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Ty Hauck #2
Dont Look Twice
A revenge killing. A dead public attorney. And a family caught in the cross-fire. For local detective Ty Hauck, life is good. A waterfront house, a new girlfriend and, after uncovering a Wall Street scandal, he’s even a local hero. But then a day trip with his daughter turns into a bloodbath. Inner-city violence seems to have invaded his quiet Greenwich suburn. Or does someone just want it to appear that way? If so, it’s someone powerful enough to kill without fear of reprisal. Ty suspects things go deeper, maybe all the way to Washington and the Middle East. And everyone, from the FBI to his own family, wants him to stop looking. But with his estranged brother, Warren, in danger, Ty can’t turn away. He ignores the warnings... with devastating and explosive consequences.
397 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 3, 2009
271 people are currently reading
1676 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Gross
97 books1,783 followersHoward Andrew Gross was an American author of thriller novels, including four New York Times bestsellers. He is best known for his collaborations with suspense writer James Patterson. Gross's books feature close family bonds, relationships characterized by loss or betrayal, and a large degree of emotional resonance which generally leads to wider crimes and cover-ups. The books have all been published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 333 reviews
July 25, 2016
An appropriate title for this book would be YOUR STANDARD THRILLER--NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS. Gross knows how to assemble a decent story, but his authorial apprenticeship under James Patterson has left him with all sorts of atrocious writing habits we can only hope he'll someday outgrow. Like Patterson, Gross employs ultra-short chapters, one-dimensional characters, and Harlequin-style romance. Perhaps worse, whenever his characters converse, they refer to each other by name in almost every line. It's enough to make us wonder whether Mr. Gross has ever heard real people talk before... Surely he's aware that people don't constantly use each other's names during conversations, right?
The plot is serviceable, but relies entirely too much on extreme coincidence in order to keep moving forward. It's the sort of book you read while riding the bus or waiting for your wife to finish up at the supermarket. In other words, it's disposable entertainment--something you're unlikely to have any strong feelings about one way or the other. Like Muzak.
The plot is serviceable, but relies entirely too much on extreme coincidence in order to keep moving forward. It's the sort of book you read while riding the bus or waiting for your wife to finish up at the supermarket. In other words, it's disposable entertainment--something you're unlikely to have any strong feelings about one way or the other. Like Muzak.
May 25, 2020
Read 2010
May 12, 2019
Another fast paced thriller with Ty Hauck- number 2 in the series and I most definitely pick up number 3 !
April 28, 2012
I have to say that I didn't like the second Ty Hauck book in this series as much as I enjoyed the first one.
In this book, police detective Ty Hauck is in a convenience store with his 13 year old daughter Jess when a truck comes howling up and opens fire on the store. A federal lawyer is left dead in this town where these things just don't happen. Ty's daughter isn't hurt but is taken to the local hospital to be drugged for having seen the incident and her mother, Ty's exwife, comes to pick her up. Jess was to have come to spend Thanksgiving with Ty and visit with Ty's brother and his kids but Jess doesn't want to and the ex had already been trying to find a way out so Ty will not have his daughter.
This book is more far-fetched and the story involving gambling on Native American reservations, politicians and corporate types trying to skim a huge profit off the rebuilding of Iraq at taxpayer expense, and the gang sidelines just didn't do it for me. Even the involvement and issues from childhood of Ty's brother didn't help much. Ty seemed different here.
One thing that really ticked me off about Ty in this book and turned me off with the character was his treatment of Karen. In the first book of the series, Karen's husband pretended to be dead after an explosion on a city train, leaving her to care for their two teenagers alone. He turned out to have been trying to protect them from the unsavory types he had gotten involved with who would kill anyone to get their way. In that book, Ty started an affair with her, including a sexual part (though the fact that in both of these books his idea of sex does not seem to include foreplay is a turn-off and makes him look like a selfish dud in bed) even when he knew her husband was alive. He declared he loved her and she declared she loved him.
At the beginning of this second book in the series which begins immediately after the events in the first book, Karen's daughter has just started college at Tufts and her son is in a private residential prep high school. Karen herself had to go to Atlanta to help her mother with her dad who is in the end stages of Parkinson's disease and is dying. She left her westie with Ty and keeps in touch with him. When she heard about what happened at the convenience store, she calls to see if he is okay. All in all, she is a good woman.
