SHINY WATER

Rating:
Summary: Reality 101
Review: Having attended professional training by the author, I was curious about her books. Folks, the frightening thing is that she is describing the world and thought processes of sexual offenders. If you wonder "how could they do that"- this book is a fascinating and brilliant insight to their minds as well as the realities of "the system." To be honest, I didn't even notice any of the grammatical issues other reviewers found because I was too engrossed in the material! For me, it was validating to read of life through Dr.Michael Stones'eyes, and think,I've seen and thought that myself. I work with Willie and others like him on a daily basis, and I have a new appreciation of these residents, and why I continue to find them so fascinating. I can see myself going to visit Willie to be educated, and I have done this as well as had similar conversations with correctional types. I'm half way through the second book. and have the third waiting. Thank you Anna for going where few seem willing to go.

Rating:
Summary: engrossing character sketch of a new favorite, Dr. Stone
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Michael Stone as a character. Anna Salter's perspective of a "tough" lady is given an important and REAL feeling for the true person - a woman who has known heartache through the loss of a child, but continues to put herself in the noble position of helping other children through her work.

Rating:
Summary: How Did This One Get By Me?
Review: I took this one on a trip and found that airport time flew by as I became engrossed in the mystery of Dr. Michael Stone. From an own experience with issues of child abuse I can say from experience that the author is pretty much on the money about 1) the legal system (in certain places and this was published in 1997) and 2) sexual offenders.

I am definitely going to search out the other books in this series.

The only thing I found somewhat wryly interesting, was that even though the main story is set in the north, why the Southern background of the lead characters in books of this ilk?
Kate Scapetta, Clarice Starling, Tempe Brennan, Deborah Knott come to mind at once and I'm sure there are others. Seems like there is at least a term paper here.

Rating:
Summary: How Did This One Get By Me?
Review: I took this one on a trip and found that airport time flew by as I became engrossed in the mystery of Dr. Michael Stone. From an own experience with issues of child abuse I can say from experience that the author is pretty much on the money about 1) the legal system (in certain places and this was published in 1997) and 2) sexual offenders.

I am definitely going to search out the other books in this series.

The only thing I found somewhat wryly interesting, was that even though the main story is set in the north, why the Southern background of the lead characters in books of this ilk?
Kate Scapetta, Clarice Starling, Tempe Brennan, Deborah Knott come to mind at once and I'm sure there are others. Seems like there is at least a term paper here.

Rating:
Summary: Great author
Review: Psychologist, Michael Stone, is a character I hope to read more of. Her reasoning is well thought out and explained in layman terms throughout the story. Plot weakens a bit in spots or perhaps it was just my anger towards psycho dads who get away with atrocities.

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Debut!!
Review: Shiny Water is the first in what appears to be a series "starring" Dr. Michael Stone. SHE is an amzing individual, very likeable for her her many foibles and hang-ups. The story centers around child molestation and murder. The support characters are very well defined and so real you may feel as if you know them, or perhaps you would like to. Michael is a very hands-on, independent person, who hates being ordered around, giving in to authority and being rescued. When it becomes clear that things aren't as simple as they seem and that the murderer is someone she knows personally, our story really takes off. She visits a sadistic child molester in prison, whom she has "studied" in the past. Willy proves to have very helpful insight in a case that is absolutely right up his alley. The final climactic moments where Micahel faces the killer one-on-one are so intense I found my own breath quicken as she unfolded all of the facts. An fantastic start to what looks to be a great series of stories involving the incomparable Dr. Stone.

Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Debut!!
Review: Shiny Water is the first in what appears to be a series "starring" Dr. Michael Stone. SHE is an amzing individual, very likeable for her her many foibles and hang-ups. The story centers around child molestation and murder. The support characters are very well defined and so real you may feel as if you know them, or perhaps you would like to. Michael is a very hands-on, independent person, who hates being ordered around, giving in to authority and being rescued. When it becomes clear that things aren't as simple as they seem and that the murderer is someone she knows personally, our story really takes off. She visits a sadistic child molester in prison, whom she has "studied" in the past. Willy proves to have very helpful insight in a case that is absolutely right up his alley. The final climactic moments where Micahel faces the killer one-on-one are so intense I found my own breath quicken as she unfolded all of the facts. An fantastic start to what looks to be a great series of stories involving the incomparable Dr. Stone.

Rating:
Summary: WHAT A PAGE TURNER
Review: This book really gets into a mind of a sexual predator, and explains what they're thinking and of their "sick actions" towards innocent young children!!!! But, i can't put the book down!!!

Rating:
Summary: My kind of woman
Review: This is a "who-is-the-child-molester-and-who-is-the-murderer-and-are-they-the-same-person" story. If you just found all these hyphens annoying, keep book shopping. The author uses this little quirk throughout the book, and even in the preview of her next book, Fault Lines, which is included. The main character, Ms. Michael Stone, is not easy to like. I tried, but too many things kept getting in the way. She constantly draws comparisons between events in the story and playing basketball, or "b-ball", as she calls it. Done well, this sort of thing can be quite effective, but that's not the case here. I also found myself rolling my eyes in disgust every time she digressed into references of her mother; it just didn't mesh well with the rest of the story. Ms. Stone is a cliche' as well. You know, the tough woman who is treated like "one of the boys" by the prison guards and officers at the station house while they ogle Playboy in her presence, make "dirty" jokes, and try to hit on her, after which she slams them with some supposedly witty remark...how original. It's hard to feel anything for the other characters and the victims because we aren't given the chance to really get to know any of them; they are treated like props. Ms. Stone is such a self-absorbed character, and not very believable besides. When she was a child her mother had her look at a dead body that she just happened upon, so that she would get used to seeing such things. And yet, the adult Michael Stone "gets squeamish" when using a human silhouette paper target at the firing range. She's supposed to be a champion for victims of sexual abuse, yet when she encounters a known child molester with two of his latest victims in the car with him, all she does is tell the kids to let someone know if he touches them, then lets them drive off...she doesn't even report it to anyone! I felt cheated when I figured out who the murderer was when I was only on page 200; so much for s! uspense. When Ms. Stone finally makes the same discovery, it's in a confusing manner, and hardly believable. I didn't even care who the murderer was, since I really didn't know him anyway. The writing was amateurish, the wording often awkward and clumsy, requiring too many passages to be reread to make sense of them, which was a distraction. It lacks the natural flow of a good writer, lacks depth and originality, and was a complete waste of my time and money.

Rating:
Summary: graphic
Review: This was an interesting mystery that kept you turning pages; however, I did guess the killer's identity. It suffered a bit from first-novel-itis in that the author *told* you much more than showed you. In spots it read like a text on sex offenders. For me, the novel was disturbing and too graphic about child sex abuse although the insights gained were valuable and I did not feel it was exploitative or salacious. I did enjoy the protagonist and found her a fun cross of Deborah Knott, Kinsey Milhone and Clarissa Starling not to mention the sex-offender equivalent of Hannibal Lecter.