Xs:
An Allie Armington Mystery
Louise Gaylord
Little Moose Press (2007)
ISBN 9780978604912
Reviewed by Beverly Pechin for Reader Views (2/07)
What
do you get when you wrap the thrills of a mystery writer
like Agatha Christie up with the hip
style of Janet Evanovich and toss in a little Nora Roberts
romance? You get Louise Gaylord. While
her style of writing is all her own, the minute I started
reading “Xs” I knew she had a combination of
talents much like these other well-known authors. The
spunk of her characters, Allie Armington and
her sister Angela, create a never ending thrill throughout
the book.
As
Angela's roommate is found dead after Allie receives an
odd phone call from Angela asking for
twenty grand "right
now,” Allie is pulled into this odd twist of tales between
her gorgeous model
sister, her roommate and a group of "higher
ups" that get what they want. Add to the thrill and
mystery a sexy and even more mysterious Texan who once
took Allie's heart for a spin and you have
some real action going on!
As
Allie, a former DA turned boring old lawyer, delves into
helping the local authorities
figure out a
huge cartel by becoming a mole for them she begins
to realize exactly what danger she's in. Not sure
who to trust or where to turn, she keeps some of her
information secret to save her own life. Twists
and turns, wild parties and sinister men, Allie's
life becomes anything but boring as she attends
masquerades that boast the highest of high profiled
men. Trying to figure out who killed her sister's
roommate becomes only one of the dilemmas she faces
as she literally fears for her life when she
gets in too deep. Will the one man she's always carried
a torch for be the one man who can save her
or is he really working on the other side? And what
exactly are these huge masquerade parties for,
other than trading women like prostitutes?
“Xs”
contains constant action and never a dull moment. You will
be encompassed by the storyline
immediately. Hard to put down and even harder to truly
figure out until the end, the author does a
wonderful job at creating an intricate web of deceit
and surprise. I can't wait for the next Allie
Armington mystery to come out!
“I
began reading about Allie in the Big Apple while stranded
in a carpark in downtown
Santa Barbara and couldn't resist turning the pages. There
I was, oblivious to my surroundings, deeply immersed in
Allie's travails in Houston and Manhattan. One page seemed
to melt into the next, until, finally, a dear soul came
up to my car and tapped on my window, gently motioning
for me to move on, which I did, of course, to let other
cars
pass. I felt that sting of guilt as my eyes fell on page
43.
Louise Gaylord's Xs is the kind of
book that you close, only when you have to. I enjoyed Anacacho,
the first in the Allie Armington series, well-worth the
price of admission, but I enjoyed so much more Xs.
Allie and her constellation fascinate
and entertain with the precision of a perfectly crafted
movie. Read the book for Gaylord's polished writing, for
an ending you won't be able to guess, and for her ability
to make the written page turn into fast-moving Technicolor,
right before your eyes.”
— Cynthia Teed
Dear Louise, I finished your second book "Xs" at
five am a few mornings ago. If possible it was even more
gripping than "Anacacho." And the love story going
through both books is great! Surely you will win a prize
on this second one too. Certainly your books are great amovie
material or a TV series. Congratuions on "Xs!!!!"
— Margaret
Heartland Reviews are not like those
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a grade through a quantitative scoring process which examines
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scores are added together for an overall numerical score.
This drives how many hearts we award the work, which range
from one to five hearts.
