Reckless Abandon (A Stone Barrington Novel)

I read most of what Stuart Woods writes, especially the Stone Barrington series and enjoy them tremendously. They are always a quick read and you grow to love the character development.
It's like coming home...

For a more in depth review, please visit my blog, Chorley Chronicals @ [...]!
Goodreads lists this book as book #4 in the Holly Barker series, however, it is mainly listed as Book #10 in the Stone Barrington series. As I was preparing this review, I found that if you look on the Stuart Woods website, he only has this book listed under the Stone Barrington series, and not at all under the Holly Barker series, which really makes sense given that the whole time I was listening to this book, I kept telling myself, man this book is more about Stone than Holly, and getting agitated with that fact.

I found myself not really liking this story. Now I've never read any of the Stone Barrington books, so maybe if I had a little more background of him, I may have enjoyed it a little more, but I haven't, so I didn't. Even though I didn't care for Reckless Abandon, it won't stop me from finishing the Holly Barker series. It appears that the last two books in the series are back to Holly, and she is a character that I have really come to like, so I'm glad to hear that!

Previous Holly Barker books have had two narrators, a male and a female, but Reckless Abandon did not. I did not care for that at all! I believe that book 1's narrator was a single female, and she did fine, but having a single narrator as a male, in a female series book, just didn't work out well, in my opinion. It wasn't that Tony Roberts was a bad narrator, because he wasn't, but I didn't feel that he tried at all to distinguish between the characters, especially the different gendered characters. I was disappointed with this audio version.

The plot was different from which I am used to reading, so it was nice to have the uniqueness, however, I feel like the story drug on quite a bit. I almost think that this could have been a novella and still equally entertaining. There just didn't seem to be much to work with. There were also other sub plots going on that took the lime light away from the main plot at hand, finding Holly's fugitive from justice. I just didn't feel like that particular part of the story developed very well!

Overall, I really didn't care for this nearly as much as I have the past three Holly Barker books, but I do look forward to book 5, Iron Orchid, and hope that it focuses more on Holly! I don't typically read male author's, and I feel that the plots and characters always have a more masculine feel to them, but change is good and I have come to appreciate the writing of Stuart Woods. I believe that Reckless Abandon could have solely been a Stone Barrington series book, so I look forward to getting back to more Holly Barker soon!

Every so often, one has to clean out the refrigerator and the freezer. Dinner becomes "leftovers" with a little of this or that. No one is thrilled with the resulting hodgepodge of foods, but it has to be done from time to time. Occasionally, an author will do the same sort of thing by winding up various storylines and interspersing characters from other series. Stuart Woods certainly used the technique in his latest shallow Stone Barrington novel titled "Reckless Abandon."
While the title could easily relate to the always studly Stone Barrington's way with women (usually several over the course of the novel) in this case it refers to the actions of Holly Barker, Police Chief of Orchid Beach, Florida. Coming over from the Orchid series, she is on the trail of a fugitive. She is chasing Trini Rodriguez and has a mass murder warrant for him. The problem is that the FBI has placed him in the Witness Protection Program because he is helping them with an investigation into a terrorist cell with links to the Middle East. Trini is a member of the Mafia and Holly believes that he is hiding out in New York City.
Stone takes her to Little Italy for lunch and within minutes; Holly spots Trini walking by and gives chase. She loses him almost as quickly and vows once again to get her man, one-way or the other. That becomes the primary theme of the novel. Holly, with Stone and his longtime ally, Dino, and occasionally others, pursue Trini across the country and back to New York, nearly having him before losing him again and again thanks to the FBI and/or the Mafia.
There are numerous side storylines in this novel as well and far too many to be mentioned here. Suffice it to say that several which have lingered from previous novels are solved and neatly tucked away while the novel also serves as a launching road for a new storyline and possibly a new series. As such, since those storylines are covered in detail, for those readers who start with this book, there will be no need to read earlier ones from the last couple of years.
This is typical Stone Barrington. He gets the beautiful lady, routinely exhausts himself in the bedroom or elsewhere in the process, and runs around New York driving expensive cars and eating fine foods. Thanks to his connections, he always outsmarts everyone and unlike Bond, there are no fussy superiors to deal with. Life is good.

The author took an entirely well-written character and ruined her. This book teamed Holly up with another series he writes, and completely changed Holly so that she was no longer believable. Maybe it was the Stone Barrington character or series that drove how this book was written. Whatever -- this book did NOT improve the Holly Barker story -- AND -- the author apparently wants to make further changes to Holly's future. This is the 1st series I've encountered where I'm no longer looking forward to the next book.

