Figure of Eight (Bookcassette(r) Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Atmospheric and creepy
Review: An upcoming skating star in her teens, a Hollywood wife at 20, Ellen Cusack had it all. But it fell apart and, at 27 she's divorced and trying to make a comeback. But as Patrick Lynch's "Figure of Eight" opens, a woman's body has just been found in her backyard and a stalker's letters are growing scary. Pete Golding is a security pro who specializes in stalkers. Shooting one boosted his firm's reputation but spooked his colleagues who find his brooding dedication obsessive - sort of like a stalker's. While the police search for the cold trail of a killer, Ellen's stalker manages to get into her house and leave a photo of a little girl, a skater. Golding finds more than he lets on and the stalker's messages begin to make an awful kind of sense to Ellen. The story's atmospheric creepiness increases as the plot lines cross and multiply, particularly once Lynch ("Omega," "Carriers") adds the element of medical chill he's best known for.

Rating:
Summary: A diamond of a thriller
Review: FIGURE OF EIGHT kept me on the edge of my seat from first to last. The plot is ingenious, the writing stylish and lively. Best of all, the book delivers a truly chilling and unexpected ending. A gem of a thriller that's well worth checking out.

Rating:
Summary: Great dark thriller
Review: Gee, for a book supposedly about a skater, there sure isn't much skating in it. In fact there isn't any. As for the skating community being upset over issues being raised... What issues? Where? If the book spent any time talking about eating disorders, the harsh life a skater has, skating injuries, the dangers of skating without a helmet, skaters with drug problems, skaters sexually abused by their coaches (all very real and important issues that I would welcome in a book), I must have missed it. Did the author write another secret book that exposed problems in the figure skating world? This book was about a celebrity (who incidently was a skater in another life) being stalked. And if you've read one book about a celebrity stalker, you've read them all. This one wasn't even a particulary well-written one.

Rating:
Summary: Where's the Skating?
Review: Gee, for a book supposedly about a skater, there sure isn't much skating in it. In fact there isn't any. As for the skating community being upset over issues being raised... What issues? Where? If the book spent any time talking about eating disorders, the harsh life a skater has, skating injuries, the dangers of skating without a helmet, skaters with drug problems, skaters sexually abused by their coaches (all very real and important issues that I would welcome in a book), I must have missed it. Did the author write another secret book that exposed problems in the figure skating world? This book was about a celebrity (who incidently was a skater in another life) being stalked. And if you've read one book about a celebrity stalker, you've read them all. This one wasn't even a particulary well-written one.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting story with an unforgettable climax
Review: I bought this novel because I'd heard generally favorablereports of Patrick Lynch's thrillers. Even so, I was pleasantlysurprised. The book builds tension quite expertly, allowing the reader some lighter, satirical moments now and again (mainly concerning the press, TV and celebrity management), before plunging him or her into newer, ever darker territory. You soon get the feeling that something very shocking and terrible is going to happen, but nothing will fully prepare you for the climax when it comes. Good characters (I'd read more of Pete Golding's case history eagerly) and a very clever plot make for great entertainment. One to keep on the shelf and re-read another time.

Rating:
Summary: Starts slowly, then becomes a "can't put down" book
Review: I nearly put this one down and am SO glad I didn't, as the original story, plot twists and action were a notch above the usual suspense or thriller type novel. Be forewarned, however, that you need to get through the first 4 chapters before this one weaves its spell (or at least, I did). I prefer books with strong characters and this book does have compelling characters but the reader doesn't meet them immediately and I felt there were too many pages of background, information that could have been shortened and presented more tightly. Even so, there were many mysteries to puzzle through and that made for fun reading. The characters, once they DID appear, were fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: Starts slowly, then becomes a "can't put down" book
Review: I nearly put this one down and am SO glad I didn't, as the original story, plot twists and action were a notch above the usual suspense or thriller type novel. Be forewarned, however, that you need to get through the first 4 chapters before this one weaves its spell (or at least, I did). I prefer books with strong characters and this book does have compelling characters but the reader doesn't meet them immediately and I felt there were too many pages of background, information that could have been shortened and presented more tightly. Even so, there were many mysteries to puzzle through and that made for fun reading. The characters, once they DID appear, were fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: A sportswriter writes...
Review: I read this after a friend recommended it, and very much enjoyed it. It's an unusually stylish, imaginative tale with a very scarey premise. I'd also like to say, I thought it was very well researched. As a sports writer I covered winter sports for years, and the facts and issues the book raises about skating - and especially the enormous pressures, physical and psychological, it places on young girls - rang very true to me, even if they're not discussed openly among competitors and coaches as much as they should be. I can see that this book might ruffle a few feathers in the skating community. It certainly doesn't paint a rosy picture of what competition - and success - can mean. But inaccurate? Anything but. From skaters' weights, to the illnesses they suffer, down to what they get paid for show tours, I'd say the author did his homework pretty well. I see one reader dismiss the references to school figures as inaccurate. True, they vanished from competitive standings some time ago, but anyone like Ellen Cusak, training in the 1980s, would have been trained using them. An example? Michelle Kwan, whose age, I note, more-or-less exacty matches Cusak's. And of course, for routines, skaters still skate in figures of eight every day. It's more fun than going round in circles! Of course, the sport itself plays only a small part in the book. But the imagery works, and the slightly fairy-tale nature of the sport suits the themes of the story in many other ways. Of course, just because a book's well researched is no big reason to like it. That's all down to taste. But before savaging somebody's work for being inaccurate, it might be an idea to do some homework oneself! My word on 'Figure of Eight': read it if you like your novels dark, twisting and topical.

Rating:
Summary: A cut above...
Review: I'd never read anything by Patrick Lynch, but after reading this book I immediately ordered more! I thought...ice skating? Boring. I was wrong! The lead characters are flawed but likeable. The plot and twists are sharply defined and kept me on the edge of my seat! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the writing style. Very easy to read, the writing flowed and wasn't full of too many adjectives (one of my pet peeves). Can't wait to get the other books I ordered!

Rating:
Summary: Surprise Hit With Me!
Review: I'd never read anything by Patrick Lynch, but after reading this book I immediately ordered more! I thought...ice skating? Boring. I was wrong! The lead characters are flawed but likeable. The plot and twists are sharply defined and kept me on the edge of my seat! I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the writing style. Very easy to read, the writing flowed and wasn't full of too many adjectives (one of my pet peeves). Can't wait to get the other books I ordered!