Think of a Number: A Novel (A Dave Gurney Novel)

Great writing, an interesting puzzle that kept me reading to the end. I could identify with the detective, who is an extremely experienced detective in analyzing crimes and perpetrators, but has difficulty analyzing himself and coming to terms with his feelings about the past.

This novel was, for me, a "slow starter." Dave Gurney, the protagonist, is a retired New York City Police Department homicide detective who now resides with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York. An old friend from college contacts him about a letter he received with a perplexing challenge: "Pick any Number...." and, somehow, the writer of the letter can predict exactly what that number is. Needless to say, people start dying - not just dying but being murdered in a fashion suggested in each of the letters.

This book was cleverly written and intriguing. I think in order to be "sold" on this author, one needs to read some of his other stories involving Dave Gurney just to make sure one actually likes the character. I did like Dave and I'll read some of Verdon's other novels.

Gurney is one of those ultimate tough-guy cops who, when retired, tries to lead a quiet life. He has moved to the quiet countryside from the big city to please his wife. He took an art class with her and is developing a growing reputation recreating mug shots of serial killers that reflect what he sees in their faces. It's a little too close to the life he once led, his wife notes.

Madeline has a point. The minute a college classmate contacts him after decades of silence with a poisoned pen puzzle, Gurney's intrigued. Too bad his easily picqued interest may cost either or both he and his wife their lives before the end of John Verdon's debut thriller.

From the letter writer knowing what number the intended victim, a successful spiritual lifestyle guru, will choose to the Gurneys figuring out the signatory refers to the hard place in the original spot of being between a rock and a hard place, Verdon shows just how easy it is for his protagonist to slip back into his analytical way of looking at life. Solving the puzzle is what makes this cop tick. And this villian knows how to be clever and tricky.

When murder occurs, with clues that lead virtually nowhere, Gurney's even more intrigued. So perhaps it's just as well that a politically ambitious district attorney hires him to help with the investigation.

This is where Think of a Number jumps into high gear. Although Verdon's story has been smooth in setting up everything, the pace has been that of a more controlled procedural whodunit rather than the usual high-octane, all-action thriller that is more prevalent these days. Verdon, however, is terrific at giving both kinds of reader substantial entertainment. The chase to find a cold-blooded, calculating killer with an enormous grudge fires on all cylinders.

But Verdon also has ideas for readers who like multi-layered fiction that is about characters as much as action. The two sides of a personality is one theme that Gurney wrestles with. The lifestyle guru, for example, talks about the difference between the person everyone thinks they are and the person everyone else sees. Gurney's art reflects the two sides of the quiet neighbors who turn out to be the Gacys and Dahmers of the world. These ideas play into the revelations about the killer.

This idea plays right into something else Gurney is told, that life is meant to be lived with others, that life's meaning is to be close to others. Gurney's father was the opposite of a sociable, family man, and perhaps that left Gurney detached enough to make him the great cop he was. And boy, does the reader know what a great cop Gurney was. His ability to crack the hard cases is referred to multiple times. Although it's irritating to keep reading that Gurney was the best of the best, Verdon does a good job of bringing a retired cop into an active murder investigation. Verdon also is very good at describing police procedure and a detective's life, both on the job and retired.

At the story's conclusion, Verdon does a great job of bringing together the ideas about Gurney's character and outlook on life with how the case plays out. He does this in such a way that Gurney would be a character worth checking in on again.

A bit too much detail in some descriptive efforts, but very much an entertaining and captivating read.
Held my attention very well - & I'm a bit jaded.
All in all, a hearty "well done" to Mr. Verdon - & thanks for time well spent.

This book held my interest, but upon it's completion I would say that is a middle of the road read.
The story had too many things that the Detective figured out on a hunch or a wild guess.
He and his wife did not speak much but he could read her mind.
He knew what she was saying without her verbalizing it.
The story was just too unbelievable.
It could have been grounded better.
But as I said, it held my interest enought to read the entire book.
Based on other reviews, I thought it would have been better.

it had the suspense down. you actually cared about the protagonit even though it's a thriller. there's twists and turns. the ending is little bit of miss, actually the climax, the ending was good. but the buildup was, well frankkly scary. the book gave me the creeps the whole time i was reading it. uneasy. yep would recommend! and also the writing is rather on the nice side now that i think about it. nothing life changing but good fun.

As a first novel far better crafted and rounded than many. A little slow and deliberate to start of with the plot thickens and the eventual denouement is masterful. Retired NYPD detective Gurney's relations with him wife are probably the least satisfactory part of the plot and at times seem to hold back the pace. The domestic scenes are somewhat overwritten and overlong. A neat who dunnit theme with at first one inexplicable murder to be closely followd by seemingly unrelated further murders. Good plot development and a rising pace towards the end. Real potential for the future for thi author.

