No Questions Asked

Rating:
Summary: Not the best St. Ives
Review: A nice quick read for Ross Thomas fans, but this novel lacks his usual ironic punch. This book finds the series hero Philip St. Ives in a financial and spiritual funk that carries through unabated to the very last line. There's not much mystery and not enough suspects to sustain any tension. All that remains is Thomas's sharply honed writing style, so, even when the story falters, the reader is carried along

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant reading but not the best of Ross Thomas
Review: No Questions Asked is part of a series of books that Ross Thomas wrote under a pseudonym. I have always felt that these books lacked the brilliant fire that one gets in all of Thomas's other fiction. The hero of the series is a peculiar invention - a 'professional go-between', a middle man for every situation who functions in roles ranging from negotiator to detective. Like John D. McDonald's hero, Travis McGee - a professional 'finder' of things lost or stolen - this allows St. Ives to find himself in numerous dangerous, life threatening situations with ample opportunity for plot twists and betrayal. But unlike McDonald's books, these stories lack the strong cast of supporting characters, a sense of place and, most important, a central figure that is really memorable. This is strange, because Thomas can create characters both sympathetic and loathsome with great skill, and does so in all the novels created under his own name. But St. Ives seems (much like his profession) something of a contrivance, and doesn't engage the reader's empathy in the same way that McCorkle, Padillo, Artie Wu or Quincy Durant do. I have often wondered if by writing under a name other than his own, he had assumed some characteristics of the made up author that limited what he could achieve. Whatever, these books are missing something that one finds in all his others.

Still, the books are fun to read. For all that might be missing, Thomas is still a master craftsman and his language - both in exposition and in dialogue - is superior to the vast majority of thriller writers. I have never finished one of his books and felt cheated. He is simply the best at what he does.

Rating:
Summary: Twilight for Philip St. Ives
Review: The last of the 5 Philip St. Ives books that Ross Thomas originally wrote under his Oliver Bleeck pseudonym, "No Questions Asked" delivers the suspenseful multi-layered plot form that Ross Thomas patented, seamlessly integrating action with mystery. Again wryly observant of the criminal machinations around him, St. Ives navigates the underworlds of corporate Washington, D.C. and sunny, affluent Malibu. A must-read for Ross Thomas fans, especially mystery lovers.