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The Fourth Circle of Hell
A wickedly smart epic thriller.
- GenresFiction
267 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 26, 2019
5 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Gary Rappard
1 book13 followersGary's new thriller novel, The Fourth Circle of Hell, received this review on Amazon:
“I am very impressed with this book. It is a very well thought out and researched story. If you liked Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", you should like this book. It's a fast-paced thriller that will be hard to put down. Plus, it has a great story idea with an important message for our times. Give it a try! You won't regret it.”
Gary's been selected for Who’s Who in American Law and Martindale-Hubble Law Directory’s highest attorney accolade many years in a row. His experience provides him a unique perspective to analyze the pieces of civilization’s puzzle and interpret the world in ways that provide provocative and entertaining reading.
“I am very impressed with this book. It is a very well thought out and researched story. If you liked Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", you should like this book. It's a fast-paced thriller that will be hard to put down. Plus, it has a great story idea with an important message for our times. Give it a try! You won't regret it.”
Gary's been selected for Who’s Who in American Law and Martindale-Hubble Law Directory’s highest attorney accolade many years in a row. His experience provides him a unique perspective to analyze the pieces of civilization’s puzzle and interpret the world in ways that provide provocative and entertaining reading.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 5, 2020
There are some excellent points in this at times political story. Unfortunately, there are sections that drag, that allows interest to wane. This story may mean different things to other readers. 5 of 10 stars
November 25, 2019
After having sat down and read this book PERSONALLY, MYSELF... I found it to be utter tripe. This book was excruciating to read. The author clearly wants to be Dan Brown in every way, shape and form. His book is modeled after Dan Brown's work right down to the chapter length. However this book completely lacks the panache and steady fluid motion of Dan Brown's work.
The characters and situations are completely unbelievable even for a thriller novel. And the entire book could use some serious editing.
The characters and situations are completely unbelievable even for a thriller novel. And the entire book could use some serious editing.
December 4, 2019
Good story with a great lesson
I read the book throughout and have positive and negative thoughts about it. On the positive side, I love the title of the book! Very catchy! The story is good, full of action, and was well thought through. It also has a good plot. The author did historical and art research in depth. The most amazing thing about the book are the financial lessons, which applies perfectly to the financial system we are living today in the United States and many other countries around the world. I even took notes! The author explains in a very clear and understandable way how a financial system collapses. Anyone can understand! Very well done! The language used in the book is also good.
On the negative side, more than the chapters being short, they end abruptly. I also think the author tells too many times the internal thoughts of the characters. Occasionally, it is acceptable, but so many times it becomes tiring.
The book has lots of potential and it has a good story. It also catches the reader attention. However, it should have been revised by more people before being published. My honest opinion.
I read the book throughout and have positive and negative thoughts about it. On the positive side, I love the title of the book! Very catchy! The story is good, full of action, and was well thought through. It also has a good plot. The author did historical and art research in depth. The most amazing thing about the book are the financial lessons, which applies perfectly to the financial system we are living today in the United States and many other countries around the world. I even took notes! The author explains in a very clear and understandable way how a financial system collapses. Anyone can understand! Very well done! The language used in the book is also good.
On the negative side, more than the chapters being short, they end abruptly. I also think the author tells too many times the internal thoughts of the characters. Occasionally, it is acceptable, but so many times it becomes tiring.
The book has lots of potential and it has a good story. It also catches the reader attention. However, it should have been revised by more people before being published. My honest opinion.
June 22, 2019
This was an interesting story, there was much at play - the lives of two detectives, the philosophy of money, the ancient tools, legends and more.
It was very intriguing.
There were items I felt disengaged, it was too chatty or jumpy for me.
That said, there were also some wonderful descriptions and creative ideas which gave me a lot to consider. I liked that.
The essence of the philosophy and roots of the legends were good. Again, these gave me a new perspective on wealth and my thoughts around it.
Read the book, see it for yourself. Let the writer take you on a hunt into times of old mixed with your own culture.
It was very intriguing.
There were items I felt disengaged, it was too chatty or jumpy for me.
That said, there were also some wonderful descriptions and creative ideas which gave me a lot to consider. I liked that.
The essence of the philosophy and roots of the legends were good. Again, these gave me a new perspective on wealth and my thoughts around it.
Read the book, see it for yourself. Let the writer take you on a hunt into times of old mixed with your own culture.
October 15, 2019
Fourth Circle of Hell by Gary Rappard starts off with the murder of the Italian Ambassador to the U.S. and quickly moves from there to the main character (MC), a forensic linguist who works for the Smithsonian, running from an unknown villain & his minions all while trying to solve a cryptic puzzle involving Machiavelli, Dante, & Da Vinci.
