Category: Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller Page 130 of 154

Thicker Than Water by G.M. Ford

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On May 8, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Thicker than WaterThicker than Water

by G. M. Ford
Series:Leo Waterman, #7

Kindle Edition, 264 pg.
Thomas & Mercer, 2012
Read: April 29 – 30, 2015
So, I stumbled onto this series in ’06, I think — and read them in a pretty quick succession. I don’t have crystal clear memory of them, but I remembered Waterman, the lovely (and smart) Rebecca, the homeless people that he uses to help, his wit — and a scene or two from books 1-5. I remember book 6, The Deader the Better pretty well — I really remember how much I wanted to go on to to the next one, and how frustrated I felt when I discovered there was no book 7. How could Ford leave us hanging like that? Just when I was really getting to like the guy (see also: Koryta’s Lincoln Perry; Levine’s Solomon vs. Lord; Lehane’s Kenzie and Gennaro).

So imagine my delight when I stumbled onto a new Leo Waterman (even if I found it a few years late). It took me very little time to get back into things — Ford quickly reminded me of the details I’d forgotten while plunging Waterman (and the reader) into the thick of things.

I’d forgotten how quotable Ford can be. This description of a lifelong, um, acquaintance and current gun dealer probably beats the competition in this book (by a hair):

Junior Bailey couldn’t have been more than a couple of Oreos short of three hundred pounds. A corpulent corpuscle in a hideous purple suit, he looked like a Cuban headwaiter who had been held hostage in a doughnut shop. Except for the rosebud lips, he bore little or no resemblance to his father.

How can you not like a book with lines like that? 1. It’s funny, 2. You have a clear picture of this guy in your head, 3. Given the phrasing, you’re pretty sure just what the narrator thinks of ol’ Junior Bailey. This kind of writing keeps me turning pages — I almost don’t care about plot or character. Almost.

But despite the years, Ford hasn’t lost a step with these characters — Leo is still Leo. Yes, aged, and clearly affected by Rebecca’s moving on. But still the same man — and when called upon to come to her aid, he dives right in. The folks at the bar are still as fun (and tragic) and silly as remembered.

And the case? Rebecca’s gone missing, her bad choice of husband is, too — and no one seems to care other than her mother. Granted, she thinks Leo would’ve been a worse choice for Rebecca, but she knows that if anyone will look for Rebecca it’d be Leo. There’s some brutal action, some good twists and turns to the tale, a few criminals that are requisitely evil and demented, and more than enough chuckles before reaching a very satisfying conclusion. I’m so glad to see that Ford’s at work on another in this series.

And I truly wish I could say more about the biggest laugh, but it’d take too long and it’d ruin it for you, so I’ll just conclude with this:

That last chapter? Reader, I lol-ed.

—–

4 Stars

The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man by W. Bruce Cameron

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On May 7, 2015

In Dogs, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Midnight Plan of the Repo ManThe Midnight Plan of the Repo Man

by W. Bruce Cameron
Series: Ruddy McCann, #1

Hardcover, 319 pg.
Forge Books, 2014
Read: May 6, 2015
Disgraced college football star, ex-con, turned hometown shame and repo man, Ruddy McCann suddenly finds himself hearing voices — well, a voice, one that claims to be a local Realtor who disappeared 8 years earlier. Ruddy eventually convinces himself that he’s not going crazy, there’s actually a ghost living inside his brain, one who used to be Alan Lottner. Alan was murdered by someone he vaguely recognizes and a complete stranger, for reasons unknown to him. He also doesn’t know why he’s in Ruddy’s mind. There are a couple of things he does know: Ruddy needs to take better care of himself and his home; and that Ruddy can help him figure out what happened to him, and why.

While working on this quest, Ruddy works on some repo jobs, tries to help a friend out of a jam, and attempts to help keep his sister’s bar afloat — oh, and he’s met this great gal that he can’t stop thinking about. The fact that she’s Alan’s daughter just complicates things.

