Reckless Abandon

I greatly enjoy this writer's Holly Barker (Orchid Beach) series. In this book Holly does a cross-over and visits New York (Stone Barrington territory). Holly winds up in New York in search of the ever elusive Trini. One again someone, (FBI? CIA? Mob?) is playing games and Trini remains one step ahead of Holly and her warrant.

While I could do without the sex scenes (the book can stand alone very well without them), I did enjoy reading the book. It is not quite up to par with the Orchid Beach series and I feel like I am missing a few minute details by not reading the Stone Barrington series. However, I do not have any burning desire to read that series once I finish with this one.

Typical formulaic Stuart Woods work, but that doesn't diminish the enjoyment. It is pure escapism, fast-paced and the dialogue is always terse and usually moving the plot right along. There are enough plot twists to keep a reader interested.

An added benefit is it can be read in a couple of days. I've been reading Woods since I got hooked on "Chiefs" in 1981, forty-one years and still enjoying the stories.

I started this as on some reading lists it was included in the Holly Barker series and yet on others, it was not. I wanted to run screaming. I hate Stone Barrington's character. I had tried that series and couldn't stand him as he was pompous and the entire time he was thinking about who, when, and where he could have sex. Sigh. Initially, I thought Holly is in this one. Alas, she did not bring him up to her level but was dragged down to his. I hate a book that requires me to page forward through the sex scenes to find where the actual story is. I finally, gaging, decided this book held nothing to add to the character of Holly and dropped it like a hot potato.

Whether this is a Holly Barker book or a Stone Harrington book depends upon which series you're reading. It feels like the latter, to me. It was a pretty good Stone Barrington book...brainless but fun. And, other than the occasional errors of fact about the town I live in, it was typical. Holly appears a rube when she comes to NYC trailing her fugative but recovers nicely.

Fun, quick read....no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

My first Stuart Woods and probably my last. The characters and situations are just not credible. Lots of snappy patter, but little else worth reading.

Holly Barker (another Stuart Woods series) comes to NY in search of a fugitive wanted for slaughtering people at a funeral. Of course, she and Stone get involved personally and professionally in the search, in which the fugitive is sheltered by the authorities as an informant in a terrorism case. Holly gets her man.