Customer Reviews

Hard as Nails (Joe Kurtz Thriller)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the 3rd book in Dan Simmons' ultra-hardboiled Joe Kurtz series a private investigator series that is perfect for lovers of gritty, violent and somewhat dark thrillers. An important point before moving any further into this review, I would recommend reading the first two books in the series, HARDCASE and HARD FREEZE first. Numerous references are made to characters and events from the first two books and if you haven't read them, it could become very confused. Simmons also tends to assume that the reader is aware of Kurtz's personal history throwing in references to earlier books that explain why he has taken the actions that he did. I see this as a bit of a weakness as far as the book is concerned; it doesn't cater very well for people who are new to the series.

Things don't start well for Joe Kurtz in HARD AS NAILS although when you consider that he is shot in the head, I suppose you could say that the fact that he survived suggests he was actually lucky. Anyway, the wound he receives and the resultant headache are used time and again throughout the story to emphasize just how tough he is. Joe Kurtz is the kind of character who makes you feel tired just reading about him at the best of times, but Simmons puts him through such extreme pain that by the end I was completely exhausted.

The force driving Kurtz forward is his desire to find out who shot him and why. With almost manic determination he begins his hunt, but getting in his way is not one but two mafia dons, past adversaries Angelina Farino Ferrara and Toma Gonzaga. Both of them have had reason in the past to attempt to have Kurtz killed but this time they have sought him out to ask him to help them with a problem.

Their problem is that someone is killing their junkie customers and dealers and then phoning with the details of the location as confirmation. The mafia is then stepping in and cleaning up the killer's mess, afraid that word will get out and the customers will be scared off. They want Kurtz to identify the killer for them so they can rid themselves of this threat to their profitability. It's a highly improbable premise, as is the suggestion that the best solution that 2 mafia families can come up with is a man who has been a thorn in their sides for years.

A couple of interesting minor characters are introduced in the course of the investigation. Firstly, Joe is reunited with an old flame and now a police officer, Rigby King. She provides the first glimmer of romance in the series and also evokes the first indication of some sort of human emotion out of Kurtz. She also provides him with a partner (of sorts) during his investigation - someone he can talk to and bounce ideas off of. Up until this book, he has been the ultimate loner, living by the creed of looking out for number one at all times. Secondly, we meet the killer. Known to us as The Dodger we're made privy to a few of his executions and the thoughts going through his head before, during and after he carries them out. It is clear that he's a heartless, soulless killing machine who is frighteningly efficient at his job. We know he's working for a master, but we don't know who that is, providing us with the number 1 mystery of the book.

The story charges ahead at breakneck speed building from an action-packed opening to an outrageous battle towards the end. I got the impression that Dan Simmons tried to jam every thriller plot device he could think of into the book and, while it succeeds in providing a very entertaining thriller, I thought it lost the edgy dangerous appeal that had been built so effectively in the first two books of the series.

While Dan Simmons has moved the Joe Kurtz series away from the bleak, desperate tone that shrouded the first two books and has opted for a more high-octane thriller with HARD AS NAILS, I'm a sucker for fast-paced thrillers and this book is certainly that in my opinion. It's exciting, it's suspenseful and Kurtz is still one of the meanest, toughest guys ever to have graced the pages of a hardboiled novel.

These are just some of the descriptions used in reviews for the Joe Kurtz series. And I have to agree. Not since Donald Westlake's (aka. Richard Stark) Parker series have I enjoyed reading crime fiction so much. Dan Simmons knows how to, excuse me here ladies, grab you by the balls and take you on a ride.
In his latest entry in this series Mr. Simmons puts Kurtz in a bad position from the beginning. Within the first three pages Kurtz is shot in the head, along with his parole officer, and has to deal with a migraine, caused by a concussion, for damn near the rest of the book.
Kurtz isn't given a break by any means after being shot. He's blamed for the shooting of the parole officer, has to deal with a family member, is threatened by the mob, chased by a psychopath and has to worry about the Dane.
We also get a look at Joe's past in this book, through an ex-girlfriend who also happens to be a cop investigating him, and his feelings for his daughter become more apparent.
If you've read the other books in this series I can't recommend this one enough. If you haven't you should really start with Hard Case. You could read and understand this book without reading the others but I don't know why you'd want to.

Thus far, I'm a fan of Joe Kurtz's. He's the "private investigator" in this series from Dan Simmons, and this is the third book in said series. I did not realize that I'd begun the series out of order, reading Hard Freeze (A Joe Kurtz Novel) first, when I should have read Hardcase (A Joe Kurtz Novel) first. Oh, well.

If you've never read any books from this series, here's what you need to know about Kurtz: he's recently out of prison, where he served time for a crime he DID commit; he's about as cool and distant a guy as you can find; he's wickedly smart about many things, almost unbearably stupid about others; he's smart, quick, and witty (mostly keeps that wit to himself, though); he's got a sense of morality he doesn't want to own up to, but which manages to drive him nonetheless.

