A Must Read ( )

Dreadful - could not make it past page 10 and did not even flick to the end to check what happened. ( )

Dreadful - could not make it past page 10 and did not even flick to the end to check what happened. ( )

A Nawth Carolina family, the Boatwrights, who win a huge jackpot in the lottery are descended upon by an opportunistic psychopath, Shaw, and his increasingly reluctant sidekick who terrorize the Boatwrights into splitting the winnings with them; more than that, the Boatwrights must publicly declare how much they love Shaw and regard him as almost one of the family. The public of course swallows tis wholesale, and a cult builds up around Shaw; worse still, the Boatwrights, with the exception of teen daughter Tara, in Stockholm-Syndrome fashion begin to swallow the bullshit too.

I really like the movies based on this author's two earlier novels, especially The Caveman's Valentine, so, even though I've not read those two, I leapt upon this. I found it, alas, pretty lightweight.
( )

Two misfits on a road trip come across a family if lottery winners in a quiet city in the southern US. This book tells the story of what happens when people get caught up in lies. It's not the kind of book I would usually read and I'm not actually sure whether I enjoyed it or not, but it raises some interesting questions about truth and the power of belief and how easy it is for people to believe someone if they say and do the right things. ( )

A very quick read. I did enjoy reading it but to be honest the storyline was sometimes a bit ridiculous.
The family that was "captured"had enough chances to get away. Someone suggested they were suffering from Stockholm syndrome but I do not think you can get attached to your captures so soon, in a week or even shorter? What I also thought was ridiculous was it is a small town and then suddenly people starting to think Shaw is Jesus. And that is all normal. He starts a kind of a church (all in a week's time) lol and the police and the citizens all find that normal.
I will give it 3 stars because it did kept me interested. ( )

I couldn't wait to find out how these two were going to scheme their way into the family and then confiscate half the winnings. The plan ended up being interesting, but the execution turned out to not be fully developed. It became implausible, therefore a bit silly to me. I did enjoy a couple of the characters - they actually added some stability to the plot. (2.75/5)

Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy ( )

http://alliscballread.blogspot.ca/2012/02/book-8-ravens.html ( )

Interesting "what if" that drives the story. Green doesn't get too deep into the characters, but there is no way he can when he's dancing back and forth between at least five PoVs. It works, though. The reader gets a 360 degree view of Brunswick, GA as well as the unsuspecting family that hits it big.

What Ravens lacks in character development and empathy for its ilk, it makes up for in pacing and action. One of the best things about the book is that it takes place over a few days and it really feels that way while readingf--nothing feels rushed or too drawn out for the time frame to cause disbelief. ( )

Stopping for gas in a small town in Georgia, two guys in the middle of a road trip hear about a local family having just won a staggeringly large lotto jackpot and hatch a plan to extort a share of the cash out of them by threatening their loved ones. It's good premise for a thriller, and the writing is decent, in a vaguely literary sort of way. But this book really didn't work for me, mainly because the characters didn't work for me. The victim family and their friends are mostly cliched, unlikeable, and flat, except maybe for the grandmother, who has a sort of forced, artificial quirkiness that's just as bad. Meanwhile, the criminals are stupid enough that you have to wonder how they manage to get very far with this plan at all, and their supposed psychological motivations are mushy and unconvincing. I think they're all meant to be sort of darkly humorous, but on the whole I just found them irritating. Which meant that I didn't particularly care what might happen to any of them. Which in turn meant that I never felt much in the way of suspense. And, oh, yeah, there's also a bizarre religious motif that crops up throughout the novel, but if there's any actual point to that I have no idea what it is. ( )

I really enjoyed this book! ( )

Probably not worth the effort so don't waste your time. ( )

RAVENS has a great idea for a plot - two drifters, on the way to somewhere else, overhear a story about a local lottery win and they quickly hatch a plan to take advantage. Take the household captive and threaten everybody they hold dear until the money is handed over.

