L.A. Dead (Stone Barrington)
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: 2001-09-01
ISBN: 0451204115
Number of pages: 464
Publisher: Signet
Book Reviews of L.A. Dead (Stone Barrington)
Book Review: Shooting Stars
Summary: 3 Stars
Over-the-top ex-cop, ex-CIA, rich playboy lawyer Stone Barrington, his fiancee Dolce Bianchi, sidekick Dino Bacchetti and his wife (Dolce's sister) Mary-Ann are flown to Venice, Italy for Stone-Dolce's wedding. In the meantime, movie actor Vance Calder (husband of Stone's sweetheart, Arrington) is murdered in Los Angeles. Implausibly, after the civil ceremony, just hours before the church wedding (Mafioso kingpin) Eduardo, the father of the bride, encourages Stone to investigate Vance's death. Inexplicably, Dolce is fine with being abandoned on her wedding night, and her husband rushing off to an ex-lover. Dolce soon turns petulant--with good reason: On what would have been their wedding night, Stone has sex with Vance's secretary, Betty Southard, and subsequently with Arrington and actress Charlene Calder. Of course, Stone hasn't got a clue why Dolce is annoyed, nor (until Arrington brings it up) does he consider what Eduardo might think (or do) about all this. When Dolce follows Stone to Los Angeles, Stone tells her to get lost, and proceeds to ignore her, while screwing every other female in sight. And this is supposed to be our brilliant "hero"? The police suspect that Arrington killed her husband because he was having sex with Charlene Joiner, and/or other actresses. Dolce turns out to be one nasty piece of work, but Barrington clearly deserves her. That's the setup, after which the novel drags for several hundred pages, with nothing significant occurring, before slowly accelerating to the climax.
Speaking of which, the sex (mercifully not so relentless as in some novels in the series) is cold, dry, clinical, unimaginative, unappealing, and uninspiring.
As Dino might say, there isn't a "human being" in the entire novel. Incredibly, the most likeable character is king thug Eduardo Bianchi. If you prefer to avoid becoming emotionally involved with characters, this is the novel (and the series of novels) for you.
It is a remarkable achievement that Stuart Wood has created the least admirable, least likable, of all fictional private detectives--Stone Barrington--and yet, I and thousands of other readers, eagerly read each new novel in the series.
"LA Dead" is pure entertainment, skillfully written. There is nothing uplifting, nothing inspiring, nothing to think about (other than to thank God that these people are not your friends or neighbors). One could only wish that Woods would use his formidable skills for good.
Summary of L.A. Dead (Stone Barrington)
Cop-turned-lawyer-and-investigator Stone Barrington ventures out to the west coast-and out on a limb-in this "stylish whodunit" (Detroit News) filled with romance and murder from the bestselling author of The Run and Worst Fears Realized.
Stone's trip to Venice-with a fiery Mafia princess-is cut short by a frantic phone call from half a world away. A celebrity murder has Los Angeles in an uproar and has a former flame pining for Stone's help-in more ways than one...
Stone's trip to Venice-with a fiery Mafia princess-is cut short by a frantic phone call from half a world away. A celebrity murder has Los Angeles in an uproar and has a former flame pining for Stone's help-in more ways than one...
Stuart Woods is a master of the glitzy, high-concept, suspense thriller, and Stone Barrington, hero of five previous mysteries, is the kind of private cop who glides gracefully between lavishly detailed dinners, private jets, fancy parties, sexy assignations in luxury hotels, and the occasional murder investigation. Occasionally he gets his hands dirty, but more often it's his sheets. L.A. Dead finds him in Venice, where he's about to marry the beautiful (but seriously crazy) daughter of a high-ranking Mafioso, whose other daughter happens to be married to Stone's best friend--an NYPD cop, naturally. The civil ceremony's over, but the church wedding is only hours away when Stone is called to L.A., where his former lover has just discovered her husband's dead body. The lover is Arrington (an oddity, given Stone's surname; did Woods just run out of imagination here?), the dead husband is a famous movie star, and everyone believes she killed him. Everyone except Stone, who's still in love with Arrington. He has a helluva time interviewing (and bedding) all the women in her circle, including the dead husband's private secretary, Arrington's best friend, her lawyer's mistress, and a number of Hollywood wives. Jackie Collins does the ladies better, but Stone manages to save the damsel in distress, get rid of his nutty near-wife without offending her father, and wrap up all the details except the most important one. No doubt he's saving that for the next book. In the meantime, Woods's many fans will snap this up and spend the interim wondering: if Stone marries the woman of his dreams, will that make her Arrington Barrington? --Jane Adams
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