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Killer Move
Stephen King hailed Michael Marshall's novel Straw Men as “a masterpiece . . . brilliantly written and scary as hell.” Now, Marshall returns with this latest unnerving tale—a creepy, fast-paced thriller that grips you from the first page straight through to its shocking end.
Bill Moore already has a lot, but he wants more . . . much more.
He's got a lucrative job selling con...more
Bill Moore already has a lot, but he wants more . . . much more.
He's got a lucrative job selling con...more
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published
June 28th 2011
by William Morrow
(first published 2011)
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Bill Moore works for Shore Realtry, he has a good job selling condos in the Florida Keys. He is happily married to Stephanie, who is successful in her own right. They have a beautiful home, but Bill has a five-year plan to achieve super success, and the five-year plan is now in its sixth year. Bill decides to be pro-active and arranges a meeting with his immediate boss Tony Thompson to jig things up a bit. Things go reasonably well.
Returning to his office Bill finds a card on his desk, black wit...more
Returning to his office Bill finds a card on his desk, black wit...more
I think I've read everything that Marshall has published. Which is a bit odd, considering how I feel about his books. It's a dichotomy, my feelings. I look forward, each time, to his next novel. I feel let down when I complete them. Every. Single. Time. Let me explain...
Marshall indeed writes well. Moreover, he makes his writing interesting. You can write plainly and well. You can write in a way that is interesting, but ultimately poor. Some writers, like McCarthy, write both well and interestin...more
Marshall indeed writes well. Moreover, he makes his writing interesting. You can write plainly and well. You can write in a way that is interesting, but ultimately poor. Some writers, like McCarthy, write both well and interestin...more
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What do a recently paroled murderer and a successful real estate agent in Florida have in common? They have been modified.
Bill Moore is an enterprising person and he wants success in a big way. He has a lucrative job, a beautiful wife, and everything going for him until he gets a message. Modified. Everything changes and Bill’s life unravels around him.
John Hunter was just paroled. Once he leaves the prison, he sets out to break all the terms of his parole to prove he was convicted unjustly. W...more
Bill Moore is an enterprising person and he wants success in a big way. He has a lucrative job, a beautiful wife, and everything going for him until he gets a message. Modified. Everything changes and Bill’s life unravels around him.
John Hunter was just paroled. Once he leaves the prison, he sets out to break all the terms of his parole to prove he was convicted unjustly. W...more
You have a nice, ordered life. For the most part, you control your destiny. You have dreams and seek to fulfill them. Then one day, you wake to find you don’t have control, someone else does.
This is the basic premise to Michael Marshall’s latest novel. Open the cover and step into a world where almost nobody is who he or she seems to be. Where a deranged mind seeks personal gratification by playing a dangerous game and where a man seeks vengeance against those who wronged him.
Bill Moore: South...more
This is the basic premise to Michael Marshall’s latest novel. Open the cover and step into a world where almost nobody is who he or she seems to be. Where a deranged mind seeks personal gratification by playing a dangerous game and where a man seeks vengeance against those who wronged him.
Bill Moore: South...more
Michael Marshall's latest book Killer Move opens with a newly released con named Hunter seeking payback for a crime he says he didn't commit.
We then meet realtor Bill Moore, a man with a five year plan - increasing his condo sales numbers in the Florida keys, opening up his own realty office, rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers in his corner of the world. Problem is - it's year six. But Bill is nothing if not upbeat. It will happen.. he just has to work a little harder at it.
Small thin...more
We then meet realtor Bill Moore, a man with a five year plan - increasing his condo sales numbers in the Florida keys, opening up his own realty office, rubbing shoulders with the movers and shakers in his corner of the world. Problem is - it's year six. But Bill is nothing if not upbeat. It will happen.. he just has to work a little harder at it.
