Go by Go [Hardcover]

Jon A. Jackson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of the excellent, unfettered Fang Mulheisen stories (Man With an Axe, 1998) shifts direction in both subject and style with this historical novel. Union activist Frank Little is murdered in the copper mining town of Butte, Mont., in 1917. More a patsy than a plotter, Goodwin Ryder is a young Pinkerton detective who arrives in town, befriends Little, falls for a miner's wife and struggles vainly both to save his job and to save Little, a charismatic orator, a homosexual and the man Ryder's sinister superiors want dead. The narrative fast-forwards about 30 years to Hollywood where Ryder has become a pulp-fiction writer and a drunk who gets a chance to come clean about his role in Little's untimely death. Although Jackson imparts no fresh Tinseltown lore, the second section possesses far more life than the scenes set in Montana. Aimed at readers interested in the period and places, this novel doesn't offer much to satisfy fans of Fang.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

It's 1917, and Goodwin Ryder, a naive young Baltimore street kid, is eager to start his first assignment with a detective agency. He must infiltrate the union run by Frank Little, which is currently crippling copper mines in Butte, Montana. The escalating involvement of the U.S. in World War I and the increasing copper prices are the key reasons the pressure to end the strike is so keen. Ryder initially sees the issue in black-and-white terms: labor is bad, business is good; however, he eventually realizes that he has much more in common with the miners than with the companies for which he works. Unable to free himself from the agency, he becomes an unwitting accomplice in the lynching death of Little. Author Jackson, best known for his Fang Mulheisen detective series, has taken a little-known historical incident and woven it into a fascinating tapestry of time, place, atmosphere, and character. Wes Lukowsky

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Dennis Mcmillan Pubns (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0939767317
• ISBN-13: 978-0939767311
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,404,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story on early 20th Century corruption, March 18, 2000

By 

James L. Roberts "Jim Roberts" (Liberty, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Go by Go (Hardcover)

Jon A. Jackson has written a masterpiece of hard-boiled noir that takes efforts to organize 1917 miners and turns out a masterful story of greed, retribution and revenge.

I read this book between Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me and The Golden Gizmo, both excellent examples of the noir genre. Jackson does it better.

A young Pinkerton agent, Goodwin "Geed" Ryder, is sent to Butte, MT, in 1917 to help put an end to union organization. There, he befriends, and ultimately, betrays, IWW union organizer Frank Little. When Little is murdered, the young detective leaves the agency, and takes up an itinerant life as a mystery writer.

Thinking the past is as dead as his friend, Little, Geed suddenly finds himself drawn back into the mix in the 1950s as the House Unamerican Activities Committee begins an investigation into Geed's ties to Communists.

An overall sense of frustration builds through this book as you look at Geed's decisions and actions, but Jackson gently ties it together, giving you a fine, ultimately satisfying, story in the process.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Say not to your neighbor, "Go and come again tomorrow...when you can give at once." Proverbs, February 3, 2010

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Go by Go (Hardcover)

After a mine explosion in Butte, Montana results in the death of 162 miners in 1917, the miners walk out, demanding better safety conditions in the mines. Union organizer Frank Little comes to Butte and begins encouraging the miners to join his union. The Pinkertons and other agencies are there too. They are hired by the Copper Kings, the mining corporation to make sure that Little doesn't succeed.

Young Pinkerton operative, Geed Ryder is sent to the area to infiltrate the strikers, find the trouble makers and determine what the miner's were planning.

Geed is well described as a character with his youthful ambition and gullibility. In this respect, he may be a symbol of the United States at that time and the view of unions and corporate profits.

Geed seems sincere and is able to talk his way into the homes and hearts of the miners and union representatives. He is also seen as a man with failings as he becomes involved with the wife of a miner who was his friend.

The setting is the mining town of Butte, Montana. It is depicted precisely with accompanying photographic documentation, This adds realism to the story and makes the reader feel that they are learning the details from the local newspaper.

Jon A. Jackson details the attempts by the union to provide a safer working environment and a living wage for the union members. The greedy corporation uses the World War as an excuse, claiming that anyone who wants to set up unions and stop the mining must be a communist. In this manner they are able to hide their greed and their heartlessness toward their employees.

A thought provoking story.