The Devil Went Down to Austin

Rating:
Summary: Now I'll have to read his others
Review: A very good read, though I had trouble at the start, because of the dark and slightly confusing way the book begins. You have to try to piece together what's going on with insufficient info. Try to read it straight through, so you remember the yet to be connected stuff you need.

By about one-third into it, it starts to come together and is amusing, suspensful, and entertaining. The setting in Austin is a bonus to those like me who know some but too little about the area as it is today.

Rating:
Summary: The Reigning King of Texas Mysteries
Review: As a mystery writer with my first novel in its initial release, I've been an admirer of Mr. Riordan's work since his first Tres Navarre book appeared in print four novels ago. Tres Navarre is a San Antonio PI and English professor, and this current case involves his brother Garrett as the prime suspect in a homicide. Jimmy Doebler gets murdered a short while after getting divorced from Ruby McBride, one of Garrett's business partners. Garrett has mortgaged the family ranch to start an Internet company. In THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO AUSTIN, Tres has to solve the murder, clear his brother, and save the homestead. This book is another winner for Rick Riordan. Read it today.

Rating:
Summary: The Reigning King of Texas Mysteries
Review: As a mystery writer with my first novel in its initial release, I've been an admirer of Mr. Riordan's work since his first Tres Navarre book appeared in print four novels ago. Tres Navarre is a San Antonio PI and English professor, and this current case involves his brother Garrett as the prime suspect in a homicide. Jimmy Doebler gets murdered a short while after getting divorced from Ruby McBride, one of Garrett's business partners. Garrett has mortgaged the family ranch to start an Internet company. In THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO AUSTIN, Tres has to solve the murder, clear his brother, and save the homestead. This book is another winner for Rick Riordan. Read it today.

Rating:
Summary: Hooked Horns
Review: Author Rick Riordan has again captured the Texan ambiance, this time going to up to Austin from San Antonio to help his parrothead brother, Garrett, out of a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" quagmire. Buffett fans wiIl enjoy this!

But I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous installments, and there are several reasons. I was out of my depth on the SCUBA stuff. I found the E-Mails throughout the book to be disconcerting, thinking: Besides the text, what am I supposed to be looking at? The sender? The addressee? The mailing list?

SEMI-SPOILER: If you haven't read the book yet, stop reading this review NOW. I was also confused about Jimmy's aunt's name: Faye Doebler-Ingram. I thought maybe it would turn out to be of major import, but, in the end, it is mere error. Faye is Clara's sister. Clara married into the Doebbler family and name. Faye, on the other hand, is referred to as a spinster and tells us "I never married." So, she would not have her sister's married name as part of her own. Riordan & his editors might have wasted away on one too many margaritas?

Anyway, it's a fun book and well worth a read.

Rating:
Summary: Hooked Horns
Review: Author Rick Riordan has again captured the Texan ambiance, this time going to up to Austin from San Antonio to help his parrothead brother, Garrett, out of a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" quagmire. Buffett fans wiIl enjoy this!

But I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous installments, and there are several reasons. I was out of my depth on the SCUBA stuff. I found the E-Mails throughout the book to be disconcerting, thinking: Besides the text, what am I supposed to be looking at? The sender? The addressee? The mailing list?

SEMI-SPOILER: If you haven't read the book yet, stop reading this review NOW. I was also confused about Jimmy's aunt's name: Faye Doebler-Ingram. I thought maybe it would turn out to be of major import, but, in the end, it is mere error. Faye is Clara's sister. Clara married into the Doebbler family and name. Faye, on the other hand, is referred to as a spinster and tells us "I never married." So, she would not have her sister's married name as part of her own. Riordan & his editors might have wasted away on one too many margaritas?

Anyway, it's a fun book and well worth a read.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Mess with Texas
Review: Author Rick Riordan is on a roll! In this story, a murder investigation of Tres Navarre's friend, yields Navarre's brother as the #1 suspect. No room for error in Texas--a certain death sentence is looming. Riordan displays quite an aptitude for characterizations, as well as a great grasp of the great state of Texas.

Rating:
Summary: Riordan has hit his stride
Review: English professor-cum-PI Tres Navarre heads from San Antonio up to Austin just in time to see his brother Garrett arrested for murder. A highly personal case becomes even more personal when attorney Maia Lee, the past love Tres never got over, arrives to defend Garrett and uncover facts about one of her own ex-clients.

