Iron Orchid (Holly Barker, No. 5)
by Stuart Woods
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stuart WoodsEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-04-04
ISBN: 0451215761
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Signet
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451215765
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Iron Orchid (Holly Barker, No. 5)
Book Review: Holly and the CIA
Summary: 3 Stars
There was a time when I could turn to Stuart Woods and know I would get a lightweight but well-written thriller. In recent years, however, Woods has remained lightweight but his writing has gone downhill. His recent Stone Barrington novels have been minimally entertaining and his latest standalone novel, The Prince of Beverly Hills, was equally mediocre. The one ray of sunshine in his recent works has been Holly Barker novels, and in Iron Orchid, we get Woods at his recent best: not really good, but a cut above his non-Barker works.
As the story opens, Teddy Fay, the villain from Capitol Crimes is back and on the run from the FBI and CIA; he fakes his death which buys him a little time, but soon enough the authorities are after them again. Meanwhile, Holly Barker has quit her small-town police job and has joined the CIA; her training is cut short when she gets involved with the hunt for Fay. Most of the novel is a cat-and-mouse game, with Fay a step or two ahead, evading Holly and company and at the same time, committing a string of assassins. Since Fay is killing suspected terrorists, he is not exactly an entirely unsympathetic character.
There are plenty of things wrong with this book, flaws that have been a distinct Woods trait for a while. Typically, most of these problems come from the shallowness of the story and its characters. The only two characters with any real substance are Holly and Fay, and since they rarely interact, we get no really good interplay between the two of them. In fact, there is little in the way of real suspense, at least as far as the heroes are concerned: since Fay only kills "bad guys", Holly is in no real danger (a brief side plot involving the threat of a CIA instructor goes nowhere). Actually, the only suspense involves Fay as he is the only one in real danger; in a certain way, that makes him the protagonist in this novel. There are also bits of silliness that take away any potential realism in this novel; for example, the idea that Holly could bring her dog with her to CIA training seems a bit implausible. The ending of the story will probably also be dissatisfying to many.
I continue to read Woods, because he was good once and I keep hoping he will be again. I think his biggest problem is that he is writing too fast (it seems like he's doing two novels a year) and it shows. His latest books seem hastily written. Iron Orchid may be better than other recent Woods fare, but it is not a novel I can recommend; I'm giving it a low three stars, and probably only rating it that high to distinguish it from his other books. If you want to read Stuart Woods, read his early stuff: it's entertaining and well-written. His more recent books are just fast, empty reads.
Summary of Iron Orchid (Holly Barker, No. 5)
When his plane exploded off the coast of Maine, authorities thought they had seen the last of Teddy Fay?the ex-CIA tech wizard who kills his political targets for sport. But now they?ve found irrefutable evidence that he is alive and up to his old tricks. Now working for the CIA, ex-chief-of-police Holly Barker joins the elite task force tracking Fay in New York City. As he begins to pick off America?s enemies one by one, Holly unexpectedly finds herself face-to-face with the killer, kick-starting a high-speed chase through the canyons of midtown Manhattan, the Metropolitan Opera house, Central Park, and the United Nations Plaza, all to prevent another assassination before Fay disappears again?maybe this time for good.
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