Instruct: Classify an Amazon review as either positive or negative.
Query: You have to be stubborn to finish this book

In Maine, as I write this, it is "Mud Season", which was an appropriate time, as it turned out, for me to read Dark Lady. It appears that Richard North Patterson is going through his Mud Season period with this effort. I agree with those that point out that he is unable to write convincingly in the mind of a woman. I agree with those who have said that the plot of this book is confusing at times; that the characters are not fleshed out and in the end you really don't give a damn about Stella or the problems and issues she is dealing with. In a word, it is a tedious read. I have usually enjoyed this writer. Many of his earlier novels were first rate, but this is not one of them. I hope that the next effort will be more succesful and that he gets back to the type of writing he is clearly capable of.