Dave Gurney is a forty-something, retired NYPD homicide detective who has moved to a quiet farmstead upstate, where he and his wife hope to live an equally quiet and peaceful retirement. Until an old college classmate asks for his help with a threatening letter from a stranger who seems to know secrets impossible to know. Gurney cannot turn down an unsolvable puzzle, to the dismay of his wife and much of the local police force.
John Verdon has brought a new detective to the world in Dave Gurney. He is full of self-doubt and is obsessed with solving the unsolvable. And believe me, the puzzles in this story have a terrible, dark nature to them and they need a genius to solve them, a genius who is brave enough to face that terrible, dark nature.

I couldn't put the book down and have all the Dave Gurney books queued up in my Kindle.

Retired NY detective Dave Gurney is contacted by an old college "friend"
to help decipher a threat he receives in the mail , which happens to involve
a mystifying mathematical number "trick". Gurney agrees , but what follows
is a much larger challange, spanning multiple states, unrelated victims and
intriguing poetic clues.

This is a much more cerebral novel than most. Very well written. Intense
marital conflict for Gurney and his wife and clever interaction with Gurney
and law enforcement officials also investigating the cases.

3/4 of the way into the novel, the reader learns from Gurney more and more
ideas of what is actually happening. But the author keeps the reader
guessing until the end. I'll stop here without revealing ANYTHING extra, but
simply say, from the mouth of an avid mystery reader , this book is as good
as any I have ever read without being complicated or confusing in any way.

You actually feel that YOU are Gurney and YOU are discovering the clues along
with him , with the ability to agree or disagree. You'll love it.

"Think of a number" starts out fine: An interesting premise, some surprising twists, intriguing riddles. Unfortunately it can't sustain this momentum: The subplot about the investigator's marriage sometimes feels forced and pointless, some later riddles are very easy to guess yet the police takes forever to figure them out, and parts of the plan only work because the policemen in the book never pursue some avenues real-life investigators would. Furthermore, the finale feels a bit drawn out, "revealing" things long after the reader already figured them out.

Still, it kept my attention until the end, even if it left me a little bit disappointed. It's a solidly written freshman thriller, and the first and second act work very well.

I have read too many mystery writers to count. This novel was one of the best ever! Verdon's protagonist, Dave Gurney, is a retired but much celebrated detective who now lives with his wife in the Connecticut countryside. Although outwardly committed to a peaceful existence, his internal demons are too restless to let him enjoy it. Dave is a flawed but intellectually gifted man with a bloodhound's sensitivity for the proverbial snakes in the grass. You won't be disappointed. I can't wait to read No. 2.

What a great read. Normally I find myself highly critical of books everyone raves about, so it feels weird to give a book 5 stars when there are so many negative comments.

First, the story itself is highly original. Police procedural/serial killer books can be so predictable - this one isn't. To the folks complaining about pacing and how dull the marriage was: to me it was refreshing to really see Gurney's wife mostly through his eyes rather than extended dialogue, but the reader could still understand her perpective. Gurney's marriage seemed in many places to realisticly demonstrate how long married sometimes communicate - or fail to so, and it was nice to see a cop-marriage that wasn't a stereotype. I'd say "introspective" rather than "poor pacing."

No, the writing wasn't perfect, but it was very good - and for a debut novel, heads and shoulders above so much of the drivel currently being published.

If I remember correctly, I think I got this book when it was free (got buried, unread in my Kindle) but even as cheap as I am, I'd pay full price. Wish to read more from this author!

There are few authors who develop sufficient skill over time to produce a book without any flaws, John Verdon managed it on his first try. The plot, characters, and interaction involved are absolutely dead on.

This book doesn't fit into a specific niche, it most closely resembles a police procedural, but with enough differences to attract readers who love mysteries but do not care for police procedurals. This book is a must read for those readers who are tired of the run of the mill copy cat mass produced garbage passing itself off as mysteries today.

I am a Jack Reacher, Elvis Cole addict. Unfortunately, I have read them all. Now I stumble on to Think of A Number and I am again mesmerized by a strong character, complex plot and a great turn of the words. This is the best book I've read all year, outside of Crais and Child (although I'd have to say Verdon is right there with them). The only bad news to report...this is his first book, so I can't go back and buy up all the ones from previous years. Oh, well, like Reacher and Cole, I guess I will have to wait for the next Gurney.

This sounded very interesting from the blurb and the other reviews I read. The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading - at least to find out what was the solution to the puzzle. The characters, except for the main character, were very flat. The wife entered a room or left the house with nothing more than a short comment or note, yet we were led to believe that she was very clever and insightful. There were references to phone calls that were not returned, a past mystery involving the death of a child and a extra-marital romance that was hinted at but was never fully addressed. I think that the author was on the right track, but needs to more fully define his characters and not include past events that don't move the story forward.

