SMOLDER,
Brett Battles
Synopsis
In this latest adrenaline-fueled adventure in the #1 New York Times bestselling series, Stone Barrington faces his most vindictive threat yet.Finally enjoying some downtime in Santa Fe, Stone Barrington agrees to attend an art exhibit with a dear friend. There, he encounters an intriguing woman who is on the trail of a ring of art thieves. Always one to please, Stone offers his help.From Santa Fe to Los Angeles, it quickly becomes clear that her investigation has links to Stone—particularly to rare Matilda Stone art, his mother’s paintings. And when old grudges come to light, Stone is forced to reckon with a familiar enemy. Stone must act fast before whoever is out to get him finally closes in on him . . . for good.
Richard says
Stuart Woods died in 2022. He was the creator of the Stone Barrington series, murder-thriller stories written from the perspective of a well off traveller. His character dined at world renown restaurants, drank high class wine and whiskey and travelled in luxury, usually in a jet for Woods was a pilot with his own plane.
Woods’ first book, Chiefs, was unreservedly his best. Read my review in my books review section. His Stone Barrington books were consistently enjoyable reads. I liked reading them on my iPad as I could switch to maps or the Internet and browse the restaurants he was writing about and read their menus. They were actual places with real owners who, like all things, eventually passed away and died off. But the books remained.
Smolder by Battles is an attempt to continue the Barrington books. I feel it misses the mark for some reason. I cannot say exactly why but Woods’ books felt as if they had more atmosphere, more authenticity. Battles writes well but somehow his narration just seems to lack the feeling or atmosphere that Woods generated. I felt this way about Smolder before I even realized it was written by another writer and before I knew about Woods’ passing. The story just didn’t feel right. It did have the aura that Woods’ writing had. It didn’t have the atmosphere. You read the story and everything clicked or developed as it should but feeling just did right.
The book was a “miss ” for me. Acceptably written, decent plot, good development but not the right feeling. Too bad. I miss Woods…rest in peace big guy. Kind of reminds me of another great writer, though not professionally and only known by those who visited my website or read small town newspapers from northern Ontario. Rotzy, may he rest in peace too.
