Peril

Rating:
Summary: Thanks!
Review: I am a big fan of Thomas H Cook and any book by him is worth reading. However this one wasn't as deep as his others and the ending was more predictable than the masterpieces of The Chatham School Affair and Breakheart Hill. The characters seemed stereotyped--gangsters and lounge singers. Maybe he did this on purpose. I don't know. Leo Labriola was well portrayed as a "Godfather" sort of character. The rest of them I didn't care for which made the book less enjoyable for me. I am, however, looking forward to his next one.

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading but not Cook's best
Review: I am a big fan of Thomas H Cook and any book by him is worth reading. However this one wasn't as deep as his others and the ending was more predictable than the masterpieces of The Chatham School Affair and Breakheart Hill. The characters seemed stereotyped--gangsters and lounge singers. Maybe he did this on purpose. I don't know. Leo Labriola was well portrayed as a "Godfather" sort of character. The rest of them I didn't care for which made the book less enjoyable for me. I am, however, looking forward to his next one.

Rating:
Summary: Complete departure
Review: I just want to ask the brilliant author: Why?? This book is a departure from the writing and storytelling in his previous books. He has impressed me tremendously so this book was a real letdown. In fact, I decided half way through I didn't want to finish it, I just didn't enjoy anything about it. There are multiple characters, with the author flipping back and forth. Sadly, none of the characters are worthy of spending time with...and the storyline is....well, boring. I just wonder where this book came from, did Mr. Cook decide to experiment with a new style? I was befuddled by his partnership book with Larry King, which was also very bad. If this was the first book I ever read by this author, I would never read him again.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant work of psychological suspense
Review: Mortimer has three months left at best to live and he has nothing to leave his wife but shattered dreams and hopes. All his money was lost at the track and he is into loan shark Leonardo Labriola for $15,000 with no way to pay it. Labriola's son Tony finds out his wife Sara left him and he does not have a clue why but his father is rabid that his daughter-in-law must be found.

Leonardo's henchman Vinnie knows Mortimer is acquainted with a private investigator named Stark who finds missing people. Labriola will excuse Mortimer's debt and give Stark $30,000 fee for locating Sara. Mortimer gives $15,000 to his friend Abe, who runs a bistro, to give to his wife after he dies. When Abe hires Sara to sing and play music at his bistro a showdown between the various players becomes a certainty.

Thomas H. Cook writes brilliant works of psychological suspense and PERIL is his crowning achievement. Readers are left to wonder until the very last chapter why Sara left Tony after nine years of marriage and why her father-in-law, not her husband is so eager to find her. Events culminate in a showdown at Abe's place of business and the results will shock and stun readers who would have never guessed what demons drove Sara and the other players in this very sick game.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't quite live up to strong opening
Review: Sara Labriola has had enough of abuse. Gathering up her courage, she runs away from her husband, his abusive father, and everything she owns. She has a dream of creating a new life in New York--a dream that isn't really formed, doesn't make a lot of sense, and that she doesn't dare believe that she deserves. But one thing is certain--she can't go back to the life she formerly led. Unfortunately for Sara, her father-in-law has other plans. Leo Labriola is a minor mobster who demands respect and knows that a woman's place is exactly where the dominant male puts her. In his family, he is dominant. It doesn't matter that Sara's husband, Tony, wants Sara left alone. Leo intends to have her found--and punished.

Private detective Stark has a recurring nightmare--that he'll lead another killer to his victim. And something about this case doesn't feel right. His nightmare is sending all sorts of warnings, but he trusts his partner and Mortimer is telling him that this is a simple deal. But Mortimer is lying--in debt to the mob for gambling losses and willing to say anything to get himself out of trouble.

Author Thomas H. Cook starts powerfully. Sara's terror, springing from her current situation and from long-past rapes and victimization, is horribly real painful. Leo Labriola's sidekick, Caruso is also well depicted--torn between fear and admiration for the man who took him in and whom, he hopes, will some day make him a made man in the mob--some day trust him to kill.

Cook's strong beginning doesn't quite carry through to the rest of the novel. There is too much coincidence in the discovery of Sara's hiding place and some characters, especially Stark, are just not that interesting. Still, Cook's writing is strong enough to pull the reader in and it certainly kept me engrossed from the fascinating beginning through the foreshadowed but still unexpected end.

Rating:
Summary: Thanks!
Review: Thanks for the synopsis Harriet! I am sure all those people who are considering buying the book will appreciate your summing up of Peril - you have saved these people a lot of money - now they don't have to buy the book since you tell them practically everything that happens (like you do in all your reviews)

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking work by a true genius
Review: Thomas H. Cook is a genius. I do not recall saying that about any other writer I have ever reviewed. There are some fine writers out there whose work is consistently excellent. They are highly regarded by all who read the genre. Writers such as James Lee Burke, Mike Connelly, Dennis Lehane and others who write a superior novel in a style easily distinguished from others. However, Tom Cook not only writes a novel as good as any of the others, but, his style changes from one book to the next. Perhaps this is why he is not as wildly popular as some others. One never knows what to expect. Tom Cook has gone through phases where books consecutively written are somewhat similar in style and tone, such as the great BREAKHEART HILL or the Edgar winning, THE CHATHAM SCHOOL AFFAIR- historical dramas evaluating love and loss. Now he is in a phase of writing modern crime novels.
PERIL concerns Sara Labriola, wife of a mobster's son. She leaves her husband, Tony, to start a new life away from her husband and especially away from her father in law, Leonardo. She lives with fears unknown to us and wants nothing more than to disappear. However, Leonardo refuses to let her run away and insists on having her found and punished. To accomplish this task he enlists his henchman, Caruso. Tony, fearing what his evil father will do to Sara, if found, hires his own man to find her. So the novel becomes a game of several cats and only one mouse.
The novel has a unique structure. It is told from the viewpoint of seven to eight different characters. Initially, each story is unique and quite disjointed. However, as we proceed through the novel, the individual stories get shorter and shorter thereby quickening the pacing and eventually as all comes together in the end flows from one narrative to the next. It is a unique structure and quite ingenious. The only weakness in the novel is the somewhat stereotypic depiction of the evil Leo Labriola and the ludicrous coincidence of Sara's choice of a bar to work in. Truly breathtaking.

Rating:
Summary: Could not put this down
Review: Yet another great story by Cook - this one not as dark as previous works. I liked the way each chapter is from one of the characters point of view - it gives the reader different perspectives of the same scene. Very, very fast read - a change from past Thomas Cook novels. Only minor problems are characters: one is WAY over-the-top (the bad guy), while another is under-developed (the heroine). Otherwise, a terrific book for a short weekend.