This book wants to be the Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, but fails to do so. It’s evident the author thoroughly researched history, art, and philosophy; however, I had 3 primary issues with the book and because of these issues, I only made it through chapter 17 before calling it quits.
First, the flow of the book was disjointed. While there is a lot of action (the book kicks off with a murder), there lacked a smooth flow between the scenes and even within the action scenes. The chapters were rather short (50+ chapters in only 259 pages) and that added to choppy, disjointedness.
Second, there was a lot of tell and little show. For a book that was trying to create an air of action and suspense (the MC is running from the “bad guys” while trying to solve a puzzle), the author spent a lot of time telling—telling descriptions of places, telling internal thoughts to tell the action (seriously, almost every other paragraph had an italicized internal thought), and telling what was happening instead of showing. I found that some of the telling a bit insulting because it presumed the reader needed to be told because the reader wouldn’t be able to follow the story otherwise. Plus, this is supposed to be a thriller, but the momentum & anticipation is thrown off by constant telling. And really, the MC is running for his life, but stops to look at the archives? Plus, the MC is a forensic linguist, but by chapter 17, he was acting more like Macguver/Colombo. There was no character backstory or development that made that anywhere close to believable.
Finally, there were too many all too convenient escapes. Yes, that seems to happen in thrillers, but when you have 3 or 4 rather lucky escapes within a short time (like the bad minion getting hit by a speeding metro train), it starts to be unbelievable. One lucky escape might be reasonable but after the fourth one within a couple chapters, I could no longer buy it.
The story might have potential, but I would call this maybe a third or fourth draft. It needs a good editor to pull it together, smooth out the choppiness, and eliminate the telling.
This book wants to be the Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, but fails to do so. It’s evident the author thoroughly researched history, art, and philosophy; however, I had 3 primary issues with the book and because of these issues, I only made it through chapter 17 before calling it quits.
First, the flow of the book was disjointed. While there is a lot of action (the book kicks off with a murder), there lacked a smooth flow between the scenes and even within the action scenes. The chapters were rather short (50+ chapters in only 259 pages) and that added to choppy, disjointedness.
Second, there was a lot of tell and little show. For a book that was trying to create an air of action and suspense (the MC is running from the “bad guys” while trying to solve a puzzle), the author spent a lot of time telling—telling descriptions of places, telling internal thoughts to tell the action (seriously, almost every other paragraph had an italicized internal thought), and telling what was happening instead of showing. I found that some of the telling a bit insulting because it presumed the reader needed to be told because the reader wouldn’t be able to follow the story otherwise. Plus, this is supposed to be a thriller, but the momentum & anticipation is thrown off by constant telling. And really, the MC is running for his life, but stops to look at the archives? Plus, the MC is a forensic linguist, but by chapter 17, he was acting more like Macguver/Colombo. There was no character backstory or development that made that anywhere close to believable.
Finally, there were too many all too convenient escapes. Yes, that seems to happen in thrillers, but when you have 3 or 4 rather lucky escapes within a short time (like the bad minion getting hit by a speeding metro train), it starts to be unbelievable. One lucky escape might be reasonable but after the fourth one within a couple chapters, I could no longer buy it.
The story might have potential, but I would call this maybe a third or fourth draft. It needs a good editor to pull it together, smooth out the choppiness, and eliminate the telling.
December 31, 2021
The Fourth Circle of Hell by Gary Rappard has long been on my list. I've been eying this book down but knew I needed a good amount of time to sit down and take it all in. This book appears to be heavily inspired by Dan Brown's writing style, so you instantly know you need to pay attention and be ready for some wild, wickedly intelligent hijinks. I couldn't just slowly piece along this book when it needed my full attention to detail!
So here I am, finishing off 2021 with an epic thriller with art, philosophy and intellectual vibes.
For this review, I went back to my old style of play by play action, since I definitely wanted to make sure I got all of my notes right. So here... we... go...:
1. Starts off with a bang - intruder alert, guns, and fear. High action and tension to introduce the user to what might be a very thrilling story.
2. Secrets. There's always secrets in this king of book book... And they are always very valuable.
3. Machiavelli & Da Vinci are already referenced!
4. Short, quick chapters. Almost too fast though... There are moments where I want things a little more fleshed out, but sometimes the circumstances are just... too good to be true, or the dialogue is just not all that engaging.
