Customer Reviews

Dutch Uncle (Hard Case Crime)

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

 

 

"Dutch Uncle" takes place in the real world and involves the kind people whom most of us have either known or at the very least observed and wondered about. That old college roommate who fell off your radar a decade ago. That handsome, well-spoken but slightly battered guy roofing your neighbor's house. That pretty, too-serious girl you see fixing her makeup in traffic on your way to the office. What's their story? Dutch Uncle tells you what it might be. That's one of the many qualities that make it an enjoyable, compelling and sometimes --- in a culture where an alarming percentage of Americans are a paycheck away from bankruptcy --- uncomfortable read. "Dutch" is the kind of story-telling that reminds us that "The Life" (of crime and despair) is troublingly accessible to even the best and the brightest. Peter Pavia masterfully places rather ordinary people into extraordinary circumstances that you reassuringly tell yourself they should have seen coming. Of course, the question in the back of the reader's mind is, would you have seen them coming? Plot twists that never disappoint as much for their believability as for their unexpectedness, chase and batter Pavia's characters into shapes that make them unrecognizable to themselves and uncomfortably familiar to us. Pavia knows his characters and his setting: The languid and often seamy stretches of white sand and fleeting dreams that is South Florida in the late 1990s. He writes in the economic style of his genre, but describes detail so adroitly that "Dutch" is at all times a wonderfully sensual read. You will hear the droning music and muddled din of the happy-hours crowd at every yuppie bar on the strip, smell the sun block, sweat and anticipation of sex on the beaches and verandas and feel the exasperated longing in characters who fall and get up again struggling to reach destinations that will not fail to surprise you at the close of every chapter. Where other "crime drama" spins out of control into the realm of the cartoon fantasy with too-obvious film-treatment tales of Nicholas-Cage-esque villains and Travolta-like heroes, (or vice versa, who cares?), "Dutch" is grounded in a creepy, any-exit-on-the-freeway plausibility so that no matter how safely tucked away in Squaresville you think you may be, you'll wonder just how close you may have come to The Life. How many times have you sat next to a dealer or a grifter on the morning train? Left a tip for a waitress with both broken soul and jaw? Or waited for the restroom while a boy-faced killer primped to impress the girl back at the bar? You'd be surprised. If you want a realistic portrayal of people in the wind, "Dutch Uncle" is the book for you.

When the "Ten Best" lists come out after the first of the year, fans of hard-boiled fiction will almost certainly have a space saved for DUTCH UNCLE by Peter Pavia. DUTCH UNCLE is Pavia's first work of fiction; this is somewhat hard to believe, as this assured, steady tale of Miami Beach losers and bottom feeders contains the best elements of Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaasen, and Richard Stark while still possessing and maintaining its unique voice.

Pavia's protagonist is Harry Healy, a career criminal who has been on a downward trajectory almost from the day he was born. When we meet Healy he is on parole from the latest of a series of incarcerations. He is almost immediately set to get in trouble again, putting his freedom on the line when he is recruited to deliver a "package" of dubious legality for the grand fee of $200. The deal immediately turns south; Healy is almost ripped off when he delivers the package and later finds his employer, Manfred Pfiser --- the Dutch uncle of the tale --- murdered.

As a result, Healy assumes another identity and takes work as a nightclub bouncer in a seedy but popular bar in nearby Fort Lauderdale. A fringe benefit of Healy's job, and a potential turning point in his life, presents itself when he meets Aggie St. Denis, a bartender who is a straight shooter and appears to care for him. Healy, of course, remains true to form and unceremoniously dumps her, fleeing home to New York City while on the verge of again beginning the cycle of repeating his past mistakes.

Pavia does a masterful job here of introducing his readers to two members of Healy's family: his father, a once-famous jazz musician who revels in the memory of the old days, and his wildly successful brother, a famous financial analyst who is one of the major surprises of the book. Healy's trip to New York also provides an unexpected revelation concerning his immediate difficulties. Ultimately, however, Healy realizes that his major problems arise from within, and if he is to change his luck and circumstances, he must first change himself. It appears though that once again his past mistakes will catch up with him before he can undergo any remodeling.

