The October List

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I love JD but not sure what he was thinking with having the book start backward. Trying to keep up with two weeks ago, then five days ago, then 4 hours ago, and who did what when, and did that happen before that happened and on and on and on. I just didn't find it enjoyable trying to keep up with the timeline and characters. It didn't hold my interest and believe me I really tried to get into it I am a regular reader of Deaver's books, but the October List was far below his standard.

I admire the difficult challenge he set up for himself, a story written from ending to beginning. He must be filled with pride that he accomplished this feat however empty the experience is for most readers. As a writer, I am amazed that he could write like a mental contortionist. Satisfying to Deaver, but not much fun for me as a reader.

I like the characters. I enjoyed the twists near the end the end of the book which are the beginning chapters. However, I feel cheated as I spent money and time to work through the entire story, but to understand it was forced to go to the start of the book and reread the last couple of chapters. See, it's even difficult to explain what part I reread. If you still feel you want to read October List, be ready to work hard for the experience.

I just finished a much more satisfying read, Watchlist, a serial novel that Deaver spearheaded and wrote with a number of other authors. Jeffery, stick with your wonderful tales, and if you want to challenge yourself sell it your fans for "free". One person found this helpful. I'm a huge fan, so I read no review; I just bought the book. As far as you can write a book backwards, tie up as many loose ends as possible, have the thing make sense and still hold some mystery, this was as probably as well done as this could be done. But the book proves what pretty much every review says; the premise is stupid.

I seldom have to force myself to finish a book and i read a few hundred a year. I dragged this to the finish line, and didn't even get a reward or a participant medal. Thank god Steven King's Revival was waiting for me to start when this was done. Skip it unless you have some vested interest in the backwards principal here. I have been reading JD for years, and have loved everything he has ever written. This book was horrible. It was hard to read, but if the story had been better and more plausible, I would not have minded.

Because it was written ending to beginning, you find out at the end which is the beginning that people were killed, but it was conveniently left out of the book, because you would lose interest in the character and what he did an hour ago, if you know he's already dead. The format is not good because, when you begin to read a book, you are not familiar with the characters, and therefore not invested in them.

I have a great memory, but I had to go back and read the first last chapter again just to make sure I knew what happened. Also, his biggest failure is the total unbelievability that this woman is a highly respected detective AND works for the Russian mob. And that someone who is such a professional and callous killer would really care about the contrived kidnapping of the child of a woman whom he just met. It's really sad, because one of Jeffrey Deaver"s greatest strengths as a writer is how he gets every single tiny detail right. I am so disappointed.

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ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics. East Dane Designer Men's Fashion. Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands. Withoutabox Submit to Film Festivals. Amazon Renewed Refurbished products with a warranty. It seems Deaver is hardly content to write a straight novel anymore, what with his recent country-music storybook with music CD for sale! We actually hated the constant receding in time, and were it not for the incredible twist at the end or the beginning!

She winds up shooting someone and being pursued by the police, so it is difficult as time regresses to maintain a sane understanding of the story line. What a great audio book! Jeffery Deaver has done it again. When I first started listening to this book I kept thinking that I should start from chapter 1, but the audio book started from chapter So I went with it.

You get all of the action from the beginning ending as it builds to the ending beginning. If you like JD and a twist of suspense, then you will like this book. I highly recommend it and if at all possible, please listen to it. I am a great fan of Jeffery Deaver, loved all his books. His twisted plots are amazing. But this one is definitely not my favourite. I totally love the whole idea of the book. Starting with the end and going back to the beginning?

What a great idea! So innovative and totally unexpected! I haven't met with this in any other book. But the problem with this story is that it is not really interesting.

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It's just boring for most of the time. The story just didn't grab my attention, I wasn't really into I am a great fan of Jeffery Deaver, loved all his books. The story just didn't grab my attention, I wasn't really into it. And even though the book is quite short, it took me a while to finish it. Also, to be totally honest, if you read some books by Jeffery Deaver, you know what to expect. And this is a quite standard story from this author. It is not that hard to predict the twists and turns. Including the ending, unfortunately.

So, neither of the last two chapters is a surprise for me. But I must say that I quite enjoy Daniel's role in the whole story. And, as I said, the whole idea of the book is very refreshing and innovative. I believe that this book would make a great movie. Jan 24, Sue rated it it was ok Shelves: I love movies that have a fractured timeline, where the past is revealed as the story is told - I find them more interesting, and I find that they don't insult the intelligence of the audience. I didn't feel that the book format worked, though.

