Downriver (The Amos Walker Series #9) [Mass Market Paperback]

Loren D. Estelman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1989

In this outing, Walker goes "Downriver," which is a Detroiter's term for any part of Michigan that does not include the city. Actually, he goes to the Upper Peninsula to give a released con a ride back to Detroit. When he and the con get run off the road and the con hires him to help find 200,000 dollars from a heist for which he was convicted but which he did not commit, Walker has his hands full.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The eighth Amos Walker novel (Motor City Blue) may not have an especially surprising chief villain, but Estleman is still in the top of the class of private-eye storytellers. Here Walker's client is Richard DeVries, fresh out of prison after a 20-year stretch for arson and armored-car robbery during the 1967 Detroit riots. DeVries, who's black, says he was framed for a murder committed during the robbery, and Walker believes him. DeVries also considers the $200,000 never found after the robbery as his due: "I paid for it, and now it's mine." He identifies a rising auto executive as the "revolutionary" who got him to throw the fire-bomb. Soon Walker finds himself involved with a hotshot, would-be car magnate, his "ex-model" wife and a centenarian auto pioneer. By the violent ending, Walker has uncovered a computer scam and some ugly, 20-year-old secrets. Estleman's colorful characters, crackling dialgoue, rich plot, authentic Detroit setting and throwaway humoras usualwork very well.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fawcett Publishing Co (February 28, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449216233
• ISBN-13: 978-0449216231
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,725,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since the appearance of his first novel in 1976, Loren D. Estleman has written more than 65 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. Alone (Dec 2009, Forge Books) is the second in a new series about L.A. film detective Valentino, and features Greta Garbo.

To kick off the new decade, Estleman's The Book of Murdock (eighth in the U.S. Deputy Marshal Page Murdock series) will appear in March and, to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Private Detective Amos Walker, The Left-Handed Dollar will publish in December. It's the 20th novel in the award-winning series.

An authority on both criminal history and the American West, Estleman has been called the most critically acclaimed author of his generation. He has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award.

He has received seventeen national writing awards: four Shamuses from the Private Eye Writers of America, five Spurs from the Western Writers of America, two American Mystery Awards from Mystery Scene Magazine, two Outstanding Mystery Writer of the Year awards from Popular Fiction Monthly, two Stirrup Awards for outstanding articles in the Western Writers of America magazine, The Roundup, and three Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1987, the Michigan Foundation of the Arts presented him with its award for literature. In 1997, the Michigan Library Association named him the recipient of the Michigan Author's Award. In 2007, Nicotine Kiss was named a Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.

Estleman graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Journalism. On April 27, 2002, EMU presented him with an honorary doctorate in letters. He left the job market in 1980 to write full time. He lives in Michigan and is married to writer Deborah Morgan. For more information, please visit his website: www.lorenestleman.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sturdy traditional private eye yarn, April 28, 2003

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Downriver (The Amos Walker Series #9) (Paperback)

This is case number 8 for Detroit private eye Amos Walker and by now Mr Estleman was well into his stride with the series and he produced a solid and thoroughly professional outing for his sleuth.
Walker meets his client ,De Vries ,on the day de Vries is released from prison having served twenty years for arson ,the police having maintained it was a crime designed to act as a diversion for a major robbery in 1967 ,against the backdrop of the riots sweeping Detroit .De Vries is adamant he was set up by a white liberal associate of his at the time of the act and wants ,not revenge ,but his share of the money from the robbery.

The solution sees Walker enmeshed in the world of high finance in the automotive industry and before the case is closed murder and violence rear their ugly heads.Walker'sinvestigations also take him to a world where peolpe still mourn for the loved ones they lost in the violence and disorder of the late 60's and the compassion for the victims of those times is neatly and tellingly done.
I liked the way Estleman in the depiction of many key figures has avoided stereotyping and neatly undercuts expectations -de Vries is a humourous man who wants ,not blood but financial recompense;an old style cop,instrumental in de Vries' arrest is not the racist we may well have expected but afamily man with scruples who is not above going out on a limb to right old wrongs.
The major caricature ,oddly enough is the main character, Walker himself and he is the traditional gumshoe to a Tee-white,middle aged .an ex-cop with a working if scarecely warm relationship with the police.
Milieu as ever with the series is good and Detroit comes alive as a character in its own right-gritty ,decaying and in thtrall to the culture of the gun

Enjoyable.

4.0 out of 5 stars "Downriver" definition totally wrong, March 4, 2009

By 

Camille G. "CG" (Downriver, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Downriver (The Amos Walker Series #9) (Paperback)

Not having read this yet, I can only assume that it wasn't Mr. Estleman himself who gave the definition of "downriver" as being "anyplace not in Detroit itself."

A lifelong resident of a downriver community, I feel the need to clarify. The term "Downriver" refers to the cities that are, for the most part, literally "down the Detroit River, south from Detroit." In other words, it includes the cities south of Detroit that actually are bounded by the Detroit River on the east (River Rouge, Ecorse, Wyandotte, Riverview, Trenton, Gibraltar) and a few cities extending to the west (including Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Southgate, Taylor, Woodhaven, Brownstown).

If Mr. Estleman is responsible for the incorrect definition, it will be my FIRST disappointment with him since I started the Amos Walker series. In any case, I look forward to finally getting a copy of this from my library and delving in.

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Read, February 28, 2005

By 

Scott F. (SW Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Downriver (The Amos Walker Series #9) (Paperback)

First thing to take into consideration is that I am a sci-fi and fantasy reader. The reason I picked up this book was it being based in Detroit (where I grew up). But I was pleasantly surprised by the story that unfolded in front of me. It was a good story, and seeing that mysteries are new to me, it enlighted me to the genre.

What I liked most was the character of Amos Walker. I have always gotten the impression that most "P.I." novels done in first person would portray someone that thinks they know it all, a real womanizer, and are God's gift to humanity. But what I got was a down to earth character that gave a sense of being realistic, and had a good sense of humor.

Figuring out who was the culprit was a bit beyond me. I wasn't sure where I should have picked up as clues. But that might be attributed to me being new to the genre. Overall though, it was an entertaining and fast read.

Just to clear up a fact though presented in one of the other reviews. The term "downriver" is not used by Michiganders to describe any area other then Detroit. Downriver is actually the nickname of Detroit's southern suburbs. That is the area of metro Detroit where the car plant is located in the story.