Even Steven - Softcover

Gilstrap, John

3.93

690 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0671786733 ISBN 13: 9780671786731

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2001

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When Bobby and Susan Martin come across a dirty, shivering child at their campsite, the last thing the childless couple expects is to be drawn into an unthinkable crime. But when one of the boy's kidnappers comes out of the brush waving a gun, Bobby is forced to react. In one chaotic, explosive moment, the predator is brutally murdered. But was he a criminal -- or a cop? With a vicious crime ring closing in on them, and unsure of whom to trust, Bobby and Susan desperately plunge into the heart of danger to save the boy -- and themselves. John Gilstrap's Even Steven enhances his reputation as an ingenious and innovative contemporary thriller writer.

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Review:

Gilstrap has produced some highly authoritative thrillers in which characterisation that leaps off the page is seamlessly melded to plotting of machine-like precision. At All Costs was a breakthrough book for the author, and the sheer panache of that book is replicated in Even Steven, which modifies the kinetic movement of the action into something richer and more subtle, with human longing as a key theme.

The Martins, Bobby and Susan, have one desire: to have a child of their own. While considering how their marriage could be consolidated by such a gift, the couple undertake a camping trip, little realising that this will utterly change their lives. An unkempt, dirty young boy, shivering with cold, appears at their campsite, and the Martins' parental urges are soon kicking in. But when the boy's kidnappers make a violent appearance, the couple find themselves caught up in the savage killing of a police officer. Soon they are outrunning a band of dangerous criminals, and while struggling to stay alive, dark emotions concerning their failed pregnancies add a disturbing spin to the situation.

Gilstrap has pulled off two difficult tricks in his invigorating tale: the narrative itself is fresh and innovative (very welcome in these days when many thrillers are content to warm over exhausted plot devices); but he has also adopted and customised a device once very popular in the thriller genre--the action takes place over the course of 24 hours, and Gilstrap ensures that the ratcheting up of tension always has a ticking clock as its motor. Finally, of course, however assured a thriller is at dispensing action, it's the characterisation that really lays claim to a reader's attention. And the conflicted couple at the centre of Even Steven are so roundly drawn that few readers will be able to avoid empathising with them. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"The San Francisco Examiner Gilstrap is a unique storyteller, with a crisp writing style, a fine eye for detail, and an obvious love of children.

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