Rating:  Summary: Enjoyable read that James Hall fans should try. Review: A big improvement over "Dead Silence" (which featured a bad guy so all powerful he was meant to be able to go around stealing fighter jets) the enemies here are all more believable. Elmore Leonard has been mentioned as a reference point for this book but it seems to me to carry echoes of James Hall's work - especially where tight squeezes underwater come up (or rather don't). A nice plot twist adds to the enjoyment and I look forward to more from Robert Ferrigno.
Rating:  Summary: Terrific! Review: Eight months ago in Miami, the Jackson brothers, working for Junior, a drugpin, kill undercover cop Steffano. At a Cuban restaurant Steffano's police partner Val Duran shares a meal with the Jacksons. The hired guns take immense pleasure in bragging to Val about the bombing death of Steffano as much as the meal they savor. Fearing for his own life, the next morning Val flees for Los Angeles. Not wanting to obtain any jobs involving law enforcement, Val quickly accepts work as a stuntman. Val also meets and falls in love with Kyle Abbott. However, he soon finds himself embroiled with a family on the ropes. Kyle's half-brother hires some thugs to kill his wealthy stepmother. Adding to his woes, Junior wants Val dead. As both situations and his passion for Kyle heat up, Val finds himself in the middle of trouble that easily could leave him dead. No one who enjoys a fast-paced Hollywood mystery will suffer from a broken heart after reading Robert Ferrigno's best novel in about a decade (since THE HORSE LATITUDES). The story line is reminiscent of Elmore Leonard's Shorty tales as the myriad of subplots blends together into an action-packed story line where California dreaming meets Miami vice. Fans of the sub-genre will cherish Val for his quest for love even as thugs threaten his life. Readers will definitely desire his return in a sequel. Harriet Klausner
Rating:  Summary: Heartbreaker a book for the beach..... Review: Ferrigno has a perfect summer read here. It has action, good dialogue, off center characters and reads very fast. I would like to see Val back in another book or two. I like a hero who is extremely tough and can hold his own against anyone yet still has a moral code and can still fall in love. Ree-views
Rating:  Summary: HE'S BACK! Review: Ferrigno stumbled, a little, in the wake of the first-time success of 'Horse Latitudes,' but this book shows what he has been really capable of doing with both a screw-with-your-mind plot and his usual zoo of SoCal characters. But I'm curious -- when is Ferrigno going to write about his home-town...Seattle?
Rating:  Summary: read my book! Review: Heartbreaker is my fifth novel, all of which are set in Southern California, the land of endless Summer and dirty air. My work attempts to chronicle the beautiful schemers, the overweening ambition and flamboyant excess, an L.A. where valet parkers pitch scripts as they slide behind the wheel and lifeguards have SAG cards, a place where every grandiose plan is lubricated with a sheen of self-deception. My main characters are always outside the game, out of synch, men and women who don't believe the California promise of the good life. In a world of transitory affections and flavor-of-the-week salvation --- this week's special: Kabbala!--- my heroes remain loyal to their friends and their core beliefs. There is, of course, always a cost for such loyalty. Like Val, the protagonist of Heartbreaker, I was born in South Florida, growing up on the last paved street in Fort Lauderdale, brown and barefoot, with acres of sawpalm thickets as my backyard. When the wind blew swarms of mosquitoes out of the Everglades, the county trucks would rumble slowly down the streets, laying down a thick, white clouds of DDT. We neighborhood kids followed the trucks on our bikes, zigzagging through the fog, pretending we were flying. Junior, Val's nemesis, is based on a drug dealer---now deceased--- I knew during the 80s, one of the last of the cracker mafia who originally ran the drug trade in South Florida, a nasty, good ol' boy with a perpetual sunburn, an obscene sense of humor and a sawed-off on the coffeetable. Kyle, the female protagonist, is loosely based on a woman I knew when I worked as a newspaper reporter in Southern California, a smart, sinewy, take-no-prisoners surfer who dressed in thrift-store clothes, drove a rusted-out pickup and had a drawer full of uncashed monthly checks from her trustfund. When I first started Heartbreaker, I was working off the news of the Menendez brothers, two California golden boys who murdered their affluent parents to speed their inheritance, a couple of impatient tennis bums playing at criminality, going straight from Mommy and Daddy's funeral to the Porsche dealership. I figured there had to be a smarter way to do the deed and get away with it. As I got deeper into the novel, though, I realized that there was a more interesting story unfolding on the page: the confluence of bad company and dangerous fantasies, the cutting edge of our heart's desire. The characters in Heartbreaker have visions of easy success, visions of revenge and murder, vision of love --- dreams that would remain mere idle wishes except for coming into contact with people all too willing to make those dreams a reality. In Heartbreaker everyone gets what they want, and we learn that getting your heart's desire is just another way of getting your heart broken. I hope you enjoy reading Heartbreaker as much as I did writing it.
