All Shook Up [Paperback]

Mike Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2005

This hard-edged, energetic mystery features Eddie Dancer—Canada's newest and toughest private eye. Two years as a city cop have convinced Eddie he is better off working for himself as a private investigator. When he is hired to track down a tough, professional bank robber, Eddie has no idea he is about to pry the lid off a very nasty can of worms. When he runs up against a pair of disgraced ex-bikers, he uncovers a macabre connection between the ex-bikers and the "fate worse than death" that has befallen many of the city's hookers—a fate that leaves them, irreversibly, in a vegetative state. Eddie learns that a man who is already in prison has carried out the bank robbery and he wonders how someone can be in two different places at once. With the help of his friend, Danny Many Guns, Eddie uncovers evidence of a major conspiracy stretching from the city's back streets and tattoo parlors to the very top of the prison system food chain. Will Danny Many Guns save his friend and partner from the "fate worse than death," or will the bad guys get their revenge on the man who has exposed them?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ex-cop Eddie Dancer is a private investigator in Calgary, Alberta. When a man approaches him claiming to be a bank robber and asks Eddie to track down his missing partner (and his own share of the loot), Eddie wisely turns him down. But when the supposedly missing partner shows up, claiming the other guy is the one who took off with the money, curiosity gets the best of our hero. It's an interesting premise, and the author develops it well (although there are niggling inconsistencies: for example, would Eddie really take a post-dated check from a man who admits to having just robbed a bank?). Still, Dancer has the feel of an amiable series star, and the Alberta location is something fresh for the genre. Give Dancer another couple of turns around the floor; he may turn out to be somebody. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Mike Harrison is a former journalist and freelance investigator. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press (May 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550226886
• ISBN-13: 978-1550226881
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,153,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Over the top, October 8, 2009

By 

DM (ORegon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Shook Up (Paperback)

Was smart, was funny...up until page 85 when it slid with Danny Many Guns, the OTT uber perfect indigenous Canadian, something like Robert Crais's Joe Pike only x10.

But then whoa on page 97 it rebounded with 'syndrome du bebe secure' (Shaken Baby Syndrome). Hence the name of the book btw, which, given what was happening to these poor girls, is in EXTREMELY bad taste. Disgusting

Anyway I thought it was going to get down now and be more serious, I mean SBS is not a laughing matter. Especially the way it was be done in this story and the sheer numbers of victims. But on page 104 it took the final plunge into la la land with Danny's recounting of his participation in the Sun Dance religious ceremony. You know the one ...

where the native dancers attempt to pull and rip free from bones that have been threaded through their pectoral muscles and tied to a central pole via rawhide thongs. Like a macabre Maypole dance.

I don't know if they still practice this weird bit of the Sun Dance ceremony today but it just doesn't seem likely to me.

Besides Harrison's ott characterization of the all knowing, all seeing, all being Danny, Eddie Dancer's methods progressively go from stupid to stupider to stupidest. Too bad cuz I really enjoyed the first 84 pages. Mike Harrison has potential imho. He can write. He's got wit. He just needs to rein in his wild inclinations.

And again, the title is in extremely bad taste, making me wonder about this Mike Harrison.