Cameron doesn’t bother explaining much about how Alan and his host were linked, why it took so long for Alan to become aware, or anything like that. It doesn’t even pretend to. And that’s okay, it works, somehow — even though I wouldn’t generally stand for that kind of thing.

I didn’t find this as funny as most people seem to — I found bits amusing, I thought the characters were drawn with a comedic brush, but that Cameron played it straight — rarely going for jokes or laughs, but finding the humor in these people just living — a more grounded, and genuine kind of humor. The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man is a pretty solid suspense story, with a side of romance, a few people looking for a second chance (maybe a bit of redemption), a loyal dog, and some silly characters. This one hit the spot.

—–

3.5 Stars

Goodbye Ginny Madison by Dave Gehrke

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On May 6, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Goodbye Ginny MadisonGoodbye Ginny Madison

by Dave Gehrke
Kindle Edition, 300 pg.
Amazon Digital Services, 2014
Read: May 1 – 5, 2015
This just didn’t work for me. It was cute enough, I guess — and the solution was pretty clever (although I saw the heart of it very early on). But at the end of the day, it just wasn’t well-written. I’m getting ahead of myself a bit.

Here’s the gist of the book, from the Publisher’s Description:
Greg Monroe writes romance novels under the nom de plume Ginny Madison. That’s what he’s “gotta do”. What he wants to do is write mysteries; hard-boiled mysteries with bite. But his publisher tells him his mysteries lack originality, his plots are simplistic and his characters… well, they just aren’t real.

Complicating matters, Greg’s live-in Uncle George brings home an attractive new housekeeper. Hattie Fulton is intelligent, capable, resourceful and not who she pretends to be.

But before Greg can uncover the truth behind the attractive Hattie Fulton, Uncle George becomes the main suspect in a real murder mystery. Suddenly thrust into the role of a real detective, Greg digs into the mystery hoping to prove his uncle’s innocence while at the same time struggling to meet his next publishing deadline. And surprisingly, Greg’s fictional plots suddenly become edge-of-the seat compelling and his characters take on a life of their own. If you discount the strong resemblance to both Hattie and Greg and the sparks that are flying between them.

Now all Greg has to do in order to clear his uncle, finish the best mystery novel he’s ever written and win over his housekeeper is uncover the real murderer, without revealing to everyone that he’s really a romance writer pretending to be a mystery writer.Sounds like a straight-to-DVD Rom Com, doesn’t it?

Greg, simply put, is a chauvinist. Mystery novels are “real ‘guy’s’ books” and no guy should come anywhere near a romance novel. He’s doing well enough writing full-time under a nom de plume to afford a nice house for himself and his uncle, which can’t be easy. Yet, somehow, someone who thinks, “I mean what the hell does a guy know about romance? Beer, sports, guns. That’s guy stuff. Romance; female stuff” can write well enough for a female audience to support himself, despite a lousy work ethic. I guess it’s the Melvin Udall-phenomenon. He’s really pathetic, professionally and personally — if not for his uncle, it’d be easy to see him holed-up in his house forever.

Uncle George is a fire-cracker of a guy, pushing Greg into the world by any means necessary. Beyond his healthy nest-egg, poker buddies and bookie, he has a pretty full life on his own — think Stephanie Plum’s Grandma Mazur, but more together and grounded.

Hattie? Hattie’s a fantasy come to life — a knockout who can drive, shoot, take down bad guys with a couple of martial arts and cook. Did I mention she was hot?

And these are the well-drawn characters. The murder suspects are stock characters, as are the mobsters that Greg runs into. The police detectives are worse.

