Not my favourite Sanford, by any means, but this is a question of personal taste. The storyline, in itself, is a gripping, fast paced and well recounted tale. So what didn't I like? I did not like the main character, on Jake Winter. He was a snivelling combination of outrageous and conflicting personality and character traits. A sexually obsessed, Afghan war 'hero' with a limp from the over used roadside bomb blast victim model who walks with difficulty using a cane yet nonetheless offers to kick the ass of every opponent standing in his way. He is a pro-democratic left wing sort of guy, who wears his hair a tad long and knows all the ins and outs of Washington and has the intelligence and insight of two Robert Langdon's (Da Vinci code etc. The story also maintains its politically correct posture by including a a ring of elite Gay desperadoes, as though every second politician in DC is an undercover homosexual (well that might well be actually), but again, that appears to be but yet another anti conservative sear by the Liberal Sanford, who seems to have conveniently overlooked Hollywood and the democrats on that score. This book was really a fifty fifty balance, by that I mean it is a book you love to hate. While the story line is gripping and readable the peripherals are liberally infused rubbish. It is a shame because what I found as a promising tale was let down by Sandford's, liberal bias. This was a mix between a political slumming and and excellent murder mystery. Besides these shortcomings the names of the characters were trite and unimaginative, making it more difficult to "visualize" them; Johnnie, Black, Madison (tits and ass conservative)Jake Winter (the super stud, Howard Barber (Homosexual black stud), Arlo Goodman (the red-neck conservative); Lincoln Bowes (Of course Madison's homosexual husband, Lincoln and Madison anyone??). Then there is the explicit sex scene as if such in-depth detail were necessary, which drags it down to the level of pulp fiction. Of course every young girl is hot for his Winter's body,while the character considers bonking his est friend Billy's wife on a hunting trip. A Starbucks type of guy. A pretty wretched anti-hero and particularly good example of a worthy candidate for the type of loathing Sandford reserves for conservatives and republicans. At one point he (or John Camp's[Sandford's real name] stand in states: "...most recently a schoolteacher who claimed he had a dynamite belt and attempted to blow himself up on the committees front porch, in protest of Republican educational policies. A protest, in Jake's view that was fully justified." or how about: "Undoubtedly he thought, full of that fuckin' Anyn Rand and Newt Gingrich." and on and n it went, simplistic characterizations of the worst sort. Ironically, this is the second time I've read this novel without noticing it until halfway through (always a bad sign. This means it failed to impress me the first time around. Still I was able to wade through in three days, a pretty good rate for me for a 400 page book. The book may be worth reading once, maybe, certainly not twice, definitely. This was not a novel form the Prey series, so maybe someone else had a hand in drafting this, whatever the case I am now leery of any of Sandfords newer work, this one put a damper on my previous enthusiasm. Finally I had been ready to pop it with 3 stars for the quality of the writing but after careful reviewing and considering the entire aspect I knocked it down even further. Vulgar,crude coarse and overly simplistic, it will pass your time and little else. This one was a loser in my opinion.
Skip this one. The story is improbable, and the protagonist is unappealing. His stupidity gets people killed. He gets beat up. He can't outsmart the bad guys, so he tries to outshoot them. He elects to use a relatively slow-operating bolt-action rifle to take on a couple of bad guys armed with automatic weapons. How smart is that? He could have easily purchased a relatively inexpensive, but still very accurate, semi-automatic rifle with a telescopic sight that would have given him a faster shooting weapon, but he didn't. The most commonly seen sentence in the book is "I don't know," with the protagonist, Jake Winter, saying it more than twenty times.There are some inconsistencies in the book. In the very beginning (the second page) Madison Bowe sees a face with a pair of binoculars in the woods while she is riding her horse. We never learn whose face is seen, and we never hear anything more about it. Another loose end left dangling is the witness in Wisconsin, Sarah Levine, who Winter promises will be taken care of by his friends in Washington, but about whom we never hear any more after page #173. Being generous, I award 2 stars.
What do You think about Dead Watch (2007)?
A very intriguing from the mind and pen of John Sandford. A former Senator disappears mysteriously and it is of such political importance a researcher who does special projects for the government is asked to find the Senator. Our researchers name is Jacob Winter, he begins to stir up problems for all culpable and soon things begin to happen. The Senator turns up dead, and the details of his death will get your mind to work. The investigation leads to the Governor of Virginia and his watchmen, into some heavy political situations, you are with the researcher as his mind generates thoughts and as he works leads. This is a very interesting character written in the Sandford model and the story with his particular technique.
—Jim
Listened to this as an audiobook. It was not a typical Sandford book as it was not set in Minnesota, nor was it about Davenport or Flowers, but it was fast paced and made for a good listen. Sandford's Lucas Davenport books are still my favorite but I would recommend this book for a change of pace. The setting is mainly the east coast, in particular DC, but there is a Wisconsin connection as well. Jake Winter is a former army intelligence officer now working for the White House. This story has a few surprising twists that will keep your interest until the very end.
—Lynn
Listened to this as an audiobook. Read by a favorite: Richard Ferrone who seems to make a specialty of John Sandford's books.A refreshing change from the increasingly redundant Lucas Davenport series. In this case we follow Jacob, "Jake," Winter, a "forensic bureaucracy specialist." He works for the president's chief of staff as a fixer who uses his knowledge of the bureaucracy to solve problems. He has one "Rule": who benefits? Answer that question and most every problem becomes easily solvable. Shades of Mike Lawson's Joe DeMarco, another very good series.Madeline Bowe's husband, Lincoln, an ex-Senator has disappeared. He was becoming a thorn in the side of the "Watchman" a nebulous group reminiscent of the Brown Shirts and Ku Klux Klan all rolled into one. Jake's "research" soon uncovers a much larger plot related to the presidential election. To reveal any more might spoil it. All that being said, my one complaint is that some of Jake's more extreme actions in the end of the book (endings are not a Sandford strong suit,) seem out of character and occur only because it gets the author off the hook. I much prefer conclusions that use the protagonist's intelligence to turn the evil-doer's actions back on themselves without the seemingly inevitable reliance on bullets, to my way of thinking, the dummies' way out. I suppose many authors feel the necessity to appeal to the large segment who complain if there's no "action." Action is cheap.Great for traveling, mowing, doing chores.P.S. I forgot to add one little entertaining tidbit. One of the fellows Flowers interviews mentions he had been arrested for defenestration at the New Prague Inn. If you know anything about Czech history that will bring a smile.It's also totally depressing to have a Pontiac Tempest be described as an antique car.
—Eric_W
