Customer Reviews

Five Star First Edition Mystery - Eye of the Burning Man: A Mick Callahan Novel

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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.

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.

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.

Harry Shannon has done it again with the second Mick Callahan book. While Mick is busy building a new life for himself and moving forward there are some who want to pull him back. We have some interesting new characters with some old favorites showing up. Mick likes to rant and manages to do so without coming across as an insufferable know it all. More people should have this much common sense.

Harry's tight writing keeps the pages turning without the slightest bit of boredom. I highly recommend the Mick Callahan books to anyone who likes well written mysteries.

(Review originally appeared in Chizine)

Eye of the Burning Man

Harry Shannon splits his time between writing about monsters (Night of the Werewolf) and amateur sleuth Mick Callahan (Memorial Day). Callahan is one in a long line of memorable, colorful amateur sleuths whose adventures we love to share. A licensed therapist and radio talk show host with skeletons of a ruined career and drug-alcohol addictions in his closet, he's also an ex-almost-SEAL and a bare-knuckles boxer abused by his obsessed father. The long list of flaws and near-flaws is what keeps him interestingly contradictory. He's down home, he's Hollywood. He's sensitive, he's a flaring-temper tough guy. He's both of LA and anti-LA. And he's good at dispensing psychology on the air, a sort of cowboy Frasier Crane, but he rarely manages to take his own advice.

Mick's not really a sleuth, as such. He's a knight-errant, a righter of wrongs, a defender of the weak (even if sometimes he is himself weak). He's not an investigator, but more reactionary; he doesn't drive the action, the action drives him. Shannon's deft touch makes these contradictions work, reminding us of our own. We are all slaves to our weaknesses and Callahan, he seems to be saying, is smart enough to recognize his but not always smart enough to beat them. Much more than the plot, we're drawn to Callahan because of who he is.

But the plot's engrossing, too. It's been some time since the events of Memorial Day, and Callahan thinks he's put all the death behind him. He's moved to LA and now has his own hit radio show in a bigger market, dispensing advice to the lovelorn. His own relationships are shaky at best, as proven when he's drawn into a street fight and subsequently dumped by his new girlfriend. But the fight also draws him into yet another violent case. First, his maid's nephew has been kidnapped. Then Mary, who saved his life in the previous book, calls begging for help getting away from a notorious pimp-pornographer. In the meantime, a bizarre FBI agent starts to lean on him as if he's involved in a kiddie-porn organization. Callahan reconnects with Darlene, a beautiful cop he owes big, seeking her help in the kidnapping. But, of course, there's more. The rescued Mary is soon kidnapped, Darlene's cop cousin is shot, and Callahan realizes that he's being lured somewhere for some sort of payback. And he's not one to duck a fight.

The place is Nevada's Burning Man festival (Black Rock City), a dizzying blend of sex, drugs, music, free love, and anti-establishment hedonism (as Mick Callahan sees it). It's a fascinating experiment in community and alternative radical anti-establishmentarianism, but as a recovering addict he's pretty much against it, though he has vague memories of having attended back when he was using. Drawing upon Darlene's off-the-books help, as well as that of his wealthy sponsor, and Jerry the computer expert, Callahan takes the bait and enters the ring once again. Like a boxer who absorbs an opponent's punishment then strikes back decisively when it looks as if it's all over, Callahan finds he's too late for some, just in time for others--his fallibility bears a heavy price. The climax is an explosive exclamation point to the threads which converge in the surreal setting of the festival and its paganistic ritual.

Easy readability gives Eye of the Burning Man a great part of its charm, as does the characterization. Equal parts hard-boiled, desert noir and morality play, layered with simple humanity and the occasional lecture on life and love, this Mick Callahan novel thrives by thwarting convention to tell its well-paced story, and remaining true to its quirky characters.

--W.D. Gagliani, author of Savage Nights

Psychologist Mick Callaghan 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 Callaghan 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 Callaghan 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 taught thriller moves with lightning speed to a thrilling conclusion.

Put simply, Eye of the Burning Man stands with some of the very best noir mystery fiction around. This is an astonishingly good book. Shannon deserves a much wider audience, and one can only hope he will land a mass-market deal so that many more readers can become acquainted with Mick Callaghan. Highly recommended.

Callahan's transition over this series is brilliant, especially when read in sequence. In Memorial Day he is self absorbed and immature but becomes heroic under pressure. In this one he comes into his own as an avenger. Great stuff. Read the whole series. Out of order is fine, but in order better.

In Eye of the Burning Man, when child pornographers kidnap Mick's maid's young nephew, and a crack whore asks Mick for protection, he is happy to leave the studio to mix it up with the lowlifes---but what if he's being set up for a lethal case of revenge?

