New York Dead

Good Stuart Woods thriller. A page-turner. Entertaining, will make you want to read more of his work.

Its great to go back and read about Stone before he left NYPD. Good storyline and interesting plot twists draw the reader into the book. Couldn't put it down, a real page turner.

Great book. I was hooked the first time I read his work. Now I am buying the whole Stone Barrington series!!

Unabridged Audio Book
Reader: Robert Lawrence gets an A+.
This book held my interest from the start. I thought the plot twists were good. I especially liked the mystery of the missing "suicide" victim.. I listened to this book in my car and there were a few "driveway" moments involved in the process. The reader can make or break and audio book and Robert Lawrence was definitely a maker.

In this Stuart Woods' book, we find Stone Barrington in his first outing. He is a Lt. Detective on limited duty due to a bullet he took to his knee and has decided after an evening out to walk home in order to get some exercise to it when, in a case of being in either the right place at the right time, or wrong place at the wrong time, he witnesses a woman falling from a building. It turns out to be a rather famous TV personality who was scheduled to take her place as a co-anchor on a prestigious network the next night. When he arrives at her apartment he hears someone leaving it rapidly, but when he gives chase his knee gives out and he loses the person he was chasing. However, what is set up to be a relatively open-and-shut homicide case is quickly muddied by the arrival of a freelance journalist who got footage of her at the scene showing that she was still alive when put in the ambulance, by her diary that shows that she was severely depressed at times, and then by her disappearance - no body, no crime. Barrington's obsession with finding out the truth in this case, as opposed to just finding someone to stick with the crime, quickly puts him at odds with the rest of the department (with whom he never fit in all that well to begin with) and he soon finds himself railroaded out on a medical disability retirement. However, he has a background in law and decides to take the bar exam and set himself up that way. The twists just keep on coming as taxi drivers start getting murdered around the city, and Barrington begins to get notes purportedly from the missing star.

I started to read these books out of order when I picked up "Reckless Abandon" and then "Two Dollar Bill," then I decided to hold off until I put my hands on all of them and start at the beginning; I'm glad I have, because I can now look forward to a long line of these most excellent thrillers. Woods knows how to put together a great mystery and keep it exciting!