| Plot Summary of Reckless Abandon |
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Putnam, April 2004, 25.95, 384 pp.
ISBN 0399151516
When Holly Barker, Chief of the Orchid Beach Police in Florida travels to New York to apprehend a fugitive, she contacts Stone Barrington who invites her to stay at his home. They met when Stone witnessed a bank robbery in which Holly's fiancé was killed. Trini Rodriguez, who is part of the Mafia, is wanted in the murder of over a dozen people after he bombed a church. Holly couldn't keep him behind bars because Trini was a very important informant who the FBI put in the Witness Protection Program.
Holly hopes to find him in New York City and arrest him on a fugitive warrant but the FBI wants her to hold off on serving it until Trini's infiltrates an Arab terrorist cell so the government can arrest them on information the thugs delivers. After the cell is broken up the FBI spirit Trini away with Stone and Holly trailing them all over the country to hand down the warrant. While perusing Trini and company, Holly and Stone begin a hot and steamy affair that gets her mind off of her obsessive need to find her criminal.
In RECKLESS ABANDON, the FBI comes across as bumbling idiots who can't shake a tail or keep their informant hidden. The fact that they are willing to protect him after he killed over a dozen innocents will enrage readers as much as it does Holly.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"In this book Woods takes two of his most successful characters and puts them together. Holly Barker, chief of the Orchid Beach, Fla., police department, of the “Orchid Series” is still hunting Trini. He apparently didn't die when she stabbed him in “Blood Orchid” and is in fact in the witness protection program, and is in New York. Holly hops a plane with Daisy (everyone should have a dog like Daisy) and tracks him to New York. She immediately calls Stone Barrington, as they met in “Orchid Blues” and he invites her to stay with him. This leads to Stone immediately being pulled into the hunt for Trini. "
Tanya, Resident Scholar
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"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.
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Kevin R. Tipple, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Reckless Abandon |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 20%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 36.7%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 33.3%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- very upbeat
Time/era of story:
- present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
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:
- a lawyer creature
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
The antagonists are:
- US mafia
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Setting
United States
Yes
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 3-4
Sex
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
- descript of kissing
- touching of anatomy
- descript. of breasts
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
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