There is a blurring of norms in RAVENS - on the one hand you have the two drifters - Shaw and Romeo - one clever / one a bit thick - there's a power relationship between these two that feels the stresses and strains as the novel progresses. The hostage family - the Boatwrights aren't a tight unit in their own right with a lot of tension between teenage daughter Tara and her mother - who is frankly a bit odd. Part of the complication between mother and daughter plays out in their reactions to Shaw in particular - Tara flirting, clearly not sure if she is acting or not, and the rest of the family slipping quickly into a form of Stockholm Syndrome - so quickly it was surprising.

The entire scenario needs a couple of important elements to work. A real and present danger, a threat, the constant maintenance of that threat and something to make the reader believe that the family believes the reality of that threat. But RAVENS doesn't go there. At all. In fact, the central plotline seemed to emerge occasionally from a mismash of subplots that got so confusing and distracting that any sense of overlying threat to the Boatwrights just disappeared in a cloud of fluff. Granted Shaw seems to be making up most of the plot as the book goes along, but at no stage did I really feel like they were actually going to do anything - I just didn't believe the menace. Perhaps it was that some of these subplots, the religious overtones, the families dysfunction, the drifters joint and individual dysfunction, the lack of conviction for the part they are playing from just about everybody in the plot (probably part of the design - less than convinced criminals / less than convinced victims), and it just seemed like there was too little happening in a scenario that attempted too much.

I really wanted to like this book. An opportunistic, fraught pairing of no-hopers who have a go, granted not the go you'd be proud to tell you grandmother about, but a go nonetheless. Despite there being a few places within the book where I distinctly remember thinking this is it, we're off, it never quite launched and I came away from the book with a feeling that I had obviously missed something. ( )

Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko are on their way to Florida for a much-needed vacation. While stopped at a gas station in Brunswick, Georgia, Shaw overhears the clerk on the phone gossiping about a local family who won the lottery. The winning lottery ticket of $300+ million dollars was purchased at that store but the family was still unknown. As is common with most small towns, the news of who the family is begins to spread and due to some clever detective work, the internet and that ever popular MySpace, Shaw is able to find out everything about the winning family, the Boatwright’s.

The Boatwright’s are down in their luck. They are stressing over bills and living week to week on their paychecks. Tara their teenage daughter is working and putting herself through college just to flee the ‘Wick’ and her crazy parents. Her mother Patsy is an alcoholic who tends to take her anger out on her - she plays the lottery religiously on a weekly basis - and when they hit the jackpot they expect all their prayers to be answered... little did they know that their happiness would be short-lived.

That night Shaw visits the Boatwright home and holds the family hostage. He threatens all the family’s relatives and loved ones (everyone from the grandmother to Tara’s BFF). He has Romeo driving around town from home to home and tells the family that if something goes wrong with his plan of taking half their winnings, Romeo is instructed to stop at the nearest home in his list and kill whichever loved one resides there. While the news of their win is made public they must act normal and hope that Shaw’s plan comes to fruition without anyone getting hurt.

For some reason this hit a nerve with me. I was frightened and at the same time couldn’t put it down. I just had to know what would happen next. This was a roller coaster ride for me. There were times where I laughed and times were I just wanted someone to fight Shaw and Romeo back. I was frustrated and then there were times where I was plain scared for them. It brought out the best and worst in me I guess. All in all, I enjoyed it. I can see where this would make a great movie. The fact that Shaw was was able to do all his research on MySpace totally blew me away. It’s amazing how much information is made public on the world wide web. Scary!

If you are in the mood for a chilling, edge of your seat - can’t put it down thriller, then check this one out. ( )

Suspense-filled literary fiction that's equally plot and character driven. ( )

Ravens by George Dawes Green on audio, which I received from a giveaway on Peeking Between the Pages, is action-packed, engaging, and unique. Readers are first introduced to Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko, two young gentlemen fed up with the "system" and anxious to leave Ohio for the great unknown and make their mark. Unfortunately, Shaw has a dark side and Romeo can lose control of his emotions.

The young men are traveling south and end up in Brunswick, Georgia, where they learn the identity of the state lottery winners -- the Boatwrights. Shaw concocts a plan to garner the men at least half if not more of the $318 million prize.

