Line of Fire

Dr. Alan Gregory, Book 19

By: Stephen White

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Dr. Gregory is starting to feel settled, hopeful that a long period of upheaval in his private life is behind him. He refocuses his energy on his clinical psychology practice, where a beguiling new patient captivates him, but the interlude of calm doesn’t last. Devastating fires are threatening Boulder. Alan’s dear friend Diane is showing signs of a long-simmering emotional collapse. And Alan’s most pressing fear - the exposure of a dangerous secret - has become a peril too real to ignore.

A new witness has surfaced, causing the police to reopen their investigation into the suicide of a woman named Justine Winter Brown. When Alan and his equally culpable friend, Sam Purdy, inadvertently disclose their involvement in her death to a stranger, any confidence they feel about riding out a renewed investigation evaporates. The trail that leads to Alan and Sam, once cold, has turned white-hot.

With his vulnerability mounting daily, Alan suspects that his mesmerizing new patient may be the catalyst that could cause everything he treasures - his marriage, his family, his friendships, and his future - to implode. As flames lick at the city, the story hurtles toward a shocking conclusion that leaves the stage set for a jaw-dropping last act - the upcoming final book in the two-decades-long Alan Gregory saga.

©2012 Stephen White (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Now what

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I was finding Alan's constant quandries over the ethics of his profession vs. his friend Sam's need to know tedious in White's previous novels, but things really got moving in this latest effort. That theme was still there, but since the Alan and Sam were personally more involved in the case it wasn't a constant presence.

I had read somewhere that this was the end of the Alan Gregory - Sam Purdy series, but enough was left hanging that there's room for more.

What other book might you compare Line of Fire to and why?

The whole series compares to Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series, right down to the psycologist - cop buddy senario. Since I live in Denver, and so does White, and his novels are set in Boulder, it's fun to envision the geography that White presents.

What does Dick Hill bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He does Iron Range accents well.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

That's never possible. I listen to audio books while driving or working out, seldom more than an hour or two at a time.

Great Listen

What did you love best about Line of Fire?

There so much going on in one book

What was one of the most memorable moments of Line of Fire?

Diane

Which scene was your favorite?

not sure

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Allen knowing Lauren was,well listen to the book

Any additional comments?

By far the best of Allen Gregory series the only book he has done better was the Siege, I have listened to all of the series and I truly enjoy them. well written good characters. very human these characters you can relate to them.

DON'T DO IT!

Any additional comments?

This book was so bad I didn't finish it. Everything that can go wrong goes wrong and I didn't care enough to find out how it ends. And I've read reviews for the final book so know I won't be buying that. If you didn't read them, go back to the first five in the Series. They were wonderful, not so whiny and blame God for everything and refuse to help get a serial killer put in prison because of his "ethics". What gibberish! I'm going to go read some Jack Reacher to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Going out with a whimper....

Never have I come so close to quitting any book -- and yet not doing it. Had this been any other author, I surely would have ditched it about a third of the way in. But Stephen White has written the best of the best crime fiction books around. I figured he deserved my attention through the whole of this last one in the series.

What's the problem? Sheer implausibility, utter nonsense, in fact, when it comes to what the characters we've come to know and love -- Dr. Alan, Sam Purdy, Lauren and most certainly Diane and Raul -- will do. Never, ever, would any of these people do the things we are supposed to believe they did, in this book. Feh.

Then too, there's a seriously disjointed plot. We actually know nothing at all about the crime that forms the motivation for everything else in this book -- I actually backtracked a whole hour at the beginning, thinking I must have missed something. I didn't. It's not there. Even now, I have no idea about what actually happened during that initial, underlying, event. I guess we're just supposed to accept the tidbits that are tossed our way, all the way through. Bad plotting. Really bad plotting.

But here's what I've realized. Stephen White has written that his books are actually parables or metaphors. When I first read that, I didn't understand what he meant -- where's the parable? But now I understand. So much of the plot of this book, and the predecessor, "Kill Me" deal with mercy killing, putting someone out of their misery when the time comes.

And now I get the metaphor: Knowing that this is the last book in the series, White has put all his characters out of their misery. Which makes it easier for us to accept, I guess. By writing a really ridiculous book at the end, we won't go on longing for more. .

If you loved the Alan Gregory books, do yourself and favor and skip this one. Remember them as they were: the best of the best.

Unable to finish this one

I am not sure if it is just me...but I can't stomach any book that goes on about incest or sex trash. Too much time spent on the fast forward button, I really couldn't say what the book is about. Starts with a cop who killed someone and lapses into the 'junk' I don't want to hear. Can't get the earbuds out fast enough. Maybe another day when I have nothing else to do, I will try again and maybe update my opinion. Until then, just not good listening for me.