Dark Harbor (A Stone Barrington Novel)

I love the Stone Barrington series for pure escapism. The friendships of the characters and the hilarious banter among them keeps you going through to the end. This is a one or two night read, and I suggest you read the preceding books in the series first.

If you read Stone Barrington novels, skip this review. If you're looking for a new mystery writer you would enjoy reading, skip this book! I found the sex scenes quite annoying (basically can be covered as, "think I'll screw this chick -- doesn't have anything to do with the plot or character development, but I'm just that kind of he-man guy..."), the plot ludicrous, and the characters wooden. Spoiler alert!! The twins did it. Saved you the trouble of reading the book...

First off how anyone gave this higher than 2 stars is amazing, Ive read several Woods books some are pretty good, the plot sounded good CIA agent his wife and daughter murdered and he has to find the killers sounds good right? Wrong it was SOOO BAD.
I couldn't finish it, filled with so many "gimme a break" moments I lost track.
1. Starting with Stones CIA agent cousin who he met once when they were teenagers hasnt spoken with in 20yrs makes him executor of his and his rich wifes estate, leaves him the house, car, boat and tons of money, What?.Gimme a break!
2. Next the guy has a super secret spy office in his house and one day Stones is in "working" on the estate and the secret bat phone rings and he answers it??!! Gimme a break! Not only does he answer it but the mysterious caller with Russian accent gives him a mysterious code word which he finds out means trouble is coming, So what does Stone do invites his sometime rich girlfriend and her kid up to Maine for some boating and fun..WHAT?! Gimme a break! you forget about solving the murders to get you rocks off.
3. The girlfriends kid finds the murdered girls diary and what does the 14yr seasoned NYPD police detective do with?? Locks it up and plans to burn it to protect her privacy What the hell?? Shes dead, it could have clues as to who the killers might be and what happened prior to the murders.
Thats when I basically stopped reading just oh but there is more like this island in Maine is the island of lost retired CIA agents, kinda like the Island of misfit toys.
So bad and people actually gave it 5 stars, How?!

My third Stuart Woods Stone Barrington novel, I thought I had his formula pretty much nailed down. Lots of sex, drinking, living the elite life and never quite catching the killer. This is the first one where he, or I should say “they” actually catch the killers. He broke the mold a bit.

That being said, this one contains the usual cast of characters, from Dino to Arrington to Holly. Stone still has plenty of sex but not as much as the last two. He also doesn’t seem to pickle his liver quite as bad as in the others. Still, for a guy somewhere in his forties, he’s well on the way to a liver transplant.

It was still a decent mystery with plenty of red herrings and lots of twists and turns and head-scratching moments. Sure, aficionados may have been able to see right through a lot of this, but I’m easy, and don’t care to try and second guess everything. I like to let the author surprise me and unless the clues just slap me in the face, I’m no armchair detective.

The writing was tight and solid third-person with no noticeable head-hopping. There was no sidetracking and long and boring exposition or narrative to drag down the story. It was very well done.

This has been the best of the bunch, so far. Highly recommended.

With Dark Harbor, Stuart Woods begins his road to redemption from the mess that was Iron Orchid. It's a long road, fraught with peril, but I have faith that ol' Stu can traverse it successfully.

As it opens, Stone Barrington is informed that his cousin, a childhood pal with whom he's more or less lost touch, has died. According to law enforcement accounts, he killed first his wife and daughter, then himself.

Yeah, right.

Stone is also informed that he's been appointed executor of the new will, and, for his efforts, has been deeded a spectacular new home in Dark Harbor, Maine. Cue the swelling violins of hidden meaning, please.

Since cousin Dick Stone was a high-ranking CIA official, we must include Stone's pal and sometimes CIA boss, Lance Cabot, and his friend-with-benefits, CIA agent Holly "Orchid" Barker. Along with Stone's ex-NYPD partner Dino, they all head up to Dark Harbor to see what's what.

Would it be cheating to say our intrepid quartet eventually determine that the Stone Family's death was, in fact, a homicide? Didn't think so.