On the other hand, though Ty knows his daughter will not be coming for Thanksgiving, when Karen asks him to come to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with her, her kids, and her parents, he lies and says he will have Jess with him. He asks himself if Karen is trying to distance herself from him despite this invitation and her calling to keep up with him. There is NO indication that she is! The woman's dad is DYING. What idiot can't understand that she is needed with her parents and have a little patience?
Ty heads off to a casino on the reservation in his investigation and has sex all night long with a 21 year old coed he just met who works there, with no thought of how he had told Karen he loved her and wanted a future with her. During this all night tryst, the bad guys take a LOT of secret photos.
Ty then begins a relationship with Annie, a single mom of a Down syndrome son who runs a restaurant. Annie had been witness to the disposal of a murder weapon and threatened with violence for turning in the information and the gun. Again, he tells Annie that he had been involved with Karen but that it is long over. Long over? That would be news to Karen! At no point in this book does Ty actually discuss any of this with Karen. He's just in the panties of other women while she sits in Atlanta with a dying father loving him and thinking he was loving her.
The fact that Ty goes for a job because of high pay and benefits and a car is no surprise. He's a shallow fool and I feel sorry for Annie and her son!
In this book, police detective Ty Hauck is in a convenience store with his 13 year old daughter Jess when a truck comes howling up and opens fire on the store. A federal lawyer is left dead in this town where these things just don't happen. Ty's daughter isn't hurt but is taken to the local hospital to be drugged for having seen the incident and her mother, Ty's exwife, comes to pick her up. Jess was to have come to spend Thanksgiving with Ty and visit with Ty's brother and his kids but Jess doesn't want to and the ex had already been trying to find a way out so Ty will not have his daughter.
This book is more far-fetched and the story involving gambling on Native American reservations, politicians and corporate types trying to skim a huge profit off the rebuilding of Iraq at taxpayer expense, and the gang sidelines just didn't do it for me. Even the involvement and issues from childhood of Ty's brother didn't help much. Ty seemed different here.
One thing that really ticked me off about Ty in this book and turned me off with the character was his treatment of Karen. In the first book of the series, Karen's husband pretended to be dead after an explosion on a city train, leaving her to care for their two teenagers alone. He turned out to have been trying to protect them from the unsavory types he had gotten involved with who would kill anyone to get their way. In that book, Ty started an affair with her, including a sexual part (though the fact that in both of these books his idea of sex does not seem to include foreplay is a turn-off and makes him look like a selfish dud in bed) even when he knew her husband was alive. He declared he loved her and she declared she loved him.
At the beginning of this second book in the series which begins immediately after the events in the first book, Karen's daughter has just started college at Tufts and her son is in a private residential prep high school. Karen herself had to go to Atlanta to help her mother with her dad who is in the end stages of Parkinson's disease and is dying. She left her westie with Ty and keeps in touch with him. When she heard about what happened at the convenience store, she calls to see if he is okay. All in all, she is a good woman.
On the other hand, though Ty knows his daughter will not be coming for Thanksgiving, when Karen asks him to come to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with her, her kids, and her parents, he lies and says he will have Jess with him. He asks himself if Karen is trying to distance herself from him despite this invitation and her calling to keep up with him. There is NO indication that she is! The woman's dad is DYING. What idiot can't understand that she is needed with her parents and have a little patience?
Ty heads off to a casino on the reservation in his investigation and has sex all night long with a 21 year old coed he just met who works there, with no thought of how he had told Karen he loved her and wanted a future with her. During this all night tryst, the bad guys take a LOT of secret photos.
Ty then begins a relationship with Annie, a single mom of a Down syndrome son who runs a restaurant. Annie had been witness to the disposal of a murder weapon and threatened with violence for turning in the information and the gun. Again, he tells Annie that he had been involved with Karen but that it is long over. Long over? That would be news to Karen! At no point in this book does Ty actually discuss any of this with Karen. He's just in the panties of other women while she sits in Atlanta with a dying father loving him and thinking he was loving her.
The fact that Ty goes for a job because of high pay and benefits and a car is no surprise. He's a shallow fool and I feel sorry for Annie and her son!
