David Stone (1) (1946–)

Fun read, lots of globe trotting. But also lots of violence. Cora is recovered but all limits per her family. The plot involves a mole; Micah Dalton is a "cleaner". In the grand finale, Micah saves his boss's tush so it appears he'll be reinstated in the service. As I write these notes in March 2012, "Stone" has written 4 books in the series but not a new one for a couple of years. He appears to be a pseudonym for another author. I haven't been able to find any photos, any meaningful bio, no interviews. Hopefully he will write more books in this series - they're always a pleasant diversion and don't take themselves too seriously.… (meer)

After reading David Stone’s first Micah Dalton thriller, The Echelon Vendetta, I was eager to read The Orpheus Deception, the second in the series. Orpheus starts almost precisely where Echelon ends, with a few new characters and, of course, a new threat to the Western World. Both have constant danger, sexy women, sadistic bad guys, and lots of testosterone. But while Echelon had a mysterious bad guy who made you wonder who, how and why, Orpheus is plotted more like an Ian Flemming novel from the Sixties – you know who the bad guys are, what they’re up to, and why just doesn’t seem to matter much. It’s a page turner, all right, an airplane read, but not a worthy successor.

In the absence of a first-rate plot, Stone’s shortcomings are more apparent. He’s still a first-rate writer of descriptive “scene-setters” and his dialogue isn’t bad, but some of the gore seems both superfluous and downright sick. Is he writing to appeal to our latent sadism, or is he a sadist himself, who enjoys writing about torture and disembowelment? This volume also abounds in racism, homophobia, snide remarks about liberals and “hippies” and xenophobia. I’ve got to think that it’s more than the characters speaking these words.

Echelon was good. Orpheus isn’t, and I won’t sample Mr. Stone’s output again.… (meer)

Audio CD’s of David Stone’s Echelon Vendetta have been my driving companion for the past few weeks. It’s my first experience with Stone, and I came upon the audio book by chance rather than plan. Based on what I’ve heard, Stone is one of the most impressive new (to me) writing talents I’ve encountered in the last decade. His descriptive passages are superbly lyrical. His characters are well developed, quirky but rarely over the top. His dialogue reminded me of Hammett and Chandler (no, people don’t really talk like that, but we wish that they did). All of this is played out in plot studded with incredible gore and gruesome crime. I could have done without some of the blood-spatter, but the psycho-thriller genre now seems to have that degree of nastiness as a norm. The book is performed by Firdous Bamji, who is outstanding. I’ve already ordered Stone’s sequel and hope he kept up this high standard.… (meer)