Rating: 
Summary: Why Paris Trout is Scary
Review: "Paris Trout" was a scary book to me, and not just because of the crimes committed by the title character. Even more menacing was the complacency of the other characters in the book. They all could have stopped the chain of events that eventually spiraled into mass violence. This is a book that
will definitely make you think--but not all pleasant thoughts, as you contemplate men like Trout and the "good, up-standing citizens" that turned a blind eye to evil until
it was too late.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling, ....I couldn't stop reading this one!
Review: I grew up in Milledgeville, Ga (Cotton Point?) and remember the killing of the 2 lawyers. As an 11 year old child, I was spared the more sinister details of the real life story. I believe that Pete Dexter attended elementary school in Milledgeville at the time this crime took place. As an author he did his homework, then twisted the tale just enough to leave me gasping!
Rating: 
Summary: Surprising disappointment.
Review: I have to agree with the reviewer from Yuba City. After finishing this novel I was also surprised that it had won the National Book Award. Although I agree with other reviewers that the depiction of complacency by the Cotton Point citizens with respect to Paris Trout's deeds was well done by the author, I did not find the character development, the writing or the plot to be above average. The National Book Award and glowing reviews this novel received set my expectations higher than the novel could meet.
Rating:
Summary: '88 must have been a lean year for works of Fiction
Review: I'm not sure what the competition was in 1988, but I find it hard to believe that Pete Dexter's "Paris Trout" was the best the American literary community had produced that year for the National Book Award. This award giving out to the most outstanding work of Fiction in a given year includes the names of past honorees, William Faulkner, Delillo, Gaddis, Roth, etc. I'm sorry to say that Pete Dexter is not one of these. The premise behind the story has promise. A small town racial murder and how that town and the main characters deal with the aftermath. We do find ourselves frightened of Trout, shocked by the blatant racism, and fearful of the silent acceptance that lies beneath, but in Dexter's hands the story falls short. The writing doesn't come across as anything above the norm. Some of the plot events seem to be thrown in just for shock value and nothing more. Out of all the books that my wife and I have read aloud together "Paris Trout" is one of the more forgettable. If you are looking at knocking of some National Book Award winners, go read Delillo's "White Noise." The award going to "Paris Trout" in '88 just seems a little fishy to me.
Rating:
Summary: Straightforward smooth lit
Review: I've yet to see the movie, but I'm glad I read the book first. Few lifelike characters have ever been written that compare to Paris Trout. Just thinking of the words Mineral Bottle give me a shiver, although they give two of the book's characters shivers of another kind(one good, one bad). Anyway, if you like small town doin's and murder cases, this is for you. The sex scenes were tedious to get through, mainly because they were in the same grimacing prose as the rest of the novel. If those scenes had been left out, the book would be just as good.
Rating: 
Summary: Follow Dexter if you dare!
Review: In the mood for a nice little murder story? Well, don't look here. This tale of murder is as bad as they come; there is no subtlety, no ironically cute plot twists. Author Pete Dexter takes readers by their hands and whispers, "Come follow me if you have the courage, and I will show you the depravity of man." This brutal, unblinking honesty has become Dexter's trademark, and few writers can match his skill. "Paris Trout" is a novel readers will have a hard time walking away from once they've finished the last sentence. Dexter's prose is so powerful that audiences may catch themselves actually feeling sorry for Trout, the story's main character. Few times in fiction has a character been so convinced of his own righteousness, so obsessed with his own cause, while he sets out to destroy all those who have betrayed him.
Rating:
Summary: Not for the faint of heart
Review: Not for the faint of heart, Pete Dexter's Paris Trout will send chills up and down your spine. This riveting tale of a respected white Georgian shopkeeper is sheer evil. Sinister and wicked, this page-turner will keep you up all night - either because the story is so engaging or because you are afraid to turn the lights out!
Rating:
Summary: A gripping, thought-provoking page turner
Review: One of the best contemporary American fiction books I've read in a while. Powerful and suspenseful ... I had to put it down once or twice because Dexter's descriptions are so graphically vivid. For this reason, it isn't for the faint of heart.A made-for-cable film adaption was done several years ago with Dennis Hopper, Barbara Hershey, and Ed Harris. Worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable book
Review: Paris Trout centers around a character of the same name. Though he is clearly a psychopath, he has money and is a business man, so his violent nature is ignored by the citizens of his small town, Cotton Point, Georgia. The book opens with an attack by Trout on a local black family. The town's white population does not want to be seen siding with a black family against a white man, so, from then on they turn a blind eye towards Trout and allow him to bully the legal system. Also involved in this hard boiled drama are Trout's wife Hanna and Harry Seagraves, Trout's good-guy lawyer. The book is framed as the story of a very bad man terrorizing a sleepy town, but the amazing thing about it is the way Dexter slowly turns the tables until it becomes clear that the complacency of the townspeople is a far greater sin than the murderousness of someone who lives among them. Though it reads like genre fiction with gripping suspense and at times remarkable violence, the subtle play on the psychology of a small town elevates the book to a remarkable literary novel. Although, I should say, if this book were not as deep and were merely a legal thriller, I would still have found it to be fantastic based on the strength of Dexter's writing. A great book.
Rating:
Summary: --
Review: Paris Trout is a finely wrought and masterfully crafted book. Mr. Dexter leads us, knowingly, to places that we don't want to visit. This book is as raw as it gets. Paris Trout walks the line between slow methodical terror and pure rage. Simple and understated writing, full of grace and fear. From the very beginning one feels that something is tied and taught, and waiting for the perfect moment to snap.
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