Customer Reviews

American Detective (The Amos Walker Series #20)

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American Detective isn't for those who like to look on the sunny side of the street. Instead, this dark and troubling book digs deep into the stinking garbage piles that ordinary people and villains have made out of their lives. It's a cautionary tale of how deeply evil clutches at each of us.

We all know about sports heroes . . . or do we? While they are on top, we read about the accomplishments, the records, and the contracts they sign. But no one is a sports hero forever. What's it like after that? American Detective gives us a poignant profile of one such fictional character, Darius Fuller who hadn't been such a good family man, at age sixty while his home's contents are auctioned off to pay back taxes to the IRS.

While his goods disappear, Fuller's heart is aching for his daughter, Deirdre (Dee-dee), who seems determined to marry Hilary Bairn. Dee-dee is about to come into over two million dollars from a trust fund, and Darius fears that Hilary is all about the money. Fuller hires Amos Walker to pay $50,000 he's hidden from the IRS if Bairn will disappear without marrying Dee-dee. Tapped out, Fuller gives Walker a World Series ring as collateral against Walker's fee.

Walker soon discovers that something is not right. Bairn gives Dee-dee a watch to pawn . . . and the pawn shop refuses the watch because it's hot. An unauthorized visit to Bairn's apartment yields a chilling clue tying Bairn to one of the most successful criminals in the area. Tracking down that lead makes it clear that Bairn has bigger money problems than Fuller does.

But Walker never gets to make his offer. A call to Bairn's apartment elicits an invitation to come over, but Walker finds the cops and a corpse rather than Bairn. Soon Walker is trying to keep his business with Fuller private while protecting the $50,000 for Fuller.

In classic detection style, Walker decides to become his own client after telling Fuller what had happened. Something is going on that needs to be stopped. From there, Walker meets some of the scummiest characters that you can imagine and gradually uncovers a decidedly evil empire.

In homage to Charlie Chan, the story reverses roles with the American detective tracking down a Korean-American's crimes. The title reference comes in a sequence between Walker and a beautiful Asian woman who tells Walker that he looks just like he stopped off the cover of American Detective, a reference to the pulp fiction era and its fictional detectives.

The plot is deliciously spiced with unexpected twists and turns. The villains are ones you'll be glad to hate. If you find a weakness in this story, it will probably be that there aren't enough innocents to identify with. Walker and justice are the center of this story. If you don't like either one, skip American Detective. If you like right versus wrong stories, you'll like this one.

Loren Estlemen is one of those writers that I habitually pick up, spend time with, and know I'm going to get a solid story. He writes private eye yarns and Westerns, two genres that I always lean toward when I want comfort reading.

American Detective is the latest novel in the long-running Amos Walker series. Estleman writes Detroit, Michigan, like no one else, and Walker is a thoroughly believable blue collar private investigator of the old school. He's loyal and tough, and generally gets through a case based more on his indefatigable stubbornness rather than uncanny intellect or charm.

In American Detective, Walker is hired by ex-baseball pitcher Darius Fuller to break up the engagement between his daughter Deirdre and Hilary Bairn, a guy Fuller believes is after her two million dollar inheritance. It's not the kind of work Walker generally does, he's more of a bodyguard than a legbreaker, but he likes Fuller and agrees to lean on Bairn. Estleman does a really good job of building in Walker's motivation to take the case, one old warrior doing a good turn by another old warrior.

But the case takes some bad turns when Walker confirms that Bairn is bad news. As it turns out, Bairn has his finger in a lot of illegal pies, and he's doublecrossing some of the people he's in business with.

As usual, things get sticky quick for Walker and it isn't long before his small, cramped office and house end up filled with bad guys and cops wanting answers Walker would rather not give. The cops threaten indictment and the bad guys threaten physical damage. I really liked the dialogue between Walker and Elron, a hardcase in the employee of a known racketeer whose path crosses that of Walker.

Even more, I enjoyed the few scenes with the Asian madam in charge of a criminal empire. I would have loved to have seen more of her and her femme fatale Violet and hope that they make a return engagement at some time in the near future.

Walker's investigation takes a lot of twists and turns this time around. I was fascinated by the amount of criminal activities as well as the variations of them. The bit about the money machine as a way to collect bank information was awesome, and I haven't ever heard of that scheme before.

As usual, Estleman's first-person voice is great. Walker sounds like someone you know, not just a character on a page. I empathize with him a lot because he chooses to deal with life on his own two feet and accept the consequences. Also, he stays true to the people he makes deals with. Honesty and integrity are two of the best qualities you can find in a person, and Walker carries the scars of those burdens.

