Customer Reviews

Death of a Dying Man

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a long time fan of JM Redmann and the Micky Knight series of novels.

Without giving away any plot points, I can honestly say this book is one of the best novels of that excellent series.

Micky Knight is a complex and real character, with a wonderful and realized inner dialog, and this novel takes her into new depths and emotions.

It's not an easy read, heavy with dark overtones of Hurricane Katrina.

There are major incidents and life changing events in play during "Death Of A Dying Man" and none of them could be considered anything less than heartbreaking.

Kudos to JM Redmann for creating characters who feel as real, and true as Micky Knight.

I can whole-heartedly recommend the entire Micky Knight series, this book included.

This is a difficult book to review completely without spoilers, so this will be a little lacking in detail.

First, after almost ten years, Mickey Knight is back. She is more sensitive, devasted by nature's hurricane and major personal issues. This novel is all Mickey's voice. Do I miss the whippy verbal play with her friends? yes. Do I want it in this book? No. Except for brief flashes of telephone calls and almost chance physical encounters, Mickey's family and friends are conspicuously absent and that's okay because this novel is mostly about her interior landscape--and the changed landscape of her beloved city.

For all you mystery fans, there is a mystery that gives the book its title and she of course does her usual good job--even though the pissing contest referred to in the publishers blurb saddles her with a largely unwanted assistant. Much to Mickey's surpise Shannon helps with many things.

This must have been a difficult book to write, not only because Redmann so obviously loves NO, but because she reached deep inside for the changing, growing and developing Michelle Knight. I certainly hope we don't have to wait more than a couple of years for the followup to this one.

How much do I love the new J.M. Redmann? Let me count the ways... ;)

Excellent novel, both in terms of the mystery and character development, most of all for its retelling of Katrina and what it did to a city and individual people. Heartbreaking. You can also feel the author's anger about events after Katrina and the lack of immediate and long-term support.

Character-wise I was so very happy that Micky Knight is back. She's a unique character in lesfic and I'm glad that BSB didn't mess with her edginess and rawness to make her fit into the BSB formula.

Go read it now, and if you've never read a Micky Knight mystery start with the first one now. You won't be sorry.

After a long wait, J.M. Redmann releases the fifth entry in the Micky Knight mystery series -- and nothing will ever be the same. New Orleans was always a central character in the series and the devastation that town has eperienced over the past few years is pervasive in the story. Hired by a man dying of Hep-C/HIV to find a daughter he never knew or wanted before now provides a core mystery that sets the opening tone. But Micky's relationship seems to be trouble as well and an instant, come-from-nowhere tension with a visiting lesbian couple isolates our heroine from her other friends and family. And just when you think things can't get much wores, Hurrican Katrina hits.

The mystery is interesting and the inner-dialogue of Micky as her life gradually get chipped away to emptiness is well written. Certainly the cries of a little girl who wonders if daddy will ever wake up again are anticipated from the beginning. And any novel set in and around New Orleans during the time of Katrina is expected to have a downbeat backdrop. But the dissoving relationship and the lack of Micky's support system seemed a little pat and gratuitous even for a "hard-boiled" protagonist like Knight. Sure it's possible to have an instant dislike to other people and couple do have problems after being together for many years. Yet, the personal dynamic and animosity that begins the spiral seemed unrealistically forced rather than growing inherently. It is said that Redmann had written much of the book before Katrina hit then went back to rewrite which does make me wonder about the tone and approach of that previous book.

Though not in the same league as previous effort The Intersection of Law and Desire, the book is very, very good.

Fans of the Micky Knight series had to wait a long time for this installment. The fact that Redmann lives in New Orleans played a big a part in that and the fact that Hurricane Katrina becomes a character in this book.

Damon LaChance is a well-known figure in the New Orleans gay community, famous for his decadence and the bars he owns in the French Quarter. Seven years before he slept with a woman for the first and last time, so, when she told him she was pregnant, he rejected her. It couldn't be his child, could it? Now Damon is dying and he's having doubts. He wants Micky to find the child and determine if she is his daughter. He wants someone to leave his property to, but more importantly, he wants to feel a connection to the future he won't have. When someone murders Damon, Micky becomes more determined to find the child that someone is trying to disinherit. Her task and her life are complicated by Dr. Lauren Calder and her lover Shannon Wild. Dr. Calder is working on a project with Micky's lover Dr. Cordelia James and taking up way too much of Cordelia's time. Shannon is a journalist who decides that working with Micky to solve the LaChance case would be a great way to get experience and to hit on Micky. Micky's professional work is distracted by Shannon's presence and her personal life begins to deteriorate as she suspects something may be going on between Lauren and Cordelia. As Hurricane Kartina roars into the Gulf Coast Micky's emotions are torn in multiple directions and she is forced to face the possibility that not only will she lose the city she loves, but the relationship her whole life is based upon.

Redmann is a Lambda Literary Award winner and shows her experience in this book. The various subplots weave together like threads to form the pattern of the whole cloth. Just enough about the plot is revealed to keep the reader going, but not enough to keep surprises from popping up. Micky's emotions are tightly wrapped and on the verge of flying apart as she vacillates between confidence and doubt. The dramatic tension created by the search for the child, and by extension the murderer, is counter balanced by the tension between Micky and Cordelia.

Looming over everything is the growing presence of the storm as it approaches. Redmann captures the inattention of the residents as Katrina is just a story on the news and then the growing awareness of the danger they face as landfall becomes imminent. The terror of the flight from the city, the sense of powerlessness to help those left behind and the devastation caused to New Orleans pours from the pages. Characters who haven't acted nobly earlier in the book emerge as heroes and others show their true natures.

The spell that Jean Redmann weaves draws the reader into and through the book. There is a totally unexpected twist in the relationship between Micky and Cordelia that begs for the rapid appearance of the next book in the series. Death of a Dying Man has a lot of selling points - mystery, romance, emotions and current events. Readers should be able to enjoy it on many levels.

If you like this author, you won't be disappointed. She delivers again and leaves me wanting more.

J.M. has a writing style that is uniquely hers. Her Micky Knight character is rough, real, and brutally honest...at least most of the time. In this most recent addition to the series, we see Micky's continued development as a person and in relationship to others. Thrown in the midst of this is the turmoil that was Katrina. There is little that I can say about the book without giving away some of the story because the plot is that tight. It almost reminds me of listening to detective stories on the radio...JM's descriptions and dialogues paint pictures in my head of scenes and nuiances that are enjoyable yet at times haunting.

Excellent author.

I have to say that I am more prone to reading gritty murder mysteries by authors like Patricia Cornwell. I only ocassionally read detective stories that are also humourous like Sue Grafton, who I would compare Redmann too, but this book was AMAZING. It is beautiful, sad, intruiging, and compelling. All I want to know is when does the next one come out!!!!

This is the best lesbian series out there. The internal dialogue with the main character, Micky, is superb. In this latest installment, Micky has grown up a lot. I don't want to give the story away, but it takes place in and around New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. If I had one criticism it is that it was heavy on the case, and not enough about Micky's personal life (i.e. Cordelia, Micky's Mom, and her cast of friends). That being said, things in Micky's personal life are left hanging. I hope and pray there will be a follow up to this SOON! Thanks JM for another great read.

This was a good read, a lot "a lot" of hurricane Katrina, and detective work. Overall though I find myself wanting more "bad" Mickey Knight lol. I LOVE WHEN Reddmann writes the love scenes, uhh .. there intense! (read "The intersection of Law & Desire")