Customer Reviews

Finnegan's Week

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

 

 

With Finnegan's Week, Joseph Wambaugh has pulled together a very entertaining story. The book follows a week in the life of aging police detective -- and aspiring actor -- Finn Finnegan as he works through two apparently unrelated crimes. Finnegan's insecurities and quirks add spice to the story and mix well with the other characters. All in all, Wambough has created a story that, although not terribly complex, is enjoyable to go through.

I purchased this book several years ago and finally got around to reading it this past week. It is an enjoyable read but not - in my opinion - one of Joseph Wambaugh's best. I was going to give it 3 stars but will upgrade to 4 because the book has a better ending than most of Wambaugh's books. Nothing bad happens to the main police characters. The best line in the book deals with Vietnamese restaurants.

A wonderful, crazy, yet cruelly sane morality tale, written with preeminent wit and humor. Impossible to put down!

Wambaugh has a flair for scriptwriting equal to Quinton Tarantino at his best. He's brutal, sly, topical, sharp, intense and outrageous all at the same time. This novel can be a bit silly at times, but never does it become stale. "Finnegan's Week" should appeal to readers of a wide variety of tastes, and I'm surprised that Wambaugh doesn't have a larger following than he has. His plots weave in and out, and he always finds a unique way to bring it all together at the end. His razor-sharp wit sets him apart from the rest of the thriller writers out there. A great, fun read with a superior style.

In Finnegan's Week, two-bit criminals steal a couple thousand pairs of shoes from the Navy, illegally depose of toxic waste in Mexico and are involved in a scheme to steal $500 from their boss and make it look like their truck was stolen.

Young Navy detective Bobbie Ann Daggett, Nell Salter, investigator for the D.A.'s office and former cop, and Fin Finnegan of the San Diego Police Department are brought together by the case. Finnegan, who seems to be going through a mid-life crisis, ends up dating both of the women, which leads to some of the funniest conversations in the book.

As usual, the two-bit criminal screw things up and Daggett ends up with the biggest case of her career.

This book, which features many references to the early 1990s, has an interesting cast of characters. While it's not among Wambaugh's best works, it is worth reading.

Fin Finnegan is a property crimes detective in the southern end of San Diego, raised mostly by three older sisters (who always made him do things for his own good), just turned forty-five (over the hill), married and divorced three times (an unfortunate habit), fan of Ross Perot in the forthcoming election (hard to remember why anyone would be, now), of rather small stature (which women think is cute), squeamish about autopsies (why he works property crimes), and becoming rather tired of being a cop. In fact, Fin knows he was born to be an actor, but he's never gotten far with that, either. (But, as he agent reminds him, at least he can look forward to a decent pension.) Meanwhile, Jules Temple, a semi-sociopath and semi-successful businessman (as long as he continues to very carefully break the law), is on the verge of selling his waste-disposal company, intending to start a topless club with the profits. Working for him are two disgruntled truckers (one Mexican, one drugged-out biker) who know they're about to be let go when the company changes hands, so when they pick up a couple of drums of dangerous waste from the U.S. Navy, they also take the opportunity to steal a few thousand pair of expensive flight deck shoes, which they arrange to sell in Tijuana. They've also picked up a very dangerous drum from an agricultural firm, though, which Jules has mis-manifested so as to save himself some money. Of course, the thieves can't get their Mexican contact to pay them for the shoes, the abandoned truck gets stolen, the drum of poison contaminates some innocent bystanders, and Jules is suddenly very worried about what will happen if the Very Bad Stuff turns up and is traced to him. Enter Fin, who's slightly interested in the stolen property but even more interested in Nell Salter, an ex-cop of his acquaintance (and about his age) who is now an environmental investigator for the DA's office. Enter also Petty Officer 2nd Class Bobbie Ann Doggett (known as "Bad Dog"), a small, chirpy blonde detective for the Navy, all of twenty-eight, who wants those shoes back. Fin and Nell hit it off. Fin and Bobbie hit it off. Nell and Bobbie are wary of each other. Everyone drinks too much. And, gradually, as the week goes on, the three begin to get a grip on the true extent of the related crimes -- though they never do get it all quite right. And while Wambaugh's irrepressible style and gift for smart-aleck dialogue guarantees a good time for the reader, not everyone will come out of this alive.

Great crime mystery,this book has it all. Humor, suspense,drama and fantastic writing! Read ALL of Wambaugh's books.

It was a gift, my husband had read all Wambaugh books with the exception of this one and I lost him to it. He said wow, great.

Much, much more fun than previous work. My wife and I both laughed out loud while reading Finnegan's Week. It's larger than life, but believable all the way. In our opinion, this is Wambaugh's best novel.

Wambaugh delivers as usual in this funny, exciting tale of an cop whos an aspiring actor (and whos facing midlife crises as only an actor wannabe can) while in the middle of investigating a truck theft that turns out to also involve a theft from a Naval warehouse as well as a load of missing toxic waste. His case brings him into contact with two tough and sexy Policewomen, each with her own private and professional agenda. Will Fin Finnegan (the cop-actor-hopeful) get the part hes trying out for? Will he survive a week filled with too much booze, a murderous sociopath business owner, a druggy biker turned trucker, and two beautiful women who both seem as interested in him as they are in the case at hand? This is typical Wambaugh in that the horrors and sadness of the crimes and victims are not treated lightly, yet (like the good cops who frequent his novels) our only salvation from evil is to laugh at his sometimes mordant humor and wit. One of Wambaughs strengths is his ability to gradually make his characters sympathetic and likeable, sometimes even when theyre not the good guys. I rate this as one of Wambaughs best novels, and thats saying something, since in my opinion hes never written a bad one. I wish he would recover his muse and write some more fiction in the vein of this novel and FUGITIVE NIGHTS. Its been a while since hes come out with any novels. A shame, because no one else writes about police life in quite the same way.

A five star rating for the humor, characters, and the suspense.