This is a book that you begin reading again as soon as you finish. Petrov starts and Nick solves the case. The same detective, the same investigation, 2 different perspectives. The book deserves 5 stars even though some of the subplots are so farfetched that they detract, rather than add to the line.
January 28, 2008

A fantastic book

I stumbled upon this book at the bargain priced hardcover section of a bookstore. It was the best $4.98 I've ever spent. The book is fast paced and the narrative is often hilarious.
September 13, 2007

Not Your Average Who Dunnit

This was a really fun read; great for the beach. Abrahams takes the who dunnit and turns it on its head. The protagonist, Nick Petrov is a real good PI, smart, experienced, logical and plodding, who manages to just about solve the mystery given to him early on in the book. Your thinking wait a minute, is this going to be a book with vignettes of the best of Nick Petrov's cases because there's still 300 pages to go. But no, Petrov suffers some kind of brain cancer/anurism and winds up in the hospital. A big chunk of his memory gets cut out when they patched him up and so he has to go through the entire investigation from the start without the aid of any of those great smarts, experiences or logic that he used to count on. Petrov turns from cocky jerk to humble human and you like him all the better for it. Take this book to the beach this summer and then wait for Abraham's next book.
April 19, 2007

Unique lead character

OBLIVION starts as a rather ordinary mystery, but picks up steam when private eye Nick Petrov suffers a brain hemorrhage resulting from a tumor. Another unique element is that the reader knows more about what's going on than Nick does when he wakes up in the hospital.

The early part of the book deals with a woman hiring Nick to find her daughter. He accumulates clues, painstakingly entering them in code in his notebook. After his operation he no longer remembers the code and must recompile the evidence.

Nick's main claim to fame was his role in the capture of serial killer Gerald Reasoner. Armand Assante even played him in a movie about the case. As he reaccumulates evidence, he begins to find similarities between the new case and the Reasoner murders. Someone is also trying to thwart his efforts, as he loses a key piece of evidence when an intruder breaks into his house.

A subplot involves Nick's love life. His former lover is now the LA chief of police. Their affair ruined his marriage. In his new world, Nick begins to fall for Billie, a black nurse who cares for him while he's in the hospital.

Another rather unique element is the presence of Nick's dead father, a former KGB investigator, as Nick pursues the missing girl. We're never quite sure if this is a consequence of his brain tumor, or if he really thinks he's talking to his father. The father also goads Nick for his ineptitude

One drawback of the book is that Abrahams telegraphs the culprit about midway through the book; we even recognize his/her accomplice when he arrives on the scene.

I've read one other Abrahams novel, END OF STORY, and one element they both have in common is originality. If you're tired of formulaic writing, give Abrahams a try.
November 08, 2006

A Good Psychological Thriller!

Interesting tale of a prior investigator (Nick Petrov) who had gained fame for cracking a serial murder case. He is hired by a woman to track down her daughter. What seems like a typical missing persons case then starts to turn weird and strange people seem to be attacking Nick. When it looks like he made some headway in the case, Nick has a severe medical problem that causes him to have amnesia including not being able to remember anything about the missing girl case.

Nick comes across some of the items he had collected from the missing girl case and realizes they must mean something. Little by little he starts to piece things together and get up to speed to the point he was before amnesia. The more Nick learns, he seems to realize that maybe this was more than a missing girl case and maybe it is related somehow to the serial killer case that he had worked on.

Some parts of the book are slow and others are a little difficult to understand but the reader wants to learn everything they can along with Nick. So many clues need to be pieced together to figure out and tie all the loose ends.

Nick is an extremely interesting character because he was a smug, domineering individual before his illness and after his illness he tries with difficulty to be the same way but is stifled by his new physical shortcomings.

A good read!

October 24, 2006

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

End of Story: A Novel of Suspense
by Peter Abrahams

Nerve Damage
by Peter Abrahams

Their Wildest Dreams
by Peter Abrahams

Citizen Vince : A Novel
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The Fan
by Peter Abrahams