Zapped (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 11) by Carol Higgins Clark
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Book Reviews of Zapped (Regan Reilly Mysteries, No. 11)
Book Review: Horrible-Wish I Could Put Zero Stars
Summary: 1 Stars
Really, really glad I got this at the library and didn't spend any money on it.
The plot - Crazy lady actress leaves some letters in a loft her estranged husband sold to Regan Reilly(heroine of this series). Instead of just going by (or calling) to retrieve her letters, she hatches this plot with her "friend" to go break in and get them back. This happens during a blackout of NYC where all cellphones work and our heroine manages to drive thru everything to rescue a friend and find a mystery to solve, no problem.
Can't believe this even got published.
Book Review: Awful... Just... Just Awful !!
Summary: 1 Stars
My friend bought me this book for my birthday knowing I liked mysteries (If you actually want to call this a mystery),therefore, I felt obligated to finish it even though I didn't like it 20 pages in. I've since made a vow to myself never to be this loyal to any friend. No friend is worth what I went through while reading this.
Ok, where to start? First of all, this is the only (and last) book I've ever read of this series or this author for that matter. Is it just me or is this the perfect, crime-solving couple that's better looking than you or I but not quite Brad and Angelina. They love each other soooooooooo much it makes me sick. I literally think the last words of the book are (You might not want to read the next line if you haven't read the book)
something like "I love you so much dear, what would I do without you?" and they all enjoy a good laugh like the last 9 seconds of your typical Scooby-Doo episode.
The main plot follows a derranged girl who picks up blonde guys, drugs them and brands "I am a snake" in their arm, all the while New York city is under a blackout, making things even more ridiculous. So "perfect-wife" gathers the usual suspects along the way so they can save this poor blonde-guy from being slighlty uncofortable for a little while. Invigorating. I wish I could give it 0 stars.
Do yourself a favor and don't read this book. Do your house a favor and don't bring this book inside of it.
Book Review: Really enjoyed the book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, CHC's books are a little far fetched. But I love them. I don't look for deep meanings, just read for enjoyment and entertainment. I started as a fan of her mother's writing and now I enjoy her style more. Love finding out what the character is up to next.Book Review: Believable plot? - no zappin' way!
Summary: 3 Stars
Having a thing for a good series, I looked forward to reading Carol Higgins Clark's mystery Zapped.
A mystery - and that's where everything starts: To me, a mystery shouldn't give away the all so important `whodunit' question after the first thirty pages. Besides that, Zapped has a few other flaws I can't ignore:
Clark's often colorful, but believable characters are way over the top.
Just one example: An aspiring actress, whose obnoxious behavior makes Paris Hilton look like Miss Congeniality, needs to break into her (owned by her soon to be ex-husband's) apartment to retrieve some nasty letters she'd written as therapy. Frantically she tries to recover those letters, which are written to people she despises, before someone finds them and ruins her career by sending them off.
Unfortunately for her the airline she used for her trip back from Europe lost her luggage, including her shoes.
The story is trying to convince me that in a city like New York, a woman can't possibly round up some sort of footwear after hours, and therefore is forced to be carried by her co-conspirator after she broke a heel of her pumps. Needless to say the actress, Lorraine Lily, nags and nags and nags some more.
The story grows flatter as I turn the pages. It just seems much too convenient that half of the cast knows each other and that doesn't leave any room for suspense or any unforeseen twists, which makes the continuance of the story predictable. But what drove me over the edge was how the female predator, an ominous gal named Georgina, uses her weapon on her victims. If I may, I'd like to quote from page 206:
"Georgina was heating up the branding iron with her lighter. The black metal was getting hotter and hotter. I'd have made a great girl scout, she thought, glancing at the words on the brand - I AM A SNAKE."
Psychologically damaged, thanks to her cheating ex-boyfriend, Georgina uses a branding iron to brand her victims. Okay - let's just pretend it's believable that a cheating boyfriend in college can drive a woman to such measures later in life; she drugs guys who resemble her ex and then the story really gets ridiculous: Georgina uses a cigarette lighter to heat up a piece of metal not only large enough to spell out an entire sentence, but also HOT enough to brand this sentence permanently into her victim's flesh.
Truthfully, I have to cut Clark some slack because I very much enjoyed some of her other work, but I'm not sure what happened when she wrote Zapped. Despite the fact that the dialogue was boring, most of the characters unreal, and the plot hair-raisingly silly, I still give it three stars because Clark took me on a very descriptive journey through the dark streets of New York City during a black-out. Also, I liked the way she arranged the timeline in short and snappy chapters.
On a personal note; though a mystery is fiction, believability is a huge issue for me and Zapped clearly lacked believability right from the start.
And by the way: girl scouts don't use lighters.
Rebecca Lerwill, author of Relocating Mia
Book Review: Oh man....this is BAD!
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a HUGE Mary Higgins Clark fan - and I've read pretty much everything she's ever written, including a few that she wrote with her daughter Carol. Why did I think that Carol's writing would be similar to Mary's. What a dummy I must be. Carol Higgins Clark's writing is really pretty bad. But, what's FAR worse is her attempt to narrate her audio book. Oh dear! The tone of her voice just grates on the nerves, her attempt to dramatize is pathetic, and her overall 'acting' is a total joke.