Customer Reviews

Eureka

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Wlliam Diehl redeems himself with Eureka. Every book he's written has been great, until his last one Reign In Hell. And lets just say it was terrible. With Eureka, he's back in top form. It's a mystery set in the early part of the twentieth century. A woman dies accidently in her bathtub. The hero, LA homicide cop, Zeke Bannon finds evidence that points to the woman being murdered. Bannon follows a trail of evidence back to a small town called Eureka. The town is run by Sheriff Brodie Culhane, a war hero, who is beginning a campaign for govenor.
The characters are very real and likeable. Even the bad guys
Nothing is as it appears in this great story, and you'll be racing to finish it and then sorry that you did.
If you've never read Diehl before this is an excellant book to start with. And if you were put off by his last book, don't worry about it he is back at the top of his game.

"Eureka," according to Webster's, signifies the discovery of something that brings joy or satisfaction. Thus, it is an appropriate title for the latest from William Diehl, a master of storytelling and suspense. Broadway, film and television actor Cotter Smith offers a finely articulated reading of this multi-generational tale.

When Zeke Bannon was sent to fight in World War II some unfinished business is left behind - the mysterious death of one Verna Wilensky who was electrocuted in her bathtub. Almost as puzzling as her demise is her hefty bank account, fattened by anonymous cashier's checks from a bank in San Pietro, a Southern California town once known as Eureka.

A few years and one Silver Star later Zeke is recuperating in an L.A. hospital when he is visited by his ex LAPD partner who has been investigating the Wilensky case. As Zeke digs into old files readers are transported to the Eureka of 1900, a hotbed of graft and prostitution. It is also a place where many secrets were buried.

Jump start to today and popular Sherif Thomas Culhane, who seems certain to become California's next governor until his bid for office is jeopardized by stunning revelations.

Diehl seamlessly weaves past and present to craft a story that keeps readers spellbound until the last.

- Gail Cooke

This is one of the top three books I read this year.

Whoops. It's January 5th. OK. If I had finished this book 6 days ago, I would have put it alongside of John LeCarre's "The Constant Gardner" and Lehane's "Mystic River." Forget any naysayers. "Eureka" is a eureka, a great mystery with wonderful conversations that smack of times gone by. An excellent novel.

Growing up on the East Coast, I remember old guys who had fought in WWI. One fellow lived into his late 80's with one lung gone, having given the first one up to mustard gas at Belleau Wood. So there's a 'reaching' aspect of Eureka that transcends a number of years. And we really don't feel it. Diehl is able to interrupt conversations in the past, flash forward, come back chapters later to finish them. Very tricky; very well done.

Diehl captures the chronology swiftly and smoothly. Sometimes he's writing of events a 100 years ago, sometimes 60, sometimes in between. "The bohunk got ironed out in a hit and run." The dialogue is crisp and seemingly accurate. Very timely. Great conversations.

Everyone who reads the reviews knows the plot by now. Honest cop, diamond in the rough, investigating the accidental electrocution of a widow in a 1940 bath tub, with only two things out of order: no will and "100 large in the bank."

A tough WWI veteran about to run for Governor, unanswered questions about the past igniting the future with a 40 year fuse. The quote from Gatsby, 'boats against the current,' is as prescient now as it was then.

Some romance that might be too much but everybody finds someone sometime.

The best dialogue is found in Elmore Leonard. Diehl gives him a run for his money in Eureka. Strongly recommended.

Having read all of Mr. Diehl's previous works (except the "Reign in Hell" series), I was overjoyed to see a new novel by him. I have been a big fan since "Sharkey's Machine" was published. "Eureka" does not dissapoint. It is an intriguing story with well developed characters and a feel of nostalgia for more simple times. With the story taking place in the first half of the twentieth century, the author does not have to bog down the story with a plethora of technical details. It is one of the few books I have read in quite awhile that was truly impossible to put down. It seemed easy to get caught up in the plot and the characters' lives. This novel is not as violent as some of his earlier works, but still has enough action to keep the reader interested. To me it was a good story and an enjoyable read. I hope to see more books more often from this author.

Eureka is the generation tale of a frontier town that is tamed with the barrel of a gun. We meets Thomas Brodie Culhane (everyone calls him Brodie or Captain). Brodie grew up in Eureka, joined the Marine Corps, fought in the Great War and came home to become the town's sheriff.