Woods introduces some interesting new characters in the course of the investigation, none more so than Ed Rawls, another retired CIA-type. For some reason, we can't help but imagine Sam Elliot when we see this guy, if that tells you anything. Hopefully, he will become part of the Woods mix in future adventures of these folks. He's dryly funny, with a sense of hidden menace that always makes things interesting.

As The Gang digs into things, more girls turn up missing, then dead. Woods does a good job in turning up the suspense dial as the book progresses, it appears that there may be a couple of different agendas being served. On the one hand, there's the age-old saw of Family Resentment. On the other, the possibility of a thrill-killer. Ooooooh......

Woods really steps on the gas in the final third. I won't tell you why, but you'll know it when you read it. And it's here where the book finally sinks in to the reader's system and grabs hard.

So, if you are a fan of Stone, Holly and the gang, you'll probably find Dark Harbor a pleasant recovery from Woods' recent exercises in coincidence. Stuart Woods is no genre-buster by any means, but he writes totally readable potboilers. Dark Harbor is one of them.

This is my second Stone Barrington novel by Stuart Woods. The plot was plain, generic, and formulaic. It reminded me a lot of TV detective shows. For those of you who are old enough, think of an episode of The Rockford Files. If you did not watch that, think of Magnum PI or Hunter. If that is too far back, think of Law and Order. If perhaps you haven't watched any of those shows, turn on the TV and watch an episode of Law and Order - it is on 24 hours a day on several cable channels.

For those of you who hate those silly details that authors put into books, those little facts, historical details, researched insights, or intriguing tidbits, do not worry; you will not have to strain your brain learning anything new in this book. I am positive that Stuart Woods did no research while writing this book. So relax, you will not have to learn anything interesting or new while reading Dark Harbor.

So after reading two of these Stone Barrington novels this is what I would recommend. The next time you read one of these novels, do it right. Pop some popcorn, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage, kick back in the recliner, and enjoy a another light episode of the Stone Barrington saga.

(This refers to the book-on-tape version) About halfway through this I realized that the mystery wasn't going to have a great resolution and that several seemingly important details (a household appliance, a kidnapping, a murder here or there) were going to be kicked into the rough in the hopes that the reader would forget about them. I was reminded of the Hardy Boys novels I grew up reading, but they're really more tightly structured (although not as much sex) than this book. Getting into the motorboat and quietly going up the cove to the abandoned boathouse! Figuring out from the angle of the bullet that - gasp! - it wasn't a suicide! Hopping into a plane to chase the villains through the sky - to almost crash into them! Almost all action taking place off-camera!
When Woods wants to write about something he cares about (Hollywood and the movie biz, airplanes ... umm, anything else?) he can bang out a darn good tale (The Prince of Beverly Hills). Plots with more depth or intrigue seem to get away from him (thus requiring insertion, as it were, of fairly gratuitous sex scenes to distract the reader - not that there's anything wrong with that) and, with this one, there's a sense in which the reader is just asked to say "keep turning the page - at least some of these details will be 'splained by the end". A book for people who miss Nancy Drew, Frank and Joe and their chums ferreting out the truth while getting into scrapes and escaping peril almost every chapter!

I dearly love Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington serials. That said, I think this was a weak link in the chain. It presented many options in the beginning and then let them drift into the ether without regard to why they didn't matter. Also, I am really bad at predicting an outcome and I had this nailed by the first third of the book. If I had to guess, Woods got caught up in something and his publisher was demanding something, anything, and this is what Woods threw together over a long weekend at the cabin.
Will this stop me from reading more Stone Barrington? No, cognitive dissonance will rule and I will go onto the next link in the chain.

Stone Barrington's ensemble is back, and this time the action takes place on the tiny island of Dark Harbor off the coast of Maine. Stone's cousin, Dick Stone, and his family have been killed in what is set up to look like a murder/suicide. Surprisingly, in a recently revised will that disinherited his brother Caleb, cousin Dick left a generous portion of his wealth and the family home in Dark Harbor to Stone. So the bittersweet visit to his new vacation home becomes a working vacation for our investigative attorney as Stone's curiosity is sparked not only by the deaths but by this unexpected inheritance from a relative whom he had not seen more than once or twice since they were teenagers.

I think that one reason why series mysteries are so popular is that people enjoy getting reacquainted with established characters, know what to expect from them, and can get on with the plot without having to remember a host of new players. And Stuart Woods can always be counted on to provide a fast-moving story in a variety of interesting settings.

