Saturday, June 19, 2010

I'm not really sure Stuart Neville is the right guy to trash

I'll start out here with full disclosure: I admire Stuart Neville's books. His first GHOSTS OF BELFAST (which won the LA Times Book Award) was on my list of Sox Knockers of 2009.

I've met Stuart a couple of times and he's a buddy of my sushi swilling companion in karaoke Juliet Grames. He's a nice guy. A VERY nice guy ... I think. I don't intend to find out if I'm wrong because he writes some of the scariest fiction I've ever read, and what he does to people in those books scares bejesus out of me.


Which makes me wonder why anyone, unless they've taken leave of their senses, would purposely antagonize Stuart Neville. As it happens, someone is trying to poison his reviews on Amazon with a series of 1-star reviews. I wouldn't have noticed (although I do always read the 1-star reviews on books I buy) if Stuart hadn't noticed, and written about it here.

This guy has got to be deranged. And honest to god, he'd better hope Stuart Neville works out his annoyance on the page and thus won't be looking for someone to serve as a little hands-on research for the next novel.

8 comments:

Charli Armstrong said...

Let me start by saying I thought I was the only person who actually read one star reviews of books. I know--if ever I get published--that I will get the same treatment and I'm fine with it. After all, my own mother has 1 starred me from time to time and has no shame in telling me to get back to work. But these Amazon 1 stars are just...well...fascinating! I can't help myself!

That said, if I had as much time on my hands as the stalker I would probably crank out ten books a year.

laughingwolf said...

sic im, stu! GRRRRRRRRRR

Anonymous said...

I loved Ghosts of Belfast. I think I first read about it on your blog and went out and bought it. Great read. Really gritty. The guy on Amazon is gonna get whacked by Stuart's fans if he keeps it up.

Gary Corby said...

Stuart is far, far too nice a guy to do anything nasty to the stalker.

It's such a pity when people destroy an honest system with dishonest purpose, but on the plus side, it doesn't seem to have stopped Ghosts of Belfast from shooting to the top. I guess it means people have learned to ignore the reviews.

moonrat said...

argh, so frustrating!! i mean, what can you do in a situation like this besides report, report, report?

luckily, this trash talker doesn't seem to have affected Stuart's success in any way.

but seriously, how can you dislike Stuart?

Furious D said...

Everybody has someone that hates them, and thanks to the internet, it's easier for the haters to find their special someone to hate, and to express their hate from the safety of long distance and anonymity.

I had 2 guys attack me regularly whenever I'd comment at a business news blog. No real reason for their vitriol since I, and my comments, had zero effect on their lives, they were just pathetic enough to need to tear a total stranger down.

One even tried to imitate me, using my name on one of their own comments. But they failed to capture my pomposity, verbosity, and smug know-it-all attitude. ;)

Before the internet, they'd have had to do it to their target's face, and that requires too much testicular fortitude for the average troll.

Patty Blount said...

Wait... if YOU, THE Janet Reid can be afraid of someone, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Anonymous said...

I stopped commenting on blogs for a while because of the blasts I got from other commenters. I mean it's bad enough that they disparage the author, but other reader's opinions as well? I agree with Furious D that people have too easy of a time hiding behind false identities while destroy others' reputations. I guess that's why so many can discount his 1 star ratings and just use their own good judgment.