Rating: 
Summary: It Grabs You
Review: One thing is absolutely certain about Michael Marshall's novel "The Straw Men": once you begin reading this suspenseful psychological thriller, you will not be able to put it down. Job, school, and family all fade into insignificance with the turn of a page in this awesome novel. Even categorizing "The Straw Men" as a suspense novel probably does not do it justice, as Marshall throws in copious amounts of horror and action to make a pungent stew that will have your stomach churning and your pulse racing. Books such as this make surfing the Internet worthwhile because that is how I stumbled over this little known, downbeat novel.Marshall begins his dismal story by telling us about three seemingly unrelated events. The first occurs at a fast food restaurant out in the sticks, where two heavily armed thugs mow down dozens of people in cold blood. The second incident takes place in Montana, when Ward Hopkins returns home to wrap up things after his parents die in an auto accident. A note found in his father's favorite easy chair leads Ward to believe that his parents are not dead, sending Ward on a convoluted investigation that casts doubt on his own life as well as the lives of his parents. The third situation deals with the abduction of a teenage girl in California by a sicko known as "The Upright Man." In a writing style that is both smooth and taut, Marshall brings all of these disparate elements together as the reader discovers the shrieking terror of the Straw Men's underground world. As the madness unfolds, Marshall introduces us to his characters. There is Ward Hopkins, a former CIA employee drifting through life until he receives word of the death of his parents. When Ward finds a strange video in his late father's house, he brings in Bobby Nygard. Nygard is an agency spook with intimate knowledge about the Internet, firearms, and an ability to find people. Together Ward and Bobby attempt to track down a shadowy group known as the Straw Men. Their efforts uncover terrible secrets, trigger-happy people anxious to kill them, and enough twists and turns to make an ice skater dizzy. As the tale progresses, Ward and Bobby run into FBI agent named Nina and former Los Angeles homicide detective John Zandt. Zandt and Nina are investigating the disappearance of Sarah Becker, a young girl abducted in California by a serial killer who escaped the clutches of Zandt years before. Known as "The Upright Man," this killer likes to abduct girls and then leave a sweater on the doorsteps of the missing girl's family. The killer weaves the names of his victims into the sweaters with human hair. The four realize they are working on the same case from different angles and decide to team up, resulting in an explosive showdown loaded with violent death and the answers to some ominous secrets. The pacing in this book is phenomenal. Marshall bounces back and forth from unfolding horror to fast paced action with little difficulty. Repeatedly, the author delivers shock after shock to the unsuspecting reader. Most effective is how Marshall makes you sympathize with Ward Hopkins. Ward really is not the nicest guy in the world; he is self-serving, slightly corrupt, and narcissistic. But when the chips are down, he never backs away from a fight and follows leads with the tenacity of a bulldog. Marshall brings Ward to life by using narrative in the first person to tell Hopkins's story. Ward as a character works so well that the Nina/Zandt storyline seems less interesting by comparison. The conclusion to the story is ambiguous, but does not detract in any way from the enjoyment of getting there. "The Straw Men" is an immensely enjoyable read, with enough bloody violence to draw in the horror fan without sacrificing a detailed plot that suspense and mystery readers always enjoy so much. I am hoping to see another suspense thriller from Michael Marshall; he has a real flair for the written language and a sharp eye for detail. "The Straw Men" is an early pick for my favorite mass-market paperback of 2003.
Rating: 
Summary: Put this on your reading list.
Review: Out of books and unsure of what direction to go in while choosing a new one, I grabbed this book based on the intriguing synopsis as well as the cover art which I found to be mysterious. I agree, not great reasons to buy a book, but I don't regret it. One thing lacking in todays literary wasteland of consumer oriented fluff and knock off thrillers is the skill of being able to turn a word. Michael Marshall has that knack. He is able to write sentences that, on thier own, are interesting and worth a second read. I found myself continuously re-reading certain sentences or paragraphs, fascinated at Mr. Marshall's take on a certain subject or situation. Though this book is very well written with a strong sense of how to write a compelling sentence, it is not without its faults. The plot can be a bit muddy and then too easily cleared, the switching between the first and third person is an interesting literary trick, but executed in a way I found confusing until the last part of the book when events helped the reader understand why it was written that way. Maybe a pointer earlier on would have helped. This book sets itself apart from the sludge being published by the corporate entities of Koontz and King by challenging your mind to think about the words and what they mean outside of the obvious being described in the story. Though a highly commercial story, obviously geared toward selling movie rights, Michael Marshall cannot hide the fact that he has the ability to turn a word. I look forward to his future work with the hope that with success comes the ability to free his writing from the commercial underbelly of publishing.
Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: Picked this book up at the grocery store. As another reviewer mentioned, great cover and awesome brief on the back... Hey it caught me and I'm glad it did. I will not get specific in the actual content as it is my belief that it ruins the book for most. You have to draw your own conclusions! To be honest, I didnt read any of the reviews posted here until after I had finished the novel and I must say I am a bit surprised at some of the comments. I like a book that keeps you going, keeps the plot moving or several in this case all to come together in the last 100 or so pages. The Straw Men is frightening. Not just because of his writing style which is very good or even the content, but the mere fact that the scenarios created could actually be true! The book is graphic and at times I honestly could not believe what I was reading....he never went too far over the edge though and it made me want to turn the page (albeit reluctantly at times)to find out what happens next. I disagree with everyone who said it was a book that made you turn back to figure things out.(ie confusing) I too had to flip back in the book a few times, but welcomed the fact I was reading something that had enough substance to merit the returns. Every time I flipped back I saw something else that helped in my understanding/enjoyment of this novel. I felt compelled to look back at times not to clear up some confusion but to gain some more insight. At the books conclusion, which is outstanding, I went back to the begining to see where in the novel the first mention of "The Straw Men" was mentioned. (Idol curiosity-p125) I seriously thought about re-reading it now that I had so much insight at its conclusion. Overall an outstanding read! I would recommend it to all, with a caution to some of the content. It is believable! There must be a sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring waste of time
Review: Silly plotline, irratic and smartass style, confusing character definition. I couldn't stay with it, couldn't get into it, didn't care about the characters, the story, or anything. I kept wanting and waiting for something cool to happen because Stephen King said this was a "masterpiece." Junk is what it is.
Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars to 2 in 389 pages. No small feat.
Review: The beginning of THE STRAW MEN opens with an intriguing mix of events: in a variation of the Happy Meal, two gunmen methodically mow down eighty-nine (you must be kidding!) lunchtime customers in a backwater McDonald's; a man returning from his parents' funeral finds a note in his father's handwriting that says, "We're not dead"; a young girl is abducted from a shopping promenade in full view of customers inside a B&N bookstore. (Well, I can understand the last. When I'm browsing in a bookseller and totally focused, Bin Laden himself could charge down the street on a camel firing his AK-47 and I wouldn't notice.) I looked forward to a clever and entertaining connection between these disparate events. But, alas! The "men" in the title is misleading. There's really only one villain of consequence, The Upright Man, who remains a relatively nebulous figure to the end. There are two principle good guys in the story, John Zandt, an ex-LAPD homicide cop whose life was ruined when his own daughter was abducted and never recovered, and Ward Hopkins, an ex-CIA employee who resigned before his financial misconduct on the job could be discovered. It was Ward's parents who'd ostensibly died, killed in a highway accident. Both John and Ward have sidekicks, the former an FBI agent in official disfavor named Nina whose only claim to notoriety seems to be that she once had an affair with John, and the latter a wise-cracking buddy named Bobby still with the CIA. What a motley group! None of the four had attractive enough personalities to engage this reader's sympathies. One of the two pairs should have been perhaps edited out to yield a tighter storyline. For me, the biggest problem with THE STRAW MEN was a largely incomprehensible plot. The motive for all the evildoing revolves around some murky theory that what is called "civilization" is but symptomatic of a virus infecting the human genome, and to kill is to be truly free. (Gee, and I thought society's ills are caused by excess fast food consumption. Well, golly, I'm going out for a triple cheeseburger after I finish here.) In any case, the fuzziness of the whole concept culminates in a muddled ending that's both unsatisfying and the apparent basis for a sequel in which (at least) Ward continues to battle a nefarious conspiracy. What nobody told the author, however, is that a follow-up book requires the first offering to be at least above average. For me, THE STRAW MEN isn't, and I'll not pour any more money down this black hole.