February 18, 2018
Andrew Gross first made his name as a co-author with James Patterson, opening with the historical novel The Jester. He co-wrote two entries in Patterson's "Women's Murder Club" series and also collaborated with the better-known thriller author on the noirish The Lifeguard and the revenge tale Judge & Jury. Starting in 2007, he struck out on his own with The Blue Zone, following it with his Ty Hauck series, of which Don't Look Twice is the second.
Patterson, like Clive Cussler and some others, is a big-time best-selling author who has increased his output by collaborating with others. Only he and his co-authors know for sure how much either contributed, although some interviews suggest that the ideas, outline, polish and coaching come from Patterson in many of these collaborations, while a lot of the writing comes from the collaborator. As I'm not a Patterson fan, Don't Look Twice is my first exposure to Gross, and probably my last.
Ty Hauck, now somewhat famous for his role in the story Gross told in The Dark Tide, finds himself at the center of a drive-by shooting that also endangers his teenage daughter. Thus motivated, the chief of detectives of bucolic Greenwich, Conn., sets out to find out who's behind the shooting, which had as its only victim a man who turns out to be a U.S. attorney. Hauck probes the mystery through several wrong turns, while his personal life deteriorates around him. His ex-wife brings his daughter home with her following the shooting and the woman with whom he began a relationship in the earlier book decides to stay in Atlanta to care for her ailing father. His brother reconnects with him after his home life goes south, offering even more tension as the two will try to resolve hard feelings of the past. A relationship with a potential witness, Annie Fletcher, alleviates some of the darkness, but even this potential bright spot has some shadows.
Gross weaves the case through several different scenarios, each rejected by Hauck as he discovers new information about the man who was killed. In the end we find out exactly what happened and why -- sort of. Actually, Gross winds up dumping the information, which involves war profiteering and corporate shenanigans in Iraq as well as Native American casino gambling, on us from the mouth of one of the men who's spent most of the book trying to keep Hauck from learning everything he openly shares with the detective. It's clumsy, implausible and a kind of a cheat for the reader. Gross is also in love with italicized words, throwing them around so often for emphasis they lose pretty much all of their impact and mostly annoy more than anything else.
Thriller author Steve Berry supplies a cover blurb, saying that Don't Look Twice is "paced with throat-clutching suspense, and littered with surprises." I agree and actually wonder if Berry was pulling someone's leg. Gross does indeed litter his story with surprises, like people "pouring" over documents and handling a thick "sheath" of papers, as well as a jail guard watching a Yankees baseball game on TV in a story set after Thanksgiving. And it certainly had me clutching at my throat more than once.
In the end, Don't Look Twice is more than a title -- it's excellent advice when it comes to this book. Even better would have been "Don't look once," but I've always been a little hard-headed when it comes to good advice.
Original available here.
Patterson, like Clive Cussler and some others, is a big-time best-selling author who has increased his output by collaborating with others. Only he and his co-authors know for sure how much either contributed, although some interviews suggest that the ideas, outline, polish and coaching come from Patterson in many of these collaborations, while a lot of the writing comes from the collaborator. As I'm not a Patterson fan, Don't Look Twice is my first exposure to Gross, and probably my last.
Ty Hauck, now somewhat famous for his role in the story Gross told in The Dark Tide, finds himself at the center of a drive-by shooting that also endangers his teenage daughter. Thus motivated, the chief of detectives of bucolic Greenwich, Conn., sets out to find out who's behind the shooting, which had as its only victim a man who turns out to be a U.S. attorney. Hauck probes the mystery through several wrong turns, while his personal life deteriorates around him. His ex-wife brings his daughter home with her following the shooting and the woman with whom he began a relationship in the earlier book decides to stay in Atlanta to care for her ailing father. His brother reconnects with him after his home life goes south, offering even more tension as the two will try to resolve hard feelings of the past. A relationship with a potential witness, Annie Fletcher, alleviates some of the darkness, but even this potential bright spot has some shadows.
Gross weaves the case through several different scenarios, each rejected by Hauck as he discovers new information about the man who was killed. In the end we find out exactly what happened and why -- sort of. Actually, Gross winds up dumping the information, which involves war profiteering and corporate shenanigans in Iraq as well as Native American casino gambling, on us from the mouth of one of the men who's spent most of the book trying to keep Hauck from learning everything he openly shares with the detective. It's clumsy, implausible and a kind of a cheat for the reader. Gross is also in love with italicized words, throwing them around so often for emphasis they lose pretty much all of their impact and mostly annoy more than anything else.