I really don’t want this to turn in to a litany of complaints, because I’ve really covered the major ones already, but I do have a few more, that I’ll just list without too much expansion:

  • The samples of Greg’s writing are, like almost every fictional example of someone’s fiction, are over-written. More adjectives and adverbs than any published author would use, lousy dialogue, unnatural vocabulary choices. This tendency occasionally spills over into the narrative, too.
  • Gehrke seems incapable of writing out the words “Lieutenant” and “Sergeant.” Sorry, man, but only using abbreviations? That’s just lazy.
  • Along the same line — this thing is just riddled with typos. Most are forgivable/easy to ignore. But there are some that are just nasty. If Gehrke got “losing”/”lose” right once, it slipped by me. Sure, it seems minor — but if you have to re-read the sentence because the wrong word (i.e., “loosing”/”loose”) was used, it takes you out of the moment.
  • Greg, George and Hattie spend so, so, so much time bantering about their choice of words in conversation it gets annoying. If he used that joke maybe one-third (or less) as often as he did, it could be amusing. But he just goes to that well too often, and it’s off-putting.

The murder mystery itself was well done. The steps that Greg and the rest went through to solve it were pretty rambling and chaotic — but they were supposed to be. The tone was generally right — except when he wrote the same joke 15 times.

Cute enough, like I said, and pretty amusing. It’s the literary equivalent of the straight-to-DVD Rom Com I mentioned earlier. Goodbye Ginny Madison is entertaining enough to justify the time — just entertaining enough. Still, if you’re looking for novel about a rookie detective on his first murder case, check out Jim Cliff’sThe Shoulders of Giants.

—–

2 1/2 Stars

Atlanta Burns by Chuck Wendig

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On April 29, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, YA/MG/Children's Books

I’ve got a bet with myself involving how many words I can get into this thing without mentioning a certain UPN/CW show about a teenage P. I. I don’t have high hopes of winning.

Atlanta BurnsAtlanta Burns

by Chuck Wendig
Series:Atlanta Burns, #1-2


Kindle Edition, 381 pg.
Skyscape , 2015
Read: March 20 – 23, 2015

Morning— well, late morning— well, let’s just call it “noon”— arrives, and Atlanta awakens in a dreary, bleary-eyed sweat. Her spirits lift a little— not a full, bounding leap, but like a balloon whose helium hasn’t gone all the way out— when she realizes that this is the first day of summer vacation.

Sleep is evasive, ducking and feinting, slippery like a pig slathered in its own grease. The day was hot, but somehow the night seems hotter . The air thick and stuffy like she’s a piece of French toast puffing up and sweating on the griddle . Summer’s not even here yet, but the season has sent an early preview.

No matter what you think of Ms. Burns and her (mis?)adventures, getting lines like that is half the fun. This is my second book by Wendig and the one thing I can say for certain is that this man has a way with prose that really, really like.

Thankfully, this time, I like his protagonist and the stories that she’s finding herself in.

Atlanta’s in a new-ish school in a new-ish town, and is hating it. She’s already got herself a (deserved) reputation for reckless violence, which comes in handy when she comes across some bullies attacking a Hispanic kid. She disrupts things for them, earning herself a couple of new enemies and a friend she doesn’t want. Before she knows it, Atlanta’s got a new reputation — as someone who bullies the bullies, who can get your revenge for you.

Atlanta’s a mess — dealing with PTSD (or something akin to it), her relationship with her mother’s in shambles, isn’t good with people — especially those in authority, mixes up non-prescribed pharmecuticals and caffeine in a way that can’t lead to long-term phscial or mental health. Probably not in the short-term, either, come to think of it. She makes mistakes — big ones, potentially lethal ones. She may be a contemporary Sally Kimball — but she’s nowhere near as perfect as Sally (or her partner). It wouldn’t have shocked me if she was killed in all of her nosing around. (it would’ve fit the tone of the book, too).

Some of the characters here are very well drawn, some aren’t. The English teacher who takes an interest in her is like every English teacher you’ve read/seen on TV who takes an interest in a troubled kid. Her nerdy friends, or her drug/gun dealer, on the other hand, are sharply and fully drawn. Ditto for the bullies, criminals and low-lifes she comes into contact with. I’m torn about Atlanta’s mother, I’m not sure what to think of her as a character, really. She’s largely extraneous to the plot, but when she’s around, it counts.

