Sean Doolittle

#FirstLine - It hadn’t occurred to Stephen Rollins that buying an island was something that anybody, even your old college roommate, could go out and do.

DEVICE FREE WEEKEND is an electrifying thriller that delves into the complexities of friendship and the dangers of technology. Seven friends reunite on a private island for a weekend free from digital distractions, only to find themselves plunged into a suspenseful mystery when their eccentric billionaire host disappears. The blend of show more nostalgia and suspense keeps you engaged as they navigate a deadly game tied to their shared past. The book's fast-paced plot and thought-provoking themes make it a gripping read, leaving you questioning the impact of technology on our lives. Get ready for a thrilling ride where the only way out is to unlock the past and confront the future. show less

I don't usually read thrillers. The focus on action often means that characterization is short-changed, with cartoon-depth villains and women who exist only for the hero's enjoyment. That is changing. In his last adventure, not only does Jack Reacher not sleep with his much younger female partner, but he also indicates interest in a woman his own age, wishing that he had time to get to know her in between fight scenes. But the patterns and expectations remain.

Luckily, there are exceptions show more and the best of those exceptions is Sean Doolittle. He writes well, but most importantly the characters in his books feel like real people. Sure, Lake Country follows the pattern of a guy rescuing a woman in peril, but he's tweaked the expected into something both surprising and a lot of fun to read. The woman in peril is a lot more capable than anyone expected. There are two bad guys, neither of whom are stock villains, although one comes close, Doolittle provides just that little insight into his motivations to make him human. And as for heroes, there are two. A female television news reporter who is both a little burned out and a veteran of the war in Iraq, with a rebuilt knee who is unemployed and spending a lot of time in the local bar. Doolittle doesn't short-change readers on the action. There's plenty of that. But the action makes sense, the hero is not indestructible. His plans don't always work and when they do the consequences aren't what he anticipated. The pretty face reporting at the scene is able to notice things the cops don't and she's worried about what being that person who is first to arrive at the homes of victims means about her own morality.

Lake Country, like the other books by Sean Doolittle that I've read, is intelligent and entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading more by him. Still not a fan of the genre, however. show less

A more than competent thriller from a relative newcomer to the genre; will wonders never cease. The tone, dialog and characterizations were thorough without being wordy or indulgent. Turns of phrase were mostly straight-forward, but not too cliched. One I particularly liked was on page 9 -

"Twenty-six-year-old Maya had imagined herself somewhere in New York City by now, a string of Justin Murdocks bobbing in her wake like channel markers in a wide river of accomplishment."

Little bits like show more that surface and set the prose apart from a lot of what I've read in this genre. It seems like Doolittle put some thought into not just the plot, but also the characters and why they would act the way they do. At least the major ones; Maya and Mike. I like that Doolittle decided to feature a reporter and a non-cop prominently. It felt new. Also the relative ages of them lent a new aspect to the novel's overall feel. The ultra-competitive and amoral world of modern media "journalism" and the after-war life of modern veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Mike is more beat-up, (both mentally and physically), but both are world-weary at an early age. I wonder if that's the price that generation has to bear. They seem like disrupted children to me, surprised by the adult world and tired of it before they even learn to navigate it. The villains (with possibly the exception of Toby and his Uncle Buck) are drawn more typically and one-dimensional than are the good guys. They are there only to serve the story, not for window dressing or deep philosophical meditations.

There was just one flaw that glared out at me in terms of narrative flow; it was Maya's having "quit" her job at News7. It's referred to suddenly; out of the blue, but the actual scene of her saying the words or sending the email doesn't exist. It was jarring and I had to flip back to make sure I didn't skip a page or something. Nope; it just wasn't there and it took me out of the story for a while. Other than that, things ran rather smoothly, studded with tremendous violence. I liked it and will probably end up reading some of his other novels. Oh and it's so refreshing that he doesn't seem to be a series writer yet. I like the idea of a lot of stand-alone novels exploring different places, people and backgrounds. Seems like a bigger field to play on

Read more: http://thebookmarque.blogspot.com/2012/07/lake-country-by-sean-doolittle-2012.ht... show less

I was not familiar with Sean Doolittle before reading this book, but I could become a fan. Not to sell the author short, but if you salted a George Pelecanos plot with Elmore Leonard humor, you might end up with something like Lake Country. (I hope that doesn't make it sound less original than it is.) The prose is clean and clear, the action moves briskly, and the characters are intriguingly flawed. There's an offhandedly dark sense of humor at work that sneaks up on you when you least show more expect it, especially during the more violent scenes. I never quite bought the motivation behind the kidnapping that drives the plot but finally decided that any ambiguity was consistent with the characters and just made the story all the more realistic. My only real disappointment was that there wasn't enough to differentiate the Minnesota setting from any similar place. (Should Hollywood ever decide to make a move of it, which I can easily imagine, they could easily take care of that.) I don't know enough about Doolittle's previous novels to know whether this is the best place to start, but it made me want to read more. show less