This is the formula now, for Stuart Woods, apparently. He takes a really thin plot (in this case, almost no plot at all) fleshes it out a bit with characters from his previous books (there are almost no new characters here) and then writes a bunch of snappy dialogue for them, making the story about 350 pages in length. Each of his books is less and less impressive: most of his plot twists and trademarks are here, but by now it's so rote that nothing is new or fresh or interesting, just moderately fun to read and diverting.

In this outing, Stone Barrington gets a phone call from Holly Barker because she's in New York City looking for a killer. He of course puts her up at his house, and then discovers that the killer she's looking for is in FBI custody, being held as a witness. The plot of the rest of the book is her trying to get this guy away from the FBI, and the various things that occur while she tries and Stone helps her. The various characters fly, drive, and walk around the country (and in one scene, to London for a day), and much of the plot seems designed to continue the soap operas that Woods has going for both of his favorite main characters these days.

This is a very easy read, as novels go, and I suppose that's a virtue. It's also eminently forgettable, and not very substantial, but since it's a detective novel, I suppose that's not that big a vice. This is definitely a good beach book or something to read on the plane; I wouldn't recommend it to anyone expecting the least bit in the way of literary content or substance.

We're Woods' fans, so were pleasantly surprised to see (Police Chief) Holly Barker and (Private Eye and playboy) Stone Barrington, Woods' newest and biggest stars respectively, hookup in NYC where Holly is chasing Trini Rodriquez, a leftover crook from her "Blood Orchid" novel. Her efforts are slowed down by both FBI and CIA connections, with whom Trini is currently affiliated in the witness protection program, making it difficult for Holly to nab her prey. That doesn't stop her or Stone, with help from cop buddy Dino, another regular, from getting assistance from mob connections and dining out galore while hunting around the city. Even Holly's father Ham, with dog Daisy in tow, gets in on the act. In the end, actually through some rather humorous developments, Holly more or less gets her man. In between, she gets as much of Stone as she wants, and we do mean in bed. Meanwhile, all sorts of other characters from prior stories, probably a dozen all told, make brief cameos.
As other reviewers have surmised, it seems that Woods needed to get a book out. Rather than inventing his usual thriller, with complex plot twists and clever investigative developments, it seems he just dragged out almost all his prior characters except Will Lee; chased one bad guy around as just a token plot; and otherwise let sex and dinner at Elaine's provide the entertainment. We felt the book was more pointless than bad, but possibly just revisiting all the familiar people from earlier books wowed us more than it should have. Save it for the beach or just skip it, and we suspect it won't matter very much either way!

Synopsis

In Reckless Abandon, the smooth and charming ex-cop-turned-lawyer, Stone Barrington, returns - this time on the hunt for a killer with the guts to think he can hide out among the crowds of New York City. What this fugitive does not know can definitely hurt him: Stone's partner in this endeavor is none other than Holly Barker, the Orchid Beach, Florida, police chief, and the protagonist of three earlier novels, who is consumed with the idea of putting this man behind bars.

This man, Trini Rodriguez, who Holly thought had been put down in Blood Orchid, has committed audacious and shocking crimes in Florida and is now being protected by none other than the federal government.

Stone and Holly, already in danger from Trini's friends, face their greatest obstacle in the government insiders who profess to have the public's best interests at heart.

My Two Cents Worth

I am a fan of Stuart Woods for the simple fact that he tells a good story. The action is always hot and the pace is turbo-charged to the extent that I don't mind overlooking some of the characters being larger-than-life or the plot taking liberties with reality. I did find it more obvious than in previous Woods novels that according to his web page, Stone Barrington is the author's alter-ego in just about every arrogant and conceivable way. The author's note at the end of the book is getting a little old, as well; we get it, okay? Thank you.

Stone and Holly appear as Superman and Wonderwoman, and their relationship is predictable and leaves little to the imagination. The bottom line, still, is that I enjoyed the book enough to forgive the shortcomings and recommend it as a superhero comic book type of read.

paperback
342 pages
3 hours

When Holly Barker, Chief of the Orchid Beach Police in Florida travels to New York to apprehend a fugitive, she contacts Stone Barrington who invites her to stay at his home. They met when Stone witnessed a bank robbery in which Holly's fiancé was killed. Trini Rodriguez, who is part of the Mafia, is wanted in the murder of over a dozen people after he bombed a church. Holly couldn't keep him behind bars because Trini was a very important informant who the FBI put in the Witness Protection Program.
Holly hopes to find him in New York City and arrest him on a fugitive warrant but the FBI wants her to hold off on serving it until Trini's infiltrates an Arab terrorist cell so the government can arrest them on information the thugs delivers. After the cell is broken up the FBI spirit Trini away with Stone and Holly trailing them all over the country to hand down the warrant. While perusing Trini and company, Holly and Stone begin a hot and steamy affair that gets her mind off of her obsessive need to find her criminal.
In RECKLESS ABANDON, the FBI comes across as bumbling idiots who can't shake a tail or keep their informant hidden. The fact that they are willing to protect him after he killed over a dozen innocents will enrage readers as much as it does Holly. The teaming up of the protagonists from Stuart Woods' two series works so well together, it is to be hoped that they will pair up in future novels
Harriet Klausner

