Instruct: Classify a given Amazon review as either positive or negative.
Query: We miss Fred Carver

It's hard to believe that _The Ex_ was written by the same author who gave us the excellent Fred Carver detective series. Those books had memorable characters (who can ever forget the corrupt cop, McGregor?), compelling plots, a keen sense of place, and an anti-hero protagonist we could care about. The same can be said for his Alo Nudger series.This book has none of that. It's like a script from a bad TV movie. The characters are cardboard cut-outs, and the plot is utterly predictable. The final scene is completely illogical. The prose style is prosaic and simplistic--very much unlike the wry, terse style in the Carver books. It wouldn't surprise me if this one was ghost-written.Lutz has won many awards for his earlier detective novels. I suppose he's moved into mass-market commercialism so he can bank some money. Can't blame him--but too bad for his long-time fans.