Rating: 
Summary: Just a Bit Twisty
Review: A readable but unremarkable story set in the pit of all excess, Hollywood. This is not the first book with the Jimmy Gage protagonist, and it would be helpful to start at the beginning. The story contains a few plot twists to keep it interesting, but they could have been more artfully done. The Killer's ultimate motivation is never made clear. In addition, the protagonist's coup de main's are executed just a bit too easily. This book is OK for the beach.
Rating:
Summary: Just a Bit Twisty
Review: A readable but unremarkable story set in the pit of all excess, Hollywood. This is not the first book with the Jimmy Gage protagonist, and it would be helpful to start at the beginning. The story contains a few plot twists to keep it interesting, but they could have been more artfully done. The Killer's ultimate motivation is never made clear. In addition, the protagonist's coup de main's are executed just a bit too easily. This book is OK for the beach.
Rating: 
Summary: Your hunt for an entertaining mystery is over!
Review: Ace reporter Jimmy Gage (star of 2001's Flinch) is back, investigating another mystery. This one involves famous director Garrett Walsh, whom Gage meets at the end of a wild, drunken scavenger hunt (one of the items on the improbable and varied list is an Oscar). Former wunderkind Walsh, recently released from prison after serving time for the [horrible crime] of a fifteen-year old girl, claims to have been the victim of a massive set up. Eager for publicity, Walsh tells Gage that he's written a screenplay based on those events, entitled "Fall Guy." That script turns up missing a few weeks later after Walsh is found face down in a fishpond, his face mangled by hungry koi. Sensing a bigger story, Gage investigates Walsh's [end of life] while looking into the events that led to the director's conviction. His questions stir up trouble and a string of corpses. Tight and tense, Scavenger Hunt combines solid writing with clever plot twists, resulting in a memorable, fast packed work of fiction that is as darkly funny as it is suspenseful. Jimmy Gage is a winning protagonist, competent yet vulnerable, skeptical yet sympathetic to the underdog. The villain is a likable yet [dangerous] juggernaut who remains in the background until well into the narrative, emerging from the shadows around mid-book to stalk Jimmy and the acquaintances and friends in his orbit. Ferrigno cannily cues readers to the killer's identity with an innocent, but bone chilling line of dialogue, one which sets them on edge until the novel's gripping conclusion. Reminiscent of the work of Carl Hiassen, Elmore Leonard, and Gregory McDonald, Scavenger Hunt is utterly absorbing, an edgy page-turner you'll be sorry to finish.
Rating:
Summary: Your hunt for an entertaining mystery is over!
Review: Ace reporter Jimmy Gage (star of 2001's Flinch) is back, investigating another mystery. This one involves famous director Garrett Walsh, whom Gage meets at the end of a wild, drunken scavenger hunt (one of the items on the improbable and varied list is an Oscar). Former wunderkind Walsh, recently released from prison after serving time for the [horrible crime] of a fifteen-year old girl, claims to have been the victim of a massive set up. Eager for publicity, Walsh tells Gage that he's written a screenplay based on those events, entitled "Fall Guy." That script turns up missing a few weeks later after Walsh is found face down in a fishpond, his face mangled by hungry koi. Sensing a bigger story, Gage investigates Walsh's [end of life] while looking into the events that led to the director's conviction. His questions stir up trouble and a string of corpses. Tight and tense, Scavenger Hunt combines solid writing with clever plot twists, resulting in a memorable, fast packed work of fiction that is as darkly funny as it is suspenseful. Jimmy Gage is a winning protagonist, competent yet vulnerable, skeptical yet sympathetic to the underdog. The villain is a likable yet [dangerous] juggernaut who remains in the background until well into the narrative, emerging from the shadows around mid-book to stalk Jimmy and the acquaintances and friends in his orbit. Ferrigno cannily cues readers to the killer's identity with an innocent, but bone chilling line of dialogue, one which sets them on edge until the novel's gripping conclusion. Reminiscent of the work of Carl Hiassen, Elmore Leonard, and Gregory McDonald, Scavenger Hunt is utterly absorbing, an edgy page-turner you'll be sorry to finish.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven, Ferrigno has done worse -- but he's done better too
Review: At his best ("The Horse Latitudes," "Heartbreaker"), Robert Ferrigno writes stylish, smart thrillers that evoke film noir as imagined by Quentin Tarantino. When Ferrigno's not at his best, his novels are uneven and are something like the literary equivalent of stale Cracker Jacks -- still satisfying and the surprise inside may delight you, but you know you've had better. "Scavenger Hunt" brings back reporter Jimmy Gage (last seen in "Flinch"), who writes articles for the Hollywood magazine "SLAP." Gage is a street smart tough guy whose moral compass is stronger than his legal compass. As long as he thinks he's doing the right thing, he's more than willing to bend the rules. Gage meets former movie director Garrett Walsh, who made a brilliant movie a long time ago, then pled guilty to murdering a high school tart the same day that he met and slept with her. After serving a 7 year sentence, Walsh is determined to write "the most dangerous screenplay," which will explain how he was set up. He wants Gage to write an article about this. Gage thinks