The Wheat Field (Mysteries & Horror) by Steve Thayer Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Wheat Field (Mysteries & Horror)
Book Review: I enjoyed it
Summary: 4 Stars
There has been a new type of character in detective fiction lately: the rural cop. He's mostly a plains type. Oklahoma's Milt Kovak, Iowa's Carl Houseman, and David Wiltse's Billy Tree are all good examples of this sort of thing: a loner who patrols the endless roads and flat plains of the countryside, and has to solve some strange murders that erupt in the sticks.
This entry into this sub-genre has a wrinkle to it: it's set in 1960. This makes it a semi-historical novel in addition to a cop story. While no historical characters are actually in the story, JFK and Nixon briefly make appearances, running for president, and Joe McCarthy is mentioned.
Instead, Deputy Sheriff Pliny Pennington is the first on the scene, and assigned to investigate, the murders of a husband and wife. They're found naked, lying in a crop circle in the wheat field of the title, each killed with a shotgun blast. As he investigates, he gets more and more involved in the case, and things get more and more complex.
This is a good novel, well-written and interesting. There is a strong sexual overtone to things (the victims film themselves and others having sex) and the plot has some improbabilities in it. It also has a reference or two that are annoying at best. Even so, I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it.
Book Review: Field of Gold...Thayer is gold...
Summary: 4 Stars
The sexually charged novel is a work of art. You pick up the book thinking it to be a cute and inspiring dime novel. You open to the first pages to find your self in a whirl wind of humanity at it's most vicious. The nostalgic Deputy Pliny Pennington is retired now writing the chapters of his life at his boat house off of Wisconsin. He finds himself entwined in the passion and the horror of his past as Deputy Sheriff Pennington. He steps into a circle of wheat to find the gore of his beloved Maggie Butler, a travel agent who was the love of Pliny's life as well as a renowned devilish beauty. Beside her with his crouch blown into a blivion, the Prominent Travel Company entrepreneour ( Maggie also was involved with Butler Travels, their business) Michael Butler. We find the town turning on odds and ends with the Deputy who was still pining for dear Maggie. Pliny is a pecualiar man with war wounds that are also referred to and described in the sequel which is even better and even more alluring that this novel. He's good with a rifle. A sniper in the war days. He finds himself in a predicament eventually bringing him on thin ropes to a Nazi from his past when pulled into the sequel...things are about to get shaky in Kickapoo falls. Caren sprague a younger more amped up version of maggie who i smarried to senator webster sprague, leads him onto the answers needed to solv the quandary of the town.He soon finds himself in a ring of gold a ring of sex a ring of murder, and it's all on film. In denile, Pliny wants to believe maggie hadn't delved into matters beyond her control. Dark arts that led to her "death"...in the end, we find pliny in a situation he'd never thought possible. You must read this novel, and when you're done check out WOLF PASS the sequel.. Steve Thay has a way with description and human emotion. He pulls the right strings on this puppet show. All i can say is read it...
It'll kick your ass.
Book Review: I have a soft spot......
Summary: 3 Stars
OK, let me get this out of the way up-front. I have a soft spot for Steve Thayer books. We grew up in the same neighborhood, just blocks away from each other. He graduated with my older sister. I have read everyone of his books out of loyalty, and generally love them.OK, I feel better now. I can go on with my review.
Do not read ANY of Steve Thayer books if you dislike gratuitous sex and violence. Particularily this one. Steve's writing style is filled with this type of writing, and by the time I got done reading this book, I began to wonder why.
Good story and excellent premise if you can take lots of, again, sex and violence. The problem I had with this book was the hard left turn it took at the end. It came together, but it wasn't exactly plausible. The main character was, well, a character. He had issues. The problem with this story was that whether it was intentional or not, the guy had a lot of mystery. His issues were left with a lot of loose ends. The ending wasn't near as satisfying as some of his other stuff.
Steve Thayer isn't exactly the best writer there is, but he tells and excellent stories. This is no exception. But, even though I'm no prude by any means, the porn in this story was a little off-putting, even to me.
If you like Steve Thayer, you'll like this story. It just wasn't his best.
Book Review: Ridiculous Waste
Summary: 1 Stars
This is quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. The writing is dull, plodding, disjointed, stupid! The plot is unlikely, absurd, disjointed, all over the place, bizarre, uninteresting, stupid! Elements of the plot are disgusting, pornographic, gratuitous, degrading to characters and readers, filthy and stupid! The rest of the book might be read as a hallucination or dream or fantasy novel, except that it's none of those things. It is just terrible writing, terrible, terrible, terrible writing. This book is a waste of a reader's time, a waste of shelf space in a bookstore, a waste of money and a huge waste of paper/trees/energy. I will remember that the back cover carries a quote from penguinputnam.com saying this book is "extremely intelligent, well-written....complex tale...." and I will know to avoid any book that comes from that publisher for they have revealed themselves to be disingenuous and stupid through that quoted statement. This book is an utter abomination and does not even warrant ending up in a rummage sale or at the thrift shop. To the garbage! Garbage ye are and to garbage ye shall return! Book Review: The way a thriller should be!
Summary: 5 Stars
You'd expect thrillers of this caliber from more well-established authors, such as Stephen Hunter or Nelson DeMille. However, Steve Thayer--who I'd never heard of until I picked up this book--unleashes upon the world a thriller as good as they get!Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin, located in the beautiful Dells region. The year is 1960, a tumultuous year that revolved around two men: John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
In Kickapoo Falls, however, something else has come up. Two bodies, naked, gruesomely murdered, found in a crop circle in the middle of a wheat field. No witnesses--at least none who aren't implicated. Deputy Pliny Pennington identifies one of the bodies as Maggie Butler--a former childhood friend, and the girl he'd been lusting after for most of his life.
It's no secret that Pennington wanted Maggie, and she wouldn't have him. In fact, now the town's beginning to think Pennington had something to do with it--except, of course, for the people who know the truth. For Maggie's death is just a small part in a conspiracy reaching further than Pennington could have ever dreamed. Now, using the skills gained by a stint as a military sniper and former deer hunter, Pennington is about to face the ultimate test of survival, as he races against enemies, shady characters in suits, former friends--and himself.
Steve Thayer's writing is brisk and clear. He sidesteps from the plot every now in then, but only to give you a better insight into who Pliny Pennington really is--and make you wonder if you can trust his narration. "The Wheat Field" is a novel of sex, violence, and the quest for the truth--no matter how much it may hurt.