Rating: 
Summary: Bleak but excellent
Review: John Pellam is a former stuntman and location scout filming an oral history of New York's Hell's Kitchen. While working on the documentary he meets Ettie Washington, a septuagenarian who lived in that New York City area for most of her life. They get together for several days a week where Pellam records Ettie's memories of life in Hell's Kitchen. One day on his way to see Ettie, John witnesses her building being engulfed by flames. Ettie manages to escape but gets arrested shortly thereafter on suspicion of arson and insurance fraud. The police have strong circumstantial evidence against Ms. Washington and they plan to indict her for the death of one of the building's tenants. Pellam is not convinced of her guilt and he will do everything in his power to prove her innocence.During the course of his investigation he meets several characters that show life in Hell's Kitchen. Carol Wyandotte is a pessimistic social worker that does not have any hope for the youth living in that area. Roger McKennah is a real estate developer who wants to replace the tenements with new buildings. Sonny is a pyromaniac who is burning buildings all over Ettie's neighborhood for some mysterious motive that will be made clear later in the novel. There are other secondary characters that help bring the book to life, everything from Irish gangs to male prostitutes. Everyone has a story to tell and they make sure John hears all about it. Jeffery Deaver (or William Jefferies) gives a bleak portrait of this infamous New York area. There is a sense of hopelessness and despair shown throughout the book. It has an interesting plot and it was just recently nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Paperback Mystery Novel. The author's work had certain twists and turns that surprised me as a reader. I strongly recommend this book but be warned, it is a downer. Hopefully the next book I read will lift my spirits.
Rating: 
Summary: Read his other books first
Review: John Pellam, former stuntman and location scout, is now taking some time off to work on a documentary about the New York City neighborhood called Hell's Kitchen. Located on the west side of Manhattan, it is a rather run down and rough neighborhood. The focus of his documentary is an elderly black woman, Ettie Washington, who has lived in Kitchen all of her life and has been telling Pellam numerous stories about life in that neighborhood. When Pellam goes to visit Ettie one night, the building is set on fire where both he and Ettie barely manage to survive. After the investigation but the NYFD, the fire is ruled an arson and Ettie is immediately arrested as the one who hired the arson. Pellam is conviced of Ettie's innocence and seeks out to find the truth behind the fire. In the process, he captures the attention of the twisted arsonist who begins to focus his hate and passion on Pellam and wants to see him dead. Honestly, I was not too thrilled with this book. It is my first book written by Deaver and he had gotten so many positive reviews that I figured I would give him a shot. The writing style wasn't too bad, but he seems to throw in twists and turns that make no sense and the progression of the story gets jagged at times. Also, I had a problem with the description of the Kitchen. He described the neighborhood to be this nasty hole in the wall that probably should be burnt to the ground. I worked near the Kitchen for four years and I will admit it isn't the nicest of neighborhoods, but it isn't nearly as bad as he described it. Especially since the city has taken a keen interest in rebuilding a lot of it.
Rating:
Summary: Read his other books first
Review: John Pellam, former stuntman and location scout, is now taking some time off to work on a documentary about the New York City neighborhood called Hell's Kitchen. Located on the west side of Manhattan, it is a rather run down and rough neighborhood. The focus of his documentary is an elderly black woman, Ettie Washington, who has lived in Kitchen all of her life and has been telling Pellam numerous stories about life in that neighborhood. When Pellam goes to visit Ettie one night, the building is set on fire where both he and Ettie barely manage to survive. After the investigation but the NYFD, the fire is ruled an arson and Ettie is immediately arrested as the one who hired the arson. Pellam is conviced of Ettie's innocence and seeks out to find the truth behind the fire. In the process, he captures the attention of the twisted arsonist who begins to focus his hate and passion on Pellam and wants to see him dead. Honestly, I was not too thrilled with this book. It is my first book written by Deaver and he had gotten so many positive reviews that I figured I would give him a shot. The writing style wasn't too bad, but he seems to throw in twists and turns that make no sense and the progression of the story gets jagged at times. Also, I had a problem with the description of the Kitchen. He described the neighborhood to be this nasty hole in the wall that probably should be burnt to the ground. I worked near the Kitchen for four years and I will admit it isn't the nicest of neighborhoods, but it isn't nearly as bad as he described it. Especially since the city has taken a keen interest in rebuilding a lot of it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Heat Is On
Review: The amiable John Pellam is back in his third outing, this time filming an oral history of the Hell's Kitchen area of New York City. His centerpiece is Ettie Washington, a 72 year-old black lady who narrates colorful stories from her checkered past all spent in a five-block area of Hell's Kitchen. A suspicious fire erupts in her tenement injuring her and burns the building to the ground. Arson is suspected and Ettie is the suspect in chief. Deaver sets the mood of the neighborhood and skillfully sketches some interesting characters. The history is presented in a lively manner (have fun while you learn). The dark humor breaks out in a sneaky manner when you least expect it. That's the good news. The bad news is the story lacks focus and consequently does not have tension. There are too many aimless threads. Though Pellam's goal is to find the arsonist and get Effie out of jail, many of the paths he takes have nothing to do with her. I felt as if I were traveling from NYC to Washington DC via Denver and Omaha. There are corporate high jinks, yards of bureaucratic red tape, and worst of all a prevailing pessimism that it really isn't important whether Effie is innocent or not. The last 30 pages are pure Deaver. He twists and turns, the good guys have feet of clay, the villains are actually heroic. You think the action is over, but wait! That was only a prelude to even greater action. No one can set a finale like Deaver. The problem was getting there.
Rating:
Summary: A rich architectural mystery
Review: The cover art doesn't do this book justice. Jeffery Deaver creates a rich archectural landscape for his mystery rather than putting it in some vague cliched archetypal buildings or rooms. The blury red building with yellow lit window does not capture this richness of set and scene! All through the book not one character nor one scene is wasted. It's an extremely tight and satisfying mystery. The last thread that is tied up as a coda is perhaps one that doesn't need to be addressed. One loose end would have giving the piece complete plausability but to explain the protagonist's motivation for being such a good samaritan is unnecessary and overwritten.
Rating: 
Summary: A roller coaster in flames....
Review: The story begins when Ettie Washington, an old black lady is arrested and stands accused of hiring an arsonist to burn down the building where she lives, the neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen in New York City. John Pellam, who was interviewing her during the making of a film about this particular place, finds difficult to believe that she is the culprit and starts to investigate who is behind the fire. From then on Deaver sets a very complicated and intertwined plot, which I have found at some points difficult to follow in terms of the relationships between the different characters and situations, because he was continuously adding too many confusing elements, he went wavering without a precise course in sight. Nevertheless, though the plot somewhat faltered, this book has a terrific ending, masterly crafted, where Deaver speeds up and goes at full steam employing all his ingenious trademark resources and his greatest writing skills, which I have found in some of his other books; many ingenious twists and turns, the sudden comeback of a villain and a great ability to explain everything so as not leave loose ends. This book has his ups and downs and changes speeds like a roller coaster, my four stars ?, one for the plot and three for the ending !!!!
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