Walsh is just a loser who pissed away his talent years ago. But then Walsh ends up face-down in the koi pond of his former house (he was renting a small cabin on the property from the owners), half-eaten by the ravenous fish. Gage gets interested in figuring things out, especially when the coroner pronounces it an accidental death. The supporting characters are drawn nicely, from the tough-as-nails female detective that everyone is afraid of, the retired cop who busted Walsh seven years ago, Gage's assorted buddies who operate just on this side of the law. So why am I less impressed with this than "The Horse Latitudes," which remains in my view Ferrigno's best? At his best, Ferrigno's writing has a fluidity to it that's almost cinematic. It has a power that propels the story forward. In "Scavenger Hunt," on the other hand, there's sometimes a disjointedness, as if particular scenes were written because they should be in there. The best comparison I can think of is between the fight scene in "The Horse Latitudes," where Danny DiMedici has to get past a Samoan bodyguard (and uses cooking oil to help grease things, so to speak) versus the fight between Gage and a husband he's angered in "Scavenger Hunt." The former was tight, exciting, and clever; the latter is okay but a bit tired and abrupt. Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed "Scavenger Hunt," finishing it in just two nights; and if Ferrigno turns out other novels of this quality, he's well worth reading. It's just that I know he's capable of better.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Do yourself a favor. Pick up all of Ferrigno's books starting with The Horse Latitudes. I have to admit that I thought his best book was Horse Latitudes, until I read Scavenger Hunt. I found myself reading the last 50 pages in 10 page chunks because I didn't want it to end. My only complaint is the 12-18 months it takes for Ferrigno to write his next book. Well worth the wait.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: Do yourself a favor. Pick up all of Ferrigno's books starting with The Horse Latitudes. I have to admit that I thought his best book was Horse Latitudes, until I read Scavenger Hunt. I found myself reading the last 50 pages in 10 page chunks because I didn't want it to end. My only complaint is the 12-18 months it takes for Ferrigno to write his next book. Well worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: Another strong Gage book...
Review: Ferringon continues to make me a fan of his work. This novel is populated with fewer strange characters than "Flinch" and is a less personal story (I guess any story where you suspect your brother of being a serial keller is personal as in Flinch)...yet it works. The murder mysteries here take some great turns. Jimmy is far more settled in this book and seems happier. I was sad to see Jane Holt and Desmond relgated to smaller roles. Same with Rollo, although he was around. This was much more about the case and less about these wonderful characters. Still, the mystery is a dandy and Hollywood again is shown to be a place of murder and redemption.
Rating:
Summary: Another strong Gage book...
Review: Ferringon continues to make me a fan of his work. This novel is populated with fewer strange characters than "Flinch" and is a less personal story (I guess any story where you suspect your brother of being a serial keller is personal as in Flinch)...yet it works. The murder mysteries here take some great turns. Jimmy is far more settled in this book and seems happier. I was sad to see Jane Holt and Desmond relgated to smaller roles. Same with Rollo, although he was around. This was much more about the case and less about these wonderful characters. Still, the mystery is a dandy and Hollywood again is shown to be a place of murder and redemption.
Rating:
Summary: Great plot, so-so writing
Review: I almost didn't bother reading past the first chapter or two of this book because the writing is so sub-par compared to what I normally read. Now, this guy's no Dean Koontz or Danielle Steele (I give him much more credit than that), but this book is just simply not well written. Someone needs to remind Mr Ferrigno about the guideline "show, don't tell." I'm not criticizing the book because he didn't always write in a showing manner -- that turns out books that are crummy as well. Unfortunately, a significant chunk of the book is ALL tell and that makes Amy an unhappy camper. Instead of showing that a character was x, y, or z, Mr Ferrigno just flat out tells us. Every. single. time. That's lazy! Aside from a plague of telling, there're also lots of places in the book where the narration is totally stilted and seems very forced. If Mr Ferrigno was trying to imitate the popular "chop" style of newspaper ledes with several long wordy sentences and then a very staccato finishing sentence, he failed. It merely looked like he didn't know what he was doing. There are other issues, and in one case the author uses the wrong character name! The dialog is mostly good, but I don't think there's enough differentiation between the different characters' manner of speaking. I think in lots of places you could swap around the names and you'd never know the difference. Now, you're wondering why I gave it four stars, then. (If I could, it'd be a 3.5, but I'm feeling generous.) Because the story is killer. Sometimes you read a book and love it just for the story, not the writing. Sometimes you read a book and love it just for the writing because the story's no good. This is definitely one of the former, but worth your time, especially if you love twisty plots -- unless, of course, you're even more of a writerly nitpicker than myself.
| 
