On the Line: A Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novel (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin Novels) Paperback – Bargain Price, August 30, 2011

First Sentence: Crashing dark cords smothered the cell phone's impertinent chirp, but the ringtone was "Ride of the Valkyries," so it penetrated, and I stopped.PI Lydia Chin has been kidnapped. Her sometimes partner and friend who wishes he were more, has 12 hours before the kidnapper will kill Lydia. Bill is lead on a desperate chase through New York City following obscure clues and being chased by the police who set it up to appear Bill murdered a Chinese prostitute. He is also slowed down by the Chinese criminal who believes the same thing. Fortunately, Bill does have the help of Lydia's techno-whiz cousin, Linus, his girlfriend Trella, and Lydia's best friend, Detective Mary Kee.Let me start by declaring myself to normally being a huge fan of S.J. Rozan. However, I shall admit, this book let me down.Those of us who follow the series knew it was Bill's turn to take the lead and there were some interesting supporting characters, particularly Linus and Trella. One of the most delightful characters of the series was completely missing from the story except in reference. However, my biggest issue with the book overall had to do with characters. There was no character development. Once again, an author based the book on the assumption that readers had read previous books in the series, which I feel is such a mistake. The entire premise of the story is built on Bill's search for Lydia yet there is little explanation, beyond the fact they are occasional partners, giving a new reader an understanding of the real depth of the relationships. This is true of all the relationships; what background is given is glancing at best.The story is fully plot driven. It starts off high energy and, with a 12-hour clock running, never takes a break. It is exciting and suspenseful but almost too much so. The technological information is fascinating but did seem a bit too easy. The very clever use of Twitter and Facebook demonstrates just how powerful and ubiquitous they have become and how hard it can be for those not technology-focused to be left behind the curve. However, the ease and speed at which much of the information Bill and his team were able to obtain did stretch credulity quite a bit.Having read all of Ms. Rozan's books, I know how good her writing can be. I can understand an author wanting to try something new, but this almost had an action comic feel about it. If you're looking for a non-stop, beat-the-clock, distracting airplane book to leave behind at the end of the trip, this would satisfy that need. For me, I shall hope Ms. Rozan returns to the quality of some of her previous books for her next one.ON THE LINE (PI-Bill Smith/Lydia Chin-NYC-Cont) - OkayRozan, S.J. - 10th in seriesMinotaur Books, ©2010, US Hardcover - ISBN: 9780312544492

S.J. Rozan's new entry in her Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series. Rozan alternates which character narrates the novel and this time it's Bill's turn. In fact, this time Bill's the whole show, though Lydia's presence is felt throughout.Lydia Chin has been kidnapped by someone from Bill's past, an unstable man obsessed with games. He wants to punish Bill for an old defeat and to crush him in the process. He leaves a series of clues, together with a string of dead or imperiled Chinese prostitutes across New York, and gives Bill 12 hours to solve his riddles or Lydia will die.Rozan's novels never lack for excitement, but this is the fastest paced. It's more thriller than mystery, but an intelligent thriller with moments of deep insight. It's genuinely tense, but may also be Rozan's funniest book to date. Rozan loves thwarting stereotypes and the assortment of unlikely allies Bill picks up on his quest are amazing. There's Linus, a genius computer hacker and his ultra-competent goth girlfriend, Trella, Lu the Chinatown pimp and his two gorillas (one of whom can be friended on Facebook), Mary, the dead serious and perpetually pissed off cop who is Lydia's best friend, the enigmatic crazed kidnapper, and Woof, the hero-dog.My descriptions may make them sound trite, but they're anything but. Each of them comes to life with the kind of unexpected depth of a living, breathing human being. The story is improbable, but Rozan moves it along in such a a way that I hardly noticed. My only real gripe is that Bill seemed a little too dense when it came to the mysteries of Facebook, Twitter, and the iPhone.This book is an interesting companion piece for Rozan's last story featuring Bill as narrator, WINTER AND NIGHT. Both are built (in different ways) around competitive sports and both explore the emotional side of the intellectual Bill Smith. I'd call W&N Rozan's darkest novel so far as it took us to some very disturbing places in Bill's psyche. This story pushes him just as far but with a very different result. I won't give away too much but, as a long time fan of the series, I really liked the way this ended and admire the long-term character growth Rozan is putting her characters through.This continues to be my favorite mystery series and satisfies on every level!

On The Line by SJ RozanI am a big fan of SJ Rozan's Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series and her latest book, On the Line does not disappoint. Normally I try and read SJ's series slowly, trying to gather information and clues along with Bill and Lydia but in this latest mystery where Lydia has been kidnapped and Bill has only 12 hours to find her, I couldn't put the book down long enough to try and unravel the trash can clues on my own. I sped through the pages as fast as Bill sped through the boroughs of New York City (Natives and casual visitors of NYC will love the landmarks and side street tours) and at each turn the clues came faster and became harder to dissect. Even as Bill is pursued at the prime suspect in the killing of a young prostitute, he gathers around him the most unlikely crew to help him find Lydia. Lydia's young cousin, Linus and his friend Trella bring in the freshness of youth and vigor to Bill's desperation as he discovers more dead bodies and the hours speed by. With numerous car chases and gangs and police on his tail, Bill is at his wits end when Linus gets a brilliant idea. It is hysterical when Linus and Trella pull out their phones speaking in Facebook and Twitter languages that are foreign to Bill, and the giant Chinese gangster squeezed in beside them asks if he can "Friend" them. Rozan deftly brings in these new forms of communication that help Bill in his hour of need. We remember old characters such as Linus and his Aunt Mary and feel them brought back to life with new perspectives and views of Bill and his relationship to Lydia.Luckily I haven't read all of the Bill/Lydia series so I can't wait to read another of SJ Rozan's books.