Edward Stewart (1938–1996)

I discovered this book over twenty years ago in the public library. I was in 7th or 8th grade and I had a voracious appetite for reading and had already read through several Stephen Kings, all of the available Christopher Pikes, most of the R.L. Stines... well, you can see the type of book I was reading back then. But I was looking for something different.. something I could really get lost in. I found this hard-cover, largely nondescript book somewhere on one of the back walls. I was with show more my best friend who was newly obsessed with the Clan of the Cave Bear series, which I couldn't get into. I started reading this and never looked back. I often think of it as the first non-horror book I really enjoyed.

Fast forward about 18 years and I'm feeling particularly nostalgic. I am certain that somewhere in the back of my head the title of "that one book that was SO good" was Ballerina. I start in on Google, amazon, goodreads, biblio, etc. I really searched. I could not find it. Until I thought... you know, maybe it IS that out-of-print one by Edward Stewart. I ordered two copies - just in case.

How pleased I was when it not only WAS that book, but that upon reading it again as a lawyer in her early thirties, I discovered that it was JUST AS GOOD. Such a well done novel that simultaneously makes the ballerina world look enrapturing, exciting, and devastating. It delves into the pain, the politics, the pressure. And it also brings the reader with it into the highs, the accomplishments, the glory.

I highly recommend this book. show less

I discovered this book over twenty years ago in the public library. I was in 7th or 8th grade and I had a voracious appetite for reading and had already read through several Stephen Kings, all of the available Christopher Pikes, most of the R.L. Stines... well, you can see the type of book I was reading back then. But I was looking for something different.. something I could really get lost in. I found this hard-cover, largely nondescript book somewhere on one of the back walls. I was with show more my best friend who was newly obsessed with the Clan of the Cave Bear series, which I couldn't get into. I started reading this and never looked back. I often think of it as the first non-horror book I really enjoyed.

Fast forward about 18 years and I'm feeling particularly nostalgic. I am certain that somewhere in the back of my head the title of "that one book that was SO good" was Ballerina. I start in on Google, amazon, goodreads, biblio, etc. I really searched. I could not find it. Until I thought... you know, maybe it IS that out-of-print one by Edward Stewart. I ordered two copies - just in case.

How pleased I was when it not only WAS that book, but that upon reading it again as a lawyer in her early thirties, I discovered that it was JUST AS GOOD. Such a well done novel that simultaneously makes the ballerina world look enrapturing, exciting, and devastating. It delves into the pain, the politics, the pressure. And it also brings the reader with it into the highs, the accomplishments, the glory.

I am so happy that others agree. I highly recommend this book. show less

This is one of those books that's supposed to be a crappy, popular fiction, not-much-better-than-a-Danielle-Steel kind of book, but actually manages to be very satisfying and good. Stewart delves into the world of New York City ballet from the view of two young girls who audition for a large dance company and ultimately become professional ballerinas. Along with a riveting plot line, the author manages to create a certain melancholic aura that pervades the entire novel. He shows that while show more the world of ballet can be glamorous and addictive, it can also be filled with disappointment, resentment and pain. show less

I ran across Edward Stewart’s Lt. Vincent Cardozo series in an Amazon Kindle special promotion. They have been resurrected by Open Road Media, and I’m glad I found them. Stewart, who died at age 58, in 1996, had been a relatively unknown author, but this series promised to perhaps change that. It consists of four books, the last, Jury Double, having been published after his death. One reviewer suggested had he lived the series might have evolved into something like Ed McBain’s 87th show more Precinct series; high praise, indeed. This one is the first.

The book begins with the vignette of a woman awaking after lying in a coma for almost 100 months following an accident. The scene then shifts to Cordozo on the beach being called to the homicide of a man in a mask whose leg had been amputated.

Well written with some nice phrases, e.g.: “ The air in the stairwell pressed like a blanket soaked in hot water.” and “a man who moved with the ease of a stone wall learning to walk.” Dobbs, the gossip columnist reminds me of Alice Longworth who said, “If you have nothing good to say come sit here by me.” He had some wickedly funny comments during his interview with the cops.

Another telling quote that hit home: “No matter what else happens,” he said, “no matter what else you discover has happened, hold on to work. Work is the last, the most important, the only frontier. Everything else comes and goes—but work stays. The one friend, the one parent, the one child, the one lover. It’s the only thread we’ve got to guide us through this labyrinth we call a life.”

On the other hand, this is not a book for the squeamish. There are some descriptions of sexual depravities that would, I’m sure, disturb the fearful and puritanical. I knocked off a star for what I thought were coincidences beyond belief, but generally still a good police procedural. show less