I just finished this book yesterday so it is still fresh in my mind. I am going to try this new thing where I right a book review after every book I finished. I should be pumping out a review ever week or two since, with my work schedule, that is about how long it takes me to finish a book. This first review will be on Standup Guy written by Stuart Woods.
I feel I need to lead off with the fact that I probably went into this book with the wrong attitude in mind. I had just finished reading a John Grisham novel and was looking for something similar. While Stuart Woods rights lawyer dramas much like John Grisham, his style is completely different. They are much faster paced, high profile, dare I say cheesy books. All in all it wasn't a bad book, however. After I adjusted my mindset I found it quite entertaining.
This book was published last year and puts the main character, Stone Barrington, in the middle of a sticky situation between the Secret Service, local police, the mob, and thieves. It is refreshingly modern and frequently references new technology. I find the need to point this out considering Stone Barrington has been fighting crime in books since the seventies.
The writing style, like I said, comes across as cheesy sometimes. There are references to certain characters being zillionaires and a news channel called Faux News (although Fox news is referenced by name at least once). This makes parts of the book seem silly and hard to create in your mind as you will have difficulty taking them seriously.
Story line wise it is plenty in depth. There are easy to follow and entertaining subplots and characters. On the downside some of the plots seem somewhat useless to the progression of the novel itself. To caveat off of that, the novels are of a continuing universe so any references in them that are not completed are sure to be brought up in later novels.
Overall it was a good read. Very fast, but satisfying. It has everything you would expect in a mystery drama. Sex, violence, and money. While I would have liked to see more portions of the book written less cheesy it is still a greatly entertaining read. I would recommend it as a book to check out from the library but if you are going to buy it I would maybe think twice. The jury is still out on our lawyer friend Stone Barrington.