Small thin...more
This book was going to get four stars before the ending, where it completely fell apart. It felt like the author did not know how to end it, how to tie up all the pieces and had to end it quickly. Very very disappointing because leading up to that point, the plotting was great, the characters were well formed, but the end just was completely wrong. In fact, when he's doing the final wrap he GETS THE NAME of one of the characters WRONG. The main character's boss throughout the book was Peter Gran...more
1 like · like · see review
“Killer move” by Michael Marshall follows the life of Bill Moore—a successful realtor whose life gets ruined when suspicious events start happening to him, right after a card bearing the word “modified” is left after each situation-gone-wrong.
At first the game seems silly, and Moore takes it in stride. He receives a book from Amazon that he never ordered, and a joking email is sent from his email address to all of his co-workers—except that Moore never sent it. A restaurant reservation that Moo...more
Jul 17, 2011
Kathleen (Kat) Smith
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
supense-thriller-fiction,
contemporary-fiction
Bill Moore already has a lot, but he wants more...much more.
He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida Keys, a successful wife, a good marriage, a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan for super-success, but that plan has begun to drag into its sixth year without reaping its intended rewards. So not Bill's starting to mix it up - just a little - to accelerate his way into the future that he knows he deserves.
Then one morning Bill arrives at work to find a card waiting for him...more
He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida Keys, a successful wife, a good marriage, a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan for super-success, but that plan has begun to drag into its sixth year without reaping its intended rewards. So not Bill's starting to mix it up - just a little - to accelerate his way into the future that he knows he deserves.
Then one morning Bill arrives at work to find a card waiting for him...more
Killer Move is a novel by Michael Marshall and a Thriller from William Morrow.
Book Blurb:
Bill Moore is a man with a plan. He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida keys, a great marriage, and a beautiful house. He had a five year plan for world domination, too, but it's already creeping into year six... so now he's decided to mix it up - just a little.
This means getting in tight with the people in power, the players who run the area like their personal kingdom. It's all going to pl...more
Book Blurb:
Bill Moore is a man with a plan. He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida keys, a great marriage, and a beautiful house. He had a five year plan for world domination, too, but it's already creeping into year six... so now he's decided to mix it up - just a little.
This means getting in tight with the people in power, the players who run the area like their personal kingdom. It's all going to pl...more
Every now and then an author writes a book that is truly unique and causes the reader to think extra hard about what is going on.
John Hunter is released from prison after serving sixteen years for a crime he didn't commit. He's had plenty of time to plot his revenge against the people who framed him.
Bill Moore is a real estate salesman in Florida. He's successful and loves his wife but wants more. One day he notices a paper on his desk with the word "MODIFIED" on it.
He doesn't think any more ab...more
John Hunter is released from prison after serving sixteen years for a crime he didn't commit. He's had plenty of time to plot his revenge against the people who framed him.
Bill Moore is a real estate salesman in Florida. He's successful and loves his wife but wants more. One day he notices a paper on his desk with the word "MODIFIED" on it.
He doesn't think any more ab...more
Bill Moore had a five year plan for success. Build his stake, then open his own realty office. Have people working to make him money instead of him doing for others. Okay, the five year plan was into the sixth year. But he was doing okay. Married with a nice home.
And then his life started falling apart.
He gets a card in an envelope with one word: Modified. Then Things he knew he didn't do started showing up. The mildly pornographic coffee table book ordered from Amazon on his credit card. The cl...more
And then his life started falling apart.