Excellent novel, with a flawed yet instantly likable hero. He has his own mysterious background when he's called to investigate an old school friend's puzzle. Clear explanations, thoughtful logic, no restraint in admittance of bafflement, while all the steps our hero takes brings him ever closer to solving the crime. Absolutely wonderful book which, for some reason, reminded me of the inspector Rebus books.

Well-written, thoroughly engaging, complex story with equally complex characters.
I tend to find all misspellings, and anachronisms in stories and was so thrilled to find none in this ( very distracting to me when it happens) until the very end. He calls his son in Seattle, comments on calling him so late because of the 3-hour time difference, then suggests his son drive 3 hours up, as of from NYC.
Otherwise a great read and a new mystery author for me to follow.

What happens when you open something in your mail and short lines total of eight speaks about something you did in the past and it will catch up with you. Then it asks you to think of a number between one and five thousand. And in a smaller envelope it has that same number you just thought of. Is this person able to read your mind or what? A disturbing letter that almost speaks of a threat to this man and he contacts a college friend he once knew to ask his opinion. A story that takes you across several sections of the New York and a few other states that end up with murder.

I can't understand the negative reviews unless they were jealous. I read this book today. I really couldn't put it down! The characters are developed the way Dave (the main character) sees them. Even when I thought I found an inconsistency, I I'd look back and see there was a little clue there that I'd missed.

Many times, I'll cheat and look ahead to the ending but I didn't want to take a chance on this one. I read a lot of mysteries, a lot of books and I am willing to stop when I'm bored but this kept me reading all day.

For somebody who likes thrillers and puzzles, the plot of this book sounded really promising. The initial development of characters and story kept my interest, but that gradually died as the "puzzles" were being "solved". There were so many hypothesis in the solving process, but at the same time so many clear clues that were not being followed, that I soon lost interest. I did finish the book, but only because I challenged myself to do it... I found the main character dull and I dont think the author did a good job of projecting his potential to the reader. In the same sentence he could be extremely irritated with his wife, and think the world of her at the very same time!!! And every other woman portrayed in the book is either a tomboy or somebody who, in his thoughts, falls for him... In summary: plot promising but fails to deliver, main character not interesting enough.

Mr. Verdon set a high standard for himself with this first novel of his. I hope to read many more tales of retired homicide detective Gurney and his very complicated wife, Madeleine. The plot itself is so involved and full of twists and turns that it will keep you turning pages, or in my case, clicking that next page button until all the mysteries are revealed. And there are plenty of mysteries. Though the "who done it?" remains in question until the climactic scene, the bigger mystery seems to be "HOW did he do it?". Along the way, the real treat were the very thorough descriptions of the characters, their thoughts and personalities including quirks, flaws and attributes. And the bonus of it all, is that places and things are treated with the same level of importance to the story. John Verdon's upstate New York snow storms have the ability to place the reader right in the middle of the flakes. I loved it!

I have read countless mysteries and this is the first one that I see in two ways

1) A plot unlike ANYTHING I have ever read.

2) Impossible to put down and impossible to solve beforehand.

No need for more information here.... any mystery lover simply has to read this outstanding book.

And the same holds true for "Shut Your Eyes TIght." Ready for book # 3 !!

Some reviewers have compared this novelist to John D. MacDonald. He most assuredly is not John D. This novel runs in fits and starts from poorly executed diatribes against virtually everything to the hero's, Dave Gurney, imperfections as a human being. There is a LOT of navel gazing going on in this novel.
Where John D. could step aside and inject an interesting bit on economics or car repair, Verdon just sort of slides away from the plot and maunders about something. The plot loses traction, the characters dim. Self-sabotage if I've ever seen it being done.
If you could strip about a third of the novel out -- and believe me it wouldn't be missed -- you might have a nice, tight little story. As written, you get boring.
Verdon needs a strong editor. He has undeniable skills, but they are not showcased by this writing style.

I was pleasantly surprised that John's Verdon's first novel was so good. I just finished his second novel, "Shut Your Eyes Tight" and it was equally enjoyable. I am starting to read his third novel.
His main character, "Dave Gurney" in both books is a retired and "widely acclaimed" police investigator, whose ability to repeatedly analyze the unknown and come up with solutions that defy his co-workers.
If you like mysteries thrillers with lots of twists and turns with surprise endings, you will enjoy both of his first 2 novels. I am expecting his3rd novel to be equally good.

I had a great time reading this book. This smartly crafted story captivated and surprised me. It is very hard to find thrillers that keeps you guessing but this one does the job.The reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is I found a lack of authenticity in some relationships and/or interactions. It felt a little contrived in a few situations. However, the pros of this book far out weight the cons.