One Way or Another

by Elizabeth Adler

What begins as a beautiful evening at a party on a yacht ends with attempted murder . . . and a quest for revenge . . .

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Ebooks, Mystery Thriller, Adult Fiction

448 pages, Library Binding

First published July 7, 2015

About the author

Born in Yorkshire, North England, Elizabeth Adler met her husband Richard (an American) while both were working in London. They have lived in England, Ireland, France, Brazil, and the United States and have traveled extensively. They have one daughter and live in Palm Springs, California. Her first novel, Private Desires (also titled Leonie), launched an enormously successful writing career, she also wrote as Ariana Scott. She has now written over twenty internationally acclaimed bestsellers.

Reviews

[Carole (Carole's Random Life)]

DNF @ 22%

I am not going to rate this book but it has become obvious that this is not a book for me. After reading the first 15 chapters, I just cannot connect with the story or the characters on any level.

The writing style feels awkward to me and I simply have no interest in reading any further. I simply don't care if the mystery gets solved or what happens to any of the characters in the story.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley for the purpose of providing an honest review.

[Diane Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read! a well written book that made me think that i had my mind twisted all over the place before i can really understand what this spoil,rich,crazy,evil boy-man along with his sidekick another evil nasty lady...did not care about no one else but hurting and killing many others...this had good storytelling and a well defined cast of characters..question 'where is Ahmet's body?' recommended to all

[Maria João (A Biblioteca da João) · Rating 2 out of 5]

4 de 10*

Elizabeth Adler é daquelas autoras que me sabe sempre bem ler entre leituras pesadas, porque escreve histórias leves mas muito agradáveis. Já foram vários os livros que li da autora e gostei bastante de todos. Por isso mesmo, parti para a leitura deste seu novo livro sem receios de não gostar. Mas que grande desilusão!
Este livro foi-me enviado pela Quinta Essência, em troca de uma opinião honesta. Apenas por isso me forcei a ler o livro todo, caso contrário teria deixado a leitura a meio. Quem me segue e conhece sabe que para mim a coerência de uma história é essencial. Um autor tem que respeitar a inteligência dos seus leitores e, seja qual for o género literário, a sua história tem que fazer sentido. O que não acontece de todo em “Desaparecida”. Quanto mais lia do livro, mas desiludida com ele ficava.

Comentário completo em:
http://abibliotecadajoao.blogspot.pt/...

[Heidi Fernandez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just odd. I thought the premise of a woman being intentionally knocked overboard off of a wealthy billionaire's yacht, surviving her fall and then seeking revenge on those responsible sounded interesting. After all that took place, and she wound up being rescued, being returned to the billionaire only to be held captive and abused was bizarre. The witness to her initial "accident" ends up playing detective. He becomes involved with the billionaire. His girlfriend and her sister also become involved with the billionaire. Everyone is creeped out by this guy and yet they all continue to be part of his life in odd ways. Then the whole story is wrapped up in a very rapid, kind of silly manner. I just think the plot could have been better developed as well as the characters and their interactions with each other and the storyline.

[Debbie]

Didn't like the characters that much and I skipped alot and I couldn't wait for it to be done. Just wanted to see who survived.

[Melissa (So Behind) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just didn't care for this book. The plot just went nowhere. Creepy bad guy with no good retribution. Wish it could have known what it wanted to be--mystery? Not really. Action? Not really. International thriller? Nope. Tried to be all of these but was not any.

[Joanne Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to be a huge Elizabeth Adler fan-i have copies of books from a good few years ago on my bookshelves and often reread them. So I was delighted to find this on netgalley and read her more up-to-date work. But I have to admit this is like it has been written by a totally different person! The writing style was laboured, it didn't flow and some sentences didn't make sense! I would like to think that it was due to being an ARC and that some further editing or proofreading took place.
The story itself was a struggle to get into. None of the characters were very likeable or sympathetic and I was glad when it ended. I feel terrible for not liking this as I have been a big fan of this authors previous novels but I won't like it put me off any future books.
I received a copy of this book via netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

[Ellenh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't remember reading a book that was so disorganized. It was as if no one edited it for story order and detail. The characters were shallowly developed and often I would stop and shake my head, confused as to what was supposed to be going on or what day they were talking about. I did finish it because I wanted to know how it came out, but uffdah, this one should have been looked at better before publishing!

