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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Black Rock City Goes Gritty, February 8, 2006
This review is from: Five Star First Edition Mystery - Eye of the Burning Man: A Mick Callahan Novel (Hardcover)
In Eye of the Burning Man, Harry Shannon's continuation of the Mick Callahan mystery series, we get all the elements that genre lovers could ask for. An ever-more-sympathetic hero who happens to be an ace in combat and mind games, multiple love interests, a fairly labyrinthine plot, drugs, the occasional bit of very gruesome action, intellectual pimps, sassy hookers, sad junkies, porno subplots, etc. Shannon has gone all out to make this a fun ride.
Past the exciting genre conventions he's also written a funny and touching novel that treats its character relationships seriously and serves up an underlying meditation on love. Love found, love lost, love violated. It makes for a rewarding (and very fast-paced) read. You'll crack this book and read straight through to the cataclysmic and satisfying end.
As a "Burner" and regular yearly citizen of Black Rock City, I was initially concerned about the portrayal of the Burn in the novel, but by the time Mick arrived at the Playa I was so involved in the mystery and the world Shannon had created that this version of the festival worked fine for me. In fact, I really enjoyed the guns and chaos and thuggery mixed in with familiar sights and beautiful madness of the Playa. Made me anxious to get back out to the desert.
Eye of the Burning Man is a thrilling episode from Mick Callahan's files, and leaves me excited for the next go `round.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This sequel tops the first book, June 12, 2011
This review is from: Five Star First Edition Mystery - Eye of the Burning Man: A Mick Callahan Novel (Hardcover)
So many people have already described the writing style and given their own synopsis, it feels redundant for me to do the same.
I bought this as a 3 in 1 Kindle download - the first three books in the Mick Callahan series together. I am so glad I did! Not only was I able to immediately begin reading Eye of the Burning Man after finishing Memorial Day, but book two is even better than the first. I liked Mick before. Now I think I'm falling for him. ;)
I'll be starting book three, "Eye of the Wicked" this evening, and I can only imagine that it's going to be just as good if not better. I hope there will be more Mick to come after Running Cold, as I am sure I'll still be hooked at the end of book four.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Action Packed Read, July 14, 2010
Psychologist Mick Callahan has a knack for getting into trouble. A recovering alcoholic, womanizer and fighter (as a child his stepfather forced him to fight for money), he's now on the straight and narrow after barely escaping his last scrape with his life (the events of Shannon's previous novel, Memorial Day). In fact, things are finally looking up; he's got a pretty young girlfriend and a new hit radio talk show.
But when Callahan and his date are mysteriously assaulted in the parking lot by a huge tattooed man wearing a black mask, and his housekeeper's adopted son is kidnapped, it seems that trouble has once again found him. Things quickly get worse: an old friend, drug addict and prostitute named Mary calls him with a plea for help, and he can't resist going after her.
The problem is, Mary has fallen in with a very bad group of people, and Callahan quickly finds himself swept up into a dangerous plot. Nothing is as it seems, and he must call in every favor and use every ounce of his strength and cunning to stay alive. Assault, prostitution and child pornography are par for the course as Shannon's taut thriller moves with lightning speed to a thrilling conclusion.
Shannon's prose is effortless as he propels the story along with the practiced ease of a master. There's enough intrigue and plot twists to keep any reader interested, but the real hook of this novel is Callahan himself.
Eye of the Burning Man is, in a word, astonishingly good. This novel is lean, dark and one hell of a lot of fun. Although it's not necessary to read Shannon's previous Callahan novel, Memorial Day, it's worth doing so, if only to see the character change and grow from one book to the next. Callahan is more than an echo of the hard-boiled sleuths from other standout detective series from Parker, Crais, MacDonald and Thompson; he is a fresh new voice, a flawed everyman hero who knows his own demons and his own limitations and is strong enough to overcome.
Put simply, Eye of the Burning Man stands with some of the very best noir mystery fiction around. Shannon deserves a much wider audience for this series, and one can only hope he will land a mass-market deal so that many more readers can become acquainted with Mick Callahan Highly recommended.
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