Outside-market

As a big fan of the Alice books, I jumped at the chance to buy this when Phyllis Reynolds Naylor visited a bookstore near me. I liked it, but the content was a little too focused on sex. I would have like to hear more about Alice's best friends Pamela and Elizabeth. A good book overall.

This book is filled with funny, serious, and embarassing stuff that happens to this 13-14 year old girl named Alice. Once you read this one, you'll need to get all of the great Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Those books are also availible right here on Amazon!

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor(author) really describes what it is like to be a teenage girl. Naylor puts all of the problems of being a teenager together, your date getting ill for a big dance, your dad humiliating you by interupting the most intense kiss you have ever had, and not having a mother to talk to about stuff you need a girl to talk to about. In this story all of that happens to Alice when her life gets more complicated then ever. This hilarious must-read will spark the interest of any Jr.High girl.

Oh, this is a creepy thriller. I thought it might turn out to be a run-of-the-mill Brit serial-killer novel, but it has many more chills than the average. The cover compares it to Silence of the Lambs, but you never get as close to the protagonist as you do to Clarice Starling. The villain gets you, though, just like Hannibal. This book is strong for such a slim volume.

Outside the Rules is creepy and scary, pretty high praise for this particular genre.

Laura

A friend sent me an email a while back telling me she would mail me a copy of this as she had received it from one of her reading pals. I finished it late one Sunday afternoon and realized the weekend was lost...I could NOT put this down. It's one of the most disturbing serial killer novels I've read, and from my reading experiences that's saying something. My expectations were high and I try to be cautious about this as it's inevitable to be disappointed, but I almost stood up and applauded when it was over. Dylan Jones is most certainly on my must-read list now and I'm amazed that this novel was published five years ago without my knowing about it. It deserves every bit of recognition Silence of the Lambs gets. Incidently, this once again reaffirms my belief that St Martin's Press is a can't-miss publisher. Every novel I've read published them has become a favorite of mine!

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...