The violence seems real. It’s messy, sloppy, not a series of precision moves/shots/etc. like you’d get from…well, about everyone else. It hurts. It takes people down and takes time to recover. Nowhere near as entertaining (at least not in the same way) as Reacher talking about how much force is required to break bone X, or Vinnie Morris making the impossible shot, or Elvis Cole delivering a precision kick to the face. Instead, what we get is visceral, bloody, and wrong. Sort of what violence is supposed to be.

This is one of those books where you quickly learn to stop thinking, “it’s not going to get worse than this.” It does, and soon. And then it does it again. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t victories — some are minor, some are Pyrrhic, but they’re there. There’s even a little joy. The ending is satisfying, while leaving the door open for more. Atlanta has more in common with Frank Castle than Flavia de Luce, more Lisbeth Salander than Veronica Mars, more Beatrix Kiddo than Kinsey Milhone, but there’s a little of all of them in her. I look forward to more from her.

—–

3.5 Stars

The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson

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On April 23, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The TombThe Tomb

by F. Paul Wilson
Series: Repairman Jack, #1

Paperback, 426 pg.
Tor, 2004 (Revised ed.)
Read: April 16 – 21, 2015
After the success of my last try following up FaceOff, I figured I might as well try another. Glad I did, although this wasn’t as entertaining as Vanished.

Jack (insert random last name) is a Fixer. You name it, some sort of sticky situation that the authorities can’t handle, Jack will take care of it. He gets two calls at the beginning of this book. One is from the love of his life — her ex-husband’s (very wealthy) aunt has vanished without a trace, the police have nothing (and don’t seem to care). Missing persons aren’t really his thing, but for the chance to see Gia again? He’ll go for it. The other phone call was from an Indian representative to the UN, a family heirloom was taken from his ailing mother during a mugging and he wants it back. This is exactly his thing, and so he takes on two jobs at once.

Because none of us are new to this, I can say the obvious: neither of these jobs are going to end up being what anyone expects and that the two are linked in a way that Jack could never guess. Oh, and seeing Gia again isn’t going to go well.

There was a very — shall we say, frustrating? — portion of the novel (that went on far too long) where the reader knows or strongly suspects everything that Jack needs to know — everything (yes, there’s a revelation or two that add some color lately, but make no material difference). And this shows up pretty early on in The Tomb, I know it all and Jack knows nothing — he doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know. I can take that for a little while, but this went on far too long.

It takes a while to build, but there’s enough going on to keep it interesting. There’s plenty of history and backstory is woven in — and you get to meet the most entertaining gun dealer I think I’ve ever read. The supporting characters alone justify sticking with this until the action slips into gear.

There’s an element of this novel that touches on the supernatural. Not enough (if you ask me) to call this an Urban Fantasy. Maybe this is a Thriller with UF tendencies? I don’t know what to call it. But if you like Suspense/Thriller novels and don’t mind a sprinkle of something like magic — give this a shot. Good characters, solid story, fine action sequences, enough resolution to call it a “The End,” and enough left unresolved that you want to come back for more. As frustrating as it was, it kept me turning the pages, and (eventually) There’s a daunting list of titles following this one, but one that I think I’ll keep plowing through if the quality keeps up.

—–

3 Stars

Dark Digital Sky by Carac Allison

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On April 17, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

So . . . here’s where I talk about what a jerk I can be. Last September, I get this email from a pretty friendly author asking me if I’d like a copy of his book in exchange for a review. I said what I always say when offered a free book, “yes, please,” (or words to that effect). I read and enjoyed it — we exchanged a couple messages about the book, he answered a question or two. And then because: 1. it was a little more difficult than I’d think and, 2. I got distracted, I never got around to reviewing it. I noticed this yesterday, while looking for something else and felt horrible — which is the way I should feel, over half a year late with this. Can’t do much to make it up to Allison other than put this up now and promise to buy the next book as soon as it’s possible.

