Category: David Rosenfelt

Hounded by David Rosenfelt

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On August 29, 2014

In Andy Carpenter, Authors, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U

HoundedHounded

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #12

Hardcover, 320 pages
Published July 22nd 2014 by Minotaur Books
Read: August 22 – 23, 2014

First things first: is this not the cutest cover image ever?

Secondly, I’m not a Today watcher, but my wife is when she’s home sick from work. This mini-rant from Andy was exactly what I’ve been thinking.

I am a creature of habit, and by this time I am always in the den, watching the CBS Morning News. I used to watch the Today Show, until they came up with something called “The Orange Room.” Basically, they go there to tell us what people are tweeting to the Today Show Orange Room. People who would take the time to tweet to the Today Show Orange Room are among the people in the world whose opinions interest me least, so I stopped watching it.*

On to the book itself, which is what I’m supposed to be talking about —

By this time it’s pretty much assumed that Andy will be taking in a dog for the duration of whatever case he takes up (after being forced/tricked into it by this point), and he does so this time — a six year-old Basset Hound named Sebastian. However, this one comes with an accessory Andy’s not used to — an eight year old boy named Ricky.

You see, Andy’s friend Pete Collins was pretty good friends with Ricky’s dad, Danny Diza, and an Uncle-figure to Ricky. And Ricky’s was just murdered, so until the system is able to place Ricky in a permanent home, Pete asks Laurie and Andy to take him in. Why doesn’t Pete do that? Well, he’s going to be arrested for Danny’s murder. Never mind that Pete Collins is about the best that the local Police Department has. Thankfully, he does have super-defense attorney as his best friend.

The number of people in Andy’s social circle who haven’t charged with murder is getting pretty slim at this point. He’s either going to have to make other friends, or do some marketing. Hate to have to see Andy defend Marcus.

Ricky’s presence brings out a side in Laurie we had heretofore not seen, but should’ve known were there. Similar sides in Edna (of all people) and Marcus (!) are brought out as well. Very fun to see the latter two, and heartwarming to see the former. The Ricky-factor alone elevates this particular Carpenter novel.

This case involves a conspiracy, as is almost always the case lately. But this time, it’s on a smaller scale — no worldwide terrorist networks or anything. Just one murder leading to a few others that are trying to be kept quiet by some mysterious and nefarious people. It’s definitely in Andy Carpenter’s wheelhouse, and just the thing his readers are looking for.

Here’s the thing that bugs me, and is a minor spoiler — very minor since I’m describing something that didn’t happen: At no point in time did Andy or Laurie — or some psychologist/counselor they hire — talk to Ricky about the events of the night his father was killed. He was upstairs when it happened. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have been tough, it likely wouldn’t have given Andy much to work with in the defense (I know that because I read Rosenfelt’s narration, Andy didn’t), but still, you’ve got to do it to save Pete’s neck, right?

Other than that, the only beef I have is that I talked myself out of the solution at one point. I was pretty annoyed with myself when Andy figured it out.

Despite the ongoing drought of song-talking between Andy and Sam, this is one of the better entries in the series, and was a lot of fun to read. It featured the typical courtroom antics, banter between Andy and the gang, adoration of Tara, and so on. Not to mention the laugh-out-loudest Marcus joke ever, some welcome character arcs developments, and the most “awww”-inducing closing paragraph that I’ve read in ages.

—–

* To be fair, my wife thinks about as much of The Orange Room as Andy and I do, she just likes the rest of the show’s format.

—–

4 Stars

Unleashed by David Rosenfelt

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On December 6, 2013

In Andy Carpenter, Authors, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U

Unleashed
Unleashed

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #11

Hardcover, 308 p.
Minotaur Books, 2013

Granted, he has 13 less books under his belt, but at this point Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series is managing to do something that Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series has failed at — it’s still funny, still smart, and the criminal/suspense elements are as serious as any hard-boiled novel. Sometimes, sure, certain elements of the series — Hike’s depression, Marcus’ size/appetite, Edna’s allergy to work, for example — are overdone, and by being overdone, aren’t as funny as they could be. But Rosenfelt can rein in his impulses and produce a book that balances the whackiness with the grim and result it’s easy to forgive him for indulging his too-silly moments.

MAJOR COMPLAINT: How long has it been since Sam & Andy have song talked? Multiple books, not sure how many, but far, far, far too many books. Sure, part of the upside is Sam being a more critical character, and well-rounded. But it’s too high a price to pay.

This starts off like a typical Andy Carpenter book — a trip to the Tara Foundation, someone wanting Andy to take a job and him not being interested (I actually thought he was wrong in this — Sam was asking, not a stranger), and then Andy getting sucked in anyway — and away we go. Laughs, twists, Andy talking about his dog (and other people’s, too), smart-aleck courtroom antics, and so on. And that’s good enough for me. Sign me up for another 11 of them right now. But this one’s a little special.

The first adult mysteries I ever read were Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason books — I read and reread my public library’s collection I don’t know how many times — and when I could find them, I bought every one I saw. Andy’s more entertaining then Mr. Mason ever was, but his legal strategies aren’t quite up to his level. By this time, I really thought I knew all of Rosenfelt’s tricks (and he plays them well enough I don’t care if I can see them coming), but he pulled the rug out from underneath me in Unleashed. I may have gasped audibly, I’m not sure — I do know my jaw literally dropped.