Rating:
Summary: Great hard-edged suspense.
Review: The best suspense book I've read in quite a while. Solid and well-written with genuine insight. Should rank in the top of the suspense genre. Don't understand other reviewers' confusion - wasn't confusing at all to me. If you'd like to spend time with a real cool book. This is the one. You'll want to tell your friends - I did.
Rating:
Summary: Decent from start to finish
Review: The book is a smooth read. Somewhat predictable but good character development and a ending that welcomes a sequel that has just been released. Defiantly a must have book for the beach or camping trip. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.
Rating:
Summary: Decent from start to finish
Review: The book is a smooth read. Somewhat predictable but good character development and a ending that welcomes a sequel that has just been released. Defiantly a must have book for the beach or camping trip. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.
Rating:
Summary: Practice random acts of violence.
Review: The Straw Men by Mike Marshall Two men walk into a McDonald's in Pennsylvania and kill dozens of people with automatic weapons. A youth walks into a school and kills over a dozen classmates and faculty with a similar weapon. A man in England goes berserk and kills dozens. Sound like your typical latter-day headlines? They are but they're incidents in Mike Marshall's timely debut novel, The Straw Men, a story about an international cabal of mass murderers led by a serial killer self-named The Upright Man.
This premise was used to lesser effect in the Sylvester Stallone thriller COBRA and is therefore not a new one. However, an intriguing storyline adds heft and some coherency to this novel, one in which two widely divergent storylines are finally united in the thrilling climax.
Former CIA analyst and professional slacker Ward Hopkins returns to his hometown in Dyersburg, Montana after the abrupt and violent death of his parents. Ward finds a note in his father's chair containing the short but cryptic message: "We're not dead." Upon further discovering a videotape made by his father, he begins to investigate his parents' deaths and immediately comes up against stiff resistance from a shadowy faction that is concentrated in the ultra-exclusive housing development known only as The Halls.
Meanwhile, former LAPD homicide detective John Zandt is called out of retirement by FBI agent Nina Baynam, with whom he'd had an affair after Zandt's own daughter was abducted and presumably murdered by the Upright Man. Another girl, Sarah Becker, has been snatched from a mall in California and all the clues point to the fact that the Upright Man is back in action.
Marshall, in my opinion, took too long in finally intertwining these two different storylines, in which Zandt and the underachieving Hopkins, aided by Ward's close friend, CIA operative Bobby, attempt to take down the man or men responsible. Marshall's characterization is vivid and his dark humor is only slightly less sharp than that of a John Connolly. The Upright Man, a keen student of paleontology, hence the moniker, is until the end someone only seen in glimpses through the eyes of his latest abduction, the fourteen-year-old Sarah Becker, whom he keeps hidden and trapped under his floorboards, one of which created entirely out of matchsticks struck by other people and varnished until it matched the real ones. Such patience and deliberation, in artificially crafting something more easily made through mass production, is one of the most chilling facets I've ever read of a serial killer's psyche.
This book cries out for a sequel and those who have read it will see why. It is an intriguing study in duality, with the timely message that perhaps the random acts of violence that make the headlines virtually every day are perhaps not so random, after all.
Rating:
Summary: Michael Marshall = The Best Thing Going in Current Thrillers
Review: THE STRAW MEN plays out like a dream-team collaboration by Stephen King (who hailed the book a masterpiece), Dean Koontz, Thomas Harris, and Michael Slade. Deliriously paranoid, lightning paced, crammed with surprise and invention, action and terror, humor and heartbreak, this is the kind of book that lesser writers will envy and everyone else will just admire to no end. And the happiest part? The formidable Mr. Marshall is clearly here to stay, as evidenced by the recent release of a sequel to this book, entitled THE UPRIGHT MAN. Discover this guy as soon as you can - once everybody is reading him and hit movies are being made from these books, it's sure gonna be fun to be able to say "Oh, yeah, I've been reading him from the beginning!"
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