I think that it's a function more of authors not understanding how their audience reads than how they're written. It's not that they're overestimating the intelligence of their readers, it's that they're overestimating their own knowledge of their readers I love movies that have a fractured timeline, where the past is revealed as the story is told - I find them more interesting, and I find that they don't insult the intelligence of the audience.

It's not that they're overestimating the intelligence of their readers, it's that they're overestimating their own knowledge of their readers. When you're watching a movie, you have the benefit of normally watching it all in one sitting. Very few have that luxury when reading a book. In my case, where I can only commit to 15 to 30 minutes a night before bed, I often found myself lost, spending a good portion of the time that I had available trying to catch up. That ends up feeling like wasted time, and it takes me twice as long to read it as it otherwise would.

Fortunately, I had a couple of hours one day to dedicate to the book, so I could read it the way that the author intended, but again, that just highlighted for me that he didn't get me and readers like me. That's why I only gave it 2 stars: I didn't want to pick it up because I couldn't remember the characters, or what had happened, and just ended up feeling frustrated.

Nov 28, Gary rated it it was ok. I have read most of Jeffery Deavers books and have always felt that if I want a good strong reliable novel to read then he is a place to start. However I found this book a real torture and only my stubbornness made me complete it. I kept checking the cover to check it really was a Deaver book and not someone with a similar name. The book is an experiment to see if he could write a good novel in reverse, well for me the answer is he can't.

Not only was the concept flawed but this book lacked all t I have read most of Jeffery Deavers books and have always felt that if I want a good strong reliable novel to read then he is a place to start. Not only was the concept flawed but this book lacked all the things we take for granted with a Jeffery Deaver novel, excellent plot, strong characters and lots of intrigue.

I appreciate his efforts to try something new but much prefer his award winning Lincoln Rhymes novels. Who doesn't like a great tale with a messed up chronology? Why, some of the best movies have employed that storytelling technique with some degree of genius. October List, alas, shows no genius and uses the reverse chronology as a mere trick to elevate otherwise utterly pedestrian supermarket rack quality thriller.

And I'm usually very lenient and forgiving when it comes to audio books, but this one had some strikingly embarrassing writing along the lines of The sort of Who doesn't like a great tale with a messed up chronology? The sort of cheesy ludicrousness, garish implausibility and cardboard characters an author might produce for a quick paycheck targeting the audiences of the low hanging fruit variety. Koontzian method if you like. The only thing that saves this hyperbolic drivel from being total crap is the reverse timeline with it's slew of plot twists piled toward the end, which is really the beginning.

And I didn't care for the narrator either. I normally prefer male readers for audiobooks and have some favorites, but in some cases a book calls for a female narrator. This wasn't such a case, the main protagonist was a female, but the story was told in third person and every other character was male, so it just sounded silly and occasionally weirdly shrillish if that's a word and if it isn't, then aurally discordant.

So at best it was mildly entertaining and reasonably brief, only 6 discs, and did pass the time. Oct 08, Kelly and the Book Boar rated it liked it Shelves: Find all of my reviews at: Two days ago she found her life turned upside down. I settled in and started enjoying myself. I had not read Jeffrey Deaver before, therefore I had zero expectations when I started. Deaver ist speziell und dieses Buch ist kompliziert. Aber irgendwie war es nicht meins.

Die Figuren bleiben blass, nur Gabriela, die anfangs hilflos erscheint, wird total gut dargestellt. Nov 17, Janet Tomasson rated it really liked it Shelves: In the past year, I have exposed to thrillers called from the end to the beginning. Sounds rather strange and unclear, because if you know the ending then why read the beginning?

I was also very skeptical when I started reading this book, but I thought it was worth trying. I read the last chapter which is the first chapter that opens the book And I didn't want to keep on, but I did it anyway. The more I delved into reading this way, the more details discovered and the most amazing is that this In the past year, I have exposed to thrillers called from the end to the beginning.

The more I delved into reading this way, the more details discovered and the most amazing is that this is the first book I read that its start surprised me! I recommend reading it. Apr 03, Chris rated it it was amazing Shelves: I had no idea what to expect when I got this book. Of course I expected nothing less than classic Deaver twists and turns.

I got all that and way more. Since I first heard about this book I had read a few descriptions, and it never registered that it was described as a novel in reverse. I was thrown off when I opened the book and instead of a title page or copyright page I just saw Chapter The book nerd in me was really excited when I flipped to the back of the book and there was all the co I had no idea what to expect when I got this book.