In DARK HARBOR things are not always what they seem. For example, Cousin Dick, who had just received a major promotion, did not work for the State Department as purported but for the CIA. Could his killing have been a retaliation murder for exposing a Russian spy ring? Is Dick's brother Caleb taking his disinheritance too calmly? The "Old Farts" golf buddies are not merely a codger collective but a group of retired CIA agents who live on the island. And a local craftsman, Harold Rhinehart, has a dark past that could put him at the top of any suspect list.

In addition, two young housewives go missing and another CIA agent is found murdered --- all this on a small island that doesn't even have its own police station. As with every good mystery, the author gives us just enough clues to make us feel as if we're part of the action, but only the very clever will unravel all the intricacies before the finale.

Stuart Woods has ingeniously created three separate series "stars" whom he can choose to write around: Holly Barker, Stone Barrington and Will Lee. All are distinctive and have their own locations and storylines. There have been times when these characters would interact, and now Woods has taken Holly Barker out of the Orchid Beach, Florida Police Chief's office and promoted her to the FBI (the more likely to cross paths with Stone Barrington, who seems to be mellowing if not aging). Whichever storyline Woods decides to pursue in his next book, fans of all three series can be confident that they will be getting a rousing good story that is fun to read.

--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding, a substance abuse counselor in Phoenix, AZ who wanted to be Brenda Starr before life

I recently stocked up on summer vacation reading material for some relaxational time spent on a cruise. One of the books was Stuart Wood's Dark Harbor. This is his latest Stone Barrington novel, and it was an enjoyable read for "deck time"...

Barrington is called into a case where a distant cousin has apparently killed himself and his family in a murder/suicide. The cousin worked for the CIA, and Lance Cabot isn't convinced the stated cause of death is accurate. Neither are the former CIA agents who are living out their retirement in Dark Harbor, Maine, a normally quiet island retreat. Things get a bit more confusing when Barrington receives a package making him the executor of the will, as well as the beneficiary of the island mansion with a clause to keep the cousin's brother completely out of the inheritance picture. This doesn't sit well with the brother, and past bad blood between him and Barrington threatens to cause even more violence. When additional staged murders start to occur, the trick is to see if Barrington will solve the crime before becoming the final casualty...

Nothing real deep and profound here. Just a basic crime mystery with a little CIA espionage subplot thrown in. If you're a Stone Barrington fan, you'll probably like the story and enjoy the ride...

After reading so many of Stone Barrington's novels and then rereading this one, I must admit that Stuart Woods has been going down hill ever since. This book was well written with intrigue and kept you reading until the end. I have been reading all of the Barrington's novels and it seems that after this one,everyone of them was easy read and predictable. That's why I don't buy them anymore except to borrow from the the library. I can finish a book of his in one dsy! Don't waste your money!

The Margin
Perfect book title--Dark Harbor.
I took a break from Michael Connelly and tried Stuart Woods. So far I still like Connelly the best but Woods isn't too far behind. A Stone Barrington novel that follows the cop-turned-lawyer through a maze of suspense as he tries to solve the murders of a cousin and his family. Thinking that someone on the tiny island is the killer and expecting the crimes to be solved quickly was Barrington's first misconception, suddenly the investigation becomes complicated. He discovers his cousin has been a CIA operative for years, and for Stone, that's not the only family secret to unfold. Will a suspect emerge from within the CIA? As the investigation continues more murders are discovered. Retired CIA agents who live on the island partner with Stone to solve the mystery but find themselves targets as well.
The intrigue of the CIA--discovering a specially built room in the cousin's house to conceal his agency clandestined involvement--their access to secret world-wide intelligence, thermo photos of the island and the-who-done-it makes for an exciting reading experience. Dark Harbor is a well crafted mystery set right in the middle of intrigue.

Marvin Wiebener, author of The Margin

I *know* a best selling writer like Woods can phone 'em in, but someone has to be responsible for continuity.

Stone finds out some characters are dead on page 31 . . . and then has to find out about their fates again a few pages later.

I'm just a casual reader. If *I* caught the error, why can't someone who is being paid to read the manuscript catch it?