In this particular book, he's been given a few days to get himself off the hook with a particularly violent crime boss, Toma Gonzaga. Gonzaga is an interesting character himself, one of very few (maybe the only one) gay crime bosses in fiction, and he wants to kill Kurtz. He'll cancel the hit on Joe, however, if Joe finds out who's slaughtering Gonzaga's dealers and runners. As you can imagine, Joe then has a really strong interest in finding the party responsible. If he doesn't, it's highly likely that he'll be dead by Halloween.

Joe's also recovering from a shooting where he and his parole officer were both injured, she more seriously than he. And he's trying to solve a mystery that same parole officer tried to get his help with. And did I mention that he's also trying to help a female crime boss locate the same individual Gonzaga's charged him with finding?

Yep. Lots on his plate in this one. And he's barely walking through most of it, dealing with the effects of a concussion and further damage inflicted on him but other nefarious characters.

The Kurtz/crime boss interactions are interesting and funny. In particular, his interactions with the female crime boss made me smile and roll my eyes a bit.

Lots of violence in this one, as in the second novel. Also, the reason I'm giving this one only 3 stars is that I knew almost immediately when a particular character was introduced that he/she would end up being the primary baddie. Bummer.

Joe's not one of those protagonists who always gets things right. He screws up--a LOT--and he's often on the very cusp of getting tossed back in prison for violations.

He loves people, but he hasn't any desire to admit that or to ever mention his feelings. He may have a daughter, but he'll be damned if he'll even let anyone else raise the possibility. He may still love a childhood sweetheart, but ditto on the "no way am I admitting that" thing.

Personally, I like him as a character. He reminds me a little of Andrew Vachss' Burke, if you've read any of his stuff. They're not similar in background, necessarily, although both of them are the product of (at the very least) irregular and damaging childhoods. It's just that professed and determined cold distance that they both share.

If you like violence, humor, and a certain coolness in your protagonists, pick this one up.

Hard As Nails begins with Kurtz being shot in the head. The bullet ricochets off his skull, leaving a non trivial wound and landing Kurtz in the hospital. Following the grand tradition of tough men everywhere, Kurtz takes the macho penchant of ignoring pain to new limits after waking from his coma and escaping from the hospital. The shoot-out occurred in a dark parking garage and Kurtz did not see his assailant. He is determined to find out who tried to kill him. At the same time, he his hired by two rival mafia bosses to find a serial killer who is murdering their favorite drug dealers and users. Simmons weaves these and other plots intricately together and follows them to an explosive conclusion.

Being the third time around, Hard As Nails lacks the brutal impact of the first novel, which was the literary equivalent of a kick in the nuts. However, the series appears to be maturing. We start to see a softer side of Kurtz in this novel and greater development of him as character with a entire life's history behind him. We glimpse his past as an orphan. An old girlfriend, Rigby King, is introduced and plays a major role in this novel. There also hints of future developments (for possible new novels?), as Simmons is clearly reviving an emotional connection with Rigby as well as introducing another major crime boss, Baby Doc, which would be a welcome break from all the time spent on the Farino and Gonzaga families in the last three books.

One aspect of this novel that really shines his Simmons' impecable ability to capture the feel of a location. Simmons always takes great care to do research for his books, often traveling to locations and taking detailed notes. His skill with setting shines here, treating the city of Buffalo, NY as a character just as important as Kurtz himself. He paints Buffalo as a dying city. The march of progress has left it and its old industries behind. There are pockets of money and life that Simmons describes with real feeling and skill, but he is more concerned with the abandoned and forgotten places where low-lifes, indigents, and criminals live and work. Simmons won't do the Buffalo tourist trade any favors with this novel, but it stands as a fascinating look at a crumbling American city.

Although a fast and fun read, Hard As Nails is not Dan Simmons at his best. But it is a fine example of what Dan Simmons does best--take any genre and fulfill all its expectations with enough skill and literary prowess to make it a cut above most other books in that genre.

I recommend Dan Simmons' latest Kurtz thriller. Kurtz is one of my favorite on-the-edge-of-society people. This time he's in hospital with one hellatious headache while his respected parole officer, Peg O'Toole, lies nearby in a coma after both of them were ambushed in a parking garage. Kurtz is left wondering about the photos of an abandoned amusement park she showed him.

While Kurtz is recovering he is visited by a) an ex-military type in a wheelchair & his Vietnamese partner; b) Peg O'Toole's fiance who is a bigshot in security & c) Detectives Kemper & King from the Buffalo Police Dept.

While Det. King & Kurtz go way back to their orphanage years, there appears to be no love lost between them, or is there?

