Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)"Beautiful Lies" was a very good book. I also enjoyed "Black Out." But "Die For You" is a mess. Stay away. This book will irritate, frustrate and ultimately annoy you. It is not well written. The reader has trouble figuring out who is narrating each section as Unger breezily moves from character to character. Who is speaking here, you wonder. Is it Isabel Raines or is it her sister or is Marcus or is it Detective Grady? Who's on first? And of course, Unger's characterizations aren't credible either.
Besides the superficial subplots, which needlessly add padding to the book, and Unger's improbable plotting, those aren't the only flaws to wear a reader down. No, that's not the worse part. In Isabel Raines (a.k.a. Isabel Connelly), Unger has created one of the most unsympathetic, unlikable, immature and downright stupid heroines to ever grace the pages of a suspense novel.
Isabel is worse than a bad horror film heroine. You know the type. She's the one who makes you want to yell at the movie screen as she, against all logic and common sense, stupidly steps over bleeding, dying bodies to walk into the same dark room the victims came out of and where everyone but the heroine knows the killer lurks. But then along with all the other cliches in this book, Isabel just wants to know "why" her con-man husband did what the did to her. O.K., I guess you'll just have to dodge a few knife thrusts and bullets along the way.
Here are examples. In one gory scene, Isabel finds her husband, Marcus, a.k.a. Kristof, just after he's nearly decapitated a former lover, Camilla. There's blood everywhere, including all over his wet hands. Hey, most anyone with half-a-brain, would run the other way. After all, Marcus is tying up loose ends and it's a bloody business, too. Inexplicably, Isabel isn't frightened enough to turn and run. And even more incredibly, Marcus doesn't kill Isabel there. (Too bad, as it might have spared the reader another 170 pages or so). So despite the gore and Marcus' warning to stay away, Isabel's not one so easily dissuaded by such trifles like a horrific murder. She ignores Marcus and incredulously decides to follow, "I'll find you or die trying," she says.
In another example much later, Marcus is shooting at Isabel who has magically slipped out of her restraints to escape from him. At least she's finally smart enough to run from Marcus when he's shooting at her. Isabel hides. Marcus calls to her, "Isabel, let's talk. I'll put the gun down." From her hiding place, she sees him put the gun down. True to form as the dullest knife in the drawer, Isabel comes out of hiding, even though her "every instinct...screams to stay still, to stay hidden...." Yes, by now, even the most hapless reader knows that Isabel's not going to listen to her inner smart self. No, Unger, has instead plotted and drawn Isabel to be controlled by her inner stupid self. To most any dimwit, it's obvious Marcus is not to be trusted. After all, he's left a trail of mayhem, dead bodies, wrecked lives, theft and betrayal behind. But no, it's not enough for Isabel. She still wants to know "Why" Marcus did what he did, especially to her. So she predictably comes out of hiding. And of course, Marcus pulls out another gun and shoots her. (Hey but unfortunately, Isabel survives giving credence to the old adage that 'God protects fools and drunks').
The 'why' of things thematically runs throughout this book, not just with Isabel but with every characterization drawn by Unger. Why did Marcus do what he did to her? Why, why, why? And why am I still reading this book?
And so, it's the 'why' of things that eludes Isabel. In the story, Isabel's a novelist. She wants to know "how the pieces fit together." Too bad Unger the novelist, didn't figure that one out, too.
So, since Unger failed to give Isabel her answer. I have an answer for Isabel. Marcus did what he did to you because you're so stupid that he could.
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