Also disturbing . . . we didn't hear a peep from Holly during most of the first leg of the initial trip north from New York.

The plot was just too far fetched, although I liked the crusty New England characters and scenery. Dino's divorce was sudden. I never saw it coming and it just didn't feel right. The whole book felt rushed. Arrington was in and out (pun intended). And, where is the Stone/Holly relationship headed?

Oh, well. Like another reviewer said. It is what it is. I'm just glad I checked it out from the library and didn't spend good money at a bookstore.

Woods is better than this. Stone Barrington is better than this. At least, they used to be.

Attorney Stone Barrington dines with his former NYPD partner Dino Bachetti when CIA operative Lance Cabot and Agents Holly Barker arrive at the restaurant. Lance asks Stone what he knows about his first cousin Dick Stone, Jr. Stone says not much as they have seen each other once in the last two decades and that was eight or nine years ago. He said that following graduating high school he spent a summer with Dick and his family, but that was about it except for a package he received this morning. Lance informs Stone that the Isleboro sheriff department and the Maine State police believe Dick, recently appointed the CIA Deputy Director for Operations, murdered his wife Barbara and their eighteen years old daughter Esme before killing himself. Stone and Lance are to uncover the truth.

They start with the package, which contains a letter of instruction, two wills, and a finance statement. From there the quartet travel to Dick's home in the village of Dark Harbor on Isleboro, an isle in Penobscot Bay, Maine. As they dig deeper into what happened, the evidence piles up that a double murder suicide occurred, but Stone finds it too perfect and wonders if his cousin's work as an operative or his estrangement with his brother Caleb led to what he believes is the homicides of three people.

This delightful police procedural with espionage overtones hooks the audience from the moment that Stone and Lance discuss his cousin and never slows down until the final twin confrontation. The long running series is refreshed with Stone explaining aspects of his past but smoothly as part of the present investigation. This tale is a must for series regulars while newcomers will understand why the accolades for this very talented writer.

Harriet Klausner

Reading Dark Harbor is like watching a mediocre TV show that you can't be bothered to turn off. I listened to Dark Harbor as an audio book, so I don't feel too badly about wasting my time on it because I `read it' while I was doing other things that had to be done anyway, like driving.

If you are looking for something that feels fresh and new - Dark Harbor is not for you. This novel is about as innovative as an episode of Murder She Wrote. To illustrate: Stone Barrington and his cronies quickly deduce that an apparent suicide must have been a murder because the gun was found in the victim's wrong hand. (I think I actually saw that one on Murder She Wrote) Woods either can't be bothered to come up with a new idea or he simply doesn't care.

It is clear early on who is responsible for the murders in Dark Harbor. This isn't because the clues come together in any logical way, but rather because of the predictable nature of the novel. You can just tell. This doesn't mean that the solution makes sense. In fact, there are huge inconsistencies in the plot that make the ending feel forced.

It is as if Woods couldn't be bothered to think all of his plot lines through. Woods is compelled to include his regular characters in the novel even though they have little to do (except of course, to have sex with Stone). Holly barely says a word on her first trip to the island. On her second trip she has an obligatory romp with Stone and then gets kidnapped for the remainder of the novel.

Why was she kidnapped? I don't think anyone - including Woods - can answer that question in any plausible way. My theory is that Woods needed to work Holly into the plot and decided that putting her in peril would allow him to fill a few pages. It also allowed him to include Holly's dad (another regular character) in her search. Wood's motive seems obvious. The kidnapper's motive however isn't - her kidnapping makes no sense. But clearly this was something Woods didn't think was worth worrying about.

The best I can say about this novel is that it is a quick easy read (of course, in my case it was read to me). It may not be worth the time and trouble to actually read (and certainly not to buy) - but as an audio book from the library (with a limited selection of audio books to choose from) it helped me pass the time in traffic.

Detective Stone Barrington is called to the tiny island of Islesboro off the coast of Maine when Dick Stone, a cousin he hasn't seen since his youth, is found dead in his home, along with his wife and daughter, who were also murdered. At first, the police think it's a murder-suicide, but Stone's investigation proves otherwise. Someone broke into Dick Stone's island home and murdered him and his family, but why? Stone moves into the Islesboro house his cousin left him in the will and proceeds to investigate.