In "Reckless Abandon," Stuart Woods brings together two heroes from his previous series, lawyer Stone Barrington and police chief Holly Barker. They work as a team along with Dino Bacchetti of the NYPD to track down and arrest a mob hit man. Things get complicated because the killer also happens to be helping the FBI on an Arab terrorist entrapment, is in the Witness Protection Program, and is under protection of the Mafia. Soon Stone and Holly are in danger, but it is unclear if the FBI, the mob, or the terrorists are after them... perhaps it is all three. There are additional side plots involving the FBI, the CIA, and a thickheaded photographer that caused Stone problems in an earlier novel.
Not only are Stone and Holly together in this story, with the requisite romance on the side, but almost every other major character from Wood's previous books (with the glaring exception of Stone's old flame Arrington) is either part of the action or peripheral to it. It seems like Woods is running out of ideas and is delving into his previous books for material. As a result of the reintroduction of so many previous characters and cases, there are a lot of brief recaps of old story lines, and this distracts the reader from the current plot.
This latest novel is not one of the author's better ones. First, it appears to be a patchwork production into which Woods only put a mediocre effort. Second, some of the plot details are so unbelievable and the reasoning so naive that they are laughable. But in many ways, it is typical Woods: lots of glib and comical dialog, five-page chapters, meals at Elaine's, romps in the bedroom, chases, narrow escapes, and fast-paced action. I don't recommend this for readers new to Stuart Woods because of all the references to past adventures, but for the knowledgeable Barrington/Barker fan, this is an entertaining and light, though mildly lacking, read.
Eileen Rieback

After the last Stone Barrington novel, I swore I would never read another book in the series again. However, when I saw that he'd teamed Stone up with Holly Barker, I decided to give it a final shot. Big mistake.

Holly had always come across as a smart, no-nonsense cop. In this book she came across as just another of Stone's bimbos. She wants to nail some guy for murder, and we're really not sure why she's so hung up on this. She and Stone get kidnapped out of their car and almost killed until, as usual, Stone tosses out a few words of wisdom and stops a professional killer from putting bullets in their heads...after the obligatory sex romp in the cellar with the killer listening in.

Stone has been deteriorating for awhile now, but I was really disappointed that Holly was portrayed as a stupid reckless bimbo who never stopped to think through her actions or take appropriate cautions, but rather seemed intent on two things -- killing her perp and getting into Stone's pants.

I still wonder how much Elaine is paying to get her name mentioned in every book. And how is it that Dino can eat in this restaurant with Stone and his floozy-of-the-week so often while he has a wife and baby at home?

Basically, this is the same garbage Stuart Woods has been churning out for Stone for awhile now, only this week's bimbo was given the name Holly Barker to try to hold onto his dwindling audience. I feel cheated and deceived, and I will never read another thing from this author. I only wish I had the ability to give it negative stars.

Reading a Stewart Woods book makes me wonder about myself. You see, when I first started picking up the Stone Barrington books a decade ago, I kind of enjoyed them. Now I just don't know if I have either grown as a reader, and these books were always really bad, or if it is Woods' fault in that his writing style has devolved to the point where it is no different than gibberish.

This is a goofy cornball book if there ever was one. It totally reminds me of the 1980's TV shows where the star of one would make an appearance on another in a guest position. Its like Simon and Simon appearing on Magnum PI for a week. Here Stone Barrington meets up with Holly Barker. These are two characters from two of Wood's series. In the end, this book is no better than the throw away drivel that came out of 1980's cop shows in the first place. The book is nothing more than a painful reading exercise if you have any respect for your intellect. What really makes me sad is that the reading public-at-large constantly place Woods' work near the top of the bestseller lists.

I beg of you to save your money and dearly beloved brain cells. Avoid this book at all costs and count your self-lucky that you were forewarned here and had a chance to back out peacefully. If you have liked his books and want something similar, I recommend the early Prey novels by John Sanford. They get old also, but the first few are really good in comparison to Reckless Abandon.

After reading Blood Orchid, Holly Barker's last caper before she joined up with Stone Barrington, I held out some hope that she would continue as a half-way decent series character. In Reckless Abandon, all hope of that is abandoned as Stuart Woods has turned her into a cartoon in one of the silliest books I have read in a long time.

The characters, the dialogue, the situations portrayed, are all disappointments, the more so because Woods was once a great writer. I have credited Woods with getting the characterization of federal agents right but this time he went so far overboard that the story line was totally implausible.

