Ricochet by Sandra Brown
Written: Nov 07 '09 (Updated Nov 07 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: complicated plot, interesting story
Cons: characters are weak
The Bottom Line: If you like Sandra Brown novels, you'll probably like this; it just isn't her best effort. I'd recommend starting with Envy.
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| serc's Full Review: Sandra Brown - Ricochet Books |
Reading Sandra Brown novels can be a hit or miss affair. Sometimes Brown delivers deliciously fast-paced and fun stories, and sometimes her books read more like a mildly entertaining soap opera. I recently listened to Sandra Brown's Ricochet. It kept me company through 13 hours in the car, but it's not Brown's best effort.
The story revolves around police detective Duncan Hatcher, a cop who is out to take down a very smooth criminal, Robert Savich. He comes painfully close during a trial that Judge Cato Laird ends, citing a conflict of interest with a member of the jury. Soon after, Hatcher must investigate the death of a man shot in Cato Laird's house… apparently by Cato's wife, Elise. Elise and Duncan share a romantic attraction, which complicates the investigation. A tangled web of events follows, in which the reader is never sure whether to trust Elise or Cato.
Because the reader rarely understands the motivations of some of Ricochet's major characters, it is sometimes difficult to find the characters believable. This is one of those novels so driven by the plot that the characters sometimes seem secondary to the story. It's not that they are uninteresting, merely that they are a bit flat. Some of this problem is resolved by developments in the second half of the story, but I found this to be the weakest element in the book.
The narration moves along quickly, as do all of Brown's books. Brown doesn't write long, complicated sentences that require a lot of thought; the prose goes down easily. Because I was listening to the book in an audio format, I had the experience of hearing it read out loud. It was never difficult to follow, but I did find myself stopping and listening to many of the tracks more than once. I've been very distracted with school lately, which may be the majority of the explanation for that, but again, I didn't find the prose particularly compelling and it was easy to let my mind wander. It's serviceable, fast prose, but it's not gripping.
There is explicit content in this book, including graphic language (swearing) and sexual content. It is also mildly violent, although the descriptions of the violent situations are not particularly graphic or alarming. The content is what I have come to expect out of a book I'd classify as a "romantic thriller."
Narration of the unabridged audiobook is provided by Dennis Boutsikaris, who does a decent job of holding everything together. While I thought that his performance overall was good, I disliked the voices that he provided for both Elise Laird and DeeDee Bowen, Dunchan Hatcher's partner. It's difficult for a man to imitate a woman's voice and not sound like he's making fun of her, and Boutsikaris doesn't completely succeed here. In addition, there were moments during some of the romantic and sexual parts of the narrative where Boutsikaris sounded mocking to me as well. His narration of more action-oriented parts of the story and his interpretation of the male character's voices were noticeably stronger areas.
I liked Ricochet by Sandra Brown, but I didn't love it. It's not one that I would read or listen to again, and in a few weeks I’m sure I will have forgotten the plot entirely. This would make good beach reading, but if you want to read Sandra Brown, I'd recommend starting with Envy or White Hot.
This review is a certified Lean-n-Mean review, coming in at 567 words. It is also a submission in the Lean-n-Mean VIII Write-Off, hosted by Epinions member jurgrace. Check out the write-off page to find current "lean-n-mean" reviews, or to write one yourself!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
serc
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 in Books |
 - Top 500 |
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Member: Sara Robinson-Coolidge
Location: Northfield, MN
Reviews written: 1007
Trusted by: 346 members
About Me:
mother of two kids, graduate nurse, feminist, bibliophile, and compulsive Epinions writer
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