There are almost no clues as to who killed the Stone family and why. Dick's brother Caleb is a suspect, but he's got an airtight alibi. Other possible suspects on the island don't seem to pan out, either, and it just doesn't seem likely that the murders were related to Dick's work, even though he worked for the CIA for many years. Then, when some young women are found raped and murdered on the island, Stone wonders if he's dealing with two different killers.

This was a light, yet compelling read with an intriguing story line. I had a pretty good idea who the culprit was early on, yet there were enough red herrings along the way to make me wonder. There were only two very minor weak points: certain clues were carelessly overlooked by a team of seasoned professionals who should have known better, and we didn't get enough of an introduction to all of Stone's friends and associates. Anyone who's been reading Stone Barrington novels all along wouldn't have any trouble figuring out what role they play, but for a first time Stone Barrington reader, a little more information about them would have been nice. My only other complaint is that there were too many sex scenes that seemed a little clumsy, but I just don't think men are very good at writing scenes of that nature.

In all, if you're looking for a good-natured murder mystery with a comfortable cast of characters, this book fits the bill.

Outstanding in its way: a festival of plot holes, unexplained digressions, inexplicable rushing this way and that. A tiny selection:

1. Most incredibly dumb lapse of memory
Say you flew to Maine to find a missing person, bringing her dog, a trained search dog, with you. Wouldn't you put that dog on her trail immediately on arriving at the house where she was last seen? Not the dopes in this book: though at least four of them know the dog is a trained tracker, at least a day passes before someone cries, "Hey! We could use the dog to track her missing owner!"

2. Least used high-tech information
Say you got access to special imagery from the CIA that would help you find this missing person. As soon as the information came in, wouldn't you hunker down over it? It is plain to the reader that, given the size and population of the island that someone familiar with the area could find the missing person in under 30 minutes. Instead, the characters drift off to pursue other, unsubstantiated leads. When someone else finally looks at the image, they notice something else rather than the nearby anomaly that indicates the missing person. They do notice this after the missing person is safe.

3. Would you renew this pilot's license?
In a hurry, he not only skips the preflight check, he knowingly overloads his plane. (Aside: with 6 people in a 6-passenger plane, with no luggage, and partially full fuel tanks, it is hard to know why the plane can't handle this load, but we'll take the pilot's word that this plane will barely able to make it into the air.) Wouldn't you say, "You and you- STAY HERE!" No, he labors into the air, almost hitting a house and sailboat masts.

To stop the bad guys from escaping, he lands on a runway directly towards their plane which is taking off, stopping 3 feet from their propeller. Remember, he has 5 passengers with him, none of whom has any need to be there.

4. Worst parody of the dumb local cop
What has Woods been up to on Nantucket? This can only be his revenge against a cop who caught him doing something naughty.

5. Grotesque sex scenes and relationship philosophies
Ouch!! So bad!!!

I bought this book while rushing through an airport terminal needing something to read on the plane. Not one of my better decisions. Very wordy, and the dialogue is so clipped and stilted it's totally absurd -- reminds me of the way the cops talked in "Dragnet." We are talking zero development of characters. Perhaps Mr. Woods feels he doesn't need to give any depth to characters that he's been writing about in previous books. Well, he's wrong. You basically just don't care about these people. They aren't real, and they talk weird. Not much action either, unless you count actions like: they got in the car; they got in the boat; they got in the plane. You get the picture. This is another case of a well-known author throwing something together so he can get it on the newsstand and rob you of your money. Don't fall into his trap like I did. There are a lot better books out there.

I was amazed that my primary suspect in the first third of the book was pretty much confirmed midway through, and I kept thinking "there has to be a twist here, it couldn't be that obvious!" There was indeed a twist, which I didn't predict, but it didn't shake me from simply revising my theory, which turned out to be correct.

There are some love scenes in the book which certainly don't detract from the overall work, but are so briefly written, it makes me think they are written by someone with no more experience than reading Penthouse Forum.

All that said, the book is well constructed, with workmanlike pacing and plotting. I think it simply lacks imagination.