Thriller author Steve Berry supplies a cover blurb, saying that Don't Look Twice is "paced with throat-clutching suspense, and littered with surprises." I agree and actually wonder if Berry was pulling someone's leg. Gross does indeed litter his story with surprises, like people "pouring" over documents and handling a thick "sheath" of papers, as well as a jail guard watching a Yankees baseball game on TV in a story set after Thanksgiving. And it certainly had me clutching at my throat more than once.
In the end, Don't Look Twice is more than a title -- it's excellent advice when it comes to this book. Even better would have been "Don't look once," but I've always been a little hard-headed when it comes to good advice.
Original available here.
July 20, 2012
Much like his mentor, Gross provides a readable, entertaining read
Much like his mentor James Patterson, Andrew Gross has written a readable crime novel with plenty of twists and turns, lots of personal stuff thrown in and written in a pleasant, accessible style.
Don't Look Twice: A Novel is the second in a series about Ty Hauck but you do not have to have read the first to follow what's going on in this installment. The story is chock full of short chapters and the trail is complicated, but not impossibly so.
My one pet peeve is the Spanish in the book. It only appears on two pages in my Advance Reader's Edition but it is awful. "Victor no es aqui" is not proper or even remotely adequate Spanish. This is Spanish One material. It sounds like something from a translator website. C'mon now, Mr. Gross. There are millions of native speakers throughout the country. Find one and have him or her vet your Spanish in the future. It should have been "Victor no está aquí."
See all of my reviews of Andrew Gross novels here: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/searc...
Much like his mentor James Patterson, Andrew Gross has written a readable crime novel with plenty of twists and turns, lots of personal stuff thrown in and written in a pleasant, accessible style.
Don't Look Twice: A Novel is the second in a series about Ty Hauck but you do not have to have read the first to follow what's going on in this installment. The story is chock full of short chapters and the trail is complicated, but not impossibly so.
My one pet peeve is the Spanish in the book. It only appears on two pages in my Advance Reader's Edition but it is awful. "Victor no es aqui" is not proper or even remotely adequate Spanish. This is Spanish One material. It sounds like something from a translator website. C'mon now, Mr. Gross. There are millions of native speakers throughout the country. Find one and have him or her vet your Spanish in the future. It should have been "Victor no está aquí."
See all of my reviews of Andrew Gross novels here: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/searc...
December 19, 2014
Just didn't hold my interest.
August 20, 2017
I'm happy to say I finally found an Andrew Gross book I really liked. "Don't Look Twice" is the second Ty Hauck series book from Gross. I thought the first book in this series was somewhat flat, as well as one of his stand alone thrillers I've read. However, Hauck saves the day starring in this crafty suspense thriller. With Hauck's relationship with Karen now over he's spending time with his daughter Jessica, 13. While stopping to gas up at a service station and picking up some odd and ends in the station's store Hauck is waiting in line to pay. Out of nowhere bullets come smashing into the store flying everywhere. While everyone is ducking for cover David Sanger, 41 isn't so lucky. Sanger who is a U.S. State's Attorney has been murdered in the shooting. When the police arrive no one seems to know who intended victim was. Hauck gets thrown into the gang war of the DR-17 against the El Diablos. With a really solid plot that has Hauck chasing after some pretty nasty gangsters this one has few dead spots hurting the tale. Hauck is stunned when his older brother Warren shows up. Hauck knows something is going on with Warren and is likely mixed up in his case. It's Annie Fletcher owner of "Annie's Backstreets" shop who observes the shooters the weapon from the drive by shooting into her store's dumpster. Yes, Ty and Annie do make a connection as well. Annie's special needs son Jared also bonds with Hauck. With a cast of some nasty supporting characters, "Don't Look Twice", was a very enjoyable read. However coming in at over 500 pages this one is a haul. The plot flows pretty well but there is so much story to read. I was enjoying an Andrew Gross book for the first time so I didn't care it topped 500 pages. Some tales need 500 pages and most don't. This one is 50-50, it could have been edited down some. So, "Don't Look Twice", gets four stars out of a possible five stars. This Ty Hauck series from author Andrew Gross may work out well after all. I'm actually looking forward to reading the third book in this series. Imagine that ! Check it out.
March 25, 2009
Good Story; but Nothing Groundbreaking.