As usual, Woods puts together a plot with great potential. Then he peoples it with characters who are familiar. But they have also over the years become silly and irrelevant. He tosses in mindless dialogue, much of it taking place in his favorite restaurants. The use of sex and violence is routine for these books but this time it a bit too much. Especially with Daisy the Rottweiler on the bed with Holly and Stone.

There are just too many good books and good writers to waste any more time with Stuart Woods. I have to admit that his next one, The Prince of Beverly HIlls, looks interesting. But what will Woods do with that plot? I shudder to think.

THREE AND A HALF STARS
This series, Stone Barington by Stuart Woods, is so much fun, I find it hard to believe so few reviews. I highly recommnded this series to readers that like what is fondly called "beach" readers, that is casual, easy simple fun. Stone Barrington is a great character, always a hoot. His surrounding cast is just as much fun and pop up over and over. In this story of course Dino Bacchetti is there, Lance Cabot, CIA is a long for the ride, even the pest Herbie shows up important to the story. (READ THE SERIES IN ORDER). Woods throws in Holly Barker and Ed Eagle from his other series into this story to liven things up. This is not my favorite Barrington, in fact, so, so but easy reading.

The meshing of two series characters is always a difficult task, and as Stuart Woods' attempt to bring Holly Barker and Stone Barrington together and give them an interesting case to solve falls short of the usual Woods fare. The plot just doesn't inspire much tension or danger. The characters seem even less invested than the reader is led to believe. I got the feeling that Woods couldn't decide which series to write this time out, so he gave in to a misguided idea to give his fans a twofer. Setting up a new job for Holly Barker seems to be the most significant plot point, and even that isn't decided for certain by the end. Stone was simply a tool for Holly's "reckless abandon", also an effort that seemed less than imperative and more just a gimmick to get her to New York. As I read I kept expecting some huge revelation that would tie everything together, but in the end there are more unanswered questions than answered.

"Reckless Abandon" is the 10th Stone Barrington novel by Stuart Woods. This novel co-stars one of Woods' other series characters, Holly Barker, chief of police in Orchid Beach, Florida. Holly comes to New York with her Doberman, Daisy, to arrest Trini Rodriguez who is wanted for several murders in Florida. The problem for Holly is that Rodriguez is in the FBI's Witness Protection Program; the FBI is making it very difficult for her to nab Rodriguez. This novel has some characters from past Barrington novels. Lance Cabot from "The Short Forever" hires Stone to represent a very shady character who is doing work for the CIA. Ed Eagle from "Santa Fe Rules" makes a brief appearance. Dino Bacchetti, Stone's former NYPD partner, plays a big role in helping Holly to find Rodriguez. Stone always gets the girl, and he and Holly share some very passionate moments together. I wasn't expecting much from this novel, so I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It had a lot of suspense, and I really enjoyed it. It isn't top drawer Stuart Woods, but it is a very good read.

I recently finished Stuart Wood's latest, Reckless Abandon. While I like the Stone Barrington series, there seemed to be something missing in this one...
Wood brings together Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, the character from the Orchid series. She's up in New York, tracking down a mobster who has committed a series of murders in her jurisdiction. He's still a killer, but now he's being protected by the feds under the witness protection program. She wants to somehow break that protection and see him brought to justice. Barrington is helping her out since she's staying with him and he's got the hots for her.
I'm not sure what it is that's missing. Not enough action? Not enough mystery? Light on plot? I don't know. I just can't put my finger on it. It's an OK read, but I expected more...

I first began reading Stuart Woods after seeing an ad for New York Dead on the NYC subway. After reading that one, I went and bought the seven Stuart Woods novels that preceded it and have been reading them in order since.

While his novels have always been easy to read, there have been stuff that irritates me. He uses to much unimportant dialogue such as on page 230-231. "The people continued to talk, then they got into two cars and left the house, driving up the road toward them."

HOLLY to STONE sitting beside her: "They're moving."
Would she really have spoken the obvious?

And his characters constantly throw in the names of the people they are talking. For instance, on page 64 of Reckless Abandon, Stone and Herbie are talking to each other:

HERBIE: "You really think this is the right thing to do, Stone?"
STONE: "Herbie, it's the only thing to do."
HERBIE: "I trust you, Stone"
STONE: "Thanks, Herbie"

Do people really talk like this?

But what really got me was the lack of editing. On page 216 it says that when the "van approached Forty-second Street, it moved to the left lane". Stone, the life-long New Yorker, says "they're headed for the Holland Tunnel". As any resident of the NY metropolitan area knows, they were entering the LINCOLN Tunnel!" Then the book says that when they left the tunnel they got on Rt 3 West. Actually, you get on Route 495 west, and then it's a two-mile drive before you hit Rt 3. Woods is from Georgia and might be forgiven for this, but his publisher and editors are in New York.

