Customer Reviews

End Run: A Drew Gavin Mystery (Drew Gavin Mysteries)

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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.

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

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.