Brief Synopsis:
Lieutenant Ty Hauck was with his daughter at a gas station when a drive by shooting occurred. What first appears to be revenge by a local gang is slowly uncovered as a deeper conspiracy. Lt. Hauck is told to back off and let it be; but Lt. Hauck cannot accept that and digs deeper and deeper as the book unfolds.
Overall Impressions:
DON'T LOOK TWICE is a fairly standard murder mystery thriller. At times, the plot is all over the place, with details coming out that further implicate others. The characters are somewhat memorable and interesting, but their interactions are somewhat forced and unnatural at times. The plot is convoluted in a mess of a conspiracy that unfolds back and forth; however, it makes for an interesting story and is enjoyable to read. I was disappointed at the ending as it was somewhat anti-climatic.
Overall, I enjoyed reading DON'T LOOK TWICE; but, it was pretty standard murder thriller material these days and offered nothing groundbreaking. There are certainly better stories out there and there are certainly worse stories, too.
Good reading,
Plants and Books
More Reviews
Brief Synopsis:
Lieutenant Ty Hauck was with his daughter at a gas station when a drive by shooting occurred. What first appears to be revenge by a local gang is slowly uncovered as a deeper conspiracy. Lt. Hauck is told to back off and let it be; but Lt. Hauck cannot accept that and digs deeper and deeper as the book unfolds.
Overall Impressions:
DON'T LOOK TWICE is a fairly standard murder mystery thriller. At times, the plot is all over the place, with details coming out that further implicate others. The characters are somewhat memorable and interesting, but their interactions are somewhat forced and unnatural at times. The plot is convoluted in a mess of a conspiracy that unfolds back and forth; however, it makes for an interesting story and is enjoyable to read. I was disappointed at the ending as it was somewhat anti-climatic.
Overall, I enjoyed reading DON'T LOOK TWICE; but, it was pretty standard murder thriller material these days and offered nothing groundbreaking. There are certainly better stories out there and there are certainly worse stories, too.
Good reading,
Plants and Books
More Reviews
January 19, 2017
Best book I've read in quite some time. I think I may have read one of this author's books when he wrote under James Patterson's name. If I did, I don't recall being that impressed. Maybe it's because I don't like how a group of authors use Patterson's name to sell their novels. Perhaps I wouldn't be so disgruntled if Patterson took me under his wing.
Enough ranting.
Andrew Gross hit a home run with Don't Look Twice. I've heard the line, "I couldn't put the book down" a million times, and in this case it was true for me. The story moved well, with believable characters and good police drama and action.
I was impressed with the author's protagonist, in that he didn't have all kinds of super powers and mixed martial arts. Having been a police detective, I found the cops and criminals alike to be true to life.
For anyone who enjoys a who done it crime drama with some action, put this book on your to read list.
Enough ranting.
Andrew Gross hit a home run with Don't Look Twice. I've heard the line, "I couldn't put the book down" a million times, and in this case it was true for me. The story moved well, with believable characters and good police drama and action.
I was impressed with the author's protagonist, in that he didn't have all kinds of super powers and mixed martial arts. Having been a police detective, I found the cops and criminals alike to be true to life.
For anyone who enjoys a who done it crime drama with some action, put this book on your to read list.
October 9, 2015
Andrew Gross obviously learned at the elbow of James Patterson. A lot of noise without much story. A new chapter every few paragraphs. The book is capable enough as a distraction but the audio version was hampered by incongruous choices. For example, Ty and his brother sound like they were raised not only in different households but in different neighborhoods. Some of the plot makes no sense, Ty is the most guileless lieutenant in the history of the force, and, what a surprise!, there's a giant conspiracy behind the whole thing. I suppose that's a spoiler but, in this genre, not much of one.
May 24, 2018
Bit of a tangled web story with a few too many characters for my liking. Something about it also just made it not seem as believable as other crime novels.
Having not read the first book in the series I also wonder if some character development for Ty was left out/ would have helped make a bit more sense of him.
Having not read the first book in the series I also wonder if some character development for Ty was left out/ would have helped make a bit more sense of him.
May 13, 2009
The latest from Gross (a former co-author of James Patterson), continues his work with Ty Hauck a cop in Greenwich who witnesses the gunning down of a US attorney. Its a tidy little thriller that you can while your time away, but its fairly pat and predictable.
