Figure of Eight

by Patrick Lynch

Book Overview

From the acclaimed author of The Policy comes a top-notch thriller (Publishers Weekly) about a former Olympic skater being stalked by the Ice Man.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525945105
• ISBN13: 9780525945109
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Dutton
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

A dark, edgy psychological thriller

Just finished Figure of Eight. My first Patrick Lynch book, and a great read. A kind of stalker story, but with a difference. Keeps you guessing right from the start. Draws you on with leads, intriguing & sometimes downright strange pieces of information, and just when you think maybe you've worked out how all the pieces are going to fit, it changes. Builds the suspense very well, right up to a literally explosive end. Develops strong main characters well too - especially the 'hero' Pete Golding. There are times when you're not sure what Golding's going to do next, or even if he's the good guy - but you can't help liking him and by the end you're with him 100%. I'd like to have gotten a little more into his character, he's strong and complex enough to carry a story. I'd like to see him reappear in another Lynch thriller down the road.

Riveting story with an unforgettable climax

I bought this novel because I'd heard generally favorablereports of Patrick Lynch's thrillers. Even so, I was pleasantlysurprised. The book builds tension quite expertly, allowing the reader some lighter, satirical moments now and again (mainly concerning the press, TV and celebrity management), before plunging him or her into newer, ever darker territory. You soon get the feeling that something very shocking and terrible is going to happen, but nothing will fully prepare you for the climax when it comes. Good characters (I'd read more of Pete Golding's case history eagerly) and a very clever plot make for great entertainment. One to keep on the shelf and re-read another time.

A great read

This was my first Patrick Lynch. It won't be my last. I've rarely enjoyed a thriller more. It's taut, well written, original and very scary. I didn't know they still wrote them like that!

A sportswriter writes...

I read this after a friend recommended it, and very much enjoyed it. It's an unusually stylish, imaginative tale with a very scarey premise. I'd also like to say, I thought it was very well researched. As a sports writer I covered winter sports for years, and the facts and issues the book raises about skating - and especially the enormous pressures, physical and psychological, it places on young girls - rang very true to me, even if they're not discussed openly among competitors and coaches as much as they should be. I can see that this book might ruffle a few feathers in the skating community. It certainly doesn't paint a rosy picture of what competition - and success - can mean. But inaccurate? Anything but. From skaters' weights, to the illnesses they suffer, down to what they get paid for show tours, I'd say the author did his homework pretty well. I see one reader dismiss the references to school figures as inaccurate. True, they vanished from competitive standings some time ago, but anyone like Ellen Cusak, training in the 1980s, would have been trained using them. An example? Michelle Kwan, whose age, I note, more-or-less exacty matches Cusak's. And of course, for routines, skaters still skate in figures of eight every day. It's more fun than going round in circles! Of course, the sport itself plays only a small part in the book. But the imagery works, and the slightly fairy-tale nature of the sport suits the themes of the story in many other ways. Of course, just because a book's well researched is no big reason to like it. That's all down to taste. But before savaging somebody's work for being inaccurate, it might be an idea to do some homework oneself! My word on 'Figure of Eight': read it if you like your novels dark, twisting and topical.

A dark and disturbing story

Once I'd picked up this novel I couldn't put it down. And not just because the plot works or because there's loads of suspense. Mainly I was truly drawn in by the characters, especially Pete Golding. Just when you think you know who you're dealing with and what he's about, he turns around and surprises you. How often can you say that about the hero of a modern thriller? I see on this site some reviewers calling Pete a stock/ conventional character. To you folks, I'd say: take a more careful second look! This is a story with a dark and chilling message. And it's all locked up in that enigmatic Figure of 8!