Customer Reviews

Hard Freeze: A Joe Kurtz Novel (Joe Kurtz Thriller)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was actually praying last year that Dan Simmons would write a follow-up novel to his excellent "private eye" thriller, HARDCASE. Think of the early "Burke" novels by Andrew Vachss, and you have an idea just how dark, violent, suspenseful and entertaining this debut series is. When I found out that a new "Joe Kurtz" novel was in the works, I jumped up and down, singing praises to the gods above, wondering if I could hang in there till the book was published. Well, I made it, and HARD FREEZE is finally out. That's not all, either. Not only is HARD FREEZE better than the first "Joe Kurtz" novel (if that's even possible), but Mr. Simmons is now working on a third book in this fabulous series about an ex-P.I./ex-con who's hard as nails, yet has a code of honor reminiscent of the Japanese samurai. This time around, Kurtz has to do battle on several fronts. First and foremost, there's a contract out on him. Stephen "Little Skag" Farino, who's still in Attica, wants Kurtz dead because the P.I. knows too much about the Farino family business, especially with regards to the deaths of his father and older sister. Little Skag has his younger sister, Angelina, hire the necessary killers to take Kurtz out, but they prove to be no match for our dark hero. When Angelina sees just how good Kurtz really is, she decides to use him to kill mobster Emilio Gonzaga, who's trying to take over the Farino business, and to neutralize her older brother, who's due for parole in a few months. As if this wasn't enough to deal with, Kurtz is also being followed by two cops who want a little helping of revenge for the death of Detective Hathaway six months before. While Kurtz is trying to stay alive, his homeless friend, Pruno, gets him to help a dying concert violinist, John Wellington Frears, hunt for a serial killer that murdered his daughter. But wait, that isn't all. Kurtz is also keeping an eye on Donald Rafferty, the legal guardian of Rachel Fielding (the daughter of Kurtz's dead partner, Samantha). He's afraid that something bad is going to happen to Rachel and is ready to kill Rafferty, if it does. On top of everything else, Kurtz's secretary, Arlene, is pushing him to help find some new office space and to come up with $35,000.00 to start a new Internet business. Last but not least, Buffalo, New York is having the worse snowstorm of its history, and when the snow finally melts, there's going to be a dozen dead bodies scattered around the city for the local police to deal with, compliments of Joe Kurtz. HARD FREEZE is an intensely dark and utterly violent novel with touches of humor mixed in and a hero that isn't always the most likeable person in the world. It starts out at a brisk pace with the Three Stooges (three ex-cons from Attica) trying to take Joe Kurtz out and doesn't let up till after the final battle at the end when Kurtz will have to tangle with one of the most deadly serial killers around and a skilled martial arts expert that makes Bruce Lee seem like a Boy Scout. Not only does author, Dan Simmons, manage to expertly juggle a large number of intricate plot points and to tie up each one by the end of the book without it seeming forced or contrived, but he also creates a somber atmosphere with Buffalo, New York as the backdrop that is perfect for this type of story. The reader is with Joe Kurtz throughout the entire journey, rooting for his survival and for him to take out the bad guys. Mr. Simmons not only fulfills the reader's expectations in every way imaginable, he leaves the reader wanting more, and that is a skill only an accomplished writer can achieve. I'm now eagerly awaiting the third book in the series, knowing that it will probably be at least a year or longer before I can once again enter the thoroughly entertaining world of Joe Kurtz. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I feel both Kurtz novels have the same problem. They start off great, set up a ton of enemies for Joe Kurtz to deal with, each nastier than the next, the reader is looking forward to a bloodbath of John Woo-like proportions for the finale...
... And then it all goes to pieces. Too many bad guys take each other out, the invincible Kurtz suddenly becomes extremely vulnerable and only triumphs because Simmons resorts to some Deus Ex Machina-type plotting.
The books are very gritty (almost up to Andrew Vacchs-level), Kurtz is a unlikeable yet fascinating thug-hero, the writing is effective (though not great), the reader is never bored - but the end result is not really fulfilling. Strange, because I've always liked the plotting in Simmons' science fiction novels.
Anyway, the deserved if mean-spirited attack on the Spenser novels (which I used to love - a looooong time ago) is probably the highlight of this book!

