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Book Review By Kevin R. Tipple
Reckless Abandon by Stuart Woods

Holly Barker, Police Chief of Orchid Beach, Florida is on the trail of a fugitive. She is chasing Trini Rodriguez and has a mass murder warrant for him. The problem is that the FBI has placed him in the Witness Protection Program because he is helping them with an investigation into a terrorist cell with links to the Middle East. Trini is a member of the Mafia and Holly believes that he is hiding out in New York City.

Stone, a high caliber and very expensive New York lawyer, has an idea or two and takes her to Little Italy for lunch. Within minutes of arrival at a restaurant in Little Italy, Holly spots Trini walking by, leaps from her table gun in hand, and gives chase down the crowded sidewalk. She loses him almost as quickly and vows once again to get her man, one-way or the other. That becomes the primary theme of the novel. Holly, with Stone and his longtime ally, Dino who is still on the NYPD and occasionally others, pursue Trini across the country and back to New York, nearly having him before losing him again and again thanks to the FBI and/or the Mafia.

Stone Barrington gets the beautiful lady, routinely exhausts himself in the bedroom or elsewhere in the process, and runs around New York driving expensive cars and eating fine foods. Thanks to his lawyer connections, he always outsmarts everyone and unlike Bond, there are no fussy superiors to deal with.



Plot & Themes
Tone of story - very upbeat
Time/era of story:
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 30 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
General Crime (including known murderer) Yes
Who's the criminal enemy here? - finding a known killer
Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Profession/status:
Motive of antagonist - revenge
The antagonists are: - US mafia
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Southeast - West
City? Yes
City: - New York

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Explicit sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - licking - actual description of sex - descript. of breasts - descript. of other female areas - descript. of male nudity
Amount of dialog - significantly more dialog than descript
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