5. Art history is on point!
6. Only 10% into the book and we've already got an exciting chase! Also, murders, murders and more murders. But we do get a peek into the bad guy's thinking... Multiple point of views for the win.
7. "It's too dangerous..." So they go down anyways. I wish I could have seen the shrugs and looks they gave each other when they admitted how bad of an idea it was to go forward but they went down anyways,
8. I had never heard of the Brothers Gracchus before, so that was a cool learning moment! Bonus points for teaching me a few new things, and for allowing me to go research them after reading the book.
9. Law enforcement are slowly trying to piece things together and really help tie the narrative in a nice summary bow, just in case you weren't paying attention.
10. There is SO MUCH going on in this book. I don't know how I'd read this without an index if I was slowly reading this book over days. I feel like I'd forget! It's not a bad thing that it's so busy, but man... There's so much history and intriguing facts in this book. It's such a good thing, honestly, but is blowing my mind! I can't keep up personally, and I can't tell how all of it is connected. But it is wickedly smart and I can tell Gary Rappard did a lot of research. There are so many readers who will love this!
11. Very impressed with the tax cuts and tax rates explanation on why market crashes and net jobs has not increased. My Business degree is applauding the info here as it does a fantastic job explaining the market's current issues. Applause, applause, applause!
12. Ending - quite good! This book felt long to get to it, but overall it wasn't too bad! I enjoyed the read!
This book is a great read for those who love well researched books and art history. I found it very interesting to read. If you love Dan Brown books, this is the type of book I would recommend to you.
Four out of five stars.
I received a free copy of this book from the author, Gary Rappard, in exchange for an honest review.
So here I am, finishing off 2021 with an epic thriller with art, philosophy and intellectual vibes.
For this review, I went back to my old style of play by play action, since I definitely wanted to make sure I got all of my notes right. So here... we... go...:
1. Starts off with a bang - intruder alert, guns, and fear. High action and tension to introduce the user to what might be a very thrilling story.
2. Secrets. There's always secrets in this king of book book... And they are always very valuable.
3. Machiavelli & Da Vinci are already referenced!
4. Short, quick chapters. Almost too fast though... There are moments where I want things a little more fleshed out, but sometimes the circumstances are just... too good to be true, or the dialogue is just not all that engaging.
5. Art history is on point!
6. Only 10% into the book and we've already got an exciting chase! Also, murders, murders and more murders. But we do get a peek into the bad guy's thinking... Multiple point of views for the win.
7. "It's too dangerous..." So they go down anyways. I wish I could have seen the shrugs and looks they gave each other when they admitted how bad of an idea it was to go forward but they went down anyways,
8. I had never heard of the Brothers Gracchus before, so that was a cool learning moment! Bonus points for teaching me a few new things, and for allowing me to go research them after reading the book.
9. Law enforcement are slowly trying to piece things together and really help tie the narrative in a nice summary bow, just in case you weren't paying attention.
10. There is SO MUCH going on in this book. I don't know how I'd read this without an index if I was slowly reading this book over days. I feel like I'd forget! It's not a bad thing that it's so busy, but man... There's so much history and intriguing facts in this book. It's such a good thing, honestly, but is blowing my mind! I can't keep up personally, and I can't tell how all of it is connected. But it is wickedly smart and I can tell Gary Rappard did a lot of research. There are so many readers who will love this!
11. Very impressed with the tax cuts and tax rates explanation on why market crashes and net jobs has not increased. My Business degree is applauding the info here as it does a fantastic job explaining the market's current issues. Applause, applause, applause!
12. Ending - quite good! This book felt long to get to it, but overall it wasn't too bad! I enjoyed the read!
This book is a great read for those who love well researched books and art history. I found it very interesting to read. If you love Dan Brown books, this is the type of book I would recommend to you.
Four out of five stars.
I received a free copy of this book from the author, Gary Rappard, in exchange for an honest review.
October 27, 2021
This is a book that everyone should read. The story was a thriller but the subject matter very much appropriate for today's political climate.
Tried to rate this on Amazon, but it die not show up on my list of digital orders. I would rate it with 5 stars.
Tried to rate this on Amazon, but it die not show up on my list of digital orders. I would rate it with 5 stars.
February 21, 2022
Some interesting ideas, I guess. Very complex plot that flows over hundreds of years. The plot is unbelievable which is to be expected in a novel like this, but this was WAY over the top. Characters are only present to facilitate the presentation of the overall "philosophy" and the dialogue is some of the most inane out of character that I've come across in a long time. I think it was an attempt to inject humor, but it didn't work for me at all.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews