Rating: 
Summary: WOW!!!! THIS REALLLLLY IS A THRILLER!!!!
Review: i have no idea what book 'just average' from ny read but it certainly wasn't THIS one!!!! this was non-stop action!!! i wanted to devour this in just one sitting but i FORCED myself to slow down and to savor each and every word of this literary roller coaster....amazingly original plot and you actuallly get 2 for 1.....a book within a book.....i got so hooked on the one that he was ghostwriting that i almost didn't care to get back to the real book...almost.....and what characters!!! each one was developed more completely than in any other book i've read in years...and i read 3 books a week on the average!!! just when you think that you've got it alllllll figured out, whammo!!!! you get hit between the eyes and scream out WHAT???? holy cow, these two guys had better hurry up and get their next one, SLASH, out soon....verrrrry soon!!! only bad thing about this book is the fact that the publisher is doing virtuallly nothing to promote which is reallly dumb when they've got a complete total gem of a book on their hands....guys, if i were you i'd renegotiate my contract as far as promotion!!! then again, this book is gonna go to the top fast just thru word of mouth....MY verrrrrry big one!!! thanx peter & david for such an amazing book!!!! write faster!!! please??
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME BOOK
Review: This is the kind of book a good thriller fan devours. "Gideon" is one of the most suspenseful, intricate, and chilling novels I've read in a long time. Without going into a rehash of the plotline, suffice to say Russell Andrews has woven a tale of deception, intrigue, murder, betrayal, you name it..it's in there!
The novel opens with a mysterious suicide, and then goes on in so many different directions, your head spins. But it's done so well, you can't help but get involved. The characterizations, I think, rather than being cliche, are wonderfully original. Take the hero, Carl Granville...he's so desperate he gets into something he knows very little about. But once he gets fully involved, he takes the bull by the horns and as any good hero would do, he sticks it out and comes out just fine in the end.
Momma One Eye is beautifully drawn. Although she's not in the novel a lot, her presence is so essential, you can almost hear her chanting her psalms. Then we have Harry Wagner, a very different villain...cold-hearted of course and irreprehensible, but there's a softness in him that makes you like him, just a little. And then, of course, there's President Tom Adamson and his wife, Elizabeth. Now here we have a different take on the president and his wife. Tom Bickford, the vice president, stricken with Bell's palsy; Amanda Ways, Carl's ex-girlfriend who finds herself getting involved; Toni, the would-be actress who lights up Carl's life briefly; The Closer, a cold-hearted villain that you can't find ANY good in; Father Patrick Jennings, a priest who hears a horrifying confession; Nora Adamson, the president's mother, whose one scene is riveting; on and on, throughout, this novel cooks, and has some real shockers in it, too.
Wow, this book blew me away.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rating:
Summary: Power House Thriller...!!!
Review: I picked up this book at a used book store. Only its not the book that was out after they printed it. This book is an unrevised proof, and not the real thing. I found some cute mistakes and misspelled words and loved it!! Great book to add to a collection, boy was I lucky. Great action packed thriller, sorry, you DO have to READ this for YOUR self!!
Rating: 
Summary: To use an overused cliche...it kept me turning the pages
Review: It's been a while since I've read a straight out thriller, and I didn't regret reading this one. To be honest, I'm the kind of reader who tends to "lurch" through books...read 50 pages, set book down for a few days, read another 50, etc. Gideon had me turning the pages and coming back every day until I finished it, so I must say that I found it engrossing.The plot had some good twists but wasn't so complicated that I needed 3x5 cards to figure out what was going on. There were a few memorable characters, good villians, decent hero...if a bit stereotypical. Good action, high body count. Overall, I think most people would find it very entertaining. One other opinion...the identity of the Closer was laughable. Still makes me chuckle when I think about it.
Rating:
Summary: Not to read if you want to sleep...
Review: This book kept me not only awake but thinking about the story when I wasn't actually reading it. I'd find myself working on my laptop and my mind drifting toward the story and hungry to get back to it as soon as I possibly could. Definitely could not put this one down! I'm looking forward to reading more of what this team has put together already.
Rating:
Summary: A thriller that delivers
Review: When struggling writer Carl Granville is approached by a successful editor at the funeral of his agent he is excited to learn that she has a project in mind for him, if he chooses to accept it. She wants him to ghost-write a fictional novel based on real events that will potentially earn him a fortune. The only problem is that she wants it done fast. Real fast. He will have to turn a series of diaries, letters and articles into explosive fiction within just a few weeks. Carl accepts. However, within a few days, Carl begins to get uneasy. He's not entirely comfortable with what the diaries are disclosing - in effect, the murder of a small child - and is unsure whether he really wants to continue. But then, two people close to Carl and brutally murdered, including the editor who originally approached him, and Carl, with no evidence at all to support his claims and no alibi, finds himself to be the prime suspect. Carl quickly realises that he's in great danger...there's someone out there who doesn't want this book written, and they're prepared to go to grave lengths to ensure that it isn't... Excellent thriller. That's really all I can say. Human characters, great writing, and an absolute snake of a plot. It twists and turns and shocks in ways that would make Jeffery Deaver proud. The plot is original enough, and adds a nice twist to the accepted "innocent-man-on-the-run" formula. The protagonist is a wonderful every-man, and very easy to like. I can only applaud this tense, exciting thriller from the pen of David Handler and Peter Gethers. It's very rare that books written by two people actually work, but Gideon is certainly one of the exceptions. This book should please all thriller fans, and I'm very much looking forward to reading "Icarus", which sounds equally thrilling...
