instead, he is having fillet of sole with a nice red wine in an upscale restaurant. If forced to pay, he signs the check with his Mount Blanc pen before driving off with the beautiful woman (every woman wants to be in bed with him putting it politely) in an Austin Martin touring car. Later, he will jump on the Concorde or current equivalent, before doing whatever his client needs him to do, to be followed by splitting another bottle of champagne and dancing with another lovely woman.
Following on the heels of his novel Cold Paradise, the studly Stone is back in The Short Forever. As I have noted before, if you haven't read the last several Stuart Woods novels featuring Stone Barrington, then please skip the rest of the review after this paragraph. This novel refers to the previous novel as well as some things in earlier works. Ideally, if you haven't read the works containing Stone, then you should start with the first, New York Dead. However, if that isn't possible, then you should work your way forward from Dead In The Water.
If you are still reading, you have been warned. This latest adventure finds Stone just weeks after the conclusion of Cold Paradise. Within a matter of pages as this quick read starts, Callie informs Stone that she is dumping him as well as suddenly marrying Thad James. She has decided that while Stone is great in bed, he just can't give her what she needs, financially or emotionally. Stone is pretty well off financially and one would think that by now, since he has heard this before, he would be used to it. But, he isn't and he is rather upset.
However, before he has too much time to self reflect (which would not take too long as these still waters are very shallow) he receives an urgent call from Bill Eggers. "Bill was the managing partner of Woodman & Weld, the prestigious law firm for which Stone did unprestigious jobs." Basically, a glorified troubleshooter for the messy things that the rich involve themselves in from time to time. Bill says that a man will come see Stone the next morning and Stone is to do whatever the man wants.
The next morning, John Bartholomew arrives and sits down with Stone at his home. John tells him a story involving his niece Erica Burroughs. She is in London and has suddenly dropped out of school and has involved herself with Lance Cabot, but he is not of the Massachusetts's Cabot's. That is his first strike against him as far as John is concerned. But John is more concerned as he believes Lance is smuggling small quantities of drugs into England and he wants Stone to get Erica away from him and at the same time, find a way to put Lance in jail that does not involve Erica. He will finance Stone's efforts and Stone, once he thinks he has all the facts, agrees to handle the problem. But soon, after arriving in London via the Concorde, he fins out that things are nowhere near what they appear to be.
Like most of the other books in the series, this one is extremely short on character development. Stone hardly ever contemplates his own life, the mistakes he has made, and his future. This is not a character one would ever find sitting on a porch somewhere at two in the morning wondering how the heck he had screwed up things so royally. Instead, he moves from beautiful woman's bed to beautiful woman's bed, occasionally roughed up by thugs, and always eating and drinking at the best places. Clearly, it is the good life one hears about.
However, this particular novel is considerably better than the last several. The plot is very complicated and there are several twists and turns to it all the way to the end. Like most of the others in the series, this effort is action based and as such, this one seems to have more action than normal in it. Also, as I have warned before, graphic sex is a common occurrence in a Stone Barrington novel. While several practices are hinted at different times in the novel, there are also several explicit and detailed scenes, which may offend some readers.
While it is a typical Stone Barrington novel, this one is better than most. Stuart Woods does not plow any new ground here with these characters in the terms of development, but there is quite a lot more action in this novel. This novel is an improvement as far as plot design and action upon the previous novel, Cold Paradise. Hopefully, this is a sign that Mr. Woods has turned away from the speedy production he has generated the last few years and will once again turn out the quality work that marked his earliest work. This one is a definite improvement and a pretty good read.

Stone Barrington is at it again. The retired detective/attorney has another assignment. At the request of the law firm he occasionally helps out, Barrington meets with John Bartholomew. His niece, Erica, is off to England with Lance Cabot, someone that he is sure will be no good for his niece. Stone's assignment: follow them to England on first- class expenses, find a way to get him arrested if possible, but more importantly, get Erica back to New York City unharmed.

It seemed so simple--that is until Stone finds out that Bartholomew isn't really Bartholomew, that both MI6 and the CIA are involved, people are dying left and right, and the more questions he has, the fewer answers he gets. But Stone is nothing, if not persistent. Gathering what few allies he has, Stone slowly begins peeling the layers of lies and misdirection back to reveal facts that are much more important than returning a niece to New York.

Murders abound with either too few or too many suspects. Red herrings lie in wait for anyone foolish enough to take the bait. You will do well to stay with Stone throughout this book--don't bother to try getting ahead. You'll only have to backtrack and may well end with a headache. Only Dino Baschetti, his old NYPD partner, seems to talk straight to Stone, but Stone doesn't always give what Dino says the importance he should.

Fast-paced, a touch of romance, old flames rekindled--and then doused, changes of scenery, an abundance of clues, suspects galore for multiple murders, and classic misdirection--this book has it all.