The narrators shift between the Boatwrights, the local police officer, Romeo, and Shaw, with Maggi-Meg Reed's Southern accent pretty close to the real thing and Robert Petkoff slightly dramatic in his portrayal. However, each character's voice was easily discernible, making it easy to follow the shifting narration. Listeners will be drawn into the plight of the Boatwrights and may even sympathize with Romeo, but Shaw is another story. The tension is palatable, and readers will be kept guessing as to how the extortion situation will be resolved.

Ravens on audio made the commute fly by, and those that love mysteries and thrillers will find this a satisfactory listen. My husband and I often became absorbed in the story and had to wait for a chapter to end outside my office building in the mornings before I got out of the car. He loved the ending the best, though it is graphic, because it resolves the situation in a satisfactory way. ( )

Patsy Boatwright spends every Wednesday night the same way...curled up on the couch with a drink waiting for the winning Jackpot numbers. Even though week after week she is disappointed, she knows without a doubt that sooner or later, her numbers will win. And she was right, one night she falls on her knees screaming "Grace Of God, Grace Of God, Grace Of God" over and over. She had won three hundred and eighteen million dollars.

Romeo and Shaw are on their way from Ohio to Florida when they stop at a convenience store to check their tire pressure. One of them overhears a clerk on her cell phone talking about the store selling the state Jackpot winning ticket. Together they hold the Boatwrights hostage, telling them they'll murder some family members if they don't cooperate. This is another book that I feel must have a short review for fear of posting spoilers. The author has done a good job of letting us get to know these characters. They are all so different it kept me interested and entertained. George Dawes Green has added many facets to this book, and some were hilarious, the power Shaw has over everyone. I love this book because it's full of a different kind of suspense than most books. You're not trying to figure out who the bad guys are, you already know that. The suspense is waiting to see how it all ends. I hope to see more from this author. ( )

Mitch and Patsy Boatwright have won the lottery, making them overnight millionaires. They are a dysfunctional family living in rural Georgia. Patsy is an alcoholic and, prior to winning the big prize, was borderline abusive - especially on the nights of the lottery drawings. Tara, their oldest daughter, just wanted out. She did the best she could to avoid her mother on the night's they drew the lottery. Mitch owns a local office supply store and is as deeply religious as he is ineffectual. The glue that really holds the family together is Nell, Patsy's mother. Winning the lottery seems like it may be the answer to the family's prayers. They will no longer need monetarily and and there is hope, perhaps, that the disappearance of that stressor will change everything. Unfortunately, Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko, two drifters from Ohio, overhear about the family's good fortune while stopping briefly at a gas station and hatch a plot of terror to steal half of the winnings from themselves.

This novel is full of interesting psychological insights. Patsy fairly easily falls under Shaw's spell and even when the lives of her husband, mother, or daughter are at risk, she's still dreaming of that Malibu mansion. Shaw uses that and her alcohol addiction to keep her in her place. Tara's situation is even more complex. She has an understanding of Stockholm Syndrome and she hates what Shaw is doing to her father, but even she feels a pull toward him, an attraction that she tries to deny. It was also interesting how Shaw began to buy his own press after people from all over the country flock to him, believing that his participation in buying the winning lottery ticket is the ultimate sign of God's redemption. Those scenes reminded me a great deal of Jodi Picoult's Keepig Faith. The best part of the novel for me, however, was the internal work that Romeo goes through as he continually drives around the town and contemplates having to kill innocent people for his best friend. He has to come to terms with being made the muscle in a plan he didn't originally want any part of all out of loyalty to his best friend.

I did not dislike Ravens. I thought there were some interesting, although not necessarily likable, characters and the end of the novel kept me reading. I cannot say that I liked this novel, though. The basic premise is quite promising. I'm sure that this would be the worst nightmare of anyone who plays the lottery with dreams of winning it all. This novel wasn't all it could have been for me because I could not suspend my disbelief enough to buy Shaw being able to take and hold the family captive as easily as he did. Shaw and Romeo might have had a sordid past, but they were not just looking for something illegal to do. They simply stopped at a gas station and overheard news of a local lottery winner. Within 24 hours, they were executing their hastily made plans. While I believe one could quite easily discover enough information about a family from a teenager's MySpace pages, I cannot believe that the lottery commission or local law enforcement as a whole wouldn't be slightest bit suspicious of Shaw's story.