Dark Digital SkyDark Digital Sky

by Carac Allison
Series: Dark Pantheon, #1


Kindle Edition, 302 pg.
Crime Planet Press, 2014
Read: October 02 – 03, 2014

“Your real name is Chaucer?”
“My father was an English Professor. I’m not. Call me Chalk.”

In a genre where the names Marlowe and Spenser cast such huge shadows, of course it’s time for a Chaucer. Better yet? He hates the name.

Allison frequently begins chapters with a lengthy info-dump about something — a mini-essay from Chalk’s perspective. Sometimes the info-dumps these work, other times they’re pretty jarring. The information about say, medical insurance, prior to meeting the analyst for Blue Shield? That one worked for me. The listing of Chalk’s tattoos? Eh, not so much.

This starts off with a new client with a very 21st century kind of case, but still proceeds like something out of Chandler. The further that Chalk gets into it, the stranger and twistier it gets. But in the background, we keep learning about a spree of atypical robberies. The way that the various threads start to integrate is something I didn’t expect. And once integrated? The whole thing gets even more unexpected.

The action of the novel belongs to the present — to Chalk’s case, the drug crimes — but the heart, the grounding of the character? That belongs to the flashbacks, the doomed marriage, the child he doesn’t get to see, the hunt for a serial killer that no one else believes exists. The more outrageous parts of his character, the outlandish abilities, activities — that’s the fun, that’s the fantasy. The book as a whole is a great mix of the two.

Chalk is damaged, an outsider, an underdog in classic noir-style (see also: his name). At the same time — he’s very successful and impossibly gifted, something out of a science fiction novel, really. Giving this sort of a cyberpunk feel — but instead of being set 15 minutes in the future (which is how I see all cyberpunk), Dark Digital Sky is a cyberpunk novel set 15 minutes ago.

I’m not convinced these elements work on their own — but even if they do, this is definitely a “whole is greater than the sum of its parts” kind of thing, somehow this all works. I’ve never read anything like this before — which is probably good, because most people would make a wreck of it. Not Allison, this is a strong vision told with a sure voice. Can’t wait for more.

—–

Note: I was provided a copy of this by the author, who seems like a pretty cool guy — which made the fact that I really enjoyed even better. I like it when pretty cool people write pretty cool stuff.

—–

4 Stars

Vanished by Joseph Finder

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On April 9, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

VanishedVanished

by Joseph Finder
Series: Nick Heller, #1


Hardcover, 384 pg.
St. Martin’s Press, 2009
Read: April 7 – 8, 2015

I lost sleep over this one. Literally. I had to force myself to put this thing down so I could get a little shut-eye. Which wasn’t easy. After about 70 pages or so, I realized two things very clearly: I was hooked on this book and was going to have to get the next one in the series very soon. Neither feeling went away.

Last year, when I read FaceOff, the Jack Reacher/Nick Heller story was probably my favorite, so when I found myself wandering the library last week, with every thing on my “to get list” unavailable, I figured I’d finally give a full-length Heller story a try. Clearly, one of the better moves I’ve made.

Nick Heller is former Army Special Ops, turned corporate espionage hotshot. His estranged brother, Roger, is abducted (at best) leaving an injured wife behind. His nephew, Gabe, freaks out and calls his uncle for help, not willing to trust the police. So Nick, with “a very particular set of skills,” starts looking for his brother.

Heller’s similar to Reacher, but has more of a cerebral approach to things. I’m not sure that’s necessarily fair, maybe it’s that he takes a less direct approach to Reacher’s bull in a china shop approach. That’s not quite it, either. There’s something similar, yet very distinctive about their approaches. It’s more than just the fact that Heller has money and resources (and friends and family . . . ), while Reacher has a fresh set of clothes, a new toothbrush and whatever weapon he can take off a foe. Heller definitely has a better sense of humor — and a cell phone, maybe that’s it.

