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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pushing the envelope of noir, September 21, 2006
Klavan pushes the envelope of hard-boiled noir with this third non-stop but not quite over-the-top Weiss and Bishop tale, again narrated by the callow youth, Andrew Klavan. Scott Weiss is a big man with a basset hound face, an ex-cop turned PI with a soft spot for prostitutes. Jim Bishop, an adrenaline junkie and definite bad-boy-lost, was one of Weiss' operatives until he betrayed his trust ("Shotgun Alley"). Andrew Klavan is the Jimmy Olsen of the operation, an earnest young man who has met his soul mate but been diverted by lust. Weiss has taken up the trail of Julie Wyant ("Dynamite Road"), a prostitute "with the face of an angel" who spent one night with the sadistic "Shadowman" and has been on the run from him ever since. As evil and clever and crazed as psycho "specialist" killers come, the Shadowman is using Weiss to find Julie - as Weiss is using Julie to find him. When Bishop comes cross a crucial piece of information about the elusive killer he joins the hunt, bent on saving Weiss from certain death. And Klavan is left to hold down the fort. Under the direction of Sissy, the lonely, lovely, older woman who has distracted him from his true love, Emma. And he gets his first client. A Pulitzer Prize winning author who wants his daughter Emma followed - yes, that Emma. Klavan gleefully uses every cliché in the genre, punching the story to the edge of parody. And it works. The relentless story moves so adroitly that every skillful twist seems as plausible as it is clever - the ratio of lighted motel lights to cars in the lot, for instance, alerting Weiss to the killer's presence, and the killer's use of disguise and misdirection to slip away once again. The pace ratchets up so tightly that at one point it almost seems to spin out of control. But Klavan - the author Klavan - reins it in with finesse, demonstrating that character drives action and while his characters may have the outlines of clichés they have souls and torments and aspirations and skills that make them behave the way they do. There are a few preachy moments, when the prig in Klavan threatens to overwhelm the romanticist, but a sense of humor and a lack of respect for proportion redeems the sentiment. His fictional counterpart provides some hilarity along with a wide-eyed gallantry that's as refreshing as it is old-fashioned. Cinematic, funny, violent, and riveting, this is Klavan at his manic best. -- Portsmouth Herald
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Good thugs are hard to find nowadays.", September 8, 2006
Narrated by a writer who has decided to give up writing "bad smart novels" to work for private investigator Scott Weiss, this action-packed novel has "movie" written all over it. Weiss, formerly with the San Francisco Police Department, has been looking for Julie Wyant, a young prostitute with a mysterious past. A psychopathic killer-for-hire, John Foy, known as Shadowman, is trailing Weiss, hoping to find Wyant--the woman he wants for his own. Jim Bishop, a violent and street-smart former employee of Weiss, is at a crossroads in his life. Having stolen money from Weiss, he is now charged with being an accessory to murder, thanks to his "girlfriend," who has killed four people. Bishop feels some loyalty toward Weiss, though he lacks the discipline to work in the "civilized world," but he becomes involved when he fears Weiss's life is in danger. The writer-narrator, a thirty-something klutz who has been having an affair with Sissy, a secretary in Weiss's office, is really in love with Emma McNair, daughter of a college professor. As these three plot threads interweave, the action is fast, furious, and often bloody. Entirely plot-driven, the novel strives for sensation, relying on improbabilities, coincidences ("If this were fiction, you'd complain about the coincidences" says the narrator), horrors which may be dream sequences, characters who may be "undead," and every plot device of the early noir novels--hidden cameras, trap doors, and secret rooms. Because Weiss is described as able to "get inside people's thinking," he doesn't need to analyze events carefully or engage in brainstorming before taking action against the most threatening of villains. Imitating the hard-boiled, noir style the writer-narrator says he admires, the novel is filled with very short, staccato sentences, a tough-guy attitude, and all the conceits of thirties detective stories, with constant, arch references to "the man who called himself John Foy." More a parody of noir novels than a serious contender for that label in its own right, this wild novel by author Andrew Klavan is chock full of violence, fast action, and the pseudo-macho style of noir detective stories from the thirties--a novel with the potential to become a blockbuster film. (3.5 stars) n Mary Whipple
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Damnation Street...Near The "Middle of Nowhere at Midnight", January 14, 2008
Klavan ties up most of the loose ends of his Weiss/Bishop series (following "Dynamite Road" and "Shotgun Alley") in this hard boiled noir, "Damnation Street." Scott Weiss, ex-cop and head of his own PI office in San Francisco, is still tracking the elusive Julie Wyant, a prostitute that he may or may not be in love with...even though they have never met (don't ask). The man who calls himself John Foy, dubbed "the Shadowman" by the media, is also still tracking Julie for his own perverted purposes which include his belief that he also is in love with her based on a one night encounter. Both these protagonists are obsessed with Julie, or what Julie represents to them. Scott has come to realize the only solution to this on-going cat and mouse game is for him to find Julie knowing "The Shadowman" will follow him setting up a final, ultimate confrontation. Foy also realizes the unhealthy symbiotic relationship that has developed between he and Weiss and also agrees to an inevitable confrontation with the three of them...of course, with a different predicted outcome than Weiss's. Scott's former employee, the nihilistic, violence prone Jim Bishop, is still trying to find himself when he stumbles upon information that Weiss is in deadly peril from "The Shadowman" due to a secret strategy guaranteeing Scott's death. Bishop's respect for Weiss impels him to enter the chase and save Scott thereby redeeming his own self respect and meaning in life. Now we have four main characters all moving across the chessboard with similar plans yet vastly different motives. Klavan's pacing is non-stop, full-speed-ahead action leaving little time to stop and catch your breath. It is one of those books that if you like these characters, you will find most difficult to put down. Reading the first two installments will give you a deeper appreciation of the characters but this effort can certainly be read as a stand-alone. Weiss's intuitive ability to "know" or sense things about people acts almost as a sixth-sense allowing him to keep a step ahead of others and to outguess the best plans of the villains. It is a unique "hook" that I find intriguing in this series. The story is told from several points of view including a first person insertion of Klavan into the plot as an operative out of Weiss's agency. All in all, I found this a most enjoyable read that stretched the noir/crime thriller genre without going over the top. You'll laugh, you'll cringe, and you'll lose your breath at times...but, hey, isn't that what a good book should do for us?
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