After reading Badlands , Goldfield and Sierra, and becoming quite a fan of Richard Wheeler, this latest work was dull to say the least.

Second Lives left me feeling hollow and found it difficult to get through the unimpressive and boring storyline given. I had no connection to the misplaced characters.

Second Lives is not the typical Western fare. Superbly written, this book is much more character driven than most other offerings from this genre. Incident is not the major emphasis. Here, instead, are very real people who shift and change as a result of forces both within and outside of themselves. Those readers who appreciate fine writing, sharply delineated characters, and a novel that causes the reader to truly care about its players will find much to admire here. Each person in the book is pushed into examining his or her existence, and the choices necessary to achieve some sort of fulfillment. Most of the characters seem to have arrived at a rapproachement with themselves, and with the vicissitudes of life by the novels end. The title here suggests a certain rite of passage in which the old rules and landmarks these characters used to guide their existence no longer work. It is now up to these people to fashion a future based upon the abiding lessons that experience has painfully taught them.

I read this selection for a genre fiction class I have in a graduate Library Science program, and this is the best book I've run across during the course of my assignments. Based upon the evidence of what I have just read, Richard S. Wheeler is one very fine writer. Quite frankly, I did not anticipate such a richly rewarding reading experience.

My wife and I bought this tape for something to listen to while traveling cross country in the car. Though it's abridged, we felt the author's endorsement would ensure a quality presentation -- big mistake.

First of all, Ken Howard's voice offered little range and capability in offering distinctions between the various characters, and he clearly sounds nothing like a 29-year old protagonist. The novel's dialogue doesn't help on this last point, however, as I had difficulty being convinced that Paget could be both this jaded and self-assured at such a young age.

Most of the characters were two-dimensional sterotypes with limited depth -- especially the women, of which there were too few. These guys are supposed to be big corporate and government hardball players, and yet get flustered everytime Paget talks tough (Ohhh, I'm sooo scared of you). There also appears to be virtually no sensory information in the narrative beyond a visual context -- we know almost nothing about any of the character's personalities or their appearance and mannerisms throughout the book. This applies to descriptions and sensations of the locales as well. I suppose this could have been what was cut as part of the abridged version.

The plot stalls for about half of the book, but picks up quickly at the end, but Paget's failure in attempting to analyze and interpret his first big clue (a written note) is a big investigative oversight right from the start.

Very disappointing.

This is Patterson's first book, and in his introduction he offers an explanation for its inception. Christopher Paget appears in two later novels, "Degree of Guilt" and "Eyes of a Child" which are far superior novels than this one. Be warned, though---if you read "Degree of Guilt" first you'll pretty much know what happens in this book. Paget is a little overbearing and cynical in this one and not as likeable in his mature years. The pace is pretty effective, and the villains are appropriately nasty. I found the ending a tad bit too brisk; it just seemed to end.
RECOMMENDED IN ORDER TO ENJOY THE BETTER SEQUELS.

This is the first of the "Paget Trilogy" and is a pretty decent book. Let's remember Patterson was 29 when he wrote this back in 1979. I guess that could explain the dope references, which didn't bother me at all. A flawed main protagonist??? Oh my God, The HORROR!!! Easy read that will set you up for the much better "Degree of Guilt".

I was facinated by the history in this book, but it made me want to read, well, a history book. There's nothing real or compelling about the characters, and the stories that Wheeler weaves around the earthquake are interesting for their details, but not for their human drama.

I really enjoyed the historical aspects of this book, but I couldn't help but find the characters and situations a bit trite. None of the characters seemed to really come to life and the storyline is a bit predictable.

Richard Wheeler's novels are the richest and most humanistic to be found among today's writers of the American West. Aftershocks, a story set in the tumult of the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, is reminiscent of Jack London's character-rich tales, such as The Valley of the Moon and Burning Daylight.

I leave it to others to rate this novel, but I believe that this, my 45th novel, is the finest short fiction I have written. It is about a courageous editor, Angie Drum, who discovers that her own son, the mayor of a Kansas cowtown, is corrupt. She chooses to expose him and his cronies, at great anguish to herself. Her moral courage and determination lie at the heart of the story.

The cover depicts three armed gunmen, but do not be misled. There are no gunfights in this story. The Hollywood West does not exist in this novel. It is simply a story of a woman of great spiritual beauty wrestling with her conscience, and in the end, doing what is right, at terrible cost.

I am grateful to Amazon for letting me provide an accurate description of the novel for the benefit of readers and customers.

I bought this book used after reading and liking "Masterson" by the same author. I wasn't as impressed with "Drum's Ring," however.
The stories centers around a 53-year-old widow who publishes a weekly newspaper in the 1870s Kansas cow town of Opportunity.
She crusades against a corrupt "ring" of officials who have been arresting, jailing and fining the Texas cowboys who bring the herds up the Chisolm Trail to the railroad in Opportunity. The corrupt officials, including the newspaper publisher's only son (who is the mayor), are essentially engaging in legal theft.
Much of the story involves the woman's run-ins with various players in the "ring" as she labors mightily to publish papers exposing the corruption. It gets tedious as the author works overtime to make the woman seem virtuous in her quest for justice yet sad because she must ruin her son if she is to succeed. I found myself skipping over parts of it that did little to advance the plot.
Give the author credit though, for in the end he has his heroine martyred as she reams out a cattle baron who has turned the tables on her son's "ring" and is administering his own brand of justice.
The epilogue explains that the son's life continued blithely on as he didn't seem to mourn his mother in the least, the cattle baron who shot the heroine went unpunished, and the population of the once-thriving town dwindles to 50.
Maybe Wheeler wanted to make sure no one bought the movie rights.
I read the whole thing, so it's not a bad book. But I won't save it to read again someday.

