I am in the second part of this book and it is like swimming in bad jello. There is a plot about a guy who gets out of prison and is getting revenge b..Show More »y killing all the people he feels is responsible, but you, the unlucky person who used a credit for this dreck, has to listen to how these very wealthy socialites buy fabulous houses in Connecticut and, if that is not boring enough, you also get to hear about furnishing them and about their dinner parties. Every woman alive throws themselves at the incredibly handsome protagonist and the murder mystery plot cannot advance without long descriptions of their incredible cars, lovemaking and dinners at expensive restaurants. I am on the side of the killer, I want all these people dead.
I have never read those breast heaving romantic novels of Barbara Cartland or Danielle Steele, but I suspect that is what is going on here.
Really, a bad book.

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I grabbed this as a lark on one of the sales. I couldn't even finish. The plot struck me as very contrived and the reader's voice didn't have a lot of..Show More » elasticity to me.

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I really enjoyed most of his other books but this one was disappointing. It had multiple plots that were just boring and predictable.

I have been waiting for some time for Audible to carry one of Stuart Woods' books. It has been well worth the wait. This book holds your attention fro..Show More »m the beginning to the end. The characters are well defined and since the author has interwoven characters from his other books, they are brought in as an enhancement to his regular readers but they are also incorporated into the story in such a way that new readers aren't left out. I hope Audible will continue to provide more books by this author.
The major difficulty I had with the book was the narration. I like Tony Roberts as an actor and I have thoroughly enjoyed him before when he read non fiction. However, his reading of this piece of fiction was deplorable. He attempts to do voices that all come out the same.A reader needs to do voices only if they are capable to doing them or just read the book without embellishments. Jonathan Marosz, who is usually chosen to read books by Stuart Woods does such a much better job.

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I've read, or listened to, most of the Stone Barrington books, and I enjoy them simply because I love the characters. The plots are usually quite sim..Show More »plistic, sometimes the conclusions seem abrupt or illogical, and the world in which the characters live is amazingly small (everyone knows everyone else, usually via some law enforcement or federal agency connection). But the characters are so endearing that I'm quite content to just let them do their thing, chatting away, as I look on, not really caring where the latest "case" takes them. I do read more serious detective ficton, such John Sanford's, but there's a time for everything, and Woods is the guy I turn to when I want to relax and just have some fun with Stone, Dino, and the gang.

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What happened to the Stone Barrington I used to know and love? Stone is "forced" into taking on a case he would never take or face being "let go" from..Show More » Woodman and Weld. The OLD Stone would have told Bill Eggers to STICK IT, but this Stone reluctantly takes the assignment, because he -really needs the money.

Tony Roberts is the reader again and his voice really grates on me. His reading of the story makes me picture Dino as a big fat slob who has trouble breathing.

The book is mildly entertaining with a plot so thin you could slide it under a door.

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I would almost prefer to give this 1 star, and wish I could have given it 4 because it IS a good story. However, Tony Roberts' narration is so bad if..Show More » makes it difficult to listen to. His accents are terrible - all of them. And even his general voice was affected. It made me cringe. Then his pronunciation of "Spokane" sounding like rain! GRRR! Kept thinking "now if George Guidall or Grover Gardner were reading this, it would be fantastic!" If you can tolerate really bad narration, go ahead and get this book, otherwise never mind.

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I've been a fan of Stone Barrington, the main character in this book, a long time. I've listened to about 6 of these books so far.

I've ..Show More »never written a review before but must after reading the review of the person who hated the book.

I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone. I thought it was one of the best of this series.

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This was a really fun listen, made more so by Tony Roberts, the narrator. He was dead on with the accents: Tommy the Irish cop, Dino - NYPD’s finest, ..Show More »sounding a lot like Columbo. The southern accents were good as was Annika’s Swedish one. My only complaint as a Floridian and former resident of the Conch Republic, was the continued mispronunciation of “conch”. “Conch” rhymes with “honk”, not with “launch”. We politely correct tourists - if we like them.