Joe Kurtz, ex-PI, has been out of Attica only four months, after serving a twelve year sentence for manslaughter, when he finds himself bombarded by hit men hired by the Farinos, an upstate New York crime family interested in making him dead. And then there's a dying violinist who thinks Kurtz might still be a PI and asks him to look into the case of a dead child killer who just might not be dead. The two plots soon converge, in a clash of bumbling Farino family bodyguards, the lovely and dangerous Farino daughter Angelina Farino Ferrara, two crooked cops who would just love to catch on-parole Kurtz carrying a gun, a freezing cold Buffalo winter, and the most dangerous element of all -- a serial killer hiding behind a big name right out in the open.

HARD FREEZE, Dan Simmons's second book about this tough, relentless anti-hero Joe Kurtz, is hardboiled, gritty, and full of dead bodies. How many were there? I never managed to keep count but the total kept rising, Kurtz carrying out a few too many of his own executions for me to be comfortable, and the bad guy spurred onward by the cheesiest motivation imaginable to justify his horrible treatment of teenage girls. The dialogue also left a lot to be desired; no Elmore Leonard here. Still, the story is fast paced with just a hint of heartless romance, characters who thankfully remain true to their type, and a justice for the bad guy terrible enough to satisfy even Joe Kurtz.

If you like tough and bloody hardboiled tales about cruelty and violence, ex-cons and crooked cops, and outside-the-law heros who never give up fighting for their own, HARD FREEZE is sure to satisfy.

Joe Kurtz, the anti-anti-hero of Dan Simmons' latest crime novel, "Hard Freeze," is one tough ..... If you've read "Hard Case," Simmons' first foray into the hard-boiled world of crime drama, you know a little of what to expect from Kurtz and company this time out-but only a little, because Simmons has truly outdone himself with "Hard Freeze." If "Hard Case" was a cool little jazz combo swinging away for all it was worth, its sequel is a speaker-blowing blast of rock `n' roll that's guaranteed to hit you where it counts. And hit you hard.

"Freeze" begins shortly after "Case" left off, with the ex-con, ex-P.I. Kurtz on the run from the Farinos, an upstate New York crime family eager to get him back behind bars-or better yet, in the ground. Kurtz must also face an adversary even more threatening than the family's cut-rate wise guys (who admittedly aren't all that wise): winter in Buffalo. It's one of the coldest in history, and even the most stoic Buffalonians are admitting it's a little cool out. If that's not enough, the city has also decided to condemn the abandoned porno shop Kurtz and his secretary have been using as a base of operations. So, when all of the elements conspire against him, what's an ex-con to do?

Kurtz keeps himself busy. While avoiding the Farinos and a pair of crooked cops on his tail, he soon becomes entangled in the dealings of a white-collar child molester/serial killer who might very well be hiding behind a prominent false identity. In the process of bringing the killer to justice, Kurtz must avoid being squashed like a bug between the greasy wheels of city politics and organized crime. He must also make sure not to loose his footing in a deadly dance of power he's fallen into with the shrewd, estranged daughter of the Farino family, the beautiful Angelina Farino Ferrara. Both Kurtz and Ferrara are out to use the other for their own purposes, while trying not to get used up themselves. It's all very romantic, in a cold-blooded sort of way.

Simmons has managed to create something intriguing and vastly entertaining in the character of Joe Kurtz. Kurtz is like a great white shark, long acclimated to the icy depths of his own solitary world: he's compelled to move forward in order to survive, and is ready to devour anything or anyone that obstructs his path. And yet, from page one, he's got the reader's sympathy. There's something about his amoral lack of guile that's kind of endearing.

With his second Kurtz novel, Simmons has honed his ability to write in the hard-boiled genre to a dog-bothering pitch. "Hard Freeze" is lean and mean, with nary an ounce of excess fat. Even if you're not a fan of the genre, you can't help but be carried along by the sheer force of Simmons' vigorous storytelling. He creates tension and suspense and moves his characters about with the able, foresighted dexterity of a grandmaster sitting down for a game of chess.

Simmons has deservedly won high accolades and praise for his writing in many styles and genres (horror, science fiction, historical fiction, travel narrative, and mainstream). Wherever his restless muse next leads him, Dan Simmons is sure to take with him an ever-growing legion of readers. The jacket copy of "Hard Freeze" promises another Joe Kurtz novel in the near future, and Simmons is reportedly also working on a massive new science fiction epic to rival his Hyperion novels. One of Simmons' own farcaster portals couldn't get me there fast enough.

...HARD FREEZE finds our hero(?) Joe Kurtz, picking up where he left off in HARD CASE...In true sequel style, HARD FREEZE picks up with Kurtz risking all to find and destroy anyone associated with the murder of Sam.

