David F. Berens

I really liked the first book in the series, and so I bought the other 3.
Oven Blue is the second one in the series, and while it took a little bit of time to get going, it turned out to be quite an imaginative storyline. CIA teams battling against each other while regular civilians get caught in the middle. These are light mysteries and rather enjoyable to read.
I look forward to reading the other two books in the series.

I definitely felt like this was a more plot driven or action driven style than a character driven style. I never really felt like I got to know the characters beyond the basic level. The story was interesting, but not enough that I feel like I have to go out and search for the next book in the series, sorry to say.

I've had this in my library for a while and finally got around to reading it. It was not what I expected. It does indeed give some background into Troy Bodean's past and as a prequel it probably does it's job.

The book claims "You'll laugh, you'll cry laughing, and then you'll laugh some more." From that I expected a funny or hilarious tale but there are very few even mildly amusing moments. Not much in the way of excitement or action either so it felt like a bit of a let down. I finished show more reading it because I hoped it might pick up and because it was only a short read anyway.

Hopefully the next in the series will be much better. show less

The plot is very well done, with a lot of different stories intertwined in both believable and absurd ways. The characters are entertaining in funny and absurd ways. To a certain extent, the primary character (Troy Bodean) is really secondary to the others.

This would have been a three star book, but I thought the violence was a bit excessive and took away from the fun of the plot and characters.