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

More like 1.5 stars. I've always enjoyed Adler's novels and this one started off really well. Then it just fizzled and sputtered before an unsatisfying climax. Too long, no action.

[Judi Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite possibly the stupidest book I've ever read, full of the stupidest characters ever written. I kept reading because I thought, surely, there will be a reason these people keep going off with these sinister people, who terrify them. Suddenly Marco's brain will kick on and he'll realize that the black yacht is THE black yacht...

Suddenly, Martha will stop bemoaning the fact that her sister is lazy and shiftless, and doesn't have a job and pay her way, and clean her apartment, which she can't afford if she wants to eat, too, and make better choices about the men in her life...and realize her sister is SEVENTEEN!

The entire section about Marco and the NY police wasn't really necessary. It did nothing to move the story along, except to suggest he was obsessed and to annoy Martha. But he wasn't obsessed enough to even think - Hmm, this yacht where I'm hanging out sure looks exactly like the one where I saw the girl go off the side.

Angie, who is a prisoner on the yacht during a big party, does nothing to alert anyone. All the months she was captive in the house, full of workers (and much of that time, Ahmet and Mehitabel weren't there) she does nothing to alert anyone. But the ending was even worse. Angie, finally free and in the custody of fireman, doesn't tell them she was not just a guest, but a captive prisoner, tortured for months. She wanders away from them and can't even get a lift to town. They shut the bus door in her face and drive away.

During the masked portion of the party, Mehitabel seems to have had a plan to do something tricky to Ahmet with Lucy and Angie, dressing them identically. But...Lucy being blonde and Angie having long red hair would have tipped him off, in spite of masks, wouldn't it? What was that all about anyway? Did I just zone out and miss the point?

Ahmet, in the marsh with Lucy and the little dog, leaves Lucy alone, and runs off because the little dog has attracted people who'll find her. This ruthless, soulless man - and we've been reminded every other page that he is ruthless and soulless, as his past is constantly rehashed - has a gun in his hand but does nothing to silence the dog.

Marco, knowing the whole story (presumably, Angie clued him in) goes alone to the yacht to meet alone with Ahmet, who somehow hasn't been hauled in for questioning. Apparently Angie clued no one in.

Then, it's as if Adler was as bored with this crowd as I was, and like a 3rd grader, ended with "the bad guys all died and the good guys lived happily ever after. The end."

2 final questions...Do we know whatever happened to Morris Sorris? And, did anyone else picture Lilith Frasier (Bebe Neuwirth) as Mehitabel?

[Paula Reis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sempre fresca a escrita de Adler! Entrando no espírito de thriller com romance, mas pouco, é um estilo que já não trás nada de novo nesta autora! De leitura facil e muito light.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite. Goodreads description of the book is wrong down to even the name of one of the main characters. My goals for books read in 2016 is off to a slow start since I struggled to force myself to finish this book.

[Kristina Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just finished One Way or Another by Elizabeth Adler. Angela (goes by Angie) Morse got involved with the wrong guy and is now floating in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Turkey. Marco Polo Mahoney is a portrait artist (prefers to call himself a painter) who is vacationing in Fethiye, Turkey (has a little ramshackle cottage/shack) with his dog, Em (Em goes everywhere with Marco). Marco is looking out at the ocean when he sees a girl stumbling on a yacht (The Lady Marina). He gets his binoculars and sees the girl with a very bloody, open gash on her head (can see skull). The girl then drops in the ocean and the boat speeds away. Marco rushes out to rescue her, but he cannot find her. Marco reports it to the police who do not believe him. Poor Angie does not drown. She is rescued by Apollo Zacharias, the captain of the Zeus. Unfortunately for Angie, Zacharias calls it in on the radio and guess who answers the distress call—The Lady Marina! Once again Angie is back in her killers clutches.