I read 'Devil Went Down...', the fourth Tres Navarre title, immediately after finishing the first one, 'Big Red Tequila.' It's clear that author Rick Riordan's style and plotting have improved over time. Not that they were ever bad to start with -- far from it. But though still packed with Riordan's trademark twists and turns, the story in 'Devil Went Down...' was easier for me to follow than the often convoluted plots of earlier titles. Part of the difference may be that there seemed to be fewer characters to keep straight in this story.

There's one element of this book I'm not so sure about. From time to time, Riordan interrupts the narrative to include anonymous email messages. I won't spoil anything by saying what relevance, if any, these have to the story. But for the first time in the series, the reader has information that's not available to our narrator. As I said, I'm still not sure what I think of that.

On the other hand, I want to thank Rick Riordan for not allowing this novel's scuba-diving scenes to become James Bond-movie-style underwater mega-battle parodies. That would have been a tough hurdle for me to overcome.

This story takes place almost entirely in Austin, not Tres' hometown of San Antonio. But the South Texas atmosphere is still strong, Tres is maturing as a person (in his world) and as a fully drawn character (in ours), the other characterizations are solid, and the story itself is powerful. Of the four Navarre titles so far, the third and fourth have been my favorites. Which suggests that even greater things are to come -- he wrote hopefully.

Rating:
Summary: A Parrot Looks at Riordan
Review: In all fairness, let's set the paradigm. I am a Parrothead, so, any book that even mentions Jimmy Buffett is on my must-read list. That's why I picked up Riordan's book. That is not, however, why I couldn't put it down. His characters are high-definition, his plot is intriguing and very timely, but what I enjoyed most was how he can turn a phrase and/or capture a feeling or a mood. From the "aluminum quality" of sinking beneath water, to Austin's "big-boned sister," his writing is truly superb, and very deserving of his many literary awards. This is a writer to watch. He has the urbane quality of a Burke, he approaches the dialogue ability of a Leonard, and his characters laugh at themselves like Parker, but there is really something special and unique about Riordan, his outstanding ability to trigger the senses with his words, to "show" (not "tell"). There was a time we all looked at Harris for that quality; turn your eyes toward Riordan.

Rating:
Summary: A Parrot Looks at Riordan
Review: In all fairness, let's set the paradigm. I am a Parrothead, so, any book that even mentions Jimmy Buffett is on my must-read list. That's why I picked up Riordan's book. That is not, however, why I couldn't put it down. His characters are high-definition, his plot is intriguing and very timely, but what I enjoyed most was how he can turn a phrase and/or capture a feeling or a mood. From the "aluminum quality" of sinking beneath water, to Austin's "big-boned sister," his writing is truly superb, and very deserving of his many literary awards. This is a writer to watch. He has the urbane quality of a Burke, he approaches the dialogue ability of a Leonard, and his characters laugh at themselves like Parker, but there is really something special and unique about Riordan, his outstanding ability to trigger the senses with his words, to "show" (not "tell"). There was a time we all looked at Harris for that quality; turn your eyes toward Riordan.

Rating:
Summary: Now I Have To Find His Other Books!
Review: It must be nice to burst on the mystery scene and pick up awards right and left for your books, as Rick Riordan has done. But he's very deserving, if his latest novel is any indication. _The Devil Went Down to Austin_ is the first Riordan book I've read and it was a real stunner. This was an excellent mystery, with an assured authorial voice behind it. I want more.

Riordan's PI, Tres Navarre, somewhat reluctantly gets involved when his older brother, Garrett, becomes suspect number one in the murder of his old friend and business partner in a computer start-up, Jimmy Doebler. Neither Jimmy or Garrett, both skilled programmers, has much in the way of business acumen, and it appears that perhaps there's a sinister scheme underway to undermine their product, a potentially lucrative security system, and get them to sell for peanuts. Tres, sho normally works out of a home base in San Antonio, has been hired to teach a summer school course in British literature at the university, so it is his proximity, in part, which draws him into the investigation. There are also unexplored feelings of guilt regarding his brother and an accident in the past which took Garrett's legs.

There are some excellent things here: very clear, vivid descriptions of scuba diving; a very frightening, psychopathic killer, whose true identity is continually misdirected; and family infighting among the Doebler clan. Tres is a vivid creation, as are his brother, his old girlfriend, Maia Lee, and the local policeman, Victor Lopez. I had a great time with this book and am eagerly looking forward to reading the others in this series. Receives my strongest recommendation!