Shock Treatment

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation #17

by Greg Cox

What happens when a reality TV series gets a true dose of reality? A staged prank for a hit scare show has gone horribly wrong with an actor now dead and production halted indefinitely. As the graveyard shift of Sin City’s best crime scene investigators—including Catherine Willows, Ray Langston, Nick Stokes, Sara Sidle, and Greg Sanders— digs deeper behind the scenes, more questions than answers pile up: Was the botched prank’s set-up simply a case of carelessness on the producers’ part resulting in a tragic accident, or did someone really orchestrate an elaborate scheme for revenge and murder?

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Media Tie In

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2010

Reviews

[Laura Martinelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, the second of the four CSI tie-ins in my possession. (Maybe five soon. Depending on work.) Of the two that I’ve read thus far, this reads as the more fan-fictiony of the two. There’s very long descriptions of the characters and the rooms, which don’t feel like they’re setting up the scene, but rather, laundry lists. Cox also continuously references prior episodes—specifically, the more well-known arcs—which get tiresome after a while. It’s okay to have one or two mentions, but if I’m following the show, I don’t need big recaps of every major storyline. It would have been fine if he mentioned a line of Vegas killers in the waxworks museum and left it at that.

The two central mysteries were okay. Again, it felt very choppily written, and while the motives and strange murder set-ups are very much in the CSI universe, I couldn’t really get into either mystery. The snake murder was the more interesting of the two, with the varying leads and wild goose chase the team goes on, but I felt like there were some things that could have been used more. The titular “Shock Treatment” murder wasn’t anything special, and just felt like an excuse to shove pop culture references (and lengthy explanations of them) to the reader.

Overall, I didn’t have as much fun reading Shock Treatment as I did with Dark Sundays. Obviously with two different authors, there are going to be many textual differences, but I couldn’t really gel with Cox’s writing. The plots are close to the original show, but lack a lot of the fun parts that CSI has.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 17th book in the CSI series. Fast-paced and entertaining.

[Stephen Levesque · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this as a TV Show, and reading to books are a good experience. They are a Good read.

[Jonathan Gentry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shock Treatment is the seventeenth book in the original CSI tie-in series. Written by Greg Cox who previously wrote the Headhunter entry, I give this one a full five stars. Broken down into the A story/B story formula where there are two crimes to solve per episode. One involved a shooting on the set of a reality show that was basically set up as an elaborate prank. The other is a death at a salon specializing on snake massages. As with the show when Grissom left, I am upset to see the same thing happen in the book series. But I do like Raymond Langston in both the book and the show so I did still find this read enjoyable.

[Hannah Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Crime Scene Investigation books, and this one was very good. In this book there are multiple crimes going on that the C.S.I team must figure out. I like that there are more then one crime because it keeps you guessing and makes you want to not put the book down. I think that anyone who doesn't mind blood and details in that nature, then they would enjoy this book. Also, if you enjoy books that keep you on the edge of your seat because you never know what twist and turn will come up next to make the crime even more intense.

[Dale Rontry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of my summer beach reads. Pretty much plotted like an average episode of the show and set around the time following Grissom's departure as a full-time regular cast member. The stories complement one another adequately, but the reality TV aspect wasn't handled with much originality. The most interesting character was a trailer park snake breeder with a bifurcated tongue.

[Melodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best I've read in this series in some time, but think I'm done with them. Not the same without Grissom.

[Michelle Cahill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ohhh, fanfic... My dirty little secret.

[Musam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great novel, very interesting take on the snakes and TV producer's behavior.

[Judy Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would make a really good episode

[Michele Harbour · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love CSI and it was fun to read a novelization of the show. The characters were very true to those on the TV show. I will look for more of these.