End Run (Large Print) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Steve Brewer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2004

Meet Drew Gavin, former college football star, now a wisecracking sportswriter who claims his drunken rut is a life. But that life changes at his class reunion when his old college sweetheart, Helen, lures Drew into trouble. Helen is married to a wheeler-dealer lawyer named Freddie, imminently in danger of having his kneecaps broken for gambling debts. Helen pleads for Drew s help. Playing the sucker, Drew goes to a bookie named Three Eyes to plead Freddie s case. Soon after, Freddie is found dead and Drew becomes the prime murder suspect.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Sportswriter Drew Gavin is treading water. He harbors little ambition and doesn't even have a woman in his life. But at a class reunion, former flame Helen Graham comes to Drew for help. Her hotshot lawyer husband, Fred, has gotten himself in deep with local bookie Vicente Sanchez and is hiding out at an isolated mountain cabin. When Helen asks Drew to check on Fred, his only excuses are a big night with a six-pack and the remote control, so he agrees. When he arrives, he finds Fred dead. Now the bad guys are mad at Drew, the cops think he's a killer, and Helen isn't acting much like a grieving widow. As Drew struggles to get his former boring--but safe--life back, he realizes he's tangled in circumstances much more complex than a simple debt to a bookie. This is a well-written, stylish noir caper in which Drew's smoldering passion for an old flame nearly costs him his life. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Smooth, swift and sure prose, diverting personal and locker-room intrigues, and easy-to-hate villains make this first title in a new series by the author of the Bubba Mabry series an exciting read. --Library Journal

This is a well-written, stylish noir caper in which Drew s smoldering passion for an old flame nearly costs him his life. --Booklist

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Large Print Book Company (October 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596880171
• ISBN-13: 978-1596880177
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

More About the Author

STEVE BREWER is the author of 20-plus books about crooks, including the recent crime novels PARTY DOLL, LOST VEGAS, THE BIG WINK and CALABAMA.

His first novel, LONELY STREET, was made into a Hollywood comedy starring Robert Patrick, Jay Mohr and Joe Mantegna. BOOST currently is under film/TV option.

Brewer's short fiction appeared in the anthologies DAMN NEAR DEAD, THE LAST NOEL, CRIMES BY MOONLIGHT and WEST COAST CRIME WAVE, and he's published articles in Mystery Scene, Crimespree and Mystery Readers' Journal.

A former journalist and syndicated humor columnist, Brewer now works as a writing coach and University of New Mexico lecturer. A frequent speaker at mystery conventions, he was toastmaster at Left Coast Crime in 2011.

Married and the father of two adult sons, Brewer lives in Albuquerque, NM.

More at www.stevebrewer.blogspot.com. Write him at [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Characters with Depth, November 24, 2000

By 

New Mexico Fan (Sandia Park, NM United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: End Run: A Drew Gavin Mystery (Drew Gavin Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Brewer once again shows he knows how to titillate the reader with a wondrous menagerie of characters. His "bad guys" are fantastic. Not only are their personalities unique, but Brewer's ability to describe them so that they jump off the page at you is what sets him apart from so many mystery writers. And his protagonist, Drew Gavin, so much like Bubba Mabry in many ways, is a sympathetic character who somehow gets it right--despite his weaknesses and tendency to barge into all sorts of trouble. I look forward to the next Drew Gavin book. Brewer keeps me coming back for more.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing mystery, September 18, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: End Run: A Drew Gavin Mystery (Drew Gavin Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Albuquerque Gazette sports columnist Drew Gavin hates watching his alma mater University of New Mexico Lobos playing football as they almost always lose even at home. This year's homecoming game, a sure defeat at the hands of nationally ranked BYU, includes a ten-year reunion that is his graduating class. Though not intending to go because he feels like a failure next to his alumni peers, Drew cannot stop himself from entering the class tent where he sees his college girlfriend Helen.

Bookie Three-Eyes plans to make an example of Helen's spouse, Freddie Graham, who owes the bet taker a fortune. Knowing his sports connections, Helen wants Drew to ask Three-Eye for an extension. Drew tries, but Three-Eye refuses to budge. Drew heads to the nearby mountains to talk with Freddie, only to find Freddie's dead. The police suspect the murder, done with a fire poker, is a crime of passion, which leaves Drew as the prime suspect. Rather than wait for further damaging evidence to surface, Drew begins his own inquiries starting with an END RUN with no blockers in front of him and plenty of defenders waiting to tackle him.

The first Gavin amateur sleuth mystery is a powerful modern sports noir that provides a glimpse into the deadly political side of major college sports. The story line is crisp, often outrageous, but always fun. However, the plot belongs to its faded star, a has been jock found seeking to connect his short glory days with his failed present by using self deprecation and interesting "soliloquies." Steve Brewer provides a tale that will send readers seeking his other series (Bubba Mabry) while wanting Gavin sequels.

Harriet Klausner

5.0 out of 5 stars Passion Makes Us Stupid, October 13, 2011

By 

drkhimxz (Freehold, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: End Run (The Drew Gavin mysteries) (Kindle Edition)

A great bargain at 99 cents but a fine book at any price. The writing is skillful, the chief characters well drawn, the plot suspenseful, the tension palpable because the evil guys are really nasty. The hero is a failed Jock who hunkers down into a job as home town sports writer with no ambition to make it big. His life is otherwise empty, the routine is pretty much work, drink and meaningless other activities. Then comes a call from his college girl friend, the only love of his life, long married to another man of her powerful father's choice. Her husband is in trouble. Could he help out. To convert the old saying into acceptable speech, his never fading lust turns him into a first class jerk. He ends up suspected of murder, the object of intended mayhem by a couple of nasty thugs working for the husband's bookie, and suspended from his job because of the threat to his newspaper if he were charged with murder. Still, he can never resist her siren call despite the warnings from his rational side. What will happen to him. What will happen to his girl friend. What will happen to her power broker father. What will happen with the thugs. What will happen with the police officer who "knows" he is a killer. Yes, a hackneyed plot but the writer makes it work, and, if this is the kind of mystery you go for, grab it for your Kindle while the price is right.