Ravens was the first novel published by George Dawes Green in several years. I have not read any of his earlier work, but the hype certainly had me anticipating something more sinister and cohesive. Perhaps family's in crisis are easily _targeted and picked off by violent con artists, but that just didn't work for me. Even so, I can't believe that two people not already looking to terrorize a family can stumble upon the perfect situation, decide upon a plan in less than 24 hours, make it work, and get away with it for as long as Shaw and Romeo did without making huge mistakes. Ravens never had an edge for me. It is interesting as a character or psychological study, but if you are looking for a psychological thriller, I would suggest reading The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris or just about anything by Steven King first. It isn't that Ravens is a horrible novel. It's not. It's just hard to be on the edge of your seat when you don't believe the bad guy could ever be successful. ( )

This one was a page turner. I was so hooked right from the word go with this one.

The story was narrated by a few different characters. It jumped back and forth, but it didn't seem choppy. The story just goes on, but from a different perspective. It wasn't like it would switch to a new character and rehash what the last character just told us.

The writing was good. There was only one thing that bothered me, when a character is talking the author would use Said Shaw instead of Shaw Said. But that was really the only thing I didn't like.

I liked the beginning, it gave us enough info about the characters to pull me into the story, without giving so much detail that it became mundane. It follows the Boatwright family and then friends Shaw and Romeo. The Boatwrights win the lottery and that's when Shaw and Romeo really enter the picture.

The suspense in this novel doesn't come from not knowing what's going on. Quite the opposite, we know what's going on right from the word go. The suspense comes from hoping that someone will slip and everyone else will know what is going on. I would say it's more psychological that physical suspense.

The ending threw me for a loop. And while the last passage confused me a little it still was a great ending.

Overall good writing and a great story. ( )

Romeo was driving down from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the baffling twilight, going too fast, when a raccoon or possum ran in front of the car. The impact was disturbingly gentle. No thud -- just a soft unzipping, beneath the chassis.

So opens Ravens, the premise of which I knew going in: Romeo and Shaw, on a drive to Florida from their tech-support jobs in Ohio, decide to stop en route and co-opt half of a huge lottery prize from the winners. But what surprised me was that the opening paragraph concludes by painting the villains likeable (Still, it tore at Romeo’s heart. He braked and pulled over.) and, further down the page, playful. And what hooked me were the next few pages, where I developed an intriguing dislike for the good guys -- the lottery-winning Boatwright family.

The novel’s strength is its ability to hold me in that incongruence. It also held me in a state of suspended disbelief -- after all, who would believe that the winners of $318 million would acquiesce when a couple strangers announce they’re taking half? Yet every time I wondered about the believability of characters’ actions, George Dawes Green showed me their motivations and brought me back in. It’s a fun, comic novel (not all of it dark comedy), populated by an entertaining ensemble of small-town-Georgia characters; subplots and twists that are well earned; and suspense that is more compelling (inquisitive; page-turning) than scary. Recommended! ( )

A compulsive read that engages a reader with a twisting plot and compelling, fully developed characters. Ravens is a story that I had to read to the finish line. Mr. Green, please write another novel within a decade. ( )

Ravens are thought to be scavengers but really they are intelligent creatures who can get animals to do the hard work for them. Such is the case with the raven characters in George Dawes Green's book by the same name.

Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko are traveling to Florida for a vacation from their tech support jobs in Piqua, Ohio. While stopped in Georgia, Shaw overhears the convenience store clerk talk about the identity of the unannounced winner of the 318 million dollar jackpot.

Shaw gets the idea to hold the Boatwright family hostage in exchange for half of the prize money. He uses Romeo as a threat to keep them under his control. Romeo is armed with a map showing the addresses of their friends and relatives. As the person in Shaw's life who has always stood by him, Romeo goes along with the role he's been assigned in this tale. Romeo and Shaw may be friends but they are made of different stuff. Romeo has compassion. Shaw is interested only in what will get him ahead. The reader can see the differences between them from their actions.

At the news conference to announce the lottery winners, Shaw announces he's going to give away all of the money. Lured by his image and his story, people come from miles around to be near Shaw. They want to meet the man who turned his life around and pledged to do good for others. Except for the convenience store clerk, no one has a clue that Shaw didn't spend any money towards the winning lottery ticket.

The Boatwright family (Mitch - father; Patsy - mother; Tara - teenage daughter; and Jase - pre-teen son) deal with the situation in varying ways and go through a gamut of emotions. Tara is Shaw's way into family and tries to keep the others level. Ravens hooks the reader and refuses to let go until the unexpected ending. It's true to all of the characters and was satisfying on many levels. ( )

My Thoughts:

Only after reading George Dawes Green's bold new novel, can one appreciate the sly cleverness of the title. Take a close look at this definition of "raven" from Dictionary.com:

ra⋅ven 1 /ˈ'reɪvən/ [rey-vuhn]

noun
1. any of several large, corvine birds having lustrous, black plumage and a loud, harsh call, esp. Corvus corax, of the New and Old Worlds.
2. the divine culture hero and trickster of the North Pacific Coast Indians.
3. (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Corvus.

adjective
4. lustrous black: raven locks of hair.

verb (used without object)
1. to seek plunder or prey.
2. to eat or feed voraciously or greedily: to raven like an animal.
3. to have a ravenous appetite.

verb (used with object)
4. to seize as spoil or prey.
5. to devour voraciously.

noun
6. rapine; robbery.
7. plunder or prey.
------------------------------------------------------
Origin: bef. 900; ME; OE hr?fn; c. G Rabe, ON hrafn

rav·en 2 (rāav'ən)
v.
rav·ened, rav·en·ing, rav·ens

v. tr.
To consume greedily; devour.
To seek or seize as prey or plunder.

v. intr.
To seek or seize prey or plunder.
To eat ravenously.

n. Variant of ravin.
[From Middle English ravin, raven, rapine, plunder, prey; see ravin.]

rav'en·er n.

rav·in also rav·en (rāav'ən)

n.
Voracity; rapaciousness.
Something taken as prey.
The act or practice of preying.

[Middle English ravin, raven, from Old French ravine, rapine, from Latin rapīina, from rapere, to seize; see rep- in Indo-European roots.]

Now add this further elucidation of "rapaciousness": subsisting by the capture of living prey; predacious

There's certainly plenty of rapaciousness in RAVENS. It's also got greed, plunder and prey aplenty! George Dawes Green has created one lusciously multi-layered, edge-of-your-seat thriller. I'm trying to resist saying that I devoured this book. I will tell you that once my review copy arrived, I spent several days trying to keep myself away from it; other titles held priority, but they couldn't capture my attention away from the simple white book with the actualizing title. Finally, I yielded, seized the book, and consumed it greedily.

While tension and suspense are constant throughout RAVENS, it was the quirky yet ordinary characters populating the novel that I found so compelling. There's Tara Boatwright, the 21-year-old who is trying to bridge not only adolescence and adulthood but the gulf between her Christian devotee father, Mitch, and her alcohol and gambling addicted mother, Patsy. From her annoying little brother, Jase, to her tattooed best friend, Clio, to her feisty, card-playing grandmother, Nell, all the way to the disrespected old cop, Burris (who harbors some secrets of his own), the residents of the small Georgia town of Brunswick seem like people you could meet anywhere. Green, however, gets inside their heads and shows us, if not exactly what makes them tick, then how they tick. I found the inner workings of the "good guys" in this psychological suspense to be quite disturbing. So how am I to describe the complexities and contradictions of the two guys wearing the black hats?

Shaw McBride, the so-called brains of the operation, is one of the most despicable and unsympathetic villains I have ever encountered in a work of fiction. Romeo Zderko is one of the most pathetic and misguided. Just because the characters are all compelling, it doesn't mean that they're at all appealing. Yet beginning with the opening scene's unfortunate roadkill to the explosive denouement, I could not look away.
And lest you still believe that RAVENS is no better than your everyday, run-of-the-mill thriller, go back up to the definition section and consider this entry:

noun

2. the divine culture hero and trickster of the North Pacific Coast Indians.