Without giving too much away, Andy gets a little more into the nitty-gritty of the outside the courthouse action this time, as shown here:

[Marcus] does give me the handgun I’ll be using. He had shown me how to use it in the motel — basically just pointing and pulling the trigger. If I have to use it, I may add in some moaning and whimpering, just to jazz it up.

Perfect Rosenfelt, real, self-deprecating, and just funny.

Unleashed is another successful outing for this series — imagine Janet Evanovich ghostwriting Erle Stanley Gardner.

EVEN MAJOR-ER COMPLAINT: I’ve now worked through the Andy Carpenter series. I have to wait until Rosenfelt finishes the next one. Ugh.

—–

4 Stars

Review: Leader of the Pack

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On October 24, 2013

In Andy Carpenter, Authors, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U

Leader of the PackLeader of the Pack

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #10

Hardcover, 360 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2012

I’m sure these are laborious at times, and it takes a lot of effort to make a novel read as smoothly as these do, but it really seems like David Rosenfelt is on automatic pilot these days with his Andy Carpenter books, they’re consistently entertaining, clever, and filled with the requisite twists for a good mystery — he almost has to be working off an assembly line.

The investigator/bodyguard Marcus in the Hawk/Joe Pike/Bubba Rugowski role here is ever closer to the super hero that Rosenfelt has had in mind since his introduction — he eats more Michael Phelps, fights better than Batman and talks only a little more than Marcel Marceau. But it’s fun, and there’s no pretension to anything approaching realism, so it works.

The same is true for Sam, Andy’s accountant/hacker. He’s faster with a computer than is possible, and somehow gets into places he shouldn’t be able to very easily. Again — it’s fun enough that it’s excusable, and he’s not nearly as nigh-omnipotent as Marcus is, he messes up, is far too focused on being in the field, in the midst of action. I worry this’ll either spell doom for him soon, or he’ll become as incredible as Marcus. I do miss the song-talking Sam days, though — but I can’t imagine Rosenfelt going back to that now.

I realize that with the bench of recurring characters he’s established, not everyone gets the kind of “screen time” they once did, but there was so little of Laurie in this book I was pretty disappointed — part of the charm of the books is the two of them working together. Hopefully that’s rectified in the next book.

These were all thoughts that came to me after I read and stopped to think about it — by page 2 or 3, most of my critical functions turned off and I just had fun with the book. But one thing did stick out to me, the big crime that’s being carried out during the trial (and has a direct bearing on the outcome of Andy’s case — not that anyone could tell him about it, until it’s too late) has been so big, so epic in scale that it’s mind-boggling. They almost feel like they don’t fit both in tone or scope with the rest of the book/series. When the bad guys did _____ this time, it really took me out of the moment. It didn’t ultimately detract from the book (I don’t think), but it was incongruous enough, that I had to work at it for a chapter or two.

Still, one of the most enjoyable mystery series around — I laughed, I got tense, I didn’t see much of the ending coming at all.

—–

3 Stars

One Dog Night by David Rosenfelt

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On July 9, 2013

In Andy Carpenter, Authors, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U

One Dog Night
One Dog Night by David Rosenfelt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Everyone’s favorite Golden Retriever-aficionado, who practices law when he absolutely has to, is back. At this point in the series, the trick is coming up with something compelling enough to get Andy to take a case — this book just might have the strongest motivating factor in the series.

From there we get one of the more gruesome and devastating crimes in this series (but thankfully, we’re years removed from it, so we don’t have to read much about the details), and one of the more widespread and reaching conspiracies this side of Robert Langdon (but in a book that’s far better written and entertaining)

The gang’s all here, even if Willie’s only seen briefly and off in a storyline all his own (not sure I got the point of it, but it didn’t detract from the main story), and I’m getting used to Andy’s new co-counsel (though I don’t think he’ll truly replace the last one). This may contain Sam’s greatest moment — only to be eclipsed a couple of chapters later by something greater (alas, minor spoiler: no song talking). The courtroom antics were solid and entertaining — even when things aren’t going Andy’s (or the client’s) way. The twists and turns kept coming, resulting in an ending I never saw coming.

Dusted Off: Play Dead by David Rosenfelt

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On July 2, 2013

In Andy Carpenter, Authors, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U

Play Dead (Andy Carpenter Series, #6)Play Dead by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #6

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In any PI/Legal/etc. mystery novel, there’s always the question of whether or not you like the client. Sure, you’re always rooting for the hero, that’s why you picked up the book. But the client’s frequently a question. Not so in this case–Rosenfelt goes right for the heart straightaway, having Andy defend a Golden Retriever from a certain death. How can you not fall in love with that client? The dog then leads Andy to help out his owner–wrongly convicted of murder. You’re all-in, no two ways about it.

Like most Andy Carpenter books, I spent about 1/3 (or more) of it, wondering why Andy wasn’t looking into a couple of the most obvious lines of investigation. But, oh well, even when he’s being frustratingly dense, it’s nothing but fun spending time in his world.

Solid mystery, some good tense scenes, and plenty of laughs. Great read.

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