Dying For Dana [Hardcover]

Jim Patton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2003

Max Travis is one of the country's best prosecutors. In court, few can match his determination to bring criminals to justice, even if it's at the expense of his own personal life.

When two of Max's close friends are the victims of a violent robbery, that leaves one of them critically injured, Max begins an investigation into the crime, only to have life throw him a curve ball in the form of Dana Waverleigh-a beautiful woman who may just turn out to be the love of his life.

But there are things about Dana that Max hasn't discovered. Running from the past, Dana is trying to escape her ex-lover, Jack Nizhl,, one of the robbers in Max's case. When Jack learns of Dana's involvement with Max, he pressures her for information, causing her to question where her true love lies.

All the while, Jack's partner, an unbalanced meth addict, comes closer and closer to taking out any and all people who might have a hand in bringing him in, including his partner's former lover.

As Max becomes further entangled in this dangerous web of deceit, he no longer knows whom he can trust, only that if he doesn't bring in the criminals soon, he and the woman he's grown to love may be the next victims.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the three years since his ace debut, The Shake, Patton has sharpened his already considerable thriller skills. His second crime novel is an outrageously sad, mordantly hilarious story of love gone wrong. When Max Travis (a Portland, Ore., prosecutor with a high conviction record and a low score on lasting relationships, whom Patton introduced in The Shake) meets Dana Waverleigh (a beautiful blonde hairdresser with two children, three ex-husbands and a stupefyingly low sense of self-esteem), the results are literally lethal. Max thinks he's finally met the girl of his dreams the one who will put up with his workaholic ways and she sees a pleasant guy who might keep her and her sleazy boyfriend, Jack Nizhl, up-to-date on a murder investigation that involves them both. Complicating matters deeply is Jack's partner in crime, Nicky Bortolotti, a psychotic, racist crankhead who models himself on the Edward G. Robinson character in Little Caesar and whose chosen method of picking up women involves a loaded shotgun. There's a small problem of balance, since the lowlifes including Dana, a touching figure pulled down into the mire on virtually every occasion are more compelling than Max and his cop and bartender buddies. But Patton is so good at bringing his bloody story to life that readers will probably wind up sharing the praise that George Pelecanos no slouch at orchestrating colorful violence himself lavishes on Patton in a back-cover blurb.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Highwire is a former NBA star turned sports commentator on Portland television. Roop owns the city's hottest nightspot. Both are pals with top prosecutor Max Travis. When burglars bust into Roop's pad to steal "30 large" from his home safe and leave Highwire critically wounded, Max takes a personal interest in the case. It was obviously an inside job. Meanwhile, Max has fallen head over heels for Dana Waverleigh, a hairdresser with a secret life on the fringes of Portland's sex trade. Max's judgment is clouded by his heart (and his libido), but eventually he can't help but notice that Highwire's shooting and the continuing body count all seem vaguely linked to Dana. Hairline cracks develop in their relationship as Max attempts to connect the dots. Patton aims for the hip, spare narrative style of Elmore Leonard and the same street patois in his dialogue. He doesn't always hit the target but comes close enough, often enough, to make this an enjoyable crime thriller centered on a woman whose looks promise paradise but deliver hell. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (November 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765306492
• ISBN-13: 978-0765306494
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,963,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful relationship investigative tale, November 7, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dying For Dana (Hardcover)

Portland, Oregon prosecutor Max Travis has a tremendous conviction record though his sex life seems to be in a permanent slump. However, he feels that his luck is changing when he meets hairdresser Dana Waverleigh, though she is the mother of two children and the ex of three husbands. Max believes he has met his forever love who will forgive his workaholic transgressions unlike his two former spouses.

However, Dana is not seeing Max exclusively as her former boyfriend, Jack Nizhl, expects her to use her body to gain insider information from her new beau on a crime investigation that involves both of them and a drug using maniac. Will Max see the light of how Dana, though she is blackmailed into her clandestine activities, is using him or will he continue to see the world through the rose colored head that reacts to her stimulus without thinking?

DYING FOR DANA is a delightful relationship investigative tale that works because of how well Jim Patton escorts the readers inside the heads of the key cast members. Fans will comprehend the dichotomy that makes up Max, a superstar in the courtroom and a zero in his personal life. Dana is even more complex as she is a nice person, but her choice in men is haunting her because she likes Max. Fans also see inside the two thugs, Jack and his maniac partner. Readers will enjoy this detective story that works on several levels due to the interactivity of the characters whether it is love, robbery, or murder.

Harriet Klausner