Armchair Interviews says: Sounds perfect for a thrilling summer read. If you love Stuart Woods, check out another Stone Barrington novel, Fresh Disaster and Shoot Him if He Runs, October 2007. He has written over 30 books suspense books.

The book starts out in a fascinating manner but two thirds of the way through the book it seems to end up being the same ole, same ole and the ending is in my opinion a let down. Perhaps this is done so that the reader will read the next in this series of tales; if this is what the author is doing with this Stone Barrington series. Having said that you are right in assuming that I have not read anymore of this series of the infamous Stone Barrington, cop turned lawyer. I do not spend a great deal of time reading fiction but happened upon this author by chance and it was an easy read. Please do not misunderstand me I am not criticizing fiction and it is a good way to spend an afternoon, cheaper than a movie at a theater (paid $.50 for the book) I would not buy this book new and spend the money for a new book, it is not that good a read. In all fairness to the author it measure up to a quick, no thought, no stress kind of read that is just entertainment. I gave it a three because I feel the author is poping out books to pop out books and he could have embellished this story much more than he did, 44 books and counting, I guess. I for one will not be jumping on the band wagon and reading them all.

In recent Woods bestsellers like Cold Paradise, N.Y.P.D. detective-turned-PI Stone Barrington has gone upscale in lifestyle, international in expertise. This time, mogul John Bartholomew hires Stone to fly to London and persuade his niece, Erica, to leave her cocaine-smuggling boyfriend, Lance Cabot, and to make sure Lance winds up in jail. Dapper Stone charms Erica, who offers to set him up with her sister, Monica, and then introduces him to Lance. With help from two British investigators, Stone learns John Bartholomew is not who he seems: not only is he not Erica's uncle, he's really CIA biggie Stan Hedger. Confronted, Stan owns up, revealing that Lance is an ex-CIA agent who blew ops, ran with cash and nearly killed him. Meanwhile, Monica asks Stone to a country weekend with Lance and Erica at what turns out to be the manse of his old flame, Sarah Buckminster, who previously dodged a New York bombing and is now engaged to a megatycoon. The fog thickens when Stone's N.Y.P.D. pal Dino Bacchetti flies over to smooth out the beating death of one of Stone's investigators and Scotland Yard brings in MI6, who suspect Lance is after a top-secret military device for a Mideast client. Woods may have left behind the police action of L.A. Dead, but he churns up plenty of conflict and twisted plotting in this speedy tale. Several bombshell revelations and multiple resolutions combine with the cinematic plot for a perfect flight or beach read.

Stone Barrington is a bit hung over from last night's shocker that his lover is leaving him to marry someone else. So when John Bartholomew asks for his help with retrieving his niece, Erica Burroughs, from her boyfriend, cocaine smuggler Lance Cabot, he accepts. It does help to say yes when the client offers to cover all expenses, reasonable or not, in London for Stone to bring Erica home and get Cabot arrested.

However, the simple job turns quite complicated when Stone not only learns that Erica has no uncle, but there is no John Burroughs. Erica introduces Stone to her sister and the trio attends a party tossed by painter Sarah Buckminster, Stone's former lover. As Sarah's fiancé, falls to his death, John and Lance accuse one another of being a vicious spy performing criminal acts. Stone believes both are rogue agents trying to manipulate him as he struggles with whom do you trust.

The latest Stone Barrington tale, THE SHORT FOREVER, feels as if Start Woods could not decide between a who-done-it and an espionage thriller. The story line is action packed and fast-paced, perhaps the speediest of the Barrington tales, but keeps shifting gear as the subplots never smoothly lock in place. The mystery elements feel comfortable, however the spy subplot seems out of sorts for Stone. Still series fans will find Stone, who must have scored more often than Wilt, retains his likable quality as he tries to remain alive amidst the most murky a case he ever has worked.

Harriet Klausner

Stuart Woods has been writing suspense novels for about 25 years now, and has been writing Stone Barrington stories, I would guess, for about 10. Stone is a former NYPD homicide detective who had to retire after he got shot, and turned himself into a lawyer. He works for a prestigious law firm, in a sort of non-conventional fashion, basically taking all of the work the firm's regular lawyers don't want to handle.
In this book, one of the partners sends Stone a client. The guy is apparently rich, and he wants a niece in London protected from her boyfriend, a shady character who's smuggling drugs. Stone's assignment is to go to London, and get the boyfriend arrested for something legitimate, thereby getting him out of the picture as far as the girl is concerned.
Only nothing is what it seems, of course. The guy isn't the girl's uncle, the boyfriend isn't smuggling drugs, and basically everything turns out to be a lot more dangerous than Stone had planned. Of course the romantic entanglements get a bit complicated, and of course Stone has various problems with the local constabulary (who think he killed an ex-cop), and of course there are various spies and other individuals tripping through the story all over the place.
This is the most complicated novel Stuart Woods has ever written, I think. It shows. There are several plot threads that aren't taken to any conclusion at the climax of the book, and the conclusion, while generally satisfying, is a bit mundane and unsuspenseful. There are several interesting characters you want to see again (including a British girl spy named Carpenter), but there are also developments in Stone's life (Arrington's back, and his girlfriend left him).
This is, to be frank, an average Stuart Woods novel...not as suspenseful as some, but more complex than most. I would recommend it.

