Every Trace

Rating:
Summary: I smell a made-for-TV movie here.
Review: As a very young girl, Ellen is in her father's office when he is murdered by two intruders. The actual shooter is never identified or caught. His accomplice, Walker, is convicted and serves 30 years in prison. On his release, Ellen tracks Walker down with the intent of forcing him to tell her who the shooter was (or is, so she can find and kill him). To accomplish this, she disappears suddenly and without warning out of the suburban Dallas life that she shares with her recently-adulterous husband, Pete, intentionally obliterating "every trace" of her plan and movements as she stalks her quarry. Pete, in turn, is left to frantically track her down because, of course, he still loves her.

This is the first novel by Greg Main, an occasional screenwriter, and it shows. The plot and characters are painted in broad brushstrokes that lend the story to a Sunday night, TV-movie adaptation. However, just as it doesn't have the makings for a big screen film, it's also not of the caliber of a first rate piece of fiction.

The story line sprints to a predictable finish: the good guys win and the bad guys are killed off, and, for good measure, Ellen's marriage with Pete is saved. The one particularly good plot element is the love/hate relationship that develops between Ellen and Walker. Because of this twist, I've given Greg 4 stars for effort, though the novel as a whole is closer to a 3.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ
Review: I am an avid reader and I was spellbound by this book. It was excellent, I couldn't put it down until I finished it 1 day later. I have beem searching the internet for anymore books Gregg Main has written. It stated that'Every Trace" was his first and I just hope it isn't his last.

Rating:
Summary: A Pretty Good Book!
Review: I truly enjoyed this book. I agree with one of the other reviewers regardng the flaws, but it did not really detract from the story. Look forward to his next novel.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Mystery/Thriller with a Wonderful Female Protagonist
Review: I was really on the edge of my seat with this book. It was such a great story with amazing characters. The antagonist, Walker, is truly superb. Original, funny (without trying to be), confused yet brutal. Really the most fascinating character I've read in a novel in years. I also liked that the protagonist is a regular woman on a mission. She's not a detective or superhero but a college professor's wife who, however misguided, decides to avenge the death of her father that occurred when she was a small child. I look forward to reading Gregg Main's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Myster/Thriller with Good Woman Protagonist
Review: I was really on the edge of my seat with this book. It was such a great story with amazing characters. The antagonist, Walker, is truly superb. Original, funny (without trying to be), confused yet brutal. Really the most fascinating character I've read in a novel in years. I also liked that the protagonist is a regular woman on a mission. She's not a detective or superhero but a college professor's wife who, however misguided, decides to avenge the death of her father that occurred when she was a small child. I look forward to reading Gregg Main's next book.

Rating:
Summary: Different, but enjoyable
Review: Not a bad first book. The twist of the story gives this an extra star. There is no suprise ending here, very predicable - but an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: A PROMISING DEBUT
Review: The plot may be predictable but the characters are not, which may, to a great degree, be what carries screenwriter Gregg Main's debut thriller Every Trace. A petty thief and convicted murderer seems a poor choice for an affecting protagonist, but in the deft hands of Mr. Main it works. Gruff, grizzly, enigmatic Franklin Walker intrigues and even elicits sympathy as beneath his crusty carapace one finds some drops of human kindness.

When Ellen Donelly has a pack-your-bag-and-leave fight with her husband, Pete, she says she needs some time and is going to visit her sister. Several days later, Pete discovers that Ellen has not gone to see her sister nor was her sister expecting her. Ellen has disappeared.

What Pete does not know is that Ellen has been haunted for years by her father's murder - a slaying she witnessed when she was only four-years-old. Two men had broken into her father's office. They shot him and then set fire to the building. One of the men, Franklin Walker, was captured and spent 30 years in prison for his crime. He never revealed the name of the second man, the one who fired the fatal bullets.

Determined to find the man who actually killed her father, Ellen, disguised and with a false I.D., has gone to California to find the 63-year-old Walker and force him to tell her the murderer's name. But stalker becomes captive when Walker wrestles a gun from Ellen and takes her prisoner.

Alan Barton, Walker's accomplice in crime, orders the parolee to kill Ellen but Walker cannot bring himself to do it. A devotee of self-help books, he searches vainly for a positive solution, knowing that Barton will surely kill him if he does not obey.

A showdown with Barton seems the only solution, so he and Ellen head for Barton's cabin in the remote mountains of New Mexico.

Meanwhile, Pete has done some investigating of his own and discovered that Ellen has long planned to exact revenge. With the help of a computer whiz friend who is able to retrieve information from Ellen's computer and a curmudgeonly L.A. detective, Pete traces Ellen and he, too, heads for New Mexico.

With a succession of wrong turns and near misses the author skillfully zings his narrative along to a bloody, bullet-riddled, flaming crescendo.

While readers may well guess on page 3 who has masterminded these nefarious doings. The key is we didn't know Franklin Walker, and he's well worth the read.