Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 50
 Complicated and overwrought March 24, 2006
Jason Metzker (Orlando, FL USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Having previously read Greg Iles's "Dead Sleep" which I thoroughly enjoyed and found to be both creepy and exciting, I approached this one with a lot of eagerness and interest.
After about page 70, I was starting to get frustrated by the way the novel unfolded, but decided to stay with it. Although I was pleased to finish it, I found the story line to be overly complicated, filled with too many characters and overwrought in its execution. Things were too loose and the story although at times a bit infeasible would be of much higher quality if tightened up a bit, with more focus and less switching from scene to scene.
The subject matter was very interesting and would have been handled in a more capable manner by the likes of Ken Follett, Nelson DeMille or Frederick Forsyth.
 not a pleasant read January 22, 2006
game theory (perth, australia)
greg iles is one of my favourite author but this book is such a downer..
i tried reading it and fell asleep twice that in the end i gave up even before reaching page 100...
if jeffrey archer was to write this story i'm sure he would;ve done a good job...
the book was too long, it;s confusing and just plain boring..
i was really dissapointed as i am a HUGE fan of his books especially blood memory and sleep no more
wish it could've been better..really do
 Must Read!! January 1, 2006
Jonathan Zegadlo (NYC, NY)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I cant believe anyone who read this would not consider this book brilliant. Great characters, pace and story. My first Iles book and Im very happy I bought it. I read alot and I consider this among the best 15 books Ive read all year (out of about 60)
 Great premise, unfulfilled, but not for lack of pages December 6, 2005
Dave E (Minneapolis)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I read this after enjoying Iles' "Footprints of God" quite a bit. This is his first work and thank goodness he has since learned to be more concise. The book is lengthy, and repeats itself quite a bit (due, I assume to the length and complexity of the plot and characters). Several characters could've been cut out entirely - they were in long enough to kill and be killed, but didn't add anything to the story. Intriguing characters, too - he could've saved them for their own stories.
After wanting to get to the end for the last 200 pages, I found the ending itself rushed. All loose ends were wrapped up very conveniently and in ways that didn't pay off for the investment of time required to get that far.
There were some aggravating teases, too. When the Israeli finally gets to confront the Nazi for the question of "why?" (regarding the anti-semitism), I was really hoping that Iles would've ventured a reply - anything to try and give the Nazi character some depth or plausibility other than just pure hate for the sake of hate. Nope - he put the question out there and didn't try to answer it. That's what I was hoping for - replace some of the graphic violence with real explorations of the underlying themes and how this fanaticism really survives - not just giving example after example of how it's manifested.
All that being said, the last page of the epilogue is brilliant, and in it, I found a simple yet profound statement that struck a chord.
Very engrossing! October 14, 2005
Prabal Guha Biswas (don't worry, I shall find you)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Excellent flow and that what makes this book worth one's money. Interesting tit-bits from 2nd World War! Since the flow is good you can finish off the book very fast!
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