He gets a card in an envelope with one word: Modified. Then Things he knew he didn't do started showing up. The mildly pornographic coffee table book ordered from Amazon on his credit card. The cl...more
I enjoyed Marshall's latest thriller, though perhaps not quite as much as some of his previous books. I think I would have liked it more had I not recently read David Rosenfelt's latest standalone thriller, On Borrowed Time. Both books shared a lot of common themes with their main character's lives being totally overturned in just one day, causing them to doubt everything and everyone around them. While I liked that Marshall's version hearkened back to his earlier books, the motivation behind ev...more
After his last book fell a bit short, Marshall is back in fine form with Killer Move, a book that tangentially ties into his "Straw Men" trilogy. This is an excellent book that continually ratchets up the tension as an everyman Florida realtor finds little things in his life going wrong: a book of risque photography he never ordered from Amazon.com shows up and he can't convince his wife he didn't order it; photos of a female colleague show up on his cellphone camera, suggesting he's been stalki...more
This book starts out with a bang and does not let go. Little things start happening to Bill Moore, an upscale realtor in Florida, and he really does not pay attention at first. Then it starts affecting his personal life when his wife accuses him of being a peeping tom with his co-worker. There is proof on his computer but he didn't do it. From that point on the action just keeps on going. A very suspensful story about how your life can get turned around and changed if someone is out to "modify"...more
I enjoyed this high stakes action packed thriller. At first I was not exactly hooked, but I think so much of this comes from the difference between YA and adult books. YA novels always(almost always) suck you in instantly with something right away while adult books take time gather steam.
Once I got going in this book I was so involved with the plot that I had to find out the ending. I was not going to let this book just sit around while I did this and that. I sat down one night, hunkered in my c...more
Once I got going in this book I was so involved with the plot that I had to find out the ending. I was not going to let this book just sit around while I did this and that. I sat down one night, hunkered in my c...more
I would probably give this book 2 1/2 stars. It was OK, yet not memorable. Bill Moore is a successful realtor who is caught up in an identity theft scandal. At first, it is emails he did not send, the appointments not being kept, and upped to deception and murder. Apparently, there was a club (I think it was to screw with people minds) that picked Moore to pick on him. Well, the action is intensified as murders occur, and the antagonists are known. Marshall is definitely below the standards of S...more
Really well written and exciting throughout. It tied everything together nicely and didn't leave any unanswered questions. I would have rated it 5 stars if it weren't for the ending dialogue, which just seemed sort of random and unnecessary to include. It was like the author just decided to add a rant at the end for no valuable reason stating very negative and cynical viewpoints about life and people in general. It left me with a very upsetting and bitter taste in my mouth instead of ending on a...more
Not my favourite of Marshall's books, but still so much better than the same story would have been in less capable hands. Here, a nicely creepy plot device is elevated by nuanced characters and insightful writing. I once wrote a fan letter (one of three I've written in my entire life) to Michael Marshall where I said his writing seemed to contain a sort of 'melancholy hopefulness' which he said he liked as a description. There's a little less hopefulness in this book, but I still think his writi...more
Bill Moore already has a lot, but he wants more . . . much more. He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida Keys, a successful wife, a good marriage, a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan for supersuccess, but that plan has begun to drag into its sixth year without reaping its intended rewards. So now Bill's starting to mix it up--just a little--to accelerate his way into the future that he knows he deserves.
Then one morning Bill arrives at work to find a card waiting for h...more
Then one morning Bill arrives at work to find a card waiting for h...more
As a fan of crime novels, I was looking forward to reading this book by Michael Marshall – best selling author of ‘The Straw Men’ and, more recently, ‘Bad Things’.
The main character of this book, set in the Florida Keys, is go-getting estate agent Bill Moore. Bill’s got a good job, a great marriage and a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan in which he imagines himself to be even more successful. To get this plan to work, however, he needs to make friends in high places. Everything seem...more
The main character of this book, set in the Florida Keys, is go-getting estate agent Bill Moore. Bill’s got a good job, a great marriage and a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan in which he imagines himself to be even more successful. To get this plan to work, however, he needs to make friends in high places. Everything seem...more
This one really snuck up on me! I wasn't sure what was going to happen to the protagonist at first, but he was clearly headed for some marital and work trouble due to small dishonesty.