March 1, 2017
Don't Look Twice by Andrew Gross
Ty Hauck Series Book #2
4 Stars
From The Book:
A drive-by shooting rocks an affluent suburb, leaving an innocent man dead. A witness to the madness—along with his terrified teenaged daughter—Detective Ty Hauck launches an investigation into what looks like a vicious case of family retribution. But Annie Fletcher, the owner of a hip café who's attempting to rebuild her life, saw something that does not fit the bloody scenario. And the truth is a gathering storm of secrets and corruption that could tear through the mansions of the town's most powerful—ravaging a family . . . and pitting Hauck against his own brother.
My Thoughts:
I first read this author when he began co-writing books with James Patterson and thoroughly enjoyed his writing style and how easy he was to read and hold the readers interest with an easy to follow plot. This...his second book in the Hauck series... is no exception and if anything better than his co-written books.
The only "problem" that I had with the story was that it didn't seem that the "Why" was never fully explained. I believe if the author had told us why things occurred as they did I could easily have given the book another star. In spite of that it was a fun book that should appeal to all mystery fans. I'll certainly continue this series.
Ty Hauck Series Book #2
4 Stars
From The Book:
A drive-by shooting rocks an affluent suburb, leaving an innocent man dead. A witness to the madness—along with his terrified teenaged daughter—Detective Ty Hauck launches an investigation into what looks like a vicious case of family retribution. But Annie Fletcher, the owner of a hip café who's attempting to rebuild her life, saw something that does not fit the bloody scenario. And the truth is a gathering storm of secrets and corruption that could tear through the mansions of the town's most powerful—ravaging a family . . . and pitting Hauck against his own brother.
My Thoughts:
I first read this author when he began co-writing books with James Patterson and thoroughly enjoyed his writing style and how easy he was to read and hold the readers interest with an easy to follow plot. This...his second book in the Hauck series... is no exception and if anything better than his co-written books.
The only "problem" that I had with the story was that it didn't seem that the "Why" was never fully explained. I believe if the author had told us why things occurred as they did I could easily have given the book another star. In spite of that it was a fun book that should appeal to all mystery fans. I'll certainly continue this series.
December 26, 2018
In true Andrew Gross fashion, Don’t Look Twice hits the ground running with action in the first few pages. There are some nice twists and turns in this second novel in the Detective Ty Hauck series. Nothing terribly new or particularly memorable, but a likable thriller when you need a mental escape from the real world.
January 21, 2018
A good, fast-paced thriller with many interesting twists and turns. I'm not a big fan of stories about government conspiracies, but I enjoyed this one.
October 27, 2019
#2 in a series, I will be looking for the first one. I like the character and can't wait to read more.
January 17, 2019
ok, maybe I'm just getting old but the number of deaths in this book was over the top. I realize the police case was about uncovering the larger operation, but did Gross have to kill off SOOOO many people in the process? Good story, just too much death.
Read
May 29, 2015Summary:
This book is about a detective, named Ty Hauk who is out with is daughter at an ice cream place. Ty is also there with a stranger, who lets him in front of them. Then, all of a sudden, a man comes and pulls up in a red pickup truck. He starts firing at the ice cream place and hits Hauk in his neck, and he kills the stranger. Hauk is okay, but then he looks back and sees his daughter laying on a pool of blood, motionless. It turns out his daughter was okay, but the stranger next to her wasn’t. He had gotten 3 bullets put into his chest. They then take him and realize that he wasn’t any ordinary stranger, he was a federal lawyer. He wasn’t the one they were aiming at.The gang was aiming at the shop keeper because he was associated with the death of their daughter. The shopkeepers son had been at a pool party with the killers daughter, and they allowed her to drown. Eventually in the end, Hauk is able to sort out his family problems while finding out who the killer is.
Interested:
People who really like to be on the edge when they are reading books, this book is especially for them. The results are really unpredictable in this book. If you genuinely enjoy good, decent sized mystery/thrillerbooks you would enjoy it. It is really an easy read too. Nothing was too hard to understand it was really smooth and easy to follow. This is my favorite mystery book right now, just because its unpredictability. So if you’re a person, that likes a really good mystery, I highly recommend this book to you.
