Fifth Avenue (Book One in the Fifth Avenue Series)

I was not expecting anything great from this read, as I hadn't heard of the author. Pleasant surprise! Mr Smith knocked it way out of the park. Excellent Read, that I would never have guessed the ending. Wow! Loved it!

The first sentence says that the bombs will go off in five minutes and that sets the pace for this tale of obsession and revenge. I didn't read any other reviews until I finished the book, and I see that many of the reviewers missed the point. I see this as a dark comedy. You aren't supposed to care about the characters, you're just supposed to watch as the author gleefully piles on one unlikely development after another. This is a literary Rube Goldberg machine. Once it is set in motion, the plot goes through many unlikely steps, knocking over the characters along the way, to get to the big finish. I found it a lot of fun. Every time I thought nothing more could happen, no more people could be dragged into it and no more murders could be plotted, the author found a way to make the story bigger.One killing surprised me, I thought that character was untouchable. It ended up creating more surprises and more reasons for revenge. I read fast, unwilling to put the book down when I had to go to work. I wanted to see each new step and each new revelation.I have also seen people talk about the sex scenes, but what book were they reading? There was only one big sex scene, and I skimmed over it as I always do with sex scenes. Then there was the sex club, but that was about the rich and powerful who attend such places more than what they do there. Anyone who doesn't expect sex in a book like this isn't paying attention when they read the description.The only reason I am giving this four stars instead of five is that it dragged a little towards the end, and did have a few typos. If this had been tightened up just a little it would have been the roller coaster ride I expected in the first few chapters. As it is, it is still a book I enjoyed very much, and recommend as a very dark and funny read.

I can't remember another book where the divergence of opinions was so great. Overall, I liked the book a lot, as evident from the 4 star rating. I think there is a bit of truth in all of the reviews, both positive and negative, and whether you like the book really comes down to what your are looking for. Here is how I would sum up the pros and cons:Pros:Good story that pulls you in.A real feel for the setting in NYC.Diverse cast of characters (the rich executives, the mafia, the professional assassin, the closet gay man, the actor, the shipping magnate, the lovesick lawyer).A number of plot twists.Two very dysfunctional families that are fun to watch.Well written for the most part.Cons:The plot is a bit unbelievable at times.There are so many characters it is sometimes hard to follow. I had to keep going back to see who was who.The cast of characters is a little stretched (the mafia is involved to try to stop the assassin?).Some of the plot twists are really over the top.There are a number of typos and misused words.There is too much "telling" what the characters are feeling instead of "showing" it by actions.I was not bothered by the gay sex scene (there is only one in the book), so I didn't list it as a negative. But I can see how some readers might be.I think you will enjoy the book if you are looking for a fun read about dysfunctional rich families that is well written with an interesting plot. If you are looking for a totally realistic plot, are unwilling to suspend disbelief at times, are not interested in a complex plot with a lot of characters, or are offended by graphic gay sex, you won't like it.I liked it and will probably read the rest of the series.

Christopher Smith has penned a fine first novel, one of the better debut novels I have read. I suppose by giving it more than two stars, the nay-sayers who took issue with Mr. Smith will classify this review as just another shill rating. Be that as it may, Fifth Avenue was riveting in many respects. I did not expect it to be an expose of corporate America, nor a treatise on managing large corporations, yet there were some revelations that were informative. The cast of characters is large; their actions varied; the interests divergent. Oddly, I did not find one character whom I thought was a truly "nice" person. Fifth Avenue depicts a world of "me first" corporate greed including all the "hanger's on."I quite enjoyed this read and the myriad plot variations. Yes, some were discernable, predictable, but that is no different than reading any novel or watching any movie and determining beforehand what might happen. An inveterate reader will always look ahead and predict what might happen. That does not detract from the story, nor the ability to keep the reader interested. I have read multiple versions of the Battle of the Alamo. I ALWAYS know what is going to happen, but I read them nonetheless.The writing was quite well done, very few errors, duplicate words, misused words, or typos. And the length of the book is far beyond most of what have come to accept as a "novel" length piece of fiction.Well done, Mr. Smith. I commend this effort and look forward to more of your work.Gordon Ryan, Author

The success of this novel is a very modern phenomenon, Christopher Smith having self-published on Kindle and cracked the Amazon best seller lists without a big publishing house behind him. You can't say he hasn't earned his success. The book also contains many modern details, the banking crash and high tech trappings of parts of the story. Apart from that though, what you've got here is basically a straight-ahead, good old fashioned blockbuster novel that used to dominate airport bookshops once upon a time. And it's perfectly enjoyable for all that.Smith cranks up all the key elements of this lost genre: opposing business conglomerates (and this is the only place that still calls such things conglomerates these days), dominated by patrician heads of the family. Murky boardroom dealings underpinned by violent skullduggery behind the scenes, characters driven by ambition, neuroses and their guilty secrets. And a tidy helping of various Mafiosos and bad guys acting as agents provocateurs.It's old fashioned in style and the writing is effective without too many thrills, but it the pages pretty much turn themselves and it builds to an explosive climax with plenty of twists and turns along the way. For an entertaining read that's not too heavy, you could do a lot worse, and hats off to the guy for putting himself on the best seller list.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I downloaded it when it was free on the Kindle.It's a fast-paced thriller which I took with me on holiday and didn't/couldn't put down until it was finished. I read it in one sitting on my sun lounger...I love the style of writing of this book and will definitely read Christopher Smith books again. You can almost feel his characters jumping off the page at you as you quickly read this book. I know Louis Ryan was the villain in this, but what a character! You could almost visualise meeting this awful individual and being absolutely terrified of him. George Redman was no angel but his character was nowhere near as menacing as the dreadful Mr Ryan. All the characters were well-crafted but the writing for these two individuals was outstanding. The climax to the book is BRILLIANT.Excellent, excellent thriller. Keep 'em coming Mr Smith! Just downloaded Running of the Bulls so hope it's as good as this one.

I really struggled to put this down, fantastic plot and twists. A really great thriller, from beginning to end. Highly recommended!

This is gripping from the first page.The characters all have secrets, just when you think that a character is good then a dark secret is revealed.Some of the scenes are graphic. The author writes in such away that a character is assumed to have died,but in later chapters we find someone has rescued them. You really have to read this book. The kindle version have been spilt into four book but consecutive chapters. The epilogue explains what happens to characters but even that has a twist ?.

Wow...this book has it all - rich beautiful people, power struggles, greed, revenge, and secrets! Loved this book. The story moves forward at breathtaking speed and keeps you turning the pages to see what happens next. I love Christopher Smiths style of writing and how his characters develop. This is pure excapism. Lots of twists and turns in this book and lots of suprises too. Highly recommended. I am now going to download  Running of the Bulls (Book Two in the Fifth Avenue Series)Running of the Bulls (Book Two in the Fifth Avenue Series)