Really, horrible says it all. This is only a fun little page-turner if your mind is already mush from years of television, because that's what this is - bad television turned into a book. The characters are automatons who can summon up whatever they want whenever they want with a simple phone call to their people. Not only do they have no depth to them, they have no reality to them at all. The 'sex' is pointless. The writing itself doesn't do anything more than fill the pages. There's only one bad guy in the book, so that takes care of that. I'm still trying to figure out how this got onto my bookshelf. It's not going back up there though - the library sells this stuff by the pound and that's where this one is going. Avoid it - there are too many fine authors available for anyone to bother spending time on this sort of trash. Doesn't even deserve a star.

As a huge fan of "Chiefs", Stuart Woods first novel, I decided to give Dark Harbor a try. What I found was a predictable plot, gratuitous sex, and all the marks of a "spit out thinly plotted books" machine. Stone Barrington is informed that his distant cousin has allegedly ended his family's life and left Stone as the executor of his will. When it is discovered that the cousin worked for the C.I.A., Stone and company begin to investigate his death to determine if it had anything to do with his clandestine work. As they investigate and the suspects materialize, the plot grows more and more predictable. Run from this one!

This book gets two stars because I actually read the whole book. What a dumb plot. And what's with the characters? Everyone has a pilot's license in their back pocket, they all have 5 million dollars waiting for them somewhere, and a bunch of other seemingly disconnected coincidences, which is a lame attempt to resolve the ridiculous plot.

Woods, buddy, please for the love of God and all humanity, get some better names for your characters. Stone Barrington? And his girlfriend is named Arrington? Huh?

Stone Barrington is investigating a murder case about his cousin whose last name is Stone. How stupid is that? What a childish/amateur way of trying to make a plot twist.

The one bright spot in this book is...never mind, there isn't one.

This book is your annual update on Stone Barrington. In other words, if you have read the series and enjoy the character, you will enjoy this quick simple read. Typical antics of Stone and his friends. Summer beach read and catch up on Stone.

In the series, it is not the best yet it is a MUST for fans of the series. Maybe be author does need a break from the character as your reader reviews indicate..but I would hate to see this character retire. FANS LOVE HIM and will enjoy this story.

Barrington inherits beautiful cottage on the Maine coast from a long-estranged uncle. When other family members get nothing, they have revenge on their mind. Barrington calls upon his cadre of former police and military muscle to help when his girlfriend disappears.

Unfortunately many of my favorite "fun read" authors have become so used to leaning on formula for their new books that there is no longer any mystery. I read Dark Harbor with the hope that this book would prove me wrong. It did not. I knew too early on in the book "who dunnit" so I had little or no empathy for the characters stumbling around trying to guess.

I find this true of Woods, Patterson, some of McMurtry and now even my beloved James Lee Burke. What's happened to creativity?

Stone's first cousin, Dick Stone, and his family are found dead in their Maine home. Local authorities think it is a murder/suicide, Stone, his ex partner Dino, "friend" Holly Barker and CIA agent Lance Cabot think otherwise. Stone is also surprised to learn his cousin was a CIA agent. Everyone goes up to Maine to investigate the deaths. The body count mounts, Holly disappears after a routine jog. Lots of drama and suspense make this another winning Stuart Woods novel. The short chapters make it a perfect book to take on a plane or the beach.

Stuart Woods hit a home run with Dark Harbor! The characters were well developed and exciting. However, on the negative side their were superfulous character events that were not really needed, which didn't add much to the story. I did enjoy the fast paced story line and thought I was sitting in Stone's living room when they gathered in the house for pow-wows. No doubt we will see Stone Barrington again at his Maine residence with other scenarios as it is a good place for a bunch of trouble. Bottom line: Good plot, exciting story and full of excitment.

I usually enjoy his books, even though they are formulaic, but this one was so thin in plot it was sad. It was obvious from the get go who the bad guys were. Of course there was the usual requisite sex scenes, even these were thin. The dialogues were stilted. There was no character building if per chance you hadn't read his other books. I agree with the reviewer who said this must have been a churn book. I don't usually write reviews, but felt compelled to comment on this book

Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington novels remind me of Dashiell Hammett and his Nick and Nora Charles characters. Stone is an urban sophisticate, hanging out at Elaine's in New York with his friends. Wealthy by inheritance, Stone lives the life; a Manhattan townhouse, an airplane, lots of women. Oh yes, he practices law too, but not so often that it interferes with his dodging bullets or rescuing the women he loves from the clutches of evil. Stone also spent 14 years on the NYPD.

