Roger’s Comments (group member since Sep 09, 2012)

Roger’s comments from the Stephen White - Alan Gregory group.

Finished it a couple of days ago. Near the end I found myself really slowing down - chapter by chapter, page by page - because I dreaded reaching The End. It's still all sinking in, and has been a great source of discussion between my wife (who read it first) and me...as well as another friend for whom I bought a copy at Chautauqua. Quite a ride, expertly woven together as usual. (And I only found one typo! :-) )

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: "Yes! I just saw today that he is scheduled to appear at Chautauqua in Boulder again this year so I'll have to buy my ticket soon!..."

Did you make it? My wife and I were there and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. I bought the book but haven't started it yet, as I still have two library books checked out that I need to knock off. But here are some photos:

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One regret: I again failed to take any photos of the beautiful grounds at Chautauqua. Just too anxious to get inside for the book talk...

Shoulda posted this long ago, back when I initially finished Line of Fire, but other things tend to interfere. Some background...

My first Stephen White book was 'Critical Conditions', and I was immediately hooked. Kept up with all the new books since then, and went back at the odd time to try to catch up with those that I had missed.

When it was announced that the series was coming to an end, I made a point of looking up what books I still had not read (as I wanted to be sure to be caught up before starting Line of Fire) and it turned out that by then the only one I hadn't read was the first: Privileged Information. So I read that one (awesome!), and it was nice getting that bookend of the oldest in preparation for the newest. It also made me even more certain that I needed to reread Dry Ice before tackling LoF, due to the known connections that I needed to freshen in my mind. Some time ago Stephen White's team asked the question on FB 'What's your favorite Stephen White book?' At the time, I answered 'Dry Ice' in the comments, and so this would also be an opportunity to see if my feelings had changed at all about that particular work since then.

People often speak of rereading their favorite books, but due to time constraints or priorities or whatever, I had never actually gone back to read an entire book for the second time before. So this was a first for me, and Yes it did reconfirm my initial impressions of Dry Ice. I guess stories about broken people dealing with their struggles appeal to me, and Mr. White does such a great job of conveying the humanity at work in those situations.

So, on to Line of Fire. It's not my intention to review the book here, but suffice to say it was another first for me: the minute I finished it, I without hesitation went back and *immediately* reread it. I so enjoyed the ride, and I wanted to ride again...and it was just as good the second time.

Did LoF surpass Dry Ice on my list of SW faves? Hard to compare the two, but for different reasons it is right up there with it. All I can say now is: I am SO looking forward to the last book in the series, and I am so NOT looking forward to the last book in the series. I guess I'll eventually just have to go back and read them ALL again!

PS In LoF, when I found out Comadoe's real name, I immediately thought of the old rock band that had a member by the same name. It jumped out at me because I played the same instrument in a band at the time, and even played some of that band's tunes...including some of his cheesy solos (hint). Anybody else know to whom I'm refering? Yes, the internet is your friend, but no fair cheating... ;-)

Dustin Crazy little brown owl wrote: I was upstairs too ..."

Yes, I saw your comment to his original posting of that photo on FB. I also took some pictures, and uploaded one of them to his FB page. I can't figure out how to share a whole FB photo album outside of FB, so here are links to some individual photos:

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I also bought the hard cover there for him to sign, and told him we were from Buena Vista. He told me that BV was mentioned several times in the new book, but I didn't think it was going to be all because of the prison here! Shoulda known... ;-)

"There are things in that last 100 pages that you should not miss."

Nice summary of the evening! I was there too; that's me and my wife just getting to our seats in the upper right corner of the photo he posted on FB.

One other thing he said that caught my attention: After what you quoted above, I think he added "...and there are some things I hope you do miss."

I am close to that last 100 pages now. Quite a ride so far...

Hi all,

Greetings from Buena Vista CO! Just joined the group yesterday, but have been a long-time fan of Stephen White. My introduction to Alan Gregory was in Critical Conditions, and I was immediately hooked. Been keeping up with him ever since, but only recently went back and read the earlier books (great SW collection at the library here in BV!). Figured I better get all those read before making the dive into the beginning of the end: Line of Fire...