If you like the Robert B. Parker Spenser series but haven't tried Estleman, I urge you to. I love the Spenser novels, but Spenser always seems to find the right answer in the middle of being macho enough to handle everything. But I enjoy Estleman's take on blue collar sleuthing equally.

Hard-boiled private detective Amos Walker of Detroit takes on a seemingly simple case: pay the suitor of an heir to walk away. The case quickly goes wrong, however, and Walker instead finds himself working for himself.

In his quest he comes across a former baseball hero, a suspicious land owner, a mob-style union organizer, and several other unsavory, interesting, and less-than-savory characters. The threads to the mystery seem to keep diverging and Walker can't just walk away. He has to tie them together, even if it means his life.

Walker doesn't believe there is much to his life anyway. His closest friend is a police detective with whom he trades unkind barbs and who has taken away his illegal gun more than once. He has no love life, no close family, not even a cat. What he does have is his skill and determination. That, along with his skill with words, is what keeps the story moving.

The dialogue at times is priceless. In fact, it was the rapid-fire verbal intercourse that held me most. The story hangs together well. The escapades are unbelievable, but we want to believe anyway.

This is the 19th Amos Walker but the first in the series this reviewer has read. Walker comes from a long line of hard-boiled wise-cracking PIs. He makes his home in Detroit, whose slippage from the heights of the auto industry heyday provides substantial background and commentary.

Walker is asked by Darius Fuller, who pitched a no-hitter for the Detroit Tigers at a much younger age than his present 60 years, to undertake convincing his daughter's intended, one Hilary Bairn, to "go away." Toward that end, the ex-pitcher gives him $50,000 to bribe the man. However, Walker discovers Hilary is in debt to gambling and gangster elements. Then, the daughter is found dead in the boyfriend's apartment of a head blow. The gentleman in question is nowhere to be found. Who's responsible for the death?

The novel is fast-paced, and Walker, typical of the genre, takes severe punishment along the way. Some of the baseball dialogue is quite amusing, and the author has a way with words. The plot moves to a crescendo, and a completely unexpected finale.

Amos Walker, p.i., private investigator, gumshoe, private eye, dick, is one bad motherf***** - shut yo' mouth - but I'm talkin' bout Walker ! theme from Shaft for you youngsters). Amos Walker is like an old boxer that doesn't know when to quit, but can't get knocked down either.

Estleman's a breed apart. No one today can describe and make a room, a landscape, a character, come alive like him. As a bonus, you'll also increase your vocabulary with his amazing and beautiful choice of words.

If you've looked at a painting and wondered, how the heck did the painter do that?, then read a few pages of Mr. Estleman's book; and if you've ever wanted to be an author, you'll hang up your pen.

Estleman is king-of-the-hill , especially in his two favorite genres. This is a great, fun, fast-paced book.

You know how a movie is good ? You'd like to walk right back in the theatre and watch it again. The same with this book, and every Estleman book. I picked this book up the next day and started reading it again, it's that good.

I feel I should start my criticism by explaining that I am "visually impaired" and have listened to this in an audio version. The voice of the narrator is perhaps appropriate for a middle-aged, somewhat jaded American PI but it is dull and monotonous to listen to. It is hard to differentiate one character from another. I may be maligning both the popular Amos Walker series and author Estierman, but the settings in depression-era Detroit seem dismal, the characters unpleasant and stereotyped, and the plot convoluted. The element of suspense is missing as Amos Walker goes from one miserable event to another trying to save a gangster's daughter from her boyfriend. The writing is, however, wonderfully descriptive and clever but the endless minutia becomes irritating and distracts from the flow of the plot

I am a hard grader so 3 starts means it is worth reading. I like hard-boiled PI stories and this is a good example of the genre. A former sports hero's willful, wild child daughter takes up with a good for nothing and Amos has to get to the bottom of what is going on. It is a gritty look at Detroit and passed the time on my recent business trip to North Africa.

I was very excited to see Estleman was going give us another adventure of Amos Walker. I don't always love his tales but I do love his writing. He fleshes his characters out and has us walk
the streets with him. We see through the eyes of Amos, and we are there. So sorry to say, not a hint of that was present, in this flat novel, of many characters, not one, of which we could care a bit about.
This book was a great disappointment.

The book is great but Amazon shows it as #20 in the series when it is really just #19 in a large type format.