Satisfaction:
This book was really, really good. I may have not liked a book more. I couldn’t put this book down. I read this so much I missed some of my class reading deadlines because whenever I had free time, I was reading this book. It was an absolute page turner. I tried to make predictions about what was going to happen next, thinking this book had got predictable, but I was wrong. I have read some of his other books before, but none of his other books were as unpredictable as this one. It really puts us in the detectives life, and shows that they have more complications then just their work complications.
This book is about a detective, named Ty Hauk who is out with is daughter at an ice cream place. Ty is also there with a stranger, who lets him in front of them. Then, all of a sudden, a man comes and pulls up in a red pickup truck. He starts firing at the ice cream place and hits Hauk in his neck, and he kills the stranger. Hauk is okay, but then he looks back and sees his daughter laying on a pool of blood, motionless. It turns out his daughter was okay, but the stranger next to her wasn’t. He had gotten 3 bullets put into his chest. They then take him and realize that he wasn’t any ordinary stranger, he was a federal lawyer. He wasn’t the one they were aiming at.The gang was aiming at the shop keeper because he was associated with the death of their daughter. The shopkeepers son had been at a pool party with the killers daughter, and they allowed her to drown. Eventually in the end, Hauk is able to sort out his family problems while finding out who the killer is.
Interested:
People who really like to be on the edge when they are reading books, this book is especially for them. The results are really unpredictable in this book. If you genuinely enjoy good, decent sized mystery/thrillerbooks you would enjoy it. It is really an easy read too. Nothing was too hard to understand it was really smooth and easy to follow. This is my favorite mystery book right now, just because its unpredictability. So if you’re a person, that likes a really good mystery, I highly recommend this book to you.
Satisfaction:
This book was really, really good. I may have not liked a book more. I couldn’t put this book down. I read this so much I missed some of my class reading deadlines because whenever I had free time, I was reading this book. It was an absolute page turner. I tried to make predictions about what was going to happen next, thinking this book had got predictable, but I was wrong. I have read some of his other books before, but none of his other books were as unpredictable as this one. It really puts us in the detectives life, and shows that they have more complications then just their work complications.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2019
This is one of those books I classify as a palate cleanser. No real depth, just something to read in between other more structured books.
May 27, 2016
I really liked Gross' first Ty Hauck book, but this one left me much less fulfilled. It seemed more of a buffet (a little of this conspiracy, a little of that romance, a little of this parental pathos, a little of that sex, a bit of murder here & there) than a full meal. Many little themes that reoccur in his other books are surfaced but not resolved at all; thinking for instance about children with disabilities, broken families, ordinary people living close by to extreme wealth, etc.). I love the locations, having gone to high school in Greenwich, I recognize the background and cherish the local color. I loved the insights into brothers, and the effects of childhood events on adult action. But I'm still left with a sense of this book having too many flavors, being a bit too episodic, and ending up as not a full and satisfying novel.
It's an OK book and a fast read. I've enjoyed the other Andrew Gross novels much more. I like the writing style and the characters especially -- they seem very human, mostly loveable and fallible, even the crooks. But the plotting here seemed heavy-handed and not up to Gross' best standard. I'm looking forward to the next in this series, hoping it's back on form.
It's an OK book and a fast read. I've enjoyed the other Andrew Gross novels much more. I like the writing style and the characters especially -- they seem very human, mostly loveable and fallible, even the crooks. But the plotting here seemed heavy-handed and not up to Gross' best standard. I'm looking forward to the next in this series, hoping it's back on form.
October 22, 2011
This is the second in a series involving Ty Hauck by the author Andrew Gross. At the end of DARK TIDE, Ty had become involved romantically with one of the key players in his investigation. In the new novel, he ends that relationship, and hooks up with another woman who is a witness to a crime which is fundamental to his inquiry. The new novel begins with Ty and his daughter at a convenience store one morning, and while standing in line to pay for their purchases, the store is sprayed with automatic fire, and the man behind them is brutally killed. At first, it was thought to be a random 'drive-by', but after much sleuthing, it is determined that this was an attempt to cover up a huge corruption scandal during the Iraq war. Millions and millions of American dollars were diverted in a public works project, in this case, generators, to aid the Iraqi people. A very interesting angle, and I am sure that this is grounded in truth. Another interesting read, but not great, however I would certainly be more than willing to try another by Andrew Gross.