Marco calls his girlfriend, Martha Patron about the incident. She does not really believe him either (thinks he saw something). Marco keeps looking. He comes upon a clue when he sees a local bar owner’s wife with a gold necklace. It was Angie’s necklace. Marco knows something happened to the girl (he calls her the girl with the beautiful red hair) and is determined to find out what happened to her.

Ahmet Ghulbian is a billionaire and the owner of The Lady Marina. He is controlling, mean, and a cold blooded killer. His assistant, Mehitabel (only one name) is cold, vicious, and a killer. They are well suited. Ahmet was born poor, but he made something of himself (thanks to the help of a woman that he killed). Since Angie did not drown, Ahmet decides to hold her captive. He plans to have some more fun with her before killing her. Ahmet meets Lucy Patron, Martha’s younger sister (and a real flibbertigibbet). He decides that she is the person he wants to marry. She is seventeen and a virgin (Lucy has decided to be an actress). He slowly draws her in along with Martha (whom he gets to redecorate his creepy house in the marshes) and Marco (whom he commissions to paint his portrait). Will Marco be able to find Angie and rescue her? Will Ahmet get Lucy?

One Way or Another sounded like a great mystery/thriller. The book, though, dragged on and on and on. I did not think it would ever end (and I really wanted it to end). It took me two tries to get through the whole book. Instead of being a thrilling page turner, it puts you to sleep. This book needed severe editing and rewriting. It had some good bones (the basic idea), but the final product was severely lacking. I give One Way or Another 1.5 out of 5 stars (because the basic premise was decent). The writing is lackluster and the book contains a lot of unnecessary descriptive paragraphs.

I received a complimentary copy of One Way or Another from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are my own.


http://bibliophileandavidreader.blogs...

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy brought up in total poverty has worked his way, however he needs to, is now in his 50's and a billionaire. He thinks anything he wants should be his and will do anything to get it. Not only was this man born in total poverty but I'm pretty sure he suffered from small penis also. What a horrible, horrible man he is.

Then an easy going artist named Marco gets involved in his attempt to rid himself of his latest conquest who knows too much.

This book had me from the very beginning. And it was one I could not put down. I found myself yelling at the characters, "no, don't do that" or "no, run, run as fast as you can". You will not like this man, Ahmet, at all. I found myself, for some reason, picturing him as a taller Danny De Vito because I've seen him play characters that were full of themselves and I just couldn't get away from it. Ha!!

This was a fantastic book that was written and had great character development. I'm still trying to figure out how that girl didn't drown though.

Thanks St. Martin's Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review this e-galley!! I highly recommend it!

[Sonia Cristina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Não é de ânimo leve que atribuo uma classificação de 2* que, apesar de "ser ok" para o Goodreds, para mim tem um significativo negativo, como na escala usada nas escolas. Ainda pensei dar as 3* porque a relação de Marco e Martha até era muito gira, tinham uma grande cumplicidade e davam-se muito bem. Também porque o capítulo final, narrado por Angie, até foi emocionante. Mas depois lembrei-me da tonta da Lucy, a irmã de 17 anos da Martha que, vivendo sozinha e sem dinheiro nenhum nem para comer e só tem um par de lençóis que nem lava porque não tem máquina de lavar (e muita preguiça), foi comer ao restaurante do Ritz (!) e quando viu o cartão de crédito recusado optou por aceitar que um perfeito desconhecido lhe pagasse a conta em vez de telefonar à irmã que sempre esteve disponível para a ajudar.

Pronto, ficam 2* porque há estupidez não merece mais.

O enredo da tentativa de homicídio de Angie, a que Marco assistiu e a sua quase obsessão em descobrir o que se passou até é atraente, mas achei o desenvolvimento muito fraco. Com um tema destes, ler depois descrições repetidas e longas sobre decoração foi uma desilusão grande.