Pavia has an extremely impressive debut here --- one more reason why Hard Case Crime is an imprint to continue watching --- as he deftly combines elements of dark humor, violence, and mystery into a modern morality tale with bits of subtlety and unexpected optimism. You couldn't ask for better, and even if you did, you'd probably never find it. DUTCH UNCLE (and Pavia) needs to be on your must-read list.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Some shmo at the top of this page called Peter Pavia's great modern Miami tale, "Dutch Uncle" a rehashing of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen. The first mistake is that Hiaasen himself is the weak imitator of Leonard. He takes the outsized characters and laconic elliptic dialogue, throws in an environmental issue, some stock characters, corrupt politicians, mellow leonardian heroes, and everybody says "Genius!"

If you wanna talk about Florida hard-boiled, let's say Dwight MacDonald, Charles Willeford, and our boy Elmore Leonard. And if you're looking for the next great one: here he is: Pavia. This is a Miami that wasn't written about by Leonard, it's a little after his time. This is true 90's and 00's lowlife Florida, the tourist bars, Swamps, vicious Redneck Crackheads, Cuban lady cops with sensible shoes, aspiring fashion models and the creeps that surround them, and lots of cheap cocaine. Florida.

Pavia's next one is supposed to be about the Bay of Pigs, looking forward to it. Historical.

Dutch Uncle was a disappointing choice for Hard Case Crime. The story had the potential to be a real thriller, an explosive action story, or a look in to a seedy world. Unfortunately it was none of these things. It was a slow and disjointed story that at times felt pointless.

Pavia's writing tends towards pedantic repetition. There are many scenes that seem to serve no point. He uses several pages to repeat what we already know about characters' personalities. Sometimes he ends up using several pages on a scene reinforcing what we know just to give us three paragraphs of new information. It slows the pace and makes the plot drag until it is almost completely lost.

The focus could be called scattered at best. There are too many characters vying for attention. The book is not long enough to give everyone space to tell their tale. So characters we want to know about aren't completely fleshed out. The plot also lacks depth and development due to the over abundance of characters. At one point the author digresses to talk, for three pages, about a character that has been dead for twenty pages. The sidebar seems to have no point except to repeat what we know and tell us alligators don't eat people.

The book needed a rewrite in my opinion. However, it does hold brief moments of interest that will hold your attention. They are just too few and far between for it to be on my top 100 list.

Fresh out of jail, Harry Healy bumps into old cell-mate Leo Hannah. Leo offers Harry a job delivering some cocaine. Harry'd been hoping to play it straight, but the job seems too easy to pass up.

Things go smooth (well, smooth enough for a drug deal anyway) until Harry returns to find the supplier, Manfred Pfiser (the Dutch Uncle of the title) dead. Figuring he's been set up, Harry hoofs it and all sorts of complications ensue.

The book is set in Florida and Peter Pavia excels at capturing the atmosphere of the place. The sunshine, the fashions, clubs, dives, models, gangsters, drugs and quirky weirdos are all here and presented well. There were tons of little, off-hand details of life in Florida and various criminal activities worked into the narrative that made me feel that Pavia knew the scene he was describing. He could be way off the mark, but to an outsider like me, the details rang true and gave the book an added depth.

I loved the author's voice. Though the book is written in the third person, Pavia injects personality and wry observations into the narrative, occasionally giving it a first person flavor. This might sound like it would be distracting, but it works very well, giving the writing real personality.

The characters had some depth to them. Well, at least Harry and the officer, Martinson did. None of the characters were likeable, but then again this is a crime story, so they don't have to be. The characters were all at least believable.

On the downside, the author had a habit of going off on tangents. Though they would usually relate back to the story, sometimes it felt like he was indulging himself. In a reversal of a typical crime novel setup, this story begins with a single narrative that diverges in to three separate storylines, following Harry, Leo and detective Martinson. Each story was interesting, but it never felt like the book was really going anywhere. This, I think, is the book's biggest sin. It lacked tension. A driving force that would push me to keep picking up the book. It didn't feel like a Hard Case Crime book at all.