HARD FREEZE opens in the middle of a brutal Buffalo winter with Kurtz evading three hit men of questionable grey matter (Kurtz knew them in Attica as "The Three Stooges"). As it turns out, Steve "Little Skag" Farino, a returning character from HARD CASE, has decided that Kurtz must go but is too cheap to hire a quality hitter. Thus, The Three Stooges. After learning, through dubious means, of the latest plot against his life, Kurtz finds himself in a relatively no-win situation: cops on one side just waiting to send him back to the joint and the mob on the other side with renewed interest in seeing him become fish food. At this point, Simmons introduces the reader to Angelina Farino Ferrara, Little Skag's older sister and the initial protagonist. Through "certain" interrogation techniques, Kurtz learns that another Buffalo crime family, the Gozangas, was responsible for Samantha's murder. This is all Kurtz needs to know to become the one-man wrecking crew that he is however, the storyline doesn't stop here.

Simmons decides to make Kurtz's life a little more [interesting] by throwing two more, somewhat exacerbating, circumstances at our hero. Kurtz's teenage daughter, a daughter who has no clue of Joe Kurtz's existence, has been left in the custodianship of the sterotypical sleazy stepfather. Without causing upheaval in his daughter's life, Kurtz decides to play her invisible angel by keeping tabs on the stepfather...quite close tabs.

The second situation and one that plays a major role in the plot of this book is a new client Kurtz is reluctant to take on. An older black man, John Wellington Frears, a concert violinist, was referred to Kurtz by his longtime heroin addict friend/informant, Pruno. It seems that Frears daughter was raped and murdered some twenty years ago. The official story was that, after murdering Frears' daughter, the murderer commited the classic familial murder/suicide, but Frears swears to Kurtz that he saw the man at the Buffalo airport very recently. Although Kurtz is ostensibly unilaterally-minded in his quest for revenge against the Gonzaga Family, Kurtz takes on Frears' case and begins the hunt for the ghost Frears seeks. As the story plays out, it becomes abundantly clear that Frears' nemesis is also Kurtz's nemesis and a monster of much greater proportions than Kurtz could ever imagine.

It is quite obvious that Simmons' plot is multidimensional. However, he is able to keep the plot in reasonably decent order and places emphasis on the multipile storylines in a well-sorted manner thus keeping the reader involved in each subplot. Additionally, Simmons pays the proper level of attention to each subplot thereby creating the perfectly-wound web providing the basis for bringing the the storylines together in the end.

Of minor concern and my only issue with HARD FREEZE, the ending seemed somewhat abrupt, almost as though Simmons "needed" to finish the book ASAP. While not materially denigrating to the story as a whole, it was somewhat obvious and a bit detracting from an otherwise wonderful hardnosed, hardboiled crime noir bonanza.

Well worth the purchase price and the read.

Man it must be hard living Joe Kurtz's life! First, in Hard Case, he was released from prison to find his life not only forever changed but in danger. Looks like things haven't changed much since we last saw him. Only this time around, the stakes are much higher and the finale much more satisfying.

Everyone wants a piece of Joe Kurtz. First, there is the Italian mob family that served such an important purpose in the first novel. Then, there is also a man pretending to be a cop who will do everything in his power to protect his false identity. When Kurtz is hired by a man to investigate a crime that has been commited a long time ago, he will have to ally himself with some of his enemies in order to get rid of his other foes. The stakes go higher and higher, to end up in one big great finale that you will not soon forget.

Always tense, always action-packed and incredibly witty, Hard Freeze is a great read that takes you back to the very best years of Raymond Chandler and Elmore Leonard. This is crime noir at its best. What's even more surprising is that this installment in Simmons's new noir series is actually better than its predecessor.

I had a blast reading this book. It is often funny, very dark and brilliantly plotted. Hard Freeze is exactly what all crime fiction should be; fun, entertaining and gripping.

Having done almost everything else, I guess Dan Simmons thought he would tackle the genre of hard-boiled mystery as a way to say that he had now done everything. The only thing is, this genre isn't as easy as it looks. It's not the literary equivalent of a fast-food hamburger that any old would-be cook can throw together. The writers who are best at it use subtle ingredients and years of experience to come up with the perfect recipe for a hard-boiled thriller.