Anyway, I found Reckless Abandon to be one of the least satisfying of all the Stuart Woods books I have read. I don't recommend it at all.

Since I seem to have seen the same comments/complaints in the reviews of the two latest Stone Barrington novels by Stuart Woods (Reckless Abandon, Two-Dollar Bill), I'll do two quick reviews in one and address them, while adding my own two cent's worth. I'll post this effort on the the store pages for both books.

First, a few general comments.

1) If you have a favorite restaurant, you eat there. If you can afford to do so, you eat there often.

2) Why so upset about the sex? Jealous?

3) Remember the Constitution? Despite our clueless leader's efforts to repeal it, it still guarantees all of us freedom of speech, expression, etc. Now if Mr. Woods wants to use his free speech to criticize the war-mongering, right-wing, conservative administration currently in power, he is totally within his rights to do so.

Well, enough ranting. On with the review.

I'd have to say that the two most recent Stone Barrington novels were not the best of the series. To me, the series seems to be veering into the realm of the ridiculous, which I had hoped was left behind with the psychotic Mob daughter that nearly became Stone's wife. The earlier stories had more believable plots (the possible exception being the one where not one, but two killers manage buy their way out of a death sentence.) Contributing to the comic opera tone of the novels is the reappearance of a photographer who has raised stupidity to an art form. I sincerely hope we've seen the last of him.

I am not going to give up on this series by Mr. Woods. Not yet, anyway. However, the same cannot be said for his Orchid series. In my opinion, in transforming his protagonist from small town police chief to "Jane Bond, Superspy," Mr. Woods has caused a promising series to pole vault over the line of believability. That's one reason I'm going to stop reading the Orchid series. The other reason can be summed up in two words: Lance Cabot, who is probably going to end up playing a bigger role in the Orchid series. He comes off as a pompous, arrogant, jerk, who is more than willing to let killers walk free because of "national security." Over the course of two books, he coerces Stone into signing a contract with "the agency," orders him around like a flunky, threatens him with induction into the military, and even threatens to shoot Stone in the knee. All I can say is that I hope in future books, Stone uses his legal skills to break his contract with "the agency," so he (and we) won't have to put up with Mr. Cabot anymore.

In a nutshell, I think the best thing for this series would be to lose the CIA/SIS connection entirely, and give the readers back the serious plots of the earlier books.

My short romance with Stuart Woods' novels is done.! A friend gave me one of the Orchid series books and I fell in love with the Holly character- and Daisy. However, RECKLESS ABANDON was so abysmally bad that I don't think I'll ever read another one of Woods' books. Stone was a pompous macho pig and Holly was a whining strident airhead. Neither had any resemblance to real human beings. The plot was laughably implausible, and the endless name-dropping of brand names made me crazy. Do you care if Holly wore an Armani dress? Or if ALL the male characters wore Bruno Magli shoes? That went out with O.J. And Woods must have an interest in Elaine's.... There wasn't enough story here to counterract all of this slush, and ultimately I didn't care anyway. Add to that the mindbendingly arrogant Author's Note at the end of the book and I'm done. Woods has gone the way of Patricia Cornwell - another former favorite that I won't waste my valuable reading time with.

A couple of Stuart Woods recent novels had caught my eye as I was looking for something sort of similar to Robert Parker's Spenser series.

This being the first of those two eye-catchers which I read, I can say I enjoyed the easy opening of the main characters from separate series making a slow jazz, "no problem" connection. The situation, setting, and dialogue were refreshingly, realistically simple and natural. Even with periodic shocks of abrupt overturnings of a flow of events, the plotting clicked along with no reading-resistance from moi. Chief Holly Barker was clever with her quips and guts, dancing through nonchalance; and Stone Barrington was so smitten and intrigued by Holly, the two melted like butter on a hot day, sliding right into a business mixing pleasure thing based from his home.

I noticed that a few reviews don't recommend this novel as a "starter kit" for readers who haven't read most of Woods's other novels, due to the fact that this story uses a sort of patchwork quilt of past plots. So, I wondered, would I be lost?

I was carried without effort by the interaction and dialogue among characters and didn't find the brief recaps of the past to be any different than what would be necessary in any novel. No plot works without a past, and segments of that history have to be plugged into an ongoing action.

Loved the way Woods stitched the title into the book as a true and actual THEME, becoming obvious with chapter 10, in which Stone interviewed his client-from-hell, professional photographer, Herbert Fisher. Of course Herbie was not the only character for whom Woods used "reckless abandon" as an identifier of personality traits.

Feel free to buy and read the novel to do this thought-provoking discovery of for whom, what, where, when, and how this "reckless abandon" plays off, from the simplest, to the most symbolic, to the most legal of meanings.