[Alison Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the dumbest books I think I've ever read. Frankly, I'm mad at myself for finishing it. Guess I'm a silver lining kind of girl, although there could have been some really cool twists.

Instead, the writing was choppy, which caused the story to stop and start - there was zero continuity. On one page, Lucy was sitting at the house, waiting for Ahmet, and in the next paragraph, she was zooming down the road in a car with Morris! The characters were poorly developed and inconsistent. They enjoyed frequent flashbacks, which often led to lengthy reminiscing and subject changes, even in the middle of a conversation. Ridiculous. But learning about their past did nothing to engage the reader with the character, and frequently contradicted their actions and behavior. I couldn't invest any interest in the characters.

The best thing about the ending was that I could finally return the book to the library. Otherwise, nothing made sense and the action was too rushed to be believable.

A total waste of time.

[Carla Geraldes · Rating 3 out of 5]

um 3 muito, muito esticadinho.
Gosto da autora, mas é o 2º livro no género thriller que leio dela, e não consigo entrar na história.
Muitos saltos no enredo, por vezes dava-me mesmo a sensação que a autora estava um pouco perdida e depois de repetente se lembrava que não tinha concluído o raciocínio anterior.
Puxei pela classificação pelo fim que teve, porque de resto, nem os personagens me cativaram

[Nidia (Dica de Leitura) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Opinião: http://diicadeleitura.blogspot.pt/201...

[Ana Rodrigues · Rating 2 out of 5]

Que desilusão!!
A autora é uma das minhas favoritas e esperava um livro à altura dos outros dela mas este é muiiito fraquinho...
Confuso, com algumas coisas sem muito nexo...

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.5/5.0

I got my hands on this novel from a book sale and was extremely intrigued by the plot. But the ratings on Goodreads had been appalling and it took me awhile to eventually decide to give it a chance.

While the writing was great and I enjoyed the narration, the actual plot and the book summary simply did not match. The book was portrayed as a revenge thriller book but what it really was was merely a game of survival and viciousness of a sadistic cycle of torture. Not much about the vengeful intentions of the victim. There wasn’t much of an epic scene or an epiphany either, and all the little details and secrets of the characters were laid out at the start, so everything was somewhat predictable. There were also a couple of confusing timeline switches between the chapters that I couldn’t make sense of.

Also, the book summary here on Goodreads isn’t correct. You can find the right one of Google Books.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the novel because of the depth of the characters, how they were all connected and wanting to find out if the victim survived. I wouldn’t say that it was a bad book because I really did enjoy the writing style, but I would like to give another of Elizabeth Adler’s books a shot.

[Barb · Rating 1 out of 5]

“One Way or Another” by Elizabeth Adler is the latest book I have read. I was anticipating reading this novel as soon as I read the first chapter. It really piqued my interest. I was looking forward to finding out who would have murdered the young woman with the luscious red hair. I anticipated following the story as the man who saw her fall off the yacht tried to find out her identity and who owned the yacht. I was disappointed in that the story seemed to me to be full of coincidences which I won’t spell out because it might ruin the book for someone. I never was sure why all these people came together in the story. They just WERE. I know that this book would be enjoyed by those liking thrillers. However, I was not riveted to the sadism and brutality that was prevalent in this book. I’m sure that this genre is very well enjoyed by many, just not by me.

I was sent a print copy of this book by Night Owl Reviews in return for my honest review. You can find this review on my blog at http://wp.me/p2pjIt-ho. Other reviews can be found at http://imhookedonbooks.wordpress.com.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an advance reading copy of this book for free from Goodreads First Reads.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that it did keep me reading until the end. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next.

However, throughout the book, and especially the second half, I kept noticing inconsistencies in the story and confusing parts where the story would skip ahead in time and leave me wondering what had just happened. Generally I was able to figure it out and keep reading, but it was annoying. I also thought many of the action points that kept the story moving were contrived - I had trouble believing that a certain character would actually behave the way they had in the story.