Heller definitely has to work — suffers some real investigative setbacks, is flat-out wrong on several fronts, blunders a bit, and has to go through some real emotional hardship. Making him human enough to really engage the reader (in a way that Reacher never can — not that I want to keep comparing the two).

Well paced, intelligent, some cool spycraft, some good fight scenes and a lot less gunplay than you’d expect — this is a thriller well worth your time.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

The Stolen Ones by Owen Laukkanen

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On April 8, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Stolen OnesThe Stolen Ones

by Owen Laukkanen

Hardcover, 358 pg.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2015
Series: Stevens & Windermere, #4
Read: March 24 – 26, 2015

Stevens felt his stomach drop out as he descended from the Black Hawk onto the Atlantic Prince‘s bow. Wondered how a Minnesota state cop found himself in this kind of predicament all the time.

You do kind of have to wonder about that, don’t you, Stevens? The readers, however, are just glad you do find yourself in these predicaments.

I don’t have a lot to say about The Stolen Ones that I didn’t have to say about Laukkanen’s previous novels. But let’s see what I can dig up.

Irina’s from Romania — not having the best life (but not a bad one, no matter what she thinks), so she’s easily suckered by a handsome American man into the chance to come here and become rich and famous. Her little sister, Catalina, comes along for the ride. Sure, they have to be smuggled into the country with a large number of women in a shipping container, but hey — it’s worth it, right? America! (cue the Neil Diamond song)

Once they get here, of course, rich and famous are out the window. The best they can hope for now is, alive and doing more than surviving. The shipping container is loaded onto a truck and driven through a variety of states, with drop offs at various brothels, strip clubs and nastier places, were a selection of the women are left behind. Along the way, Irina and Catalina attempt an escape — Irina makes it, Catalina doesn’t, and an off-duty Minnesotan sheriff’s deputy is dead.

Kirk Stevens is brought in to investigate the deputy’s death, and soon starts to figure out what’s going on. Which is clearly beyond the scope of his office, but hey! He’s conveniently just been named to a task force with the FBI and his buddy, Carla Windermere. The two race around the country, looking for Catalina (who they really don’t expect to find) and the rest of the women — and, more realistically, they want to stop the people who smuggled them into the country.

As always, Laukkanen does a great job with the villains of the piece — whatever the particular crime (or crimes, usually) that they’re committing, he makes them people. People with hopes, dreams, problems — not just committing crimes. In fact, for the most part Stevens and Windermere are distractions, complications — not the enemy, just an irritant (an irritant that gets worse and worse the further we get in the book).

The Stevens family is always a good way to ground these characters — Mrs. Stevens (can’t believe I forgot her name) gets to do more than nag Kirk about being safe and talk dirty to him. The whole 16-year-old daughter with boyfriend parallel to the safety of the Romanians was a bit too one the nose for me, but Laukkanen pulled it off. And when else is he going to have the “first boyfriend” story? In Book 5 with Stevens having flashbacks to this case? Nah, that wouldn’t have worked.

With 158 chapters in 358 pages, The Stolen Ones moves along at a good clip. The pacing’s tight, the narrative gripping — everything you want — and readers have come to expect — from this series. It makes for a decent jumping on point, too. Highly recommended.

—–

4 Stars

Dead to Me by Cath Staincliffe

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On April 3, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

I really didn’t mean to do TV related books in a row, it just worked out that way. Yesterday was from a series that’s the basis of a TV show — this one’s going the other way.

Dead to MeDead to Me

by Cath Staincliffe

Hardcover, 393 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2012
Read: March 27 – 31, 2015Cath Staincliffe, award-winning novelist and TV writer, brings her talent to an adaptation of ITV’s Scott & Bailey, telling the story behind DC Rachel Bailey’s introduction to the MIT and planting seeds for stories that would shape the first two series (at least — that’s all I’ve seen, maybe there’s more).