This book had more "live in" capacity than most, like a world was opened and I could simply step in each time I opened the pages.

The relationship between Stone and Holly continued the flow established in the novel's opening, and grew easily and naturally, without the usual blocks in romance novels or other P.I. persona series. The sex scenes were simple and gutsy and were slipped within the daily doings without much difficulty or unnecessary production. It was interesting to see how a man like Stone reacted to an aggressive partner like Holly. He was just there, and certainly had no trouble enjoying the ride, taking Holly at face value, which was refreshing both ways, with the blessed absence of the usual emotional games. Jealousy was toyed with on both sides, with a realistic touch, and like everything else, the two rambled through those glitches without over concern, no growing roots for those bleeps of green.

Given the way most of us live out our days, this novel might seem unbelievable. But, having worked and lived several years on the inside of criminal justice systems, my experience confirmed that the characters, dialogue, pacing, actions and reactions, the ways of dealing with a very different system of ethics, was on target with the reality Woods was describing. Though Woods's critical slant on the FBI and CIA might be slightly skewed based on his political leanings, it's plausible that those types of casual behaviors toward killing and execution could exist in facets of such agencies and bureaus. I also know from experience, however, that a good number of honorable, admirable men take on these types of responsibilities and jobs, with a type of pride and integrity which many of us will never know or live. They're to be admired and thanked.

I'm pro President George W. Bush. Woods is not. At least he's not, based on the info on Stuart Woods's web site, which is well done and very direct and clear in exposing his opinions, his work, and his trade. He comes across to me as a crisp, to the point, no nonsense, male of the species, and I can't help admiring his candor and directness.

Lest we forget, however, RECKLESS ABANDON is a work of fiction, a well done and highly entertaining one, in which, yes, the author expresses and dramatizes his political opinions about the world. As he notes on his web site, whose opinions should he write about, other than his own?

Though the whole novel was engrossing, the last quarter of the plot kicked up in reader capture enhancement. I was in high entertainment awe of the ways Stone, Holly, Dino, and Lance extricated themselves out of several seemingly untenable, end-of-the-road, into-the-grave, impossible scenarios. There's a term for what Woods accomplished repeatedly with incredible finesse throughout the last quarter of the book:

Deux ex machina.

Though ... I'm not sure how firmly that applied there, in the meaning, "saved by an unexpected event interjected by a `Higher Hand' of a God, or The Author." In most cases one of the characters saved the situation from disaster due to tangy thinking or fluid footwork. ANYway, all snafu's were undone in very cool, ingenious ways.

Also felt right on with the way Holly and Stone handled their budding relationship, as the book's sunset arrived.

Yes sir. This is great entertainment of the purest type given just the right complexity, with subtle, interesting wisdom extended simply (without heavy agendas imposed) through character contemplations, conversations, and choices.

I'll go for more.

Linda G. Shelnutt

This is the lastest in the Stone Barrington series and the weakest entry from Woods. There is very little plot in this story; mostly talking heads. Credit Holly Barker for taking about three days to seduce Stone, though. Usually the females in the Barrington mysteries jump into bed with Stone in under 24 hours, which is another part of this series that I have never understood. The stories should be strong enough to not have to resort to the unbelievable sexcapades of Mr. Barrington, where women are all to eager to jump in the sack with him and are never sexually satisfied, leaving the poor sexually starved women trying to arouse Stone for yet another round.

Really enjoy the Stone Barrington series. I enjoy the writing style and quick and easy reading. This book while still enjoyable but really had many unbelievable events. Not one of the best of the series but not a total disappointment.

As an avid Stuart Woods fan, I had the interesting experience on my honeymoon of reading two Woods books: RECKLESS ABANDON and an older novel, IMPERFECT STRANGERS back-to-back. Needless to say, IMPERFECT STRANGERS was far superior in quality of writing, character depth, imagination and just about every other measure of quality fiction I can think of.
In RECKLESS ABANDON, I found myself entertained as usual by the plights of Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, this time together in their exploits, and enjoyed their excursion to meet with Ed Eagle in Sante Fe. The book is a decent beach read and I found the ending to be fine. However, the book also has parts that severely strain the credibility of the entire novel and its characters - the scene where Stone and Holly have sex within earshot of a mafia thug moments before their death because, hey, it might be their last time, just about made me put the book down... I can understand people having sex under strange circumstances, but this simply defied any concept of reality (even beach-read reality) - I laughed out loud because it was simply pathetic. The Stone and Holly of their respective prior novels would have spent that time in mafia captivity figuring out a creative way to escape, perhaps using a sexual plot as a means of doing so even, then saved the real sex for later... Aside from that, though, the book is a quick, easy and relatively enjoyable read. I liked The Short Forever and Imperfect Strangers far better. It is obvious that Woods can do better - he gets a "pass" on this one... as others here point out, perhaps it is a transitional novel leading toward a deeper storyline in the future.

