Weak

I am a huge fan of Bradshaw because of the Ben Blue and Cain stories. In those series, the plots & characters are gripping, intense, very deeply drawn, clever, and exciting. Tate is a spinoff character from an early Ben Blue story. His role was small but well written. Not so in the first two Tate books. The first in the series is weak and this is worse. There is way too much scenery description, way too much meandering, no clear plot direction, and sloppy construction. Tate just isn't interesting. His character is flat, under developed, and very ordinary. Bradshaw's strength as an author has been his ability to develop colorful, clever, and meaningful main characters. This book just rambles. Very very disappointing. A note: Bradshaw will never clean up his grammar errors. I can't imagine why. But in most of his books, the basic storyline is so terrific, the silly glitches aren't seriously important, just irritating. I recommend new readers read the Ben Blue series first and then start to include the Cain stories, both of which are magnificent. Add a bit of Rubio as well. "Hickory Jack", Bradshaw's first novel, is truly an amazing piece of literature. Don't miss those because of the weak Tate books.

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