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I GIVE UP! I've been a fan of Mr. Woods since White Cargo, Palindrome and early Stone novels but his last 4 or 5 books have been ridiculous. Stone B..Show More »arrington's character has become completely unrealistic and absurd. Who talks like that? And, don't get me going on the narrator - he has to be the worst in my library collection of over 400 titles. No more wasted credits on Stuart Woods - even Holly Barker from his other books has gone over the top.

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The narrator really does a poor job with Dino's and the English ladies voices. I enjoyed this series for a while but it has gotten old. The books ar..Show More »e very short and the plots are not what they were. This is a case of an author milking his past success. Even at $9.95, I feel I wasted my money. I think I've cured myself of Stuart Woods.

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Unsatisfactory conclusion to any or all plot points. I listened to it twice to be sure I didn't somehow miss something. This novel only serves as a me..Show More »ans for Mr Woods to upgrade Stones armored Mercedes to a Bentley, and his turbo-prop plane to a Jet. Skip it!

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I've always loved the Stone Barrington series and Bel Air Dead does not dissapoint. This is yet another great book in the series and listeners will e..Show More »njoy catching up with old characters we have not heard from in a long time. Stuart Woods wrote on his website that he is required to pen quite a few books every year. I do not know if it is for this reason or intentional but the Stone Barrington books have been taking on a much faster pace of late which I really enjoy.

While I won't give anything away here, there are some really interesting plot twists that I think will introduce some new and unique characters in the near future. If you decided not to listen to Bel Air Dead but you are a fan of Stone Barrington, I would suggest you read this one.

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This is by far the worst Stuart Woods book to date. Same old characters in the same old places would be ok if there was a plot. But there is no plot, ..Show More »instead there is just a description of the son who is a completely improbable character.
The narration is only acceptable, Tony Roberts representation of female and italian characters is truly awful.

I have enjoyed the light reading of previous Stuart Woods books, but this one was a complete waste of money.

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The last few Stone Barrington novels have been interesting because they dealt with family, friends and financial wheeling and dealing. They were not ..Show More »horrible but I missed the good old days of Stone and Dino working together to catch the bad guys.

DC Dead is a great book with all the things that originally drew me to the Stone novels. Stone and Dino are whisked off to DC in order to investigate what may be a suicide but could also be a murder. As the book progresses and the murders pile up we go on a ride that is half murder mystery and half excellent recipes for perfect cocktails.

While I will not mention it here, there is a whole other plot line involving Holly Barker that did not quite seem to make sense so I am assuming it will lead in to the next Stone novel. Hopefully this distraction was not to just fill pages.

If you like the Stone Barrington novels, you will really enjoy this one. As always, Tony Roberts done a fantastic job with all the voices throughout. If they ever change Tony out, I might lose interest, he is that good.

-Bill

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I always look forward to new Stuart Woods books, particularly Stone Barrington books but lately they have not been as good. This story is not interes..Show More »ting. There are mutiple subplots that do not get woven together. The story is very predictable. Everything works perfectly for the main characters and gets done on a time scale that is impossible. There is no depth of feeling shown by any character and overall it is not very interesting to listen to. Sonte Barrington was almost a side character in the story and had little to add or perform. It's sad when one of your favorite authors and characters begins to wander off track.

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Just finished this listen on the way home from work Friday. Went back on line to down load a couple of the S.B. series I haven't listened to yet. Re..Show More »ad the reviews by many, pretty surprised by the feedback. For those who listen to a lot of books, Tony does one of the best jobs of any of the narraters I listen to. Seperation of the characters is difficult, Tony does a great job with this. As far as the Barrington series go, I listen because they are fun, only slightly racy and entertaining. Maybe not great literature, but they can make you laugh, keep you in some suspense and bring you in to like the characters. What more should you ask for in a series meant to entertain, not think.

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