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Think of a Number: A Novel |  | Author: John Verdon
Publisher: Crown
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  127 reviews
Sales Rank: 473
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
ASIN: B0036S4ATA
Publication Date: June 25, 2010
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
David Baldacci Reviews Think of a Number David Baldacci was born in Virginia, in 1960, where he currently resides. He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University and a law degree from the University of Virginia. Mr. Baldacci practiced law for nine years in Washington, D.C., as both a trial and corporate attorney. He has published seventeen novels. Read his review of Think of a Number below: 
John Verdon has done something remarkable in his debut thriller, Think of a Number. He has successfully juggled every storytelling ball, character, atmosphere, prose, pace and plot, with the skill and assuredness of a veteran novelist at the top of his game. The writing is haunting and quotable, the twists expertly placed and infinitely plausible, the conjured locations vivid and memorable, the characters full of depth and promise. You can read the book as a game of cat and mouse, a ride of chilling suspense, or a literary repast, since it provides all in abundance. In the novel the set-up provides an intriguing dilemma. A man gets a letter that scares him to death by challenging him to think of a number. That catalyst soon speeds the reader and Verdon’s hero, Dave Gurney, a legendary and now retired NYPD detective, headlong into a mystery of the first order. I’m pretty adept at figuring out these types of stories and while I hit on a few twists before Verdon probably wanted me to, the major ones were stunning surprises. I read the last two-hundred pages in one sitting. I did this for two compelling reasons. First, to find out what the hell was going on. And second, just to enjoy the wonderful writing. Some novelists promise plot and pace and deliver it with lightweight characters and silly dialogue. Others get the characters spot-on but the story is mediocre and predictable. Verdon nails it all in his first novel. The villain is appealingly terrifying, smart and cunning while operating mostly in absentia, and that is incredibly difficult to accomplish. The answer behind the “think of a number” plot, most certainly a disaster in lesser hands, proves clever, winning and eminently believable. Verdon’s protagonist Dave Gurney is one for the ages, and readers everywhere will surely clamor to see this man again. Think of a Number gets full marks from me. And I think it will from you, too. Enjoy.
Product Description
An extraordinary fiction debut, Think of a Number is an exquisitely plotted novel of suspense that grows relentlessly darker and more frightening as its pace accelerates, forcing its deeply troubled characters to moments of startling self-revelation.
Arriving in the mail over a period of weeks are taunting letters that end with a simple declaration, “Think of any number…picture it…now see how well I know your secrets.” Amazingly, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly. For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD’s top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial murder investigation.
What police are confronted with is a completely baffling killer, one who is fond of rhymes filled with threats and warnings, whose attention to detail is unprecedented, and who has an uncanny knack for disappearing into thin air. Even more disturbing, the scale of his ambition seems to widen as events unfold.
Brought in as an investigative consultant, Dave Gurney soon accomplishes deductive breakthroughs that leave local police in awe. Yet, even as he matches wits with his seemingly clairvoyant opponent, Gurney’s tragedy-marred past rises up to haunt him, his marriage approaches a dangerous precipice, and finally, a dark, cold fear builds that he’s met an adversary who can’t be stopped.
In the end, fighting to keep his bearings amid a whirlwind of menace and destruction, Gurney sees the truth of what he’s become – what we all become when guilty memories fester – and how his wife Madeleine’s clear-eyed advice may be the only answer that makes sense.
A work that defies easy labels -- at once a propulsive masterpiece of suspense and an absorbing immersion in the lives of characters so real we seem to hear their heartbeats – Think of a Number is a novel you’ll not soon forget.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 127
 Think again September 10, 2010
J. Seigle (Vienna, VA USA)
I really tried to work with the author while reading this, to see it as a captivating thriller. It was instead a credible cerebral mystery story, with very few thrilling moments. Since I'm reviewer #127 I won't recap the plot. I did in fact enjoy reading it, but it doesn't live up to the hype created by its celebrity endorsements.
It is a very readable mystery novel that I enjoyed during a week at the beach. The plot is clever, and Verdon created one of those brilliant-yet-twisted criminals who would be comfortable in a Batman movie. It has its interesting moments but I did not find it gripping. In a great thriller, you are there, you become part of that world, but I never really became immersed in this story. The writing style is a bit sophomorish, and it was not until after I finished it that I learned it is the author's first novel after a career as an advertising executive.
There are a few issues I have with the book:
- The characters are flat and stereotyped, although clearly a lot of work went into the protaganist and his wife.
- The dialog is overly contrived and can be trite, and does not strike me at all as the way people talk. It's sort of a film noir feel, cheesy at times.
- It has a long ramp-up before any actual crime is committed. The first quarter of the book is all setup.
- A chief plot device that we are supposed to think of as a real stumper was something that I figured out very early in the book. I won't put spoilers in this review (but see Comments for one). However, it should be said that even if the detective had figured this out as early as I did, it still didn't solve the mystery and could have made for an interesting turn of events. But the moment when he realized what had happened was presented as a bit of a climactic moment, all out of proportion.
