Ann Turnbull

This starts out as a fun read but soon deteriorates. There are way too many characters, too much graphic gore, and actually no point. The ending is a complete disappointment. Really a terrible book. On a separate note, I agree with one of the reviewers who said his favorite Grisham book is The Confession and his least favorite are Grey Mountain and The Reckoning. But The Exchange is really just junk.

I have the utmost respect for Peter Guralnick. His books on Elvis and Sam Phillips are the authoritative biographies of Elvis and Sam. I felt a little differently about this one. It’s very informative and rightly conveys the enormity of Parker’s achievements in helping to create Elvis’s superstardom; the initial RCA contract alone was of huge significance. Suppose Elvis had never left Sun Records? So I liked reading about those transactions. But I can’t help feeling that the author got a little carried away by his fascination with Parker and perhaps presents him in too positive a light. For instance, the failure to have Elvis tour in Europe and elsewhere was inexcusable. The book downplays Parker’s role in this decision but it is inescapable that Parker’s illegal entry to the US was the motive. Also, Parker’s ludicrous demands in Barbra Streisand’s movie A Star is Born clearly eliminated any chance that Elvis might have had to be in the movie, we will never know how that might have turned out. Parker’s financial machinations in the later years were clearly motivated by greed and not in Elvis’s best interests. I believe that Parker was instrumental in making Elvis a success in the beginning but that he took advantage of Elvis in the later years. I enjoyed the book but wish it had been a little more balanced.

This book is truly awful. It’s cliche after cliche and reads like a movie on Lifetime or Hallmark. Towards the end I just skimmed. So glad when it was over!

I didn’t realize this book was part of a series when I read it. A lot of the first part was fun with an interesting plot. But when it ended without no resolution of the missing sister’s whereabouts I felt really let down. I have no interest in reading another book to find out, so this was just a 3-star for me.

This book is phenomenal. Very insightful and thought-provoking, and beautifully written. I do agree with some reviewers that the ending was somewhat jarring, but for me it didn’t detract from the overall story. I loved this book.

Didn’t like this book. The plot was ridiculous and by the end I couldn’t even figure out what was going on and didn’t really care.

I’m glad I read this book. I learned a lot. It’s a heavy read, though, with more navigational and scientific detail than I cared about, so skimmed some of those parts. But it’s a wonderful story.

The plot was intriguing but I didn’t care for the author’s writing. A lot of the sentences were choppy, and the narrative kept shifting from one character to another. The ending was totally foreseeable and unfolded like a Hallmark movie. Also, the book would lapse into detailed descriptions of furnishings or meals that just distracted from the plot.