Stone is at Elaine's with his friend, NYPD Lieutenant Dino Bacchetti when another friend, CIA mystery man Lance Cabot shows up with his protege Holly Barker (one of Stone's lovers) shows up.

Snappy dialog ensues as Cabot asks Stone Barrington what he knows about Richard Stone. More snappy dialog ensues as Stone Barrington explains that Richard Stone is a first-cousin with whom he has had little contact over the years. That limits the sadness around the table when Cabot tells Barrington that his cousin and his family are dead in an apparent murder/sucide. (By the way, I intend "snappy dialog" as a compliment. Woods really does have a knack for crisp, insouciant dialog that is very reminiscent to me of Dashiell Hammet. Woods' work is a total delight to read.)

My! Would you believe that just the other day, Stone Barrington received a sealed package from cousin Richard with instruction that it be opened only in the event of Richard's death. This is obviously an appropriate time to open it. Barrington has been named executor and left the house in Dark Harbor, Maine.

Now it turns out that cousin Richard was a biggie at the CIA and about to assume his duties as third in command. Lance Cabot asks Stone to investigate.

And we're off to the races. Stone Barrington goes to Dark Harbor (in his own plane, of course) and begins to poke around. Why it looks like cousin Richard Stone, his wife and daughter were murdered! But by whom on an island with only a few hundred permanent residents? Could it be a revenge plot against the CIA? Well, there are bunch of other retired CIA officers living on the island too . . .

But there's Richard's brother as well, who has been disinherited. And now bodies start popping up all over the place. One of the CIA retirees bites the dust as does a local teenage girl.

I'll not reveal any more so as not to impair your enjoyment of this delightful romp.

Woods is easy reading; his characters are surprisingly robust and the plot has lots of surprises, though the climax is a little bit less than what Woods normally delivers.

This is a great read for the beach, a rainy afternoon, a long flight or any time you just want to enjoy a master of the police procedural at work. Woods brings a very special, very enjoyable flavor to the art of mystery. It's light, but certainly not offensively so and it's definitively fun to be in the company of Stone Barrington and his friends.

Jerry

This book should be in a Harlequin catalog. Everyone seems to be a multimillionaire, including the wise-cracking cop, apparently from Brooklyn. The lawyer-hero (is that a contradiction) finds a naked woman in his bed almost at every turn but his true love is a divorced woman who is the mother of his son. Both are introduced but quickly fade away so he can dedicate himself to solving crimes and making out with other women.

And the bad guys are two preppies at Yale - yes, millionaires, but poor in their own way. They don't seem to have any property or investments, they only share in their father's million dollars in cash.

The book is contrived and leads up to ridiculous situations and outcomes.

Awful, a time-waster!

Forget it!

Boy, I sure wish I had consulted these reviews before buying this book, but I was looking for something in a hurry at the drugstore on my way out of town. As a lover of Patricia Cornwell (in her early days), John Grisham, Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich, I find myself struggling to find new authors who measure up. Woods seems like a good writer, but what the heck was up with the quick and inexplicable finish? This book ended harder than a mob informant into the East River, as they say. I thought the love scenes were contrived and awkward, and there were some parts that just made no sense. Why was Holly kidnapped at all by Caleb- and what did he hit her with? Why was the older man killed and what did he know-? What was the point of the two other dead women supposedly killed during the same weeklong period? Was this book edited at all? Anyway, if there's anybody out there with similar tastes that can recommend a new author to try out, please do so -!!

Dark Harbor has it all: fun, suspense, a turning twisitng plot. And I really enjoyed the increase of humor in this Stone Barrington Novel: the humor is there; shrewdy effectively used and just at the right place and time to give the reader a light moment. Word of warning this is not a book you'll want to put down in fact notwithstanding a point 5 earthquake I doubt that any fan of the Stone Barrington novels would take a break.

