Dirt

By: Stuart Woods

Narrated by: Tony Roberts

Length: 3 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Coming on the heels of his bestselling Choke and Imperfect Strangers, Stuart Woods brings back one of his best loved characters, Stone Barrington, who most recently appears in New York Dead, in a fast paced, rollercoaster ride through the high-profile world of celebrity gossip.

Feared and disliked for both her poison pen and ice queen persona, bi-coastal gossip columnist Amanda Dart finds the tables have turned. The unwitting victim of an anonymous gossipmonger who is faxing to national opinion makers an outrageous scandal sheet revealing the details of her on-going indiscretions with a nationally known takeover artist, Amanda enlists the help of New York lawyer and investigator Stone Barrington to learn the identity of the faxer. Everybody is a suspect in the world of tabloid journalism. As the faxes grow more scathing and begin to expose the peccadilloes of not only Amanda but other members of the gossip community, Barrington winds up with more leads than he can handle, and an employer who is about to take matters dangerously into her own hands. The world of gossip is turned on its head. It becomes clear to Stone that even the most respected members of the social scene will stop at nothing, even murder, to clear their names.

Irresistible as only good gossip can be, Dirt is a mesmerizing tale of betrayal and murder set against a backdrop of the fast-paced Manhattan tabloid business; it is filled with the twists and turns that have made Stuart Woods' novels international hits.

More mayhem? Listen to all of our Stone Barrington mysteries.

©1996 Stuart Woods (P)2001 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

I **HATE** when audiobooks are abridged!

I'm working my way through all of the Stone Barrington novels and I was so disappointed to find this one was only available in abridged form. I never buy an abridged version if I can avoid it because it makes me feel like I'm missing out on important details (or that someone else is taking the liberty of deciding for me what are the important details I should know). Overall it was a great story, but I'd have rather had it in its original form - as the author wrote it!

Good Read

Woods is a great author. His character Stone Barrington is always finding trouble. This book is not as suspenseful as his others but it is still worth reading. Stone plays more detective than lawyer this time, but the story keeps you guessing until the very end. We get introduced to Aarington ( the future love of his life ) and to Vance Caulder the movie star. Woods has a way of making you root for Stone but blame him at the same time for stupid decisions. As always Woods does not let the reader down as he adds twists and turns in almost every chapter. I recommend reading this book before reading his others. If already a Stuart Woods fan this book will answer some questions about Stone Barrington's beginnings. Has some strong language and descriptive love scenes, not for children.

5 Stars

Anything written by this man is a "Sure Thing". I just wish audible would get all of his books! He's an amazing author!

Abridged is for the birds

Details juicy tid bits... Too short for an audio book. Disappointed. I know this is an early book but ugh.

Interesting

Would you consider the audio edition of Dirt to be better than the print version?

Dirt's audio version allows the listener to sense the challenges, highlights and suspense in the storyline.

SEX, SEX, & TOO MUCH SEX !!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

NO....not if I valued that friendship. The mystery part was great...the SEX was OVERDONE.

Has Dirt turned you off from other books in this genre?

No.

Which character – as performed by Tony Roberts – was your favorite?

Barrington of course !

Do you think Dirt needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No.

Any additional comments?

no

Abridged Version

Would you try another book from Stuart Woods and/or Tony Roberts?

Yes

What do you think your next listen will be?

Another author for the time being.

What aspect of Tony Roberts’s performance would you have changed?

I have not heard many books with Tony's work.

Do you think Dirt needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, there is enough trashy reporters and negative media types... there doesn't need to be more written about them...

Any additional comments?

To the real reason why I am writing... The abridged version of the book has cut so much from the story line... The try mystery is in the details that surround the characters. The here is very little to know about the other characters.... I do not wish to purchase any more for the "short" stories from this author.

third time I've listened to this story

a good second story for stone and Stuart Woods going to try and work through all Barrington novels as the characters seem to develop

gotta love stone

I've actually listened to the entire Barrington series so I went back to visit the beginning...it's fun to see how Stone, Dino and the gang have advanced.

Invest only if you are invested in the series

In this second Barrington Stone outing, the plot moves fast but the characters are a but flat. I've read most of the Stone books and this has to be one of my least favorites.

A person or perhaps group of people begin publishing the dirt on some of New York and LA's elite. Who are these people and why are they doing this? These are the questions Stone sets out to answer. Unfortunately, the plot is thin, there is not enough character development and there are some shady things that Stone normally would not let pass by.

I am a big fan of the series and am glad I listened to this audiobook only because there are characters introduced and re-introduced that I know will have significant meaning later.

Dirt is only worth reading if you are investing yourself in reading the entire Stone Barrington series.

-Bill