Catfish Cafe [Audio Cassette]

Earl Emerson (Author)

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Recorded Books (1998)
• ASIN: B000XB17MQ
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting!, June 14, 2000

By 

Meg Brunner (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catfish Cafe (Mass Market Paperback)

PI Thomas Black, an ex-Seattle cop, is asked by his old partner, Luther, for help finding Luther's daughter. The daughter had been driving a car later found turned over in a ditch with a dead body in the back seat. Did she kill him? Is someone trying to kill her? Is she already dead? This was an exciting and very well-written mystery. The tunnel scene at the end had me so riveted I missed my bus stop. Now that's something! Highly recommended!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Well written, but predictable, November 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Catfish Cafe (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read the previous reviews, it's kind of laughable that this novel gets reviews of either 5 stars or 1 star. Neither is a particularly accurate judgment, no matter what the standards. The writing is excellent, with imagery as good as any Emerson novel (and better than 95% of the authors out there), the characters are interesting, but the 'mysteries' here are as predictable as any novel out there. I find it disappointing to be 5 chapters ahead of the protagonist, particularly in a story told in a first person narrative. The story of Ben Aldrich could have been interesting, but instead was the most predictable plot device I have seen in any of Emerson's previous books. The ending was so-so, and if not for the strong narrative style, would not have been worth the effort. Dennis Lehane has done a much better job in recent years if presenting racial and class differences while presenting strong detective stories. I expect this to be one weak effort from Mr. Emerson and not indicative of anything, but I hope that as much effort will go into the storyline next time as into the characters and settings.

Not as bad as some reviews, but certainly not on par with some of the other reviews. The idea that the bad reviews are due to a reader not wanting to know that much about a 'poor African American family' is ridiculous, totally unsupported by the reviews themselves, and makes me wonder if Al Sharpton is posting reviews here now. Do not make the mistake of thinking that, because race is major factor in this novel, that that alone should somehow make the work exempt from an accurate review.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good One, January 28, 2000

By 

Steve 1962 (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Catfish Cafe (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first of the Thomas Black mysteries that I have read and I am hooked. Emerson keeps the action going in each chapter and the ending was unpredictable. The charcaters were well established and so was the atomsphere around the city.