The Stone Barrington books are more about the coolness of the main character than about detective work or suspense. It's sort of the way you keep reading a series because you enjoy the main character, who happens to be a detective, like Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins or Robert Parker's Spenser. Stone is kind of a man's man like James Bond.

If you like Stone Barrington, you'll want to read the whole series (soon to be 11 books long) FROM THE BEGINNING. No matter what Barrington books you've read, you should go back to New York Dead and work your way through the series (New York Dead, Dirt, Dead in the Water, Swimming to Catalina, Worst Fears Realized, LA Dead, Cold Paradise, The Short Forever, Dirty Work, and Reckless Abandon, Two Dollar Bill). They're not all the same quality, but the story builds and you'll have fewer spoilers if you read them in chronological order.

If you must start in the middle, I'd suggest that The Short Forever is a good place to start because it and the two books following it (Dirty Work and Reckless Abandon) continue some of the same storyline and because The Short Forever and Dirty Work are two of the best Barrington novels. You're still going to be wondering why Dulce and Arrington are so important to Stone (both were almost his wife), which you'll understand much better if you at least go back to Dead in the Water.

If you have a chance to listen to a Stone Barrington novel in audio format, you'll really enjoy Tony Roberts' voice and reading style. I listened to my first three Barrington books before I got hooked and went back to read the books, and I still imagine Roberts' gravelly, suave voice when I read Stone's dialogue.

The Short Forever is a little different from the other Barrington novels because it has more international intrigue with spies and double-crosses and travel. However, at its core, The Short Forever is like the rest of the books in the series-it's about Stone Barrington, a former cop turned lawyer who keeps his feet on the street in investigations that always balloon into something much bigger than they first appeared while Stone tries to pursue a life of romance and style.

I mentioned this in one of my other reviews of a Stuart Woods book, but like his book, LA Times, I've found that more of my male friends like the Barrington series than my female friends (and wife). My wife thinks Stone is silly and laughs at the maleness of the sex scenes. She prefers the Lee family political series (Chiefs, Run Before the Wind, Grass Roots, The Run, Capital Crimes) much more than the Barrington series. But don't let that stop you from taking an adventure with Stone!

In this installment of Woods' Stone Barrington series, our hero is hired to track down his client's niece and separate her from a less than acceptable boyfriend .... in London. That's about the only new twist here and that's where the hi-jinx begin. As in other Barrington books there is the usual label-dropping of fine wines and clothing and meals in only the finest restaurants. There are the obligatory brief but spicy bedroom scenes. Dino, Stone's NYPD buddy, makes the trans-Atlantic trip to help straighten things out. And of course, the on-going soap opera involving Stone's ex-girlfriends continues with the British ex taking center stage. (Stone's NYC/LA ex makes a brief appearance and then leaves in a huff.) The mystery, although no brain teaser, is enough to keep the reader entertained. If this sounds like a negative review it's not - Stone Barrington books deliver as promised. No heavy lifting here. No philosophical endeavors into the human condition. No solving of world problems. They are simply mildly entertaining quick reads and are perfect for reading in crowded loud airports, beside the pool or during rain delays at baseball games.

It must be great to be Stone Barrington. Every beautiful woman you meet wants to sleep with you and every client you have is willing to pay for you to live in high-style. Sure, you get mildly roughed up or shot every now and then, but the pain is minor and fleeting and insignificant compared with all the pleasures.
As with every Barrington novel, the Short Forever begins at Elaine's, late. Stone's girlfriend from the previous book dumps him to marry a rich guy (not unlike what his previous and recurring girlfriend Arrington once did), which causes a single night of grief before Stone recovers and goes to England on a case. In England, he gets one new lover and two old ones (including Arrington) and since three women aren't enough, he eventually hits on a fourth one, although not much happens with that one (I think that's being saved for another book).
Somewhere in all this, Stone also gets in the middle of two spies, one retired and out to sell a mysterious weapon, and the other out to stop him at any cost. For Stone, this is often more of a distraction than a regular case, but it does get him tangled up with some murders and other crimes.
This is the so-called beach read, light and entertaining and a fast read, but far from spectacular. Woods is very good at these novels, but the Barrington novels are not his best writing. In fact, almost all his other works are better. Nonetheless, this is not a bad book and will keep you amused even if you know it's not very good either.