This is the type of Western that makes you think and feel. In the story of the newspaper editor there is something for all of us to learn and consider. Truely Fine Work. Wish there were more books like this out there!

Susan Richards Shreve's The Visiting Physician is an interesting, entertaining read. Her descriptions of the small town and it's small minded inhabitants are spot on, if not stereotypical. What makes this book enjoyable are the details, the gaily colored Victorian houses lining Main St., the river and its surrounding landscape, snippets from her character's lives, both past and present. Still we want to know more. Too many unanswered questions make the actual story less than satisfying.

Why can't Helen Fielding, the "Visiting Physician" of the title, connect on more than a surface level with any of her lovers? Why did Sophie, the voluptuous town "vixen", leave Meridian without taking her daughter with her? What secrets drive Prudential, the health clinic "nurse" to be so prickly and harsh at times? What are the circumstances of sherriff David Jasperson's past that caused him to divorce, get custody of his son, change occupations and move back to his hometown?

For light reading on a summer day, The Visiting Physician is perfect. Just don't look for a neatly wrapped up ending. It seems there may be more to this story than even the author is telling us.

After reading her Daughters of the New World, I had to get my hands on another of her works. Like Daughters, this book has strong female characters, and deals with the ever-popular "mother-daughter" delimma of finding oneself. The storyline develops around missing children in a small town which this visiting Physician is drawn to. Unlike her earlier work in Daughters, the supporting characters are underdeveloped,but Ms. Shreve keeps your interest with her unique twist on the main character's connection with the town.

i like the author a lot and the story, pace and writing style were good.

I liked this book, but it pales in comparison to Patterson's later works. Adam Shaw is a young lawyer employed in his father-in-law's firm who is asked to drop off a document to his friends, Lydia and Henry Cantwell. Shaw finds the murdered body of Mrs. Cantwell, and then discovers the document he was delivering was the latest edition of her last will and testament. The prime suspects in the murder are the husband whose alibi is he was out of town for the night, and their psychotic son, Jason, whose girlfriend says he was with her all night.
Nothing is as it seems from this point; there's much more than meets the eye in all of the characters' secrets and so forth. Eventually three people end up dead by the time the crime is solved. The true culprit is somewhat of a surprise, although the character's presence in the book is never really likeable. The showdown at the end is somewhat contrived, but it serves its purpose.
If you're a true Patterson fan, this book will please you but savor his later efforts.
RECOMMENDED (SLIGHTLY)

One of his early books, a bit scattered in character development and missing his usual insightful dialogue. He mixes past and present in the same paragraph/scene and you must re-read parts to figure out where he is in the story line.
Shaw basically spends the entire book in his car chasing the plot twists back & forth! There are so many minor bits & pieces that pop back up, it's a book that needs an index. I've read most of his stuff but this one almost doesn't come together till late. Not his best but he's good enough to make it worthwhile...

Wish I read the reviews here before I bought the Case is Altered..my first experience with Martha Grimes, and probably my last. Didn't grab me quick enough, or am I being too impatient? Any of you reviewers, who panned the book, got a recommendation for me in the mystery genre? Something well written, not unlike PD James, whose books I've exhausted, but not as drab as this one seems. I hate to quit on a book...but, my time is valuable too, Ms.Grimes.

Martha Grimes crafts another terrific mystery novel!! Grimes' characters are clearly developed and her descriptions of the fens are almost haunting. This is an area that was drained to allow farming, and is viewed by some as a vast wasteland area, as others as a place of quiet solitude and strange beauty. This, then, is the location of the murders of two people who seem to have little to connect them. One murder victim is a well known aging, beautiful actress who had known much success in her prime. The other victim is a young girl working two jobs, one at an estate as kitchen helper, and the other at a pub called The Case Has Altered. This young girl does not possess many positive hopes for her future, she is not attractive, not especially bright and is basically what many seem to think is the flip side of the coin from the other murder victim in nearly every respect. What, if anything binds these two together, or is it in fact just a coincidence that is confusing the whole murder investigation. Colleagues Richard Jury and Melrose Plant wind their way carefully through the fens and the lies and truths laid out side by side to get to the heart of these crimes. As always the author never drops a ball while she leads the reader through this maze. The expected "side stories" are so much fun and add a wonderful sense of humor to her novel. Martha Grimes is such a pleasure to read.

Martha Grimes paints an insightful and informatinve picture of English life. We're not reading a AAA Tour book, after all. I thoroughly enjoyed this particular novel. We're in it for the "who dunit" mystery not for the "day in the life of an average Englishman". Picking up this book is like getting a letter from an old friend. Melrose Plant is wonderful, as always. We see a different side of Jury this time. He's in love! What a terrific spin this is. He is so "by the book' that we don't think of him as the emotional character. It was so enjoyable to experience him in new territory. I would heartily recommend this to any Grimes fan or mystery reader.

I was looking for more detail about the area. For instance, the hotel we chose was not listed. I had read that there was a place in the area where we could swim with the dolphins and that information was not listed in this book. If you are looking for general information this is a good book.