Review also published on my blog at http://aseaofbooks.blogspot.com/ ( )

Ravens
Author: George Dawes Green
ISBN: 978-0-446-53896-1 Pages: 336, $24.99, Publication Date: July 15, 2009, Hardcover, Novel, Published by Grand Central Publishing

The odds of winning a lottery prize in excess of one million dollars are astronomical, but to have won 318 million is beyond belief. Ravens, written by George Dawes Green is the winning ticket along with a whole passel of fear. Widely acclaimed author of The Juror and The Caveman’s Valentine Green brings forth his newest offering after a 14 year hiatus.

Grand Central Publishing only printed 45,000 1st edition copies because they wondered if the public would have forgotten this masterful writer. Fear not, oh great publisher, this book hits it right on the head with a suspenseful tale woven in the true fabric of mystery.

Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko are two heinous characters who hatch a scheme to fleece the Boatwright family of half of their anticipated fortune. Shaw devises a map which is to be followed by Romeo as he patrols the streets in the community and at a given cell-phone-notice, he is to stop at the next house on the map and murder Boatwright’s loved ones. Equipped with an antique sword and a 22 caliber pistol, Romeo begins his rounds after he had been introduced as the mad henchman to the Boatwrights held hostage by Shaw.

The lottery officials and media do not suspect anything is amiss while the family awaits the final certification which will deliver the money to them. So ingenious is the plot contrived by McBride that he is named as an equal recipient of the $318,000,000.

A local constable is bumbling along as complications arise in the relationship between Shaw and the Boatwrights. He suspects something is wrong, but he cannot prove a thing. In fact, he is ordered to step out of the picture by his superiors. Several times he stumbles upon Romeo and has this nagging feeling things are not as they seem.

Shaw announces to the community that he is going to give his share of the money to help the needy; everyone embraces him as a wonderful person. He inveigles himself into the family activities and even goes seining (fishing with a seine net) with them. All the while reminding the family that Romeo will commit mayhem.

A well-constructed storyline which will keep you reading right to the end. This book keeps you in suspense and is highly recommended. George Dawes Green is indeed back on top of his game! ( )

Living in Iowa has been an education in the lottery. The lottery is a big deal in our state, and each day I drive by a sign that shows the current jackpot. Personally, I have no interest in purchasing my own lottery tickets, but sometimes just for fun, my husband and I fantasize what we would do with the money. At the very least, it is certain that our lives would change.

Ravens is the story of the Boatwright family, residents of a small Georgia town, who have been teetering on the brink of financial disaster. Then one Wednesday night, as Patsy Boatwright engages in her weekly ritual of fortifying herself with alcohol while she watches the lottery results on tv, the Boatwright's ship comes in. The Boatwright family are the sole winners of a $318 million jackpot. Meanwhile, Shaw McBride and Romeo Zderko, two young men looking for an easy escape from their dead end jobs, are passing through town. Fate intervenes, and Shaw overhears about the Boatwright's amazing good fortune and he decides that he wants a piece of it for himself; half to be exact. Shaw, with the assistance of his doggedly loyal companion Romeo, embarks on a plan to force the Boatwright's to share their winnings. What follows is a story full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Ravens is an exciting read from beginning to end, but it is much more of a psychological thriller than a blood and guts page turner. The book features some great characters, most of whom are nicely developed. I especially found the characters of Shaw and Romeo to be very interesting. Shaw, who is a master of manipulation more than anything else, even seems to believe his own lies after a while, and he craves not only the cooperation, but the devotion of his intended victims. In contrast, Romeo is a villain who I almost found myself feeling sorry for as sometimes he seemed almost a victim himself. I also have to mention Tara Boatwright, who initially I was sure was going to be just another token female victim, but developed into so much more through the course of the book.

This is a great read, with interesting characters, and a pretty original premise. This is definitely a book that will keep your interest, as well as make you think. ( )