Straw Men

by Martin J. Smith

Book Overview

Teresa Harnett has been unable to remember the circumstances of the attack that left her almost dead eight years ago. With the help of her devoted husband, she's finally beginning to put her life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 051512950X
• ISBN13: 9780515129502
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

I Read it Twice!

I've read Straw Men twice now and I think it's Smith's best. I've read all three books and I've seen him growing steadily as a writer and storyteller. In Straw Men he gets down to business early on, establishing a horrific character called the "Scarecrow." In a few words Smith describes this lost soul in a way that makes him both frightening and pitiful. However, the book belongs to psychologist Jim Christiansen who explores the dark corners of the human mind. Jim is an ordinary man caught in an extraordinary situation. He's burdened with knowledge that threatens to unearth many painful buried secrets. As they come to light again, the Pittsburgh police department, and the city itself, is thrown into chaos. There is a particularly well observed relationship between Christiansen and Teresa Harnett, a cop who was nearly killed, allegedly by the Scarecrow. The interplay in these sections is filled with nuance and emotion. This is a book that will keep you up at night, and will live in your mind for years. Read it.

A Dazzling Good Read

The most important clue from this fabulous piece of suspense was right in front of me, and I never saw it 'til I put the book down after staying up way too late to finish it.When Teresa Harnett was savagely attacked eight years ago, one of the casualties was her memory. Painstakingly reconstructing it over the following years with the help of her husband, it all starts to come unraveled when the man convicted of that assault, DellaVecchio, is released pending a hearing based on new DNA evidence. The man's voice she hears is no longer the same as the voice whispered in her ear the night of the attack. So she approaches Jim Christensen, a psychologist who testified as an expert on memory at the original trial - and the same man who was now living with the attorney in charge of the defense for DellaVecchio.Tensions mount as the three weeks before the hearing tick off. Clues are revealed through counseling sessions, reviews of testimony, questioning of key characters, and even present-day events. When I thought it was all figured out, there were still a few niggling details that didn't quite fit, and the attacker almost gets away with it... again.Marty Smith pulls us along with the investigation, sometimes piecing together the puzzle only moments before the characters. The stunning climactic scenes left me turning pages faster than I could read them, only to have me turn them back to savor the mounting anticipation. A dazzling good read.

Engrossing Suspense...A Page-Turner.

The "Memory Series" by Martin Smith just gets better and better. STRAW MEN is the third in the line, and it sucks you in and absorbs you until the last page. At the core of the story is the issue of how reliable are our memories. Could the victim of an attack who suffered amnesia be fed lies so that the "memories" she regains are anything but the truth? A chilling tale that mystery and suspense fans won't want to miss.

Exciting exploration of memory and loss

Martin Smith's 'Memory Series' continues...and his novels just seem to get better with every new title. Great suspense, several memorable red-herrings--but, mostly, his characters seem much more three-dimensional than most thriller types these days. A great read--with much to ponder after you put down the book.

dynamite thriller

Eight years ago, an assailant attacked Teresa Harnett in her kitchen. The culprit smashed her head with a bottle, rammed her head on the floor several times, raped her, and left a calling card of a broken bottle end inside her vagina. The vicious individual left Teresa for dead, but she was rushed to the hospital and with the help of her loving and caring spouse physically recovers.However, Teresa's nightmare begins anew because the defense lawyer Brenna Kennedy demands a new trail for her convicted client Carmen DellaVechhio. DNA evidence destroys much of the proof the DA used the first time around. The presiding judge releases the incarcerated individual pending final dismissal of all charges. Teresa begins to wonder if she helped place the wrong person behind bars. Neither Brenna nor Teresa realizes what heartache and murders await them as this case moves into the final stages.Martin J. Smith is one the most under-appreciated thriller writers on the market today. He consistently provides chillers that deserve a vast audience. His latest winner, STRAW MEN, is loaded with surprises and revelations mostly frightening because they feel real yet are unexpected. Characters from other books by Mr. Smith have evolved as if they share real time with the reader, which adds to the feel of chilling reality. This novel is a thumbs-up legal thriller.Harriet Klausner