Overall, the story line was intriguing, if a little creepy and unsettling, but not totally believable. And the writing and/or editing (not sure which) could really use some work.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

First time reading Elizabeth Adler. This book was billed as a mystery thriller. The book had a decent premise but totally fell apart for me 1/4 way in. Not sure who edited this book but it needed lots more. The characterizations of the girls no one would miss , like Angie and the girls that went before her, were well done and true in today's society. I can't say the same of the rest of the characters. The description of the marshes were eerie and a great place for folks to disappear, but it's amazing how some managed to escape in total darkness without shoes, clothes....
Once the "upstairs room" was discovered and information shared, why anyone would go back to work there was incredulous?! The whole story was bizarre and with so many authors writing in this genre, I think I'm done with Ms Adler.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my Lord, what a train wreck of a book. I can't believe I finished it; I was mostly skimming after a while. The characters are inconsistent, the timeline management is a farce, and very little actually happens. People just think to themselves in run-on sentences without DOING hardly anything. Moreover, the author is constantly moving people around at random and without any logic or sense. In the beginning of one chapter, a character is driving to meet an employee, but then a couple pages later, she is with her sister without ever having met up with the employee. Huh? Stuff like that happens all the time in this book. The victim is a bland non-entity who mostly just gets flown back and forth from Turkey to England for absolutely no reason. BORING. There is no intrigue, loose ends like a flock of cats got into a yarn store, and no consistency in anything. Truly bad.

[Velvet · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a train wreck. Honestly, I only managed to finish this horrible book because after a while all I was doing was skimming the pages.

The characters are inconsistent and flat, even though we were told EVERYTHING about them in an information dump.... Actually 95% of this book is an information dump, and very little actually happens. The characters just think to themselves in run-on sentences (oh so many run-on sentences) without actually doing anything. Then to top it all off the book is full of inconsistencies and contradictions in almost every chapter.

This is hands-down one of the worst books I've ever had the misfortune of reading. This is the first (and last) book I've ever read by this author. Seriously, don't waste your time!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Goodreads description of this book is interesting. It talks about Ellen, but there is no Ellen in this book. The girl's name is Angie. Marco is sitting on the shore looking out to sea when he sees a red head being pushed off a big black yacht. He tries to save her, with no success, and no one, including his girlfriend, Martha. Marco becomes obsessed with finding out who this girl was. Then his path, as well as his girlfriend's and her sister's, cross with the billionaire who owns the yacht. The storyline is good and well paced, however, unfortunately, the author has put too many twists in the story that seem unbelievable and as a result spoil the story.

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just awful. So many things that I hated- the characters names (Marco Polo) and (Morris Sorris)!!! The name of the house "Marshmallows" was ridiculous. I felt like the characters were not believable and there were inconsistencies throughout. First, Martha is suspicious of Ahmet, then the next thing you read is Marco telling her that he gets a bad feeling from Ahmet, and it's as though Martha never thought so in the first place. A frustrating read that I skimmed through at the end and struggled to finish just to see what happened.

[Wendy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought the premise of this book to be quite interesting but it was just so terribly written that I had to "give up" after only 6 chapters. Thinking it would be a thriller type mystery....this it clearly isn't. It almost seemed like a mills and boon wanna be mystery. It wasn't gripping, the characters and storyline are just unbelievable and grossly fake.

[Akeating2003 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was almost a great book. I would have rated it higher except that there were too many disconnects with the characters. I kept finding myself asking, wait, doesn't he know this already? wait, don't they all think this is strange that this guy keeps coming up? I haven't read any others by this author, will probably try another because I liked the idea of the story.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I grabbed this Adler book, i didn’t realize it would be so “dark”. I much prefer her fun, lighthearted, full of beautiful descriptions of the places she writes about.
Wish I would have looked at the reviews before I started it.