The book was exceptionally well written. I would definitely give Peter Pavia another chance. It's almost worth reading just for the Florida vibe it so effortlessly gives off. However it is also the weakest of the Hard Case Crime books I've yet read.

Author Peter Pavia has begun an extremely promising writing career with a top notch read of what most face in South Florida: Various varieties of crime. Pavia does a great job of laying out the various characters and their thought processes. The story then bounces from one to the other each with their own view of various situations in the book. This is very well done. The plot seems to be heading to a cliff,,,and maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. That makes another interesting turn in the writing: You draw your own conclusion. The way it is all written, you care enough to find out. Well done!

It is another workmanlike example of the new Hard Case Crime series. Once again there is not real hero but there are characters that keep you interested. I have to mention my pet peeve, the jacket blurb leads you to believe there is some humor in the book. This seems to be mandatory these days. There is no humor or wit in the book it's pretty much of a downer (with a late exception). That isn't knocking the book it's knocking the book's marketers. A good popcorn read, you'll like it while your reading and forget it two days later. Great for a trip or a grey weekend with nothing to do.

I dug DUTCH UNCLE a lot, but it did have a few weak points. Mostly that there isn't any really big twist or turns (not something I always look for, but it couldn't hurt to have ONE surprise in a crime novel).

In the end, though, it's going to be compared to Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiassen by association. This author hold his own though and seems to have his own distinct style, even if it's not such an original story.

Fun read though.

Read this book slowly. Relish every sentence because books like this do not come along often. As a crime fiction writer, I appreciate a good read, I search for it and when I find it (which isn't often) and the book captures me as DUTCH UNCLE did, I savor it. I kid you not. Peter Pavia constructs a tight, page-turning mystery that captured my attention to the last page, the last sentence.

To me the strength of the book is how Peter Pavia never telegraphed his punches and is never predictable. Hell, enough analysis. DUTCH UNCLE is a damn good book from a damn good series of books. Hard Case Crime is redefining our genre ... for the better.

His third day out on parole, Harry Healy runs into Leo, his one-time weekend cellmate. Leo offers Harry some work, but it's the kind of job that could put Harry right back into the clink; he refuses. But then Harry's "Dutch Uncle," Manfred Pfiser, presents another offer: just make a delivery and collect some cash. Easy, right? Well, it seems simple enough, and what's a favor between friends?

After a clumsy opener with a lot of exposition to handle, Peter Pavia's debut novel Dutch Uncle (he is the author of two non-fiction works: the lauded The Other Hollywood and the upcoming The Cuba Project), takes off ... sort of. The first corpse shows up on page 28 but, apart from a few distinctive scenes (the photography session was especially inspired), Pavia simply can't maintain the creativity or the speed necessary to make this kind of book work. This made it easy to put down and hard to pick up again.

Pavia seems to have patterned Dutch Uncle after the works of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen (Leonard goes by "Dutch" and it takes place in Miami, Hiaasen's familiar stomping ground). At least he aims high, unfortunately he doesn't come near to their quality and pure entertainment satisfaction. He is much better than they were starting out (some of Leonard's early novels are particularly unreadable) -- and this gives him a definite head start on longevity -- but he can't match Leonard's liveliness or Hiaasen's wackiness.

Pavia has a good grasp on his setting and a terrific ear for dialogue, but his attempts at zany characters seem to rely solely on silly personal quirks that do little more than take up space, like one policeman's need for sensitivity training. And while quirks certainly flesh out characters, it's hard to build a real human around them. Even so, Dutch Uncle's main problem is its pacing. It drags in many spots, is merely slow in others, and I often found myself waiting for the story to "get on with it," leaving me sitting there with what suspense I could muster remaining unfulfilled. It's a fairly simple narrative -- there are a lot of distractions, but nothing truly complex takes place. This should have made it easy to pick up the pace, but it takes too long to get anywhere. And that's just not what I want in a crime novel that purports to be about criminals "on the run."

On the other hand, this cover is one of the best Hard Case Crime offerings yet. Richard B. Farrell (The Confession, 361) is fast becoming my favorite of their artists, and he comes through again with an evocative illustration that portrays the essence of the novel without giving away too much of the plot. The cocaine-fueled title is singularly inspired.