The Heat of Lies

Rating:
Summary: Fast-moving, compelling, but under-motivated
Review: A murder case detective Julian Palmer is working on so closely reminds her of her own father's unsolved murder that she cannot put the case to rest. Lacking any other path, Julian decides to bring in Winston Edwards--a cop turned bad who beat a murder rap and once tried to kill Julian.

Edwards forces Julian to re-visit the murder and gradually reveals new insights into the victim, the killer, and Julian's own life and mysteries.

I found Jonathan Stone's style highly approachable. The novel read fast (295 pages of widely spaced type) and both Julian and especially Edwards were interesting characters. Where the novel fell short was in motivation. Although the unsolved mystery could have been enough to lead a detective to bring in an expert (even a rogue cop), Stone did not make the reader feel Julian's emotions enough to make this believable. Although Edwards was a terribly interesting character, his actions did not seem internally consistent or driving toward a comprehensible goal.

I found THE HEAT OF LIES to be enjoyable but also think that Stone could have made it more enjoyable. The defects are not fundamental to the story--but perhaps to his wish to confuse the reader at the price, unfortunately, of confusing his characters and their motivations.

Rating:
Summary: The best book I've read this year
Review: I read and enjoyed Stone's "Cold Truth", his first novel. I thought that the newest would delve deeper into his main character, Julian, and set the stage for a good series.

Well, it was a fast and interesting read, but it did not live up to my expectations in character development, nor did it tell a very good story. Stone has talent, and it will be interesting to see if he can develop it, or if he just writes more of this type to sell to beach readers & airport browsers. I hope not.

The newest relationship between Julian & Bear is implausible. The search, by Bear, for Julian's past just detracts from the Ryan murder, which could have been an excellent mystery on its own. Mr. Stone's "choppy" writing style does not bother me, as it does some of the early reviewers; in fact, I enjoy the way his mind jumps around on the page, but hope he will not use his writing methodology to plot jump again.

If Stone publishes a third, I will buy & try to read it...but he only has one more chance with me!

Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: I read Jonathan Stone's first book, The Cold Truth, and didn't hate it, so I thought I'd buy this one to see where he's going. In circles, if The Heat of Lies (is he starting a temperature series?) is anything to go by. It's relatively easy reading, except for the annoying sentence fragments--often broken in mid-sentence, so that you pause (as grammar intends us to) in the assumption that the thought is ended, only to discover it's continued in the next fragment. Most writers at the outset of their careers go through a phase when they experiment with language, trying to create a rhythm for the prose by bending the rules of grammar. It rarely works. This book would certainly have been less difficult to read if it had been written with full sentences and fewer attempts to be "literary" -- in other words, fewer adverbs and adjectives, and more attention paid to creating a viable heroine. Not for a moment do I believe that Julian Palmer is anything other than a male creation; she says and does things few if any women I've ever encountered would say or do.

What bothered me about this book was the on-again, off-again aspects of the murder of Francis Ryan. Once Julian Palmer, the Lieutenant in charge (?) of this case, narrows her focus on a prime suspect, the focus shifts again, and again, and again, and again, until by the end of the book you're left wondering, "What on earth was that about?" Mr. Stone drags in that old standby of sexual abuse and tosses it about like a puppy with a chew toy, with no real comprehension of the seriousness of the issue.

The notion that this officer would "hire" her ex-con former boss to help her solve the mystery of Ryan's murder is too much of a reach, as is the De Palma-esque ending, intended to leave us wondering if the infamous Winston Edwards will appear in Stone's next effort--perhaps titled, The Tepid of Telling, or The Lukewarm of Soup.