Rating: 
Summary: Stale formula and a ton of cliches
Review: Got this book second-hand and it is about the only good thing I can say about it - didn't have to pay the full price. It IS a fast read - because there's nothing to read, actually: it's like watching a movie on fast forward.
The plot... well, some of Ludlum's novels featured pretty [bad]conspiracies, but this is far worse. The bad guys kill a ton of people, though the simplest solution would be to send somebody into the boonies with a spade and a can of gas, to dig out the body and burn it. Which would leave us without this sorry excuse for a novel, though. The cast? The writer, whose only qualification that I noticed was that he was handsome. His girlfriend with much-declared brains (left'em with luggage at the bus depot, I guess), and her "hacker" co-worker (now that's sidesplitting - and so cliche!). The bad guys? A chameleon (now babe, now hunk, now dead, now alive), a bad cop (down to K-Mart clothes and bad breath) and the American Hercules with penchant for male bonding.
Avoid this book.
For health reasons.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Premise that Fizzles
Review: Carl Granville is a talented young writer, living in NY, struggling to get his first book published. When his agent dies, he surprisingly is approached by any writer's dream agent who has an interesting propostion for him. He will be given someone's secret diary and he will fictionalize it within 3 weeks. A guard will accompany the installments of the original manuscript to ensure that Carl does not copy it and at the same time, deliver the finished fictionization to the agent. For doing this, Carl receives $50k up front, $50K when he finishes and the guarantee that his first book be published and seriously marketed. Carl readily accepts, burning the midnight oil to fulfill his end of the deal, but when his new agent and a female neighbor mysteriously end up dead, Carl finds himself out on a limb from which he cannot possibly survive, as he is thought to be and labeled by the media a serious killer on a mission.
Sound fascinating?
It is----but sadly, once the actual diary is read and transformed into Carl's manuscript, the killings are executed and Carl has no where to run, the book just loses steam fast. Suddenly the interesting premise transmogrifies into formula--Carl's ex-girlfriend (conveniently a Wash. Post journalist) becomes involved and the reader follows the actions of a ring of outsiders whose histories eventually tie together to lead to the plot's denouement. Problem is, it is just too formula to be fresh and lead to disappointment even when reading the book's most startling revelations.
I picked this book up after reading this writing teams' latest offering, "Icarus". Although, I found "Icarus" to be a moderate-to--superior suspense type yarn, I expected Gideon to be better based on its reviews. I was disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping but....
Review: I just finished this book after having picked it up on a sale table. I have to admit that I had been intrigued by it since it came out and had wanted to read it, but never got around to paying full price. It is a gripping work, well written and tightly paced. The book is at its best while set in NYC, but when it moves out from there it begins to unravel. For one thing, the geography is off and, sorry, but I find this inexcusable. A quick consultation with Rand McNally would have kept this from occurring. For another, the author(s) push the abilities of the principal antagonists too far for credibility. Both the evil doers and their primary cat's paw are given just a bit too much power. A little more care in these areas and the book could have been stunning to the end. Alas, it is a good work and fun to read, but the book breaks the reader's willing suspension of disbelief and, in the end, does not live up to its potential. I still look forward to reading their next work.
Rating:
Summary: Almost a Thriller
Review: "Gideon" gets off to a good start, quickly paced and roller coaster fast. The reader's interest is speedily engaged in the "who is this happening to and why?" Somewhere around page 150, the book becomes a chore. The writing and pace become uneven and dead spots occur with more and more frequency. The collaboration between Peter Gethers and David Handler doesn't seem to gel and become seamless. Sometimes I had the feeling I was reading a rough draft. It is difficult to accept a hero whose nickname is "Granny" and all that word implies. One of the two "deadly" assassins is an overweight, not-to-bright rogue ex-cop whose main concern seems to be furious bigotry. We are expected to believe the richest, most powerful man in the world could do no better in the assassin market than to select this dim bulb. The choice of victims is ludicrous. Those that are truly dangerous to the powerful man's schemes are overlooked in favor of innocents who have only the most tangential connection with the plot. The surprises are telegraphed so far in advance that the only person still in the dark is the hero. There are curious lapses, as if the fact checker took a holiday. How often can one draw $1000 from one ATM machine? Why is a broken down Subaru with DC plates entirely invisible to police and FBI? The strongest element of "Gideon" is the following of clues as the hero and his ever-loyal former girl friend get closer and closer to the answers. Their odyssey through the Deep South is well done, particularly a chapter dealing with what has to be the ultimate Elvis Presley fans. "Gideon" has it moments; there are just not enough of them.
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