April 5, 2009
This book's focus was totally off but yet it was good quick read. It was confusing and had a lot of twists and turns. The whole first part of the book you think it's about one thing like a revenge murder or gangs then midle of the book you are thinking it's gambling then the end of the book it switches focus abruptly. I'm real unsure of what the author was thinking and why the editor didn't rein him in a little bit. However, I can say that I like how the book is set up with short quick chapters. It made it very easy to read. The characters aren't shallow, so you do care about what happens to them. Just can't believe that this book jumps completely around so much. This is the first book by this author that I've read and I would be willing to try him again, but this book is definitely not a hardbook buy. However I do have high hopes for this author's future. I would recommend you get this one in paperback, bargain table or from the library.
September 17, 2011
I didn't like this book as much as his first two, particularly the first (The Blue Zone). This is the second in a series featuring Lieutenant Hauck, a detective with the Greenwich, CT police department. Without giving anything away, this novel involves government corruption, corruption in a casino, and a whole host of bad guys whom Hauck pursues relentlessly. It also introduces a new love interest for the detective. While the story line was interesting enough to keep me reading, it seemed to take forever to get through this book. There were also a lot of editing errors, a distracting and unnecessary problem that has occurred in his other books as well. Someone is obviously doing a poor job of proof-reading. I am looking forward to reading Reckless, the next in the series, as James Patterson has coined it "Gross's best."
February 22, 2013
Grade: F
As I started reading I thought, gee this format (short one page chapters)is familiar, then I read the author's blub inside the back cover and discovered that he had "co-written" several books with James Patterson. AH HA! I knew already that the book would be hokey and implausible and thereby a complete waste of my time. I gave it to page 150 where I was bored and annoyed and moved on to the next novel in my pile, a Tess Gerritson that I knew would not disappoint (I was right)! As a side bar, I was astonished at the gratuitous language that spewed from the mouth of every character...moms, dads, teenagers, lawyers, law enforcement...each used the Lord's name in vain multiple times...it was offensive.
As I started reading I thought, gee this format (short one page chapters)is familiar, then I read the author's blub inside the back cover and discovered that he had "co-written" several books with James Patterson. AH HA! I knew already that the book would be hokey and implausible and thereby a complete waste of my time. I gave it to page 150 where I was bored and annoyed and moved on to the next novel in my pile, a Tess Gerritson that I knew would not disappoint (I was right)! As a side bar, I was astonished at the gratuitous language that spewed from the mouth of every character...moms, dads, teenagers, lawyers, law enforcement...each used the Lord's name in vain multiple times...it was offensive.
May 11, 2013
Greenwich, Connecticut police detective Tyler Hauck and his daughter are planning an afternoon out on his boat. On the way, they stop at a convenience store. While waiting in the check out line, the storefront is sprayed by bullets fired from a car driving by. The man in line behind the Hauck's is killed and Tyler's daughter is injured. Tyler immediately begins a search for the perpetrators. What appears to be a random drive by shooting turns into an intricate web of secrets, lies, corruption, and international profiteering which reach to the highest levels of Connecticut society and government. This fast paced and suspenseful novel is hard to put down.
December 6, 2014
Largely formula writing which incorporates a boring conspiracy plot, the pervasiveness of which would tax most reader's credulity. Be they good guys or bad, the characters in the book are walking cliches, by and large. We are informed that the main character, Detective Hauck, is 'worshiped' by his partner and I guess the reader is supposed to worship him too but many of his decisions and actions are just dumb like his penchant for making promises about outcomes not within his personal power to control and his eagerness to arrest bad guys on insufficient evidence. For me the book was a distraction at best and I made it all the way through only because I had nothing else to read at the time.
July 18, 2020
I could definitely tell Gross apprenticed with Patterson; he uses the same structure for his book. Lt. Hauck is with his daughter at a convenience store when a shooting occurs. As the story progresses, there is a lot of cover up and corruption. As I read, all I could think is that it felt like a typical summer read, not too taxing and just a shade close to becoming underwhelming.
October 8, 2016
I liked this one better than The Dark Tide which is the first one in the series. The plot just held together better than the other one, and the characters started to make sense. Read this one on the kindle, so no narrator. <><
August 7, 2017
Audio did nothing for me and quit at 50% once I got out of the car... have the kindle book and no desire to follow up. I was wild over the one man and have been working backwards since then, think he is a great writer and can make my fingers burn through the pages, this just had no hook or urgency to want to finish. Excited for his new book coming out, one bad apple don't scare me!
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