Rating:
Summary: good fast fun
Review: I read Stone's first book, Cold Truth, and reviewed it in Amazon. Without exaggeration, I thought it was one of the most poorly written books I've read in a long time (I read 200-300 books a year, though I certainly don't call myself an expert reviewer) The story was totally unbelievable, the characters paper thin and all the policing in the story was done without the main characters leaving the police station. The so-called heroine, Julian, a police intern, was as dumb as they come (though Stone never stops talking about how georgeous she is--strangely, she seems to have no interest in men--or women either, for that matter.) In Heat of Lies, Julian has somehow advanced to chief of detectives five years later in a much larger police department. Lo and behold, up pops Bear Edwards, the chief in the earlier novel, who tried to murder Julian in that novel. He beat the main rap on a technicality and served only five years in prison. Julian takes him on as a consultant in a current murder she can't solve. Is that believable?? She is afraid to be alone with him, since, after all, he tried to kill her five years ago. What is his agenda?? Frankly, who cares!! The story gets dumber and more far fetched as the pages fly by. A more serious problem than Stone's poorly developed story and characters, is his writing style. He continually puts together sentences with 4, 5 or 6 commas separating totally disparate adjectives, adverbs, phrases that are often mutually contradictory in the context of the thought being expressed, and just totally inane. I have never read anything like it before. There are a couple of these on almost every page. I guess this is to be his "trademark" style. He really ought to forget it, in my opinion. In short, there is nothing to redeem this book.

Rating:
Summary: The best book I've read this year
Review: I read Stone's first book, The Cold Truth, last year, and this new one is just as compelling. It kept me up very late one night, and I had to close my door and read more during my lunch break, that's how well it hooked me. Within a few pages, the Bear was back (quite plausible in the age of O.J.) and the headgames between he and Julian continued, this time with even higher stakes. Julian (now the boss - a great reversal) is so desperate to solve a murder for the sake of the victim's family, that she brings the Bear in to help. Smart? Crazy? Nothing's black & white in Stone's books. He just keeps you guessing, as he peels away layer upon layer of his characters' psyches. You just don't get psychological insight like this from most mysteries, or smart prose like this. And the plot just keeps twisting and turning right to the end. This is as good as it gets - no lie.

Rating:
Summary: Another disappointment from Amazon's Reviews
Review: Lieutenant Julian Palmer works in the Troy, New York Police Department, a powerful position for a young beautiful female. Her life seems in perfect balance until Winston "Bear" Edwards enters her office. Bear was once her friend and mentor in a small town near the Canadian border, but he controlled their hamlet to the point of getting away with murder. Julian saw Bear kill one man, knew he killed another person, and barely fled town before he murdered her. The police arrested Bear but the most powerful evidence mysteriously vanished although the former cop served five years on lesser charges.

For Bear to be in her office leaves Julian to suspect he has an agenda of his own. Meanwhile, Julian works on the murder investigation of a prominent Troy businessman. Even though she cannot explain why, Julian puts Bear on the case, hoping he will lead her to a clue. A strange relationship exists between Julian and Bear that her co-workers notice.

For anyone who enjoys psychological suspense and cerebral puzzles, THE HEAT OF LIES is necessary reading. The relationship between the protagonist and the antagonist is unique, rarely seen in literature or movies, though a reader will wonder why the logical Julian brought Bear into the investigation. Bear remains in the centers of the mysteries, but is he a hero, a villain, or both?

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Great sequel to The Cold Truth
Review: Most of Heat's negative reviews are focused on Heat as literature. OK, it's no Moby Dick. Then again, Moby was poorly reviewed too. Those who liked Heat said it was good for a plane or the beach. Right on. This isn't .... It's just a really good, fast paced, mystery. The author has envisioned the book as a movie and it shows: that could be why the ... of keeping up a quick pace, why the dialogue is more "contemporary" (sentence fragments) instead of labored. I couldn't put this down. .... Self-important, introspective, character analysis with no plot. Who cares? This book delivers on the promise of entertainment, pure and simple. Lastly, I have to add that it is less successful unless you've read Stone's first book, "The Cold Truth". As a sequel it works, but sequels rarely measure up to the original and that is true again here. Start with the "Cold Truth" Thanks Jonathan.