Revenge of the Cootie Girls: A Robin Hudson Mystery (Robin Hudson Mysteries (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: Good writing style, less than stellar plot line...
Review: Back to some amateur female detective genre... This time it's Revenge Of The Cootie Girls by Sparkle Hayter. I picked up some of her work earlier and liked it, so I thought I'd keep reading. In this case, it's a good thing this wasn't the first book of hers that I read. It might have been the last. This one just didn't click for me.

Robin Hudson, now an executive producer for the studio she works at, is ready for a Girls Night Out event on Halloween. She invites her best friends as well as an intern who works for her. When the intern doesn't show up at the appointed meeting place, Hudson gets a little concerned. She ends up stumbling onto what appears to be some sort of charity event where her intern is going from place to place, and is then given a clue for the next location. Since the questions are about Hudson, she thinks it's some sort of benefit. But the clues get more bizarre, the locations more risky, and additional people start showing up who don't quite look like they're into "charitable events". Hudson thinks it's all part of something put on by an old school chum (a fellow "cootie girl"), but even that gets complicated. The story works up to a life or death showdown at the end.

I'll give the book an average rating as I like Hayter's writing style and imagery. For story and plot, it'd be a lot lower. The story line is muddled and doesn't move much, and far too much time is spent reexaming Hudson's years as a school outcast. At the end, I'm not quite sure who was doing what, much less why. I sincerely hope for better stuff to come, as I still have a couple more of her books to get to...

Rating:
Summary: Good writing style, less than stellar plot line...
Review: Back to some amateur female detective genre... This time it's Revenge Of The Cootie Girls by Sparkle Hayter. I picked up some of her work earlier and liked it, so I thought I'd keep reading. In this case, it's a good thing this wasn't the first book of hers that I read. It might have been the last. This one just didn't click for me.

Robin Hudson, now an executive producer for the studio she works at, is ready for a Girls Night Out event on Halloween. She invites her best friends as well as an intern who works for her. When the intern doesn't show up at the appointed meeting place, Hudson gets a little concerned. She ends up stumbling onto what appears to be some sort of charity event where her intern is going from place to place, and is then given a clue for the next location. Since the questions are about Hudson, she thinks it's some sort of benefit. But the clues get more bizarre, the locations more risky, and additional people start showing up who don't quite look like they're into "charitable events". Hudson thinks it's all part of something put on by an old school chum (a fellow "cootie girl"), but even that gets complicated. The story works up to a life or death showdown at the end.

I'll give the book an average rating as I like Hayter's writing style and imagery. For story and plot, it'd be a lot lower. The story line is muddled and doesn't move much, and far too much time is spent reexaming Hudson's years as a school outcast. At the end, I'm not quite sure who was doing what, much less why. I sincerely hope for better stuff to come, as I still have a couple more of her books to get to...

Rating:
Summary: Okay, but not as good as earlier ones
Review: Books like this are hard to rate. While it wasn't bad, it wasn't as good as Ms. Hayter's first Robin Hudson mystery, "What's a Girl Gotta Do?" Yes, there were moments of humor, some really good, but all too often I found myself wondering just what in the world was going on. The first part of the story moved right along and was on par with Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series. But then I found myself distracted by lengthy narrations into the history of the Cootie Girls and I lost the train of the plot.

Although the story line was one of revenge, I wasn't quite sure against whom. Was Robin the target, or just a pawn in a bigger plot? And, why? By the time I reached the end, my head was spinning and I was worn out from the convolutions the story took to try and figure it all out. I didn't feel the secondary characters added enough substance to the story, none of them evoked much sympathy from me, and seemed to be included just so Robin would have someone to talk to.

While "Revenge of the Cootie Girls" didn't entertain me as did "What's a Girl Gotta Do?" it wasn't a bad book and did provide a couple night's worth of nice reading. I just hope that Ms.Hayter's other Robin Hudson stories will provide me with greater reading delights.

Rating:
Summary: Too much crammed in
Review: The reminiscences of adolescent rivalries, the Manhattan scene, some of the jokes, the contrasts with the Midwest and the reflections on female bonding were all good in their way. She throws in a mystery based on a Halloween treasure hunt and the whole thing becomes too complex. She strives hard to make her characters zany and eccentric and the plot takes arbitrary twists and turns as she and her friends follow the treasure hunt clues. The descriptions of bizarre costumes are a running gag which becomes repetitious. I bought this and "What's a Girl Gotta Do" (not read yet) after having read "Nice Girls Finish Last" which was easier to understand.

Rating:
Summary: Revenge of the Cootie Girls: A Robin Hudson Mystery
Review: Very disappointed in this book...

It really started off well... But then the mystery part of it completely dropped off and turned into a life story about Robin Hudson rather then a Robin Hudson Mystery...

It's a good read, but definitally not a very good mystery...

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining...but...
Review: Very funny, very unusual, very entertaining! The mystery is secondary to the plot but I did not mind one bit. Refreshing wit and lively characters make this a book you should pick up and read.