Customer Reviews

A Five-Year Plan

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Although I missed his Berlin noir trilogy, I found Philip Kerr'S "Philosophical Investigation" to be a truly provocative book written by an author of intellect, existential wisdom and intriguing speculations of life in the near future. Kerr's "The Grid" screams screenplay, but as a Hollywood action film, could be one of the better offerings and was an absorbing, good read. "Esau," exploring still another sub-genre in the thriller category(mountaineering/anthropology etc.) to me, further affirmed Kerr's versatility and talents. I genuinely relished all three novels and eagerly anticipated Five-Year Plan.

I thought my disappointment with "Five-Year" Plan was unique, but upon perusing readers' comments here on Amazon, others seem to have also felt Kerr shows himself as an Elmore Leonard wanna be in this prosaic and sometimes banal, gangster farce. The gratuitous scatological obsessions appearing with little reason other than to offend, definitely distracted from any merits the plot may have had. The characters went beyond stereotypical into cardboard caricatures. If this had been the only book of Kerr's I'd read, I would not ever have known he was a gifted, literate writer. I hope Kerr's intellect returns from its hiatus for his next venture.

Unlike many other reviewers, I discovered Mr. Kerr's work much later, so my experience is in working back from "The Shot". I am not surprised by the reviews as few Authors can maintain a level that marks the best of their abilities book after book. Readers not only want the new work to be as good as previous efforts but even better.

Of the 3 I have read, "The Shot", "ESAU" and now "A Five Year Plan", it's 2 out of three and I plan to continue working my way back through his work. If the other reviewers are correct, the reading experience should be even better.

The enjoyment in this book was the dialogue. It was the strength of the work and ironically was responsible for the poorer parts as well. When good it reminded me of "Get Shorty", when bad, which was very infrequent, it was the result of trying to retain a level of cleverness for too long. One-line remarks are great, but there is a definite limit as to how long they can be sustained, and in 3 or 4 instances I Believe Mr. Kerr pushed too far. It's a fine line from a great run of dialogue to one line too many that kills the entire passage.

Like "ESAU" the Governmental Authorities were moronic with the exception of the Female lead. They are not even interesting in how empty-headed they are. Creating a character that is boring, annoying, but interesting to read is a challenge, if the Author misses you get the same reading enjoyment as you would if you were actually dealing with the character. And some of them seem to be uncomfortable in their roles, as they don't have anything to do in the book; they have little to nothing to do with the story.

My ranking of this book is on the dialogue at or near it's best, and happily that is the majority of the time. The plot is average as there is nothing so new or clever to keep your attention. The dialogue is very very good, it is also quite off color, bawdy, or really crude depending on your taste. So if you don't care for humor that at times may make you wince, this isn't for you. There is nothing that bad, but for some, there will be just too much.

I'm glad I stuck it out for a third book. I hope to enjoy the others as much as other reviewers.

After reading March Violets, I was a Kerr fan. Pale Criminal and German requiem were outstanding and then the slide began. Philosophical Investigation and Dead Meat were just a little off center. The Grid tried but didn't have the snap, Esau slowed and then Five Year plan is the least interesting. Too much moralizing became corny or cant and while four letter words can add snap, in this case they bacame as boring as "ahh". THere are interesting parts to this tale, but I would rather reread Berlin noir.

Mr Kerr likes to vary his subject matter, which is probably the best thing about him as a writer. I've read some of his books in the past, and though he sometimes gets too bogged down in technical matters, and is no great stylist, he always displays a fascination with his subject that can be infectious. Perhaps tired of all that technical hard work, he decided to lighten up, enjoy himself - and at the same time appeal to those film makers who baulk at the over technical content of his books. If so, he's made a mistake. This over-complicated mess of a story trips over itself trying to be cute and appealing, but ends up just being annoying. The characters are never believable and as such their exploits matter less and less to the reader. Clearly the plot isn't meant to be very serious, but this becomes annoying too. Comparisons to Elmore Leonard go very wide of the mark. Most of EL's books are pretty gritty and realistic in tone, and peopled with strong, credible characters. This is not.

This was my first Philip Kerr novel - I was aware of the Berlin Noir novels and also aware that Kerr has changed direction in recent years, writing high-concept pre-packaged blockbusters which Hollywood buys for outrageous sums of money. Bearing in mind that the rights to this belong to Tom Cruise and his producing partner, I was expecting to be very impressed. Boy, was I wrong.

Written in a bland, unremarkable prose, this reads like a cheap rip-off of a second rate Elmore Leonard novel. Kerr has no ear for the American mob-speak dialogue which makes Leonard such a joy to read. And plot? There's hardly any. Once they get on the boat - it becomes a cheesy romance piece. I'm reminded how well Leonard did the FBI/crook relationship in Out of Sight (and that was one of his weaker efforts).

