Distant Thunder (A Stone Barrington Novel)

Stone Barrington is at his home on the Maine island when a murder is committed. But it is not the man 🚹 who is identified. Who is it? Where is the man 🚹? The widow shows up ☝ at Stone's Turtle Bay Office and becomes Stone's client. The two of them travel in an attempt to keep her safe. It all comes together in Key West. I would recommend this series and author to 👍 readers of mystery novels 👍🔰. 2023 😀😯👒⛵

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Stuart Woods, I have grown used to enjoying a Stone Barrington novel every few months and now I'm down to only two new stories before having to say goodbye forever to a dear friend. This book started much like every other, Stone in bed with a beautiful woman (the President, actually) and only gets better from there. These books don't necessarily take long to devour and are thoroughly delightful to read. I'm curious as to whether the publisher and his estate will be hiring another author to continue the series. I've run out of adjectives to describe how much I enjoy reading these, I'm not sure what my new guilty pleasure will be but I'm hoping I'll have as much fun as Stone himself.

Stuart Woods' series featuring the one and only Stone Barrington is the literary equivalent of a guilty pleasure, and I say that with all the love and sarcasm this review can muster. Stone Barrington, our debonair protagonist, continues to navigate the high-stakes world with a level of suavity that would put James Bond to shame – or at least, that's what Stone would have us believe.

What's remarkable about this series is its ability to make you simultaneously roll your eyes and eagerly turn the page. Stone Barrington lives a life so impossibly glamorous and action-packed that I'm convinced he's secretly moonlighting as a superhero when he's not sipping cocktails in some exotic locale.

The women adore him, the villains fear him, and I'm pretty sure gravity itself adjusts to keep Stone's perfectly coiffed hair in place during his daredevil escapades. It's as if the laws of physics bend to accommodate Stone Barrington's whims – and honestly, who needs realism when you have this level of entertainment?

Stuart Woods seems to be in on the joke, giving us a character who's practically a caricature of the impossibly sophisticated and effortlessly cool leading man. Stone's dialogue is so smooth, you could spread it on toast, and his ability to navigate complex situations with a raised eyebrow and a smirk is the stuff of legend.

In each installment, you'll find yourself chuckling at the sheer audacity of Stone's adventures. Whether he's solving crimes, outsmarting adversaries, or navigating the intricacies of high society, you can't help but shake your head in amusement and admiration for the man who defies logic and lives a life that's equal parts fantasy and farce.

So, here's to you, Stuart Woods, for giving us Stone Barrington – a character so over-the-top that he's become a delightful parody of the genre. If you're in the mood for a good laugh and a healthy dose of eye-rolling, dive into this series and let Stone Barrington sweep you away on another ridiculously entertaining escapade. Cheers to the man, the myth, the legend – Stone Barrington!

It's sad that Stuart Woods has died, but the Stone Barrington series has been on thin ice for years now. Once Woods shifted to publishing 3-4 of them a year, the quality of the writing started to diminish, at least in my personal opinion. I enjoyed some of the "recent" developments though, like the storylines concerning Teddy Fay's efforts to ingratiate himself with Peter and Ben in Hollywood (see also the stand-alone Teddy Fay novels for more of this). Distant Thunder was, unfortunately, a bit of a dud. Lots of sloppy writing, unbelievable coincidences, ridiculous occurrences, and just a lot of the same old gimmicks that Woods has used in these novels for decades. I miss the author greatly, and I still look forward to reading the remaining novels in this series, some of which are being coauthored by Parnell Hall, a seasoned Stuart Woods accomplice. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel like there are no stakes in these novels any more: none of the main characters are ever really at risk of anything bad happening, and at the end the status quo is either returned to or everyone is slightly more rich than when things started. It's formulaic and groan-inducing, but I still plan to read every word. Rest in peace, Mr. Woods. Thank you for all the fun time and good memories.