Here we have the 2nd "Mick Callahan" book, Mick is on the up and becoming very successful but trouble is not too far away for our Mick!
While leaving a radio studio late at night, Mick is attacked by a masked man and gets dumped by his girlfriend for his troubles. To add more misery his maids young nephew is abducted. Is that it? No, a girl called Mary asks Mick for help from her nasty pimp, of course it's time for Mick too kick some ass!

Along the way Mick requires help from Darlene (a cop) and not forgetting Jerry (a computer expert) and Hal (Mick's sponsor who has plenty of money)All the clues lead to Nevada's Burning Man Festival and a confrontation even Mick was not expecting.....

This 2nd Callahan novel is probably my favourite, Harry Shannon brings plenty scuffs and scrapes for Mick and I like it! This is a fast read because it is that good, mystery/noir is becoming something Harry Shannon is very good at. All the cool characters are here to enjoy, whether they be good or bad.

I only hope more people in the UK pick up some of Harry Shannon's books, he really deserves a bigger audience.

I often find it to be an intimidating prospect to review a book that was written by a friend. I feel obligated to give a positive review and if I do take it on, and I worry that I won't like it. However, I knew that I had little to fear in picking up Harry Shannon's Eye of the Burning Man. I've enjoyed all of his previous publications.

Yes, Harry is a friend. Harry is active on the message boards, writes novels and stories, is a husband and father, works as an analyst and he has taken time out of his busy schedule to offer advisement to me in times of personal uncertainty. Harry Shannon is one of the good ones.

His readers first became acquainted with Mick Callahan in Memorial Day, a previous novel that was also published by Five Star Books. Callahan is a character that I can relate to immensely. It's funny, Mick Callahan is a former actor and I'm not; Callahan was almost a NAVY SEAL and I've never even considered joining the Armed Forces; he is a former cocaine addict and I've never had any kind of problem with the stuff. And he is a psychologist and I'm a blue collar worker. Why do I have such an easy time identifying with this Callahan guy?

Well, Mick Callahan is a recovered substance abuser and he's also a guy that wrestles with his own personal demons. He's trying to find peace and redemption within himself. That something just about all of us can empathize with. How many of us are ashamed or embarrassed about some of the things we've done in the past? How many of us desire to learn from our mistakes and wish to help others that are making the same ones? I think that encompasses the majority of us. Mick is a flawed and often uncertain human being, yet he has a solid moral center that I think is shared by most individuals. He's bungling along his life, getting his share of knocks, and trying to find love, happiness and satisfaction. Pretty much like the rest of us.

Eye of the Burning Man opens with Mick in action on a sparsely listened to late night radio show. He's up the ladder of success a bit since the brutal circumstances that occurred over the last Memorial Day weekend, but he still has a long way to go. Demons from that weekend still haunt Callahan, both in human and emotional forms. Why did Mick and his lady companion get attacked outside the radio station at the beginning of the book? His cleaning lady's young son is abducted. Coincidence? Strange things are happening. Things that somehow point to the bizarre counter-culture event known as the Burning Man Festival. Once more, Mick finds himself immersed in a messy, violent puzzle in which he must question the motives of nearly everyone he contacts in his struggle to help an addicted young woman that saved his own ass last May.

I love hard, yet emotional suspense that is written by the likes of Ed Gorman and Bill Pronzini. Harry Shannon hits all the right notes in both Memorial Day and Eye of the Burning Man. If you've read the first one, it will help with Eye of the Burning Man, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary.

Bottom line: I truly wish that more books I pick up would be as entertaining, enriching and potent as Eye of the Burning Man. This is the kind of novel that the reader flies through with very few breaks, and wishes that it wouldn't end as fast as it did.

Trouble sticks like lint to Harry Shannon's Callahan, and this story, while not as taut as Memorial Day, certainly returns him to the same shabby territory. The plot's been well described here. The characters in Burning Man are not as full (or desperate), and the lateral progression of the plot never quite achieves the suspense you suspect is possible. But the character of Mick Callahan is the selling point of this book. Callahan is a bit more world-weary but (somewhat) more optimistic in the face of everything that's going on around him, and it's Callahan's character that carries the book. The 12-step jargon gets ladled on a little thickly, but his observations and the fragility of his soul as he steps forward to help are convincing and worth the price of admission. I look forward to Shannon's next novel with Mick Callahan and perhaps the author will work in some of his very fine horror chops (read Night of the Werewolf or the excellent short story collection Bad Seed). As for the carping about Shannon's use of the Burning Man setting--come on. These must be the same people who hated Hamlet for its depiction of Denmark.