His mentor was Buck Tallman, a man right out of the old west, and we are told he was deputy for Wyatt Earp. While Buckman is a bit 2 dimensional, his presence lingers throughout the novel.

Then there are Eli, Isabel and Del. Without spoiling anything, it is the stuff good sagas and generation novels are made of. By the time Mr. Diehl finished introducing Brodie, I really liked the character.

The novel shifts to Zeke Bannon - a hardboiled detective working for the LAPD. He begins investigating an apparent accidental death that turns out to be a homicide and the trail leads him to San Pietro (Eureka's new name) and to Brodie. You see there is something dark and sinister in Brodie's past and while you really don't want something to be wrong. Mister Diehl continues to lay a body of evidence that points to Brodie.

This is a very satisfying read, and it lives up to what I've come expect from this author.

When my son asked me: "What was the best thing he has written?"

I answered without missing a beat, "Everything."

"Eureka," William Diehl's first novel in five years is absolutely spectacular.

It sets the curve for me so far this year. I cannot remember a read this good in a long long time.

It took a great deal of self-discipline not to reread it immediately after finishing it. I was torn between reading it as fast as possible to see how everything was resolved or limiting myself to a daily ration in order to savor it for an extended period.

Could not put it down and had to reread the last chapter at once.

The characters come alive and you feel a part of the story. I was drawn into the era as the settings seemed atmospherically perfect. The plot is intoxicating, and just when you think you have solved a part of it; you find you guessed incorrectly.

It is a wonderfully noirish, hard boiled tale. I felt the spirit of Raymond Chandler and hopes this becomes a movie. Mr. Diehl just gets better and better.

It was worth the five-year wait.

Diehl, who created the excellent Martin Vail series, has spun a truly epic novel in this well-written masterpiece. Not a fan of those "noirish" novels of the forties, I wasn't sure what to expect from Diehl in this one. However, it is a stunning work, filled with excellent characterizations, true plot twists, and some excellent scenarios.
We start the novel out with Brodie Culhane, a young man given a new life by a wealthy landowner in turn of the century California. Brodie becomes our hero, ending up fighting in World War I, surviving and returning to his home to become the sheriff.
Next, we have Zeke Bannon, another policeman in the 40's, who investigates a murder that leads him to the domain of Sheriff Culhane, who is now planning on running for governor.
How could our hero from the first part of the book be such a corruptible character in the 40's.
That's what makes this novel so complex and interesting. Bannon's involvement with Culhane and how they come about "cleaning up" this sordid region makes for one engrossing read.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Never having read a William Diehl novel, I regret waiting so long to read this book. You are pulled into the pages by the characters and events, and held there in suspense by this richly written book. Whether the time period was set in the early 1900's or in 1945, this book holds your attention - be prepared to read this nonstop! You won't want to put it down.

I liked the Martin Vail series of tight suspense with intense characters. Eureka was such a different type of story that it came as a surprise and did not hold my interest as intently as Diehl's earlier books did. The poor cop was a little too much a boy scout type and the love interest was so out of his league that it was distracting to the story as well as totally unrealistically written. I finished Eureka; it was an ok read for me but I am not looking to return to it as quickly as other readers seem to be wanting to do.

If this is, as other amazon reviewers have indicated, one of the "best books of the year" or "the best noir fiction they've ever read" then the entire amazon reviewing system obviously needs to be taken with a few very large grains of salt.

This book is a passable read, vaguely involving but with big problems. Characters that we meet (like old Eli, Ben, Isabel) practically disappear after being introduced. Ben and Brodie are set up as best friends, but Ben is hardly a part of the 1940's segment at all ! Plus, we get this character Big Redd who plays such a pivotal part in the latter portions of the book, so why is he introduced so late in the story? This all just points to sloppy storytelling in my admittedly unimportant opinion.

The romantic subplot also comes too easy, as two people (Zeke and Millie) who like each other come together with zero conflict. Millie's character lacks any sort of suspense or danger, or interest. And although there's a good twist about the first mystery that Zeke is investigating, the scene at the end where Brodie just "tells" Zeke a bunch of the answers he's been hunting for, is entirely too weak a revelation.

Ultimately, it seems as if those ..., put too much stock in the author having had a bestseller before, or won some award somewhere. That has nothing to do with this book, which is both choppy and too long, anti-climactic, and full of the kinds of plot holes you might expect from a first time novelist. Though the main character of Zeke is likable, the book itself is not THAT well written, nor deserving of such "five star" praise.