Rating: 
Summary: pretty good, quick paced read
Review: I've been enjoying the Stuart Woods series of books lately..been reading more stone barrington novels, but I wanted to pick up and see what holly barker was up to in her sophomore effort..
what I like about woods is that he writes these two characters so differently and it keeps the books varied and interesting....barrington, while likeable, has questionable moral standards at times, whereas Baker is quite the opposite..in other words, his books aren't predictable and they're never formulaic!
Anyway, onto this book..there are some BIG surprises and the return of some familiar faces (some surprise appearances as well)...the good guys are never perfect and the bad guys aren't always 'evil incarnate' either..everyone's got a motivation for doing something..
this one starts in a completely different place than where it ends (plot wise, not geographically speaking) so you're brought along for a pretty good ride...some parts just have palpable tension too...
definetly worth reading..
Rating:
Summary: A quick and fun read.
Review: Holly Barker is the cities Police Chief and is accompanied by her best friend Daisy, her Doberman Pincher. The book starts with Holly waking up on the morning of her wedding day. However, her day takes a sharp downturn when her fiancé is murdered during a bank robbery that turned violent. Holly leads the official investigation with the aid of her friend in the FBI. The investigation leads her to a town that is not shown on any maps. The inhabitants are white supremacists who recruit Holly's dad Ham into joining their organization. Ham pretends to join this group and is quickly given a key role within it. His infiltration of the group enables the law enforcment agencies involved to learn that Ham is selected to assassinate a VIP, but no one knows whom the intended victim is. Unless they can learn the identity of the target, someone will die.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable Read
Review: "Orchid Blues" is not a heavy, deep, dark mystery. Now that that's out of the way, the book is a good read. If you've read "Orchid Beach" you are already familiar with the characters and the writing. The hook is Holly's fianc? being killed in cold blood at the beginning of the story. The real star in this story is Ham. He is able to infiltrate the group of underground militia that murdered Holly's fianc?. Yes there are several lucky breaks, but you know what this is a work of FICTION.
Rating: 
Summary: Just Okay
Review: I picked this up because I enjoyed Woods' earlier works. This is okay light reading. The story is fast-paced, the characters likeable. My difficulty with the book is that the reader has to suspend reality. The militia is too powerful; the "star" character's father (who really is the star character in this novel) is too good or too lucky (In one place he is able to plant a bug in a completely ridiculously lucky set circumstances.); and, the twists in the story-line are never quite believeable. The man is also immediately taken in as a blood brother by this super-careful super-paranoid group. Also, the killing of the main character's fiance at the outset is absolutely superfluous to the story - although it was a good way to hook me into the book. If you can suspend reality it is okay beach reading. If you can't, it is a trumped up mystery where the author pulls all the strings to make the story work. Although this novel can be read in a matter of hours, there are other better ways to spend that reading time.
Rating:
Summary: A Fast Read
Review: Stuart Wood's Orchid Blues is a fast read ... his chapters are short, making you want to read on & on. Having only read one of Sutart's books (Orchid Blues), I am definitely going to read more of them. You know there's violence; you know there's mystery; you know there's accuracy. I read it so fast, I didn't even look at the back to see how it ended! Now that's a good mystery! And no swearing ... I am now going to read Blood Orchid. And since Holly meets up with Stone, I will then go on to read the series of crime scenes he's involved in. Thank you, Stuart Woods.
Rating:
Summary: Good for my particular mood
Review: Reviews of Stuart Woods' books seem to fall into three categories: Those who love them, those who find them shallow, and those who pine for the Woods of old whose books were so full of suspense and intrigue with great plots and lots of imagination. But not every book can be Chiefs (his first novel) or Imperfect Strangers (an early non-series novel). But they are still fast easy reads, great for the DC Metro commute. Holly Barker is back for a second time. She's is still an appealing enough character and the story has some interesting moments. There is little imagination to the plotting and its all fairly predictable. Still, there are characters to like and root for, Holly, her father Ham, and her dog Daisy. And beyond those who seem to wear a sign saying "I'm Evil: Hate Me" there are always one or two about whom we are not to sure. The FBI Agent from the first Holly Barker novel, Harry Crisp, plays a real jerk, something of a comedown from the first book. The idea of putting Ham up for this "job" with the bad guys, consdidering the stakes involved, is rather silly. But as other reviewers have pointed out, Woods is still very good on the action scenes. I wonder if other readers have noticed, as I did, Holly's strange reaction to Oxenhandler's death. And how long did it take to figure out who was in the line at the bank with him? True, Woods is no Hemmingway or Faulkner, as another reviewer pointed out. Sad to say, he started out like one of them, but he's more a franchise now, as indicated in the author's note that is so annoying and which now appears at the end of each of his books.
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