Review: Below average, cheap thrills
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 08 12, 2013
I bought the three books in this series as a set on my Kindle.  Little did I know...Book 1: Fifth Avenue.  Unlikeable, unsympathetic characters, shock value scenes, unrealistic plot elements (putting 25 year old Leana with no real work experience in charge of a major hotel...and she accepts it as her due), two families so morally bankrupt  that they engage in everything from bribery, to assault and murder for hire.  Are they the the mob?  No, they are contemporary "captains of industry."  In fact, the actual mob character that was included, Mario, was among the more sympathetic characters.  Go figure.Was reading about their plotting, conniving and scheming entertaining? No.  Was the major antagonist's endless rumination of how he has been done wrong entertaining?  No.  The story simply moves from one sickening act of violence to another.  Reading the plotting of a deranged psychopath as he exacts his revenge on an equally conniving family is hardly the stuff of entertainment.  As far as characters are concerned, I was unable to work up much interest in any of them.  One, however, did catch my attention, and not in a good way: Leana Redman.  I spent the entirety of the book in awe of her shallow, self-centeredness.  Most of the time I found her too stupid to live.  If that was the author's intent with her character, then kudos, Mr. Smith, you succeeded admirably.Finally, there was a sufficient number of errors in the conventions of writing missed in the editing process that they were noticeable and distracting.  This could have so much better if the author had chosen to exercise a little restraint in his use of shock-value violence.  There are many ways to build tension and suspense.  Mr. Smith just chose the easiest way.Book 2: Running of the Bulls.  10% of the way into the second book and I am done.  This one opens with the beating and cold-blooded murder of two people.  That's all she wrote for me.  If I wanted this kind of entertainment I'll read the daily newspaper or watch the nightly news.I am not a wimp, but for all the reasons I gave in my review of the first book in the series, I believe that this author,  by choosing violence and murder to drive the action, has chosen the lowest common denominator.  Needless to say, I will not be moving on to book three.