- A fact that was incredibly obvious came up later in the book regarding this same plot device, but this fact was completely missed by the presumably brilliant detective. Maybe this was because the author himself didn't notice what he had written.
- Our detective commits one impulsive act that is utterly and totally out of character for him, and had no redeeming value.
I would certainly recommend it as fun but it's not a must-read for mystery aficiandos.
Good scenes mostly redeem a disappointing total package September 7, 2010
David Wilson (Orange County, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Other reviewers' high regard for this novel led me to try it, but I was disappointed by some of the formulaic aspects of the effort. The murderer comes across as a stock brilliant villain from central casting who is not made more interesting by his Norman Bates overtones, and the puzzles (the number trick of the title, and the perplexing crime scenes themselves) are essentially gimmicks that a true puzzle master like Agatha Christie would make credible but lesser talents cannot.
On the good side, dialog is smart and there are some interesting characters encountered along the way. Protagonist Gurney is an American Adam Dalgleish, sharply observant about the world and more skilled in interrogation technique than in personal relationships; like Dalgleish, he is also humanized a bit by his artistic temperament -- graphic arts in this case rather than poetry. An angry blunt-spoken policeman who enters the novel after a secondary murder proves to be more than a stock character in service of a complicated plot, and the lead investigator of the first crime is a bitter, backbiting departmental malcontent who has a lot more to offer than his unbroken string of sarcastic asides would indicate. A politically sensitive, favor-currying team leader is a less successful character, but he is there primarily for comic relief anyway. Women characters are well done, including a member of the investigation team who is usually seen at the keyboard of a laptop that contains relevant evidence, a psychologist, and Gurney's wife.
One of the challenges that mystery writers face is to keep the whole book from sitting down when its characters sit down around a table to go over the evidence. Verdon gets away with it not once, but twice. The characters on the team are observed with enough sharpness and some of them show enough colorful intelligence to keep the story moving during an exercise that is primarily designed to keep the reader informed (and, of course, skillfully misdirected). Two thirds of the way through the book the same people sit down again to go over additional evidence and new developments in a second action-free conversation; even though the writer's challenge is a little greater because the reader has seen this trick before, Verdon still keeps the reader engaged. Thumbs up: nicely done.
So a middling review from me: not a bad novel, but not completely successful. Enough is right on individual pages and in individual scenes to make me wish every scene and every element of the story line had been given the same attention and polish. If Verdon has a second novel in him, it's a safe bet I will read it.
Those who liked this book better than I did might like to check out the three novels by Don Bredes that feature Hector Bellevance.
 Book-THINK OF A NUMBER September 6, 2010
dotcan (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a great thriller! KUDOS on this first novel by John Verdon! Very well paced and attention-grabbing/keeping.
A Good Thriller From A New Author September 4, 2010
Samantha Shepherd
I purchased this hardcover book because I thought the premise was was quite interesting. The questions and the oddities that come up during the first murder scene were quite unique and set it apart from other novels in this genre. The core mystery was very well thought out and really made me question not only "who" but "how."
I did find there were times that the novel was a bit overly descriptive which slowed down the pace and at times took away from the core mystery. I kept waiting for something to happen Gurney's wife since there was a lot of time and attention given to their "off" marriage. Unfortunatly, there was really no pay-off on that sotryline.
I look forward to John Verdon's next novel and I think he has great potential as a novelist as long as he tightens up his writing a little bit.
Drawn to the emotional scenes September 4, 2010
Stephanie Dellosa
Think of a Number by John Verdon came with some very impressive blurbs. I'll just give you the most memorable one, from John Lescroart: "one of the best thrillers I've read in a lifetime of thriller reading." What an endorsement!
Was Think of a Number the best thriller I've read this year? As far as police procedurals go, yes. But thriller? No. Read my review of The Whisperers by John Connolly.
Oddly enough, I was drawn more to the emotional scenes rather than the fast-paced, plot-driven ones. Verdon is adept at writing about the complexity and fraught nature of relationships. In particular, the scenes between Gurney and his wife, Madeleine, were beautifully done, exploring their marriage and hidden, unresolved heartbreak.
"They had moments like this from time to time, moments of easy affection and quiet closeness, that reminded him of the early years of their marriage, the years before the accident. "The Accident"---that dense, generic label with which he wrapped the event in his memory to keep its razor-wire details from slicing his heart. The accident--the death--that eclipsed the sun turning their marriage into a shifting mixture of habit, duty, edgy companionship, and rare moments of hope---rare moments when something bright and clear as a diamond would shoot back and forth between them, reminding him of what once was and might again be possible."
Some characters seemed like caricatures, such as a slick politician and ridiculously obtuse chief of police. Verdon does give Gurney flaws but he still seemed too much like the perfect hero as compared to the other cops who are mostly depicted as bumbling, clueless idiots.
While I did not figure out how the "think of a number" trick worked, I did figure out the killer as soon as he/she appeared in the narrative. However, that did not detract from the pleasure of seeing how Gurney figures out the many puzzling and seemingly indecipherable clues laid before him.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 127
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