My main problem with Hard Freeze is that it just drips with stereotypes. There is the detective himself, an ex-con with an attitude. There is the sexy secretary. There is the meeting in a jazz club with a client. There are the Italian gangsters and the creepy, scary hit-man. One ingredient that just didn't seem to belong was the Hannibal Lecter-ish serial killer who apparently wandered over from another genre of books also filled with stereotypes. Basically everything in this book was well-worn and so cliched that I felt like I had read this book a dozen times before. The dialogue was not especially catchy---too many of the main character's tough-guy lines sounded like they had been recycled from Schwarzanegger movies of the 1980s. None of the characters were fleshed-out enough to be truly interesting. Even the main character, who seems to appeal to so many other readers, was a shapeless, faceless non-entity without much personality or flavor.

Other than a few four-letters words and one or two very violent scenes, I honestly wouldn't even refer to this book as "hard-boiled." Compared to your average book by Andrew Vachss, Hard Freeze seemed about as tough and threatening as a Nancy Drew mystery. All in all I would have to say that it made a fairly enjoyable vacation read, but I won't be picking up the rest of the books in the series.

For the past thirty-something years, Donald Westlake (writing under the name Richard Stark) has written stories of a ruthless thief named Parker, who is tough, smart and coldly stoic in his approach to life. These stories have had an influence on many writers, including Dan Simmons, who with his Kurtz books, is trying his own version of the Parker series. While reasonably entertaining, Simmons's work in this field is definitely below Westlake/Stark in caliber.

In Hard Freeze - the second Kurtz novel - the ex-con/private eye has once again run afoul of the Buffalo mob. Hit men are pursuing him as a bounty has been put on his life. Meanwhile, Kurtz is also helping a man find the serial killer who murdered his daughter. There are also subplots involving cops with a vendetta and the drunken stepfather of Kurtz's daughter. While Simmons is good enough to tie all these strings together, he is not good enough to make this a great novel. It is definitely good and easily merits a four star rating, but there are problems that prevent it from getting the full five stars In particular, the serial killer is a weak character; as the main villain, he should be interesting, but he is so utterly routine that any habitual mystery reader will find absolutely nothing original about him. There are also coincidences and implausibilities (such as the killer's ability to become a police captain) that are a bit irksome.

It is apparent that Simmons, a very good writer capable of writing quality novels, is writing these Kurtz novels as sort of a writing vacation. They seem as if they are written quickly and without the sophisitication that most of his books have. The end result is a fun, quick read that most will enjoy, but for Simmons's most dedicated fans, this will seem a bit beneath his abilities.

I used to be a big fan of all Dan Simmons books but for years now his "horror" and science fiction have become dull, unimaginative, and unsatisfying... where he used to be spectacular.

However with the introduction of his Joe Kurtz series, including this one, he is in fine form. For those that like dedective series that are more thriller than detective, and for those that like stories about the underbelly of our society versus the romantised novels about it... then this is a book for you. If I could find a fault with it, in terms of fun, it is that it is to short. The hardback has big letters and a lot of spacing to make a dime novel appear to be a classic. However it is a fun ride and I hope someday I can see this dark hero on the big screen.

This is the sequel to Hardcase and picks up the story of Joe Kurtz from where it left off. Kurtz is a former P.I. and ex-con who has multiple contracts out on his life. Hes a hard man who is quite happy to use whatever force is necessary to protect himself and his friends. The contracts on his life come from the criminal element but thats not his only problem. He also has the police dogging his heels just waiting for him to violate his parole, looking for any excuse to throw him back into Attica. To top things off the building housing his office is about to be demolished.

Into this tempestuous existence steps John Frears whose daughter was raped and murdered before the murderer supposedly killed himself. But Frears swears blind that he has recently seen the killer and would like Kurtz to investigate. Kurtz insists his days as a P.I. are long gone, but after a little digging, is compelled to take on the job. The killer is a truly ... piece of work and Simmons has excelled himself in creating a monster who is worthy of the wrath of someone such as Joe Kurtz.

Kurtz continues his rocky relationship with the ever-dwindling Farina family and, although on Stevie Little Skag Farinas hit list, manages to come to a satisfactory working relationship with Angelina Farina Ferrara. It is actually the scenes involving Angelina that I found most enjoyable as she and Kurtz sparred to maintain the stronger ground over the other.

As with Hardcase, Dan Simmons has produced another ultra-hardboiled thriller with no let up on the violence and adds to the dark mood by setting this book in the middle of a Buffalo winter. This is a book for the hardboiled devotees out there. If you love Richard Starks Parker, then Joe Kurtz will delight you no end.