Rating:  Summary: WOW! WHAT A TWISTED BOOK! I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! Review: I am 14 years old and I read HeartBreaker in just five days. The book had some twisting points but I was never able to put it down. The thing I liked the most about the book was that there were no boring parts. The story is full of action, and will keep you on the edge of your seat. This was the first Robert Ferrigno book that I have read. I do plan on reading more of his books. If you are looking for a book that's full of action and is hard to put down, then this is just the book for you!
Rating:  Summary: Gripping and fun Review: I can't remember the last time a I read a book in a day because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next and the characters were so compelling. I remember liking THE HORSE LATITUDES but did not read the two novels in between. Terrific and entertaining read!
Rating:  Summary: Is it only me ? Review: I have just finished reading this which is my first Robert Ferrigno book. I ain't gonna repeat the story here because that is up there in the Editorial Review. Now, my two cents - Is Val Duran a returning hero ? I don't think so. Then why his past is mostly a gray area ? There is not enough information in there as to why exactly Steffano got killed, Val's past..and the most important of 'em all - how Val got onto the real person behind the whole scheme ?? I mean, what the heck ? Nothing is explained in this book!!! And since even beyond a certain point of extreme cerebration I drew a blank, I gave up !! Some characters are pretty contrived like Jackie Hendricks and Junior, the plot is pencil thin..there are a lot of illogical things happening - why would Val wanna go on air when he is hiding out ? And why didn't Val turn the real culprit in when he is convinced that the person has committed a heinous crime ? beats me !! The highlight of the book I must admit, is the razor-sharp dialogue that flies back and forth..especially that of Dekker and Val. Kept me through the book anyways. Worth a read. I deem this book worthy of 2.5 stars (since there is no decimal datatype here, I round it off to the next whole number).
Rating:  Summary: Snap, crackle, pop Review: In this comic thriller, the characters and settings snap, crackle, pop off the page. Ferrigno keeps each of the characters distinct and interesting, whether he's in the head of protagonist, witty tough guy Val Duran, or whether he's exploring the people in Duran's life, like Junior, who has almost as much affection for Duran as he does his favorite program, Jeopardy!, but nevertheless wants Duran dead. Then there's "dead boy" Armando, the unlikely and eccentric muscle; the hulking, love-sick Dekker; Jackie, the lethal seductress who enchants both Dekker and pretty boy Kilo; Duran's shrewd Seminole grandmother, Grace; and Kyle, the sexy marine biologist for whom Duran falls hard. The scenery is equally compelling, whether the action takes place in a Miami penthouse, a dangerous coastal cove in Southern California, or a backyard miniature golf course that pays tribute to cheesy horror films. But despite the snappy settings and dialogue, there is also real suspense, primarily because the characters consistently seem motivated by their own inner demons and not by the needs of the plot. There are some unexpected "wow" moments, like when the two storylines converge, or when certain characters meet for the first time, where the readers is left surprised, muttering, "Oh, that's it." And even the pay-offs for events that seem pre-destined from page 1 are layered with an unexpected poignancy. Okay, so by now you know I love the book. My husband, who's much harder to please and has really liked only two or three of the books he's read in as many years, also claims this as a favorite. Ferrigno does something that is a challenge: he presents a flawlessly written and plotted masterpiece and makes it all look like entertaining, escapist fun.
Rating:  Summary: Summer reading... Review: It was a blast! Heartbreaker was just the right thing for a summer's afternoon. The characters were a little shallow; but, what the heck! It was still fun. The story was fast paced and action filled. Take a copy with you on your next vacation.
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