For great (hard-boiled) crime novels, I'm going back to Leonard, James Hall, and Dennis Lehane

A Five Year Plan is a light, breezy caper novel that has clearly been influenced by the work of Elmore Leonard. Like many of Leonard's novels, we meet our protagonist just after he is released from prison. During a five year stint in prison, Dave Deleno has cooked up a plan to hijack a shipment of drug money on its way to Russia for laundering.

The first part of the novel evokes the feel of a South Florida crime novel, complete with quirky (some might say `cartoonish') criminals and snappy (some might say `derivative') dialogue. The novel switches gears once the caper at sea is underway. Dave boards a transport ferry on a mob financed yacht. Dave plans to seize control of the ferry and steal millions in cash aboard another of the yachts while it crosses the Atlantic from Miami to the Mediterranean. Things get complicated when he falls for a gorgeous FBI agent (Kate) who is on board watching yet another yacht, this one carrying cocaine.

I enjoyed the first part of the novel more than the second. Once at sea, the plot becomes something of a waiting game until the big heist. During this time we are introduced to a rather silly cast of characters, including a boatload of porn stars, a pretentious movie star, and an obstinate ship captain. The FBI's surveillance of the drug shipment apparently doesn't require much time and attention, allowing Kate's buffoonish supervisor to spend most of his time getting drunk and chasing porn stars, while Kate finds romance on the high seas with the compassionate criminal Dave. Dave and Kate share a lot of snappy banter but overall their romance felt a little forced to me.

Eventually the time comes to hijack the ship but the outcome is no surprise to the reader. The question the reader will be asking themselves is not `will Dave get away with the money' (that's a foregone conclusion) but rather `will Kate turn her back on romance and try to arrest Dave or will she sail away with him into the sunset'?

The romance between cop and crook was done much better by Elmore Leonard in Out of Sight, and the caper itself isn't quite clever enough to elevate this novel beyond 3 stars, but if you are a fan of quirky crime fiction you should find this to be an entertaining (if unremarkable) ride. There is nothing here that hasn't been done before.

During his five year stretch in a Florida prison Dave Delano comes up with a brilliant plan that's going to make him a millionaire. The plan involves stealing drug money that is being shipped in a luxury yacht that's being transported in a huge ship bound for Europe (one million and a half to be exact). The dilemma is that the FBI has a tip and has sent a couple of agents along for the ride.

The whole story develops during this sea voyage. It may seem limiting to keep the whole tale in this uncanny setting, but somehow Philip Kerr manages to keep the story exciting. There are a lot of plot twists in this thriller that keep you guessing all the time, but it never gets too confusing.

The story gets better as you keep reading. You are going to meet some pretty funny and bizarre characters, and the ending which kills a lot of novels in the, "Thriller that has a lot of Plot Twists" genre, is very rewarding. Overall it's a great novel.

Reading this book was as close as I believe I've ever come to actually reading a blockbuster movie. Not an artsy film, but an actual big budget big stars big production kind of a movie. Which is not exactly what I look for in a book. It was an easy and fast read, with smart cracking characters possessing the depth of a soapdish. The story line was simple enough to follow, with predictable twists and double crosses. The cover says that the book was optioned for a movie, so I'd reccomend waiting for the big screen treatment. After all, the typical things one normally worries about with a book adaptation, won't be a problem here. No depth or charm will be lost surely. Exept for maybe an occasional spark of wit, which in my opinion is the book's most redeeming quality. Should have given it less then 3 stars, but I'm feeling generous, after all I didn't fall asleep once while reading the book:)

As a not-so-avid reader, i picked this book up because it was so cheap and i needed something to read at the pool! It has met my expectations. A little romance, a little trash, a little humor; it is perfect for passing the time! I have really enjoyed it but have never read any other books by this author. I think for a hard-core reader, it may not do the trick, but for a quick and easy read, this is your ticket!

Phillip Kerr is probably better known for "The Grid" or "A Philosophical Investigation" than his wonderful "Berlin Noir" trilogy which is sad, since Berlin Noir is his best ever. A Five Year Plan is completely different from anything he has previously written but is recognisably the work of the Berlin Noir man all the same.

Our hero leaves prison with a plan to make a lot of money very quickly, and therefore illegally. He approaches the boss crook, for whom he took the five year fall, for financial backing and sets off across the Atlantic on a yacht transporter. He is accompanied by multifarious crooks, millionaires, seamen and FBI agents and falls in love with an FBI lady on a mission to catch some other crooks. Will he get away with it? Will true love conquer all? Will he get everyone killed? It's always hard to know with Kerr and I'm not going to tell you.

I strongly recommend this book. Kerr is a wonderful writer, akin to Michael Dibdin in the quality of his craftsmanship and flexibility. He writes witty, fluid and keenly observed prose and can always keep you up all night to finish just one more chapter.