As a side note, Woods should ditch his author's note he places at the end of each book these days - the tone is condescending and borderline offensive. Considering that he makes money from his readers buying these books, you would think that a simple "thank you" or note of appreciation would suffice - instead he expresses frustration with the various means by which readers attempt to contact him or ask repetitive, redundant questions (hmmm... if you're selling mass-market paperpbacks, does it seem all that odd that hundreds of people will ask you the same questions or spot the same errors in the book or will have failed to visit your not-so-up-to-date website (which as of the date of this comment still refers to the Clinton impeachment proceedings in the present tense)? not to me, but apparently so to Woods).

The Margin
It seems as though all successful authors succumb to the pressures of getting a novel out just to satisfy contract obligations with their publisher. My humble impression is that's what happened here.

This Stone Barrington novel has Holly Barker coming to New York to hunt down the alledged murderer Trini Rodriguez. Holly, associated again with Stone, a coincidence or is Woods desparate for new characters? Trini has somehow endeared himself to the FBI and he's shielded by the Witness Protection Program. As you can imagine, this complicates Holly's job. There is good action in parts of this novel, however it tapers off making the ending uneventful and rather disappointing.

There are better mysteries out there.

Marvin Wiebener, author of The Margin

In browsing through the bookstore, the title of this book intrigued me and I thought I would take a chance. The book wasn't terrible. It had some fairly exciting parts in it. But it wasn't a "read-throughout-the-night" thriller either.

The story line at times seemed a little forced and there were two spots in particular that you could see the author added to the plot because they were going to come up again later on in the story.

I wouldn't recommend this book if it was the only thing you could bring to a deserted island but if you're looking for an easy read that doesn't require a lot of thinking, then this is a good book to pick up.

Really enjoy the Stone Barrington series. I enjoy the writing style and quick and easy reading. This book while still enjoyable but really had many unbelievable events. Not one of the best of the series but not a total disappointment.

As an avid Stuart Woods fan, I had the interesting experience on my honeymoon of reading two Woods books: RECKLESS ABANDON and an older novel, IMPERFECT STRANGERS back-to-back. Needless to say, IMPERFECT STRANGERS was far superior in quality of writing, character depth, imagination and just about every other measure of quality fiction I can think of.
In RECKLESS ABANDON, I found myself entertained as usual by the plights of Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, this time together in their exploits, and enjoyed their excursion to meet with Ed Eagle in Sante Fe. The book is a decent beach read and I found the ending to be fine. However, the book also has parts that severely strain the credibility of the entire novel and its characters - the scene where Stone and Holly have sex within earshot of a mafia thug moments before their death because, hey, it might be their last time, just about made me put the book down... I can understand people having sex under strange circumstances, but this simply defied any concept of reality (even beach-read reality) - I laughed out loud because it was simply pathetic. The Stone and Holly of their respective prior novels would have spent that time in mafia captivity figuring out a creative way to escape, perhaps using a sexual plot as a means of doing so even, then saved the real sex for later... Aside from that, though, the book is a quick, easy and relatively enjoyable read. I liked The Short Forever and Imperfect Strangers far better. It is obvious that Woods can do better - he gets a "pass" on this one... as others here point out, perhaps it is a transitional novel leading toward a deeper storyline in the future.

As a side note, Woods should ditch his author's note he places at the end of each book these days - the tone is condescending and borderline offensive. Considering that he makes money from his readers buying these books, you would think that a simple "thank you" or note of appreciation would suffice - instead he expresses frustration with the various means by which readers attempt to contact him or ask repetitive, redundant questions (hmmm... if you're selling mass-market paperpbacks, does it seem all that odd that hundreds of people will ask you the same questions or spot the same errors in the book or will have failed to visit your not-so-up-to-date website (which as of the date of this comment still refers to the Clinton impeachment proceedings in the present tense)? not to me, but apparently so to Woods).

The Margin
It seems as though all successful authors succumb to the pressures of getting a novel out just to satisfy contract obligations with their publisher. My humble impression is that's what happened here.

This Stone Barrington novel has Holly Barker coming to New York to hunt down the alledged murderer Trini Rodriguez. Holly, associated again with Stone, a coincidence or is Woods desparate for new characters? Trini has somehow endeared himself to the FBI and he's shielded by the Witness Protection Program. As you can imagine, this complicates Holly's job. There is good action in parts of this novel, however it tapers off making the ending uneventful and rather disappointing.

There are better mysteries out there.

Marvin Wiebener, author of The Margin

In browsing through the bookstore, the title of this book intrigued me and I thought I would take a chance. The book wasn't terrible. It had some fairly exciting parts in it. But it wasn't a "read-throughout-the-night" thriller either.