Staincliffe captured the voice of the characters so well — I could see them all playing clearly in my mind. The case was nothing spectacular — wasn’t the death of a major political figure, a celebrity, or anything particularly gory. It was a simple stabbing of a poor drug addict, yet this team throws everything at the case. Precisely the way that Harry Bosch or John Ceepak would — I’d like to think that actual police work as hard as their fictional counterparts, hopefully that’s true.

There are plenty of suspects, plenty of red herrings, and plenty of obstacles to Rachel becoming a member of the team and earning her new boss’ trust (and plenty of times Rachel shot herself in the foot in the process of both). It’s not all about Rachel (as viewers know), but she’s the entry point here. There’s plenty about DC Janet Scott and their boss, DCI Gill Murray — both professionally and personally.

I liked the parallelism of Janet trying her best with her kids and the victim’s mother repeatedly saying the same. It’s not a revolutionary idea by any measure, but Staincliffe handled it deftly. Later on, she did the same when Gill deals with a minor emergency involving her teenage son. Rachel doesn’t have a motherhood parallel, hers is on the other end. All of it, really well done and none of these get to the point of beating a dead horse.

This was a solid read, strong enough to justify reading a second book in the series (even without the show) — and likely more by this author, just to see what she can do with her own characters.

—–

3 Stars

Kindness Goes Unpunished by Craig Johnson

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On April 2, 2015

In Authors, Craig Johnson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Walt Longmire

Kindness Goes UnpunishedKindness Goes Unpunished

by Craig Johnson
Series: Walt Longmire, #3

Paperback, 336 pg.
Penguin Books, 2014
Read: April 1, 2015
3.5 Stars
I hate covers that are just images for TV/movie adaptations, don’t you? Blame my local library for this one.

It’s a sure sign that I need to spend more time reading Johnson than watching the show based on this series in that I’m consistently surprised at how funny these books are. Sure Henry Standing Bear’s dry wit is there, Vic is brash and inappropriate — amusing enough — but the narration, Walt himself? I chuckled a lot.

So, Walt and Henry (and Dog!) are off to the City of Brotherly Love to visit Walt’s daughter, Cady, meet her boyfriend, and for Henry to do something at a museum (just an excuse to see Cady). Oh, and conveniently enough, to meet Vic’s family (three police officers, one former police officer, and one attractive mother). After arriving in town, Walt doesn’t even get to see Cady before she’s brutally attacked and hospitalized.

Naturally, Walt stumbles upon the one person in Philadelphia who’s more knowledgeable and interested in Indians than Henry. It’s that interest (obsession?) and his connection to Walt that makes Walt the best man to track down the man who put Cady in the hospital (and other assorted nefarious acts). That’s a level of coincidence that you just buy — like Gideon Oliver vacationing somewhere that a set of bones surprisingly shows up; Nero Wolfe needing information from someone who’s a sucker for orchids; or that every falsely accused murderers that Andy Carpenter stumbles upon happen to own a cute dog.

There’s enough twists, turns — and one seeming unnecessary but entertaining diversion (that turns out to be not so ancillary) — to satisfy any mystery reader. Even out of water, this fish can swim. There’s some very interesting things that go on in the character’s personal lives that should make things interesting down the road (and that I can’t talk about while remaining spoiler free) — enough to make this more than a tale of a father’s vengeance.

The first chapter (only one in Wyoming) is great — Walt totally failing to connect with an elementary school classroom, a fun and prototypical Absaroka County shootout, and other things that make up a typical day for Sheriff Longmire on the eve of his trip.

I’ve enjoyed each of these Longmire books — but I’ve taken a really casual approach to them, I think one a year so far is my rate. Kindness Goes Unpunished has convinced me that has to end, I’m pretty sure I’ll catch up with Johnson before the year is up.

—–

3.5 Stars

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