But one small dishonesty after another begin to unravel and snowball into full blown disasters. Eventually it becomes clear to us and the protagonist that he's the chump in a huge con - he's set up to take the fall for a close group of wealthy psychopaths - all trapped in one way or another by a world class psycho...more
But one small dishonesty after another begin to unravel and snowball into full blown disasters. Eventually it becomes clear to us and the protagonist that he's the chump in a huge con - he's set up to take the fall for a close group of wealthy psychopaths - all trapped in one way or another by a world class psycho...more
A very well done thriller, looking into hearts of darkness. It can feel at times suffocating to examine the relentless and casual mean spirited actions from most of the characters, but Marshall's strong flair for teasing out interesting character details makes this a morbidly compulsive read. He is also gradually building urban mythos around the straw men, and it is fascinating to see it grow as the parts of the jigsaw puzzle comes together. It's not all neatly tied together at the end (cause of...more
I feel let down. That this book needed to be longer, needed some more character development, some more explaining about what is going on and definitely needed a better conclusion. The book is just reactionary. The main character goes from even to event never really getting a handle on things, never stopping to really work out the details, just reacting. And that doesn't make for satisfying read.
Having said that. Michael Marshall has interesting ideas. And I wish we would write another science fi...more
Having said that. Michael Marshall has interesting ideas. And I wish we would write another science fi...more
This was certainly better than Marshall's last two books. It was extremely fast-paced and well-plotted. It was an interesting puzzle. Although, I'm not sure all the pieces quite fit together exactly. It seemed like there were some timeline issues near the end. But I can't be certain because the crisp action pulled you through and made it hard to notice. If you liked Straw Men, you'll like this one.
I enjoy reading Michael Marshall books. He is a good story teller and the writing always draws you in. The set-up for this is a good premise and it certainly makes you want to check all your passwords!
I found myself routing for the characters and there is a nice blast from the past for fans of his earlier work. Not as good as Intruders for me, but still a cracking read.
I found myself routing for the characters and there is a nice blast from the past for fans of his earlier work. Not as good as Intruders for me, but still a cracking read.
I really enjoy Michael Marshalls books, usually a bit macabre, and often not what they appear to be.
This was a bit more tame, a man who becomes part of a game, unbeknown to him. His life starts to go off kilter and then people start to die.
One criticism is that in most killer novels, the baddie is usually had some kind of abuse as a child. Can there never be any other reason that they are psycho??
This was a bit more tame, a man who becomes part of a game, unbeknown to him. His life starts to go off kilter and then people start to die.
One criticism is that in most killer novels, the baddie is usually had some kind of abuse as a child. Can there never be any other reason that they are psycho??
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Smooth, smart, thriller, brilliantly written as always and full of strange dark things. A bit more derivative than you might usually expect from Michael Marshall Smith, as it's going to be hard to read it and not be reminded of The Game. But that's okay, it's a lot better and a lot scarier than The Game.
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Enjoyable without being particularly outstanding.
The ending was refreshingly unusual, not the usual formulaic good guy always wins stuff and unsettling though it is to admit it, I can identify with the protagonist's mind set in the last chapter. But not a 4 star novel for me.
The ending was refreshingly unusual, not the usual formulaic good guy always wins stuff and unsettling though it is to admit it, I can identify with the protagonist's mind set in the last chapter. But not a 4 star novel for me.
An intriguing book that is full of suspense. Kept my interest level up all the way through. Some of it was slightly predictable and I feel like there was plenty of scope for it to be developed further. Didn't hook me like straw men did but if you like this genre of books it is really worth a read.
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
(1) Michael Marshall - Religion/Spirituality
(2) Michael Marshall - Acting
(3) Michael Marshall - Fishing/Geography
(4) Michael Marshall - German Children's Books
(5) Michael Marshall - Indonesian Fiction
Also, when Michael Marshall Smith writes horror, he uses the name Michael...more
More about Michael Marshall...
(1) Michael Marshall - Religion/Spirituality
(2) Michael Marshall - Acting
(3) Michael Marshall - Fishing/Geography
(4) Michael Marshall - German Children's Books
(5) Michael Marshall - Indonesian Fiction
Also, when Michael Marshall Smith writes horror, he uses the name Michael...more
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