The story line at times seemed a little forced and there were two spots in particular that you could see the author added to the plot because they were going to come up again later on in the story.

I wouldn't recommend this book if it was the only thing you could bring to a deserted island but if you're looking for an easy read that doesn't require a lot of thinking, then this is a good book to pick up.

I gave this book five stars to catch the attention of prospective readers.

the store's 5 star system is the equivalent of the greenish grassy stuff that falls out of a horse's backside in such nice twinkie-shaped parcels.

Stone Barrington is fun. Simply put. I found some of the characters a little thin, but I think all in all the combination of Stone's unique lifestyle (what a house!) and his personality and Woods' plotting drive this book (my first by Woods) along very nicely and make up for the problems I have with the tome. As a matter of fact, I think Robert Crais' novels get a lot better review and that is not necessarily justified. Poorly plotted sentence, but you catch my unique odor I am sure.

I think this is a particularly good vacation read, for those of you who can afford vacations. Fatherless offal you all are.

I will certainly read more of the Stone books at least.

Rick

This is Stuart Woods' most disappointing yet. After starting as a serious writer (Chiefs was brilliant) he moved on to light "beach reading" that I always enjoyed in the car on audiotape. The first few were fun and creative, with interesting characters. He has now destroyed his best two characters, Stone Barrington and Holly Barker, by making them charicatures of their former selves. Not even a sexual relationship involving these two formerly interesting characters can save this attempt to get money from former loyal readers. Woods may live well on the proceeds, but he has lost his audience. As a talented writer, he must now decide whether to continue to fall into disrepute or to suck it up and write something worth reading. I hope he has made enough money to do the latter, because if he has not he will never be able to keep us former fans buying.
On another note, the narrator on the audio version was horrible. He made the lame dialogue of the main characters completely implausible, and especially made the formerly interesting and strong character, Holly, a bimbo. This was a disappointment.

My wife and I have always loved the Stone Barrington novels. However, not this one. My wife read the book, and I listened to the unabridged audio CDs. She thought Woods brought too many of his previous characters together to do too many unrealistic things. HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU TALK SOMEONE OUT OF KILLING YOU? I agreed with her, but I have to add more. The reader, Tony Roberts, is terrible. He sounds like he is 100 years old, and makes all the male characters sound the same. Except for Dino, who he makes sound like a cartoon character. Holly sounds like a dumb bimbo, and not the sharp minded law enforcement officer we have come to know and love. This guy, Roberts is horrible, and I will never purchase a book read by him ever again.

Stuart Woods must have had to meet some contractual obligations, otherwise why would he write this book?!? I've been reading him for years and in the last several books the trend towards stupid dialog and mindless plots is getting worse. This book was only 283 pgs., hardly a novel! He must have wrote this one on a flight from Florida to NY, that's how much thought seems to have gone into it.
Another thing I'm sick of, the constant references to oral sex whenever Stone is in bed with anyone! Come on already, give it a rest. There were way too many pages devoted to Stone's sex life that should have been used to develop a plot. Also, how does Dino afford to eat at Elaine's every night on a NYPD salary? The drinks there alone have to be $10 a piece.
I thought this book would be good, with the teaming up of Stone and Holly, but he made her sound like a moron. The lousy ending leads me to believe that Woods will whip out another quick story with Holly in it, but guess what, I'll be skipping it.

Classic Stuart Woods, ten pages in and you will finish it that day. He has the ability to make you want to turn the next page. I like his Stone Barrington and Holly Barker characters because they are so relative to today and we must not forget Dino. He da man!

This book takes Stone and Holly into non-believable situtations. You sometimes feel Clark Kent and Lois Lane are the main characters as in a Superman comic book. Mr. Woods is simply cashing in on an awful piece of work. The book is so bad compare to his earlier "Chiefs" book that you would think it was written by two different authors. Mr. Woods in recent years has clearly sacrificed quality for quantity. Not only do I not recommend this book but suggest you remove Stuart Woods from your must buy author list. He has crossed the line from, "literature to put my name on it and they will buy it."

Stuart Woods' characters Stone Barrington and Holly Barker are amazing forces to be reckoned with independently, but when meshed together in another riveting novel in the Barrington series, they just unglue the seems of sizzle... I mean, awesome! I love these characters together, and I was hoping for this ever since the Stone cameo appearance in Barker series.
Way to go, Stuart Woods!

Reckless Abandon and Short Forever I was very happy with the order,
however, the order of Run Before the Wind came in paperback. The Prince
of Beverly Hills, L.A. Dead, and The Run by Stuart Woods that I ordered
the same day I have never received.

Thank you for asking about my feedback. Sandra LaBunski