Regina Utz

Kalona, IA

Have to say I'm conflicted in describing this one. Those who have said Woods is just going through the motions are 100% right. That said, it's an OK read, something to kill some time. Still, I said, "Huh?" so many times. Like why does the killer kidnap Holly in the first place? No reason, let alone motive is ever given or even hinted. What was there to gain from snatching her. Oh, yes...it gave the author the opportunity to describe the kidnapper pulling down her pants and putting a bed pan under her. Honestly, describing this as "emptying her?" This was too silly to be tittilating, if that was the purpose at all. That whole part of the story was completely "delete-able." Contributed absolutely nothing to the plot.

It's sad to see that so many of the formerly fine mystery writers have begun to settle for mediocrity. It seems they're not really trying anymore.

This is probably the worst of the Stuart Woods novels I have read. The characters are sterotypes, the prose is wooden, and the plot comes unglued. Perhaps the worst sin of all is the occasional perfunctory sex scene, dealt with in two lines at most. It's time for this writer to pack up his computer.

What amazes me is that this poorly written tripe ends up on the best seller list.

Stuart Woods is one of my favorite authors.....This was a good book...and Stone Barrington is my favorite character that Woods uses in some of his novels.....But although it was another strong story, I felt it wasn't quite as strong as some of his others....I enjoyed reading about the escapades of Stone, butI was able to put the book down and walk away....In otherwords, it didn't keep me up all night dying to get to the end...but I did enjoy it.

I have read every one of the Stone Barrington books, as well as many other titles from Stuart Woods. I usually highly recommend them. However, Dark Harbor is a waste of time from an author who obviously is tired and is churning out books just to keep the dollars rolling in. For example, a major plot development, the kidnapping of a key character, lacks any explanation whatsoever, even though it is a major set piece of the book. This event further is contrary to the modus operandi of the killer. Stuart Woods is just going through the motions, cashing in on prior efforts. Save your money.

A decent story, but pilots everywhere will groan when the finale includes "... but there was no time for the usual pre-flight checklist..." Oh puleeeze! What pilot worth his salt would ever take off without going through the checklist?

Great characters, and, as many have said, a silly ending.

I haven't read all of the Stone Barrington novels, but I've read all the Holly Barker novels. In any case, Woods is an acclaimed author and I have to wonder why. His writing in this book is just bad. His sentences have no depth and neither do his characters - they are shallow and so are the situations. I usually care about characters in a book and this time I don't. For example, a supposedly romantic encounter between Holly and Stone takes up all of one paragraph and has no romance whatsoever. Just thinking about it gives me the creeps. There's just no character definition.

Don't bother with this book. I'm not even going to finish it because it's a waste of my time.

This was my first Stuart Woods book. It is dreadful. The writing style is like a child with completely irrelevant adjectives and superficial mention of stuff that really doesn't matter and little overall depth. Woods has little grasp of modern technology - I thought it was written a decade earlier than it actually was. The plot is crass and makes little real sense, the author tried to make it more interesting by bringing some ex-spies however they improved it little.

The authors note Mr Woods monologue to his readers is pointless. I have no "irresistible urge" to report errors in the book. Correcting them won't improve it.

A friend insisted that I read this book. This is the worst book I have ever read in the last 40 years. The writing is mechanical with only a fill-in-the-blanks style. The kidnapping in the center of the book has no connection to the rest of the story and the motive is never explained. There is no attempt to explain the villain's motives for very real evil actions or even to present a state of mind. The only times the author seems excited about what he has written is in his pro-forma descriptions of guns, locks, or airplanes. If you have a friend who asks you to read this trash, cross that person off your friend list.

Thought this book was idiodic & not the least bit entertaining. Seems like Mr. Woods doesn't have a very imaginative vocabulary or it's just time for him to retire. I won't waste my time with any of his future endeavors. Earlier efforts were much more enjoyable - now he's lost his touch.

I look forward to Stuart Woods' books. However, I have read Nancy Drew mysteries that were better written than Dark Harbor. Either he didn't write it himself or he churned it out in a really short period of time or he just doesn't care anymore. The writing itself was poor from the first paragraph to the extremely lame final paragraph and there were many parts of the story that just didn't add up. This book did ot deserve to be on any best seller lists.