The book nerd in me was really excited when I flipped to the back of the book and there was all the copyright pages and titles pages as well as a table of contents with titles for each picture before each chapter. That's right I said pictures before each chapter. Jeffery Deaver took his camera and did some photo journalism to go along with the story. I would highly recommend not reading the titles for the pictures becasue it does give away what each chapter is about. Since the table of contents is in the back I don't think that will be a problem unless you cheat.

The pictures do reveal their own clues if you can figure them out. Some of the pictures I think only Deaver knew what they meant, because I couldn't figure it out even after reading the chapter. When you are reading a book in reverse the story can be a bit disjointed. You read a chapter and events move forward, but then the next chapter takes you back an hour or so before what you just read. Then as you read further you catch up to what you just read. It was an adjustment, but after a few chapters I definitely got the hang of it.

Here's what makes reading this book in reverse so interesting. You know what happens but not how or why it happened. Here's an example, and I'm not giving anything away. The main character Gabriela is said to keep wiping blood from the corners of her mouth, and she is holding her side. That's all you know when you start reading this. I kept trying to figure out what kind of injury could possibly cause her to cough up blood, and why she would be holding her side. I kept reading just so I could fill in those types of gaps. This fact alone made this a book I really couldn't put down.

Deaver's level of suspense was so intense that I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what happened before what I just read. I know this doesn't make any sense but know that Deaver makes this work. I want to say so much more about how amazing this book is, but I am afraid I will give something away, and I can't ruin the fun for any future readers out there. Even if I did include spoiler alerts in this post it would go on and on for pages.

All you really need to know is that this book is absolutely amazing. I am giving this a full 5 out of 5 stars and would even give this a 6th if possible. This is one of my favorite books, and I am suffering a massive book hangover. I never wanted this one to end. To anyone who likes to read you need to check this book out. Sep 24, Steven rated it really liked it Shelves: First, the required part: Thanks to Netgalley for letting me have a copy for a fair and honest review!

Okay, on to the nitty gritty. I liked this book. I'm shocked that I did, actually. I mean, what kind of an author does it take to pull of such a gimmicky idea and actually do it well? It's damn near impossible, really. Well, Jeffery Deaver did it. The beginning was a little slow -- which is expected.

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You immediately see the endgame, but you know nothing about the players. Each chapte First, the required part: Especially considering this was a THRILLER, and thrillers rely on chapter cliffhangers with huge events or new evidence or crazy happenings to move the story forward, I wasn't sure that Deaver would pull it off The farther the book went, the more I wanted to read "just one more chapter" to get to that final ending. I think what I really loved most about this book was that the ending had just what you expected, that twist that would make you disappointed in the book had that been the ONLY twist I had been putting off reading any Deaver this was my first of his novels as I'm in the middle of so many series right now Taking a chance can pay off Jun 28, Darlene Quinn rated it really liked it.

Well I can't think of a better example of an author thinking outside the box than Jeffery Deaver in his October List. CEO of Reader's Favorites, recently recommended the book, telling me it was written backwards begins on Chapter 36 and ends on chapter 1 I was curious. It actually works and is not at all confusing. If there were a rating of 4. The only thing that prevented it from being a 5 for me was that there was no actual conclusion. I wish that after chapter one Deaver had added a chapter to wrap it up rather than leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions as to the fate of the main character.

That said, I would still recommend this book. To keep from giving anything away, I will only mention that having and unreliable narrator is usually a turn off for me, but Deaver managed to not only justify but make the unreliable narrator plausible. This thriller has incredible twist--many OMG moments, which would not be possible if the reader was aware of the backstory up front. Strangely enough, while I believe it would be extremely difficult to write a novel backward, since I use all my gray cells going forward, when you think about it, backwards is how we generally tell personal stories.

You break a leg skiing. That's where your story begins, but before that. As Deaver quotes "Life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward. Jeffrey Deaver set himself a challenge. To write a crime novel that begins at the last chapter and reads backwards in time. This means that the book literally begins at chapter 36 and ends at chapter 1. But I couldn't for the life of me work out how it could be successfully done. This has got to be one of the cleverest crime books I have ever read.

Starting at the last chapter and working backwards in time, by the time I had finished Chapter 1 and the au Jeffrey Deaver set himself a challenge. Starting at the last chapter and working backwards in time, by the time I had finished Chapter 1 and the author's Forward, I knew that I had to turn right back and read the story again now with new eyes.

