Ernest Dempsey

The Final Round is a wonderful story about redemption and promise. Plenty of emotional moments will tug on your heartstrings while taking you on the proverbial "rollercoaster". As an avid golfer and PGA fan, I had to take one star off because the descriptions of the "tour" life and competition as elucidated by author Dempsey were unrealistic. There were too many little golf "gaffes" in protocol and procedure that were like fingernails on a blackboard for this golfer. Golf purists will know show more what I'm talking about.
That said, these misrepresentations didn't deter from a great story and memorable reading experience. You don't have to be a golfer to enjoy this touching story of an old pro's opportunity for redemption and a young caddie's chance at fame. show less

A fast paced Dan Brown-styled thriller set in the Cherokee tribal lands of North Georgia. When a local archaeologist uncovers a mysterious relic, international mercenaries are soon after it and anyone who can decipher its secret. This skillfully blends the factual – the forced removal of the Cherokee people, the legend of a cave of gold – into a high stakes race to find the fabled treasure the Cherokee had to leave behind. I especially enjoyed the regional history about the show more archaeological sites that was scattered throughout this very suspenseful mystery. show less

Like a few other reviews I've seen of this book, I was put off by the myriad of mistakes regarding the golf portion of "Dew Sweepers" There were so many tournament hole yardage mistakes, incorrect scoring on holes and during tournaments, ignorance of the etiquette of the game (honors on the next tee are determined by the lowest score on the previous hole), inaccurate procedures of golf pros (no pro putts with his glove golf on, nor keep a glove for "years" because it's "broken in"). All of show more these mistakes to this reviewer (an avid golfer and fan of the the PGA tour) were like fingernails on a blackboard. This was such a turn-off for me that I struggled to finish the book. I don't know if author Ernest Dempsey or his editors and proofers are golfers, but if not, find some golfers to pre-read your next golf book.
The story itself - a young pro juggles love, while questioning his ability at the start of his professional career - was interesting enough, albeit a little gloppy and more than a little repetitive at times. There were more than a few times I wanted to tell our protagonist to "man up".
Non-golfers who read the book looking for a decent story about love, loyalty, mentoring, and overcoming obstacles will probably enjoy the book without issue. For golfers, though, either grind your teeth while reading through the dozens of goof-ups regarding the game and its procedures, or skip this book entirely. show less

Not worth your reading time, at least it wasn't worth mine. At least it was short. A thriller in the DaVinci Code/Indiana Jones genre: an academic (or in this case several academics) in pursuit of a mystical artifact, pursued by religious cultists and sinister foreigners. Path strewn with corpses; riddles solved too easily by two separate teams of seekers; stray people joining the chase for no apparent reason. Writing adequate but filled with word selections not quite right, scattered with show more emotional reactions inappropriate to the circumstances, implausible scientific details, and odd character motivations. And to top it off, ends with hanging threads presumably to entice you into reading a subsequent book. No thanks. show less