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This has seldom happened to me as I tend to be a once only reader. Jeffrey Deaver says in his Forward that planning the book was the most complex challenge he had ever faced. It seems to me that the result was well worth the effort. I am not familiar with any of his other books but The October List is a book that I am sure will stay in my mind for a very long time. Nov 13, Christa rated it really liked it Shelves: This was a very different sort of book due to being written backwards. The ending is first and then we read back through what happened to the beginning of the story.

The October List

This made the book very interesting, but confusing at times. The story had sone twists and turns that I sure wasn't expecting. It was very suspenseful, partly due to the way in which it was written. I thought Deaver did a really good job with this style of storytelling. This book is about the abduction of Gabriela's daughter. The abd This was a very different sort of book due to being written backwards. The abductors are demanding something called The October List if she wants to see her child again.

This leads to nonstop action and incredible surprises. My reaction to this book is very mixed - the first part didn't grab me, but I persevered. I'm glad I did, because suddenly the novel caught fire and roared to a terrific end. I'm fascinated by its structure - the story is told in reverse, with the last chapter at the beginning and working backwards through time to the first chapter.

I wasn't sure how well this would work, but it does - eventually! I'll be blogging a review for The October List later this week. Sep 26, Zendevil Williams rated it it was amazing. One of THE best "mainstream" thrillers I have read in quite some time. It's a thriller written in reverse. Nicely plotted and it all holds together. I can guarantee that once you finish the book, you WILL read the first chapter again. So much better than the watered-down books that pass for thrillers. Mar 11, Arun Divakar rated it it was ok. After having read two of his short story collections, Jeffery Deaver is an author I have been very wary of.

His stories trend to run along happily like warm and cuddly cartoon characters when all of a sudden a hidden trap door opens and they all fall into a bottomless abyss with hideous screams that wither away in seconds. If you ever read a Deaver short story, you would know that this cannot be counted as exaggeration for he actually delights in doing this. In the beginning this counts as his b After having read two of his short story collections, Jeffery Deaver is an author I have been very wary of.

In the beginning this counts as his biggest strength as a storyteller but reading more of his short stories mean that you tend to distrust almost everything he tries to place before you as plot elements. This pattern of not trusting the author proved to be right in this story too for he manages to pull the rug from under the feet by the time the climax appears. While all these sounds interesting here , the story itself is a very weak one and the focus Deaver puts in is to experiment with a new storytelling method than with telling a good story.

The blurb of the book will tell you that it begins from the climax and slowly works its way backwards to the start. From a befuddled climax it edges backward taking a larger view of the lives of Gabby, Daniel and Joseph and how they came to be enmeshed in this bloody mess. The novelty of the reverse gear wears off after a good two chapters but even before then the flimsiness of the main characters started to tick me off. To highlight an instance, there is the main female character — Gabby whose daughter is in the clutches of a homicidal maniac and the deadline he has set is ever approaching closer.

She sits with a man who is there to help her and she feels the pangs of lust stirring for him! In addition, we are also told about the apparent awesomeness of her body parts. Forget believability, this is plain nonsense when the scenario is taken into account. To add to this, this happens in the first chapter of the novel and that pretty much kills a lot of fun for the story. Then again as the story regresses there came to light a feeling that it is needlessly elaborated at places: It is a decent sized novella which has been hammered into a book length novel.

As an exercise in a narrative that works backward, it holds itself together. But as a medium that engages the reader, it did not connect with me. Dec 16, Amanda Bolderston rated it did not like it. One of the reviews said this book was for all the people who wished they could take the movie "Memento" to the beach - so it must be an enjoyable read for those 11 or 12 individuals. The fact that the story is told backwards sadly showcases the truly terrible writing - because you have no idea what's going on and there is no narrative momentum built up to pull you to the next chapter.

I give you the classic lines "eyes red, demeanour anxious, Gabriela sat once again When I got to "recalling his damp brow, speckled with moisture, and beneath his blue eyes, which were simultaneously easy and intense. A shame, because I enjoy Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme books and thought this stand-alone looked intriguing. Good job it was a library loan! The October List - The new stand alone novel 4 37 Apr 08, His books are sold in countries and translated into 25 languages.

He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world. Books by Jeffery Deaver. Trivia About The October List. No trivia or quizzes yet. Quotes from The October List.

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