Buffalo's shady characters are back as well...the gay don Gonzaga & the female don-in-waiting Angelina F/F. Someone is slaughtering their heroin dealers & addicts, leaving globs of blood all over the place & carting off the bodies. Why?

Kurtz's side-kick Arlene is back at her desk, chain-smoking & making good money with her dot coms & in HARD AS NAILS she proves her mettle.

I wouldn't want to be Joe Kurtz. In the span of a year, he's been released from prison, beaten to a bloody pulp dozens of times, waltzed with death on more than one occasion, has outsmarted different hitmen and killers, has been able to unite with the mob, and now, in his new outing, he survives a gunshot wound to the head. But this might very well be Kurtz's most challenging outing yet. Because in Hard As Nails, Kurtz is beaten up so many times that you're left wondering how this guy can possibly still be standing.

The book opens with the event that leaves Kurtz in a coma for a few days. After surviving that gunshot wound to the head, and after having saved his parole officer from death, Kurtz is determined to find the man who nearly killed him. To do so, he'll need to unite with the two leading mob families and his regular troupe (like his secretary Arlene and a hitman called The Dane) of hired hands.

Kurtz stumbles on a story that is worthy of Hollywood, one that involves a family of ex-CIA operatives, a dead boy who might not be dead and, to top it all off, a crazy old man in a wheelchair and his Asian help. Let me assure you that Kurtz has more than enough to keep himself busy.

Hard As Nails is the third Joe Kurtz novel Dan Simmons has written. And this might very well be the weakest. It seems that Kurtz has lost his bite and sarcastic edge. His witty comments are sparse and his erratic personality is almost nonexistant this time around. Often, Kurtz takes a backseat to let other characters come to the forefront.

And yet, in the end, Hard as Nails still works. Simmons is a very talented author who knows how to write a plot that will keep readers entertained. Written in short chapters, Hard as Nails is a fast read that offers much fun. You won't believe any of it (in this one, Kurtz is presented as a superman-like figure who has more lives than a cat) but you'll still have fun turning the page just to see what Kurtz will do next.

Just about the time you get to relaxing and get into the story, another incomprehensible typo jangles the storyline. I've applied for a refund. The sad thing is that I'm an avid Dan Simmons fan.

Here are some sample sentences from the first 7% of the book

*T11 get an orderly and a gurney.

But he had to admit that tins old man was a finalist in that contest.

Later, he told himself that he should have known that die universe was getting
ready to readjust its balance of pain at his expense.

It had a Confederate flag hung on die side of it and a clapped-out '72 Camaro
parked outside.

"How about die cheerleader?"

This is the third in Simmons' hard-boiled series of Joe Kurtz books, and it's another winner. It's a little more predictable than the first two (not surprising with later series entries), but still a good read-- and we now know who Kurtz's father is (or we do if we are fans of Richard Stark).

I'm used to noir heroes getting beat up and abused: Philip Marlowe and the Continental Op and Travis McGee and every two-bit gumshoe gets pummelled into unconsciousness or winged by a gat or tortured unmercifully on every other case. But Simmons is REALLY cruel to Kurtz. In every book, he's so abused you just wanna tell him to sit down and have a beer and watch Oprah and recover a little. Hell, I thought he was pretty much dead at the end of the second book. Now, here he is, back again. Ten pages in, though, he's pretty much dead again. Simmons: Give Kurtz a break!

Simmons is always worth reading-- if you've read the first two Kurtzes, you'll want to read this one.

Dan Simmons is a highly versatile writer. He got his start in horror, writing a few very well received novels; he then wrote a saga considered by many to be some of the finest sci-fi written in the past twenty years. Hard As Nails, his latest book, is his third crime novel in a series about a convicted felon working as a private detective. Although some professional critics panned it (Publishers Weekly), Amazon.com's reader reviews were overwhelmingly positive, and I agree with them wholeheartedly.

Joe Kurtz, the felon, is a very interesting character. First, his felony conviction was neither accident nor mistake, nor did he `see the light' once he left prison. Kurtz is a good guy only in the sense that the people he's fighting are more a detriment to society than he is. Second, Kurtz has very pronounced sociopathic tendencies, which he recognizes and disregards. Third, Kurtz has read almost all of the major Western philosophers while in jail, and frequently references them. The other characters that populate the book are equally well drawn and interesting.

The plot of the book is nothing shockingly innovative, but it ties many surprisingly diverse elements together to form one solid plot structure, and the ending is unexpected and satisfying. The pace never slows down enough to lose the reader's interest, but it doesn't stay too fast paced to be believable. Simmons is very readable, and it very easy to find two hours it takes to read the book cover to cover. Nothing is forced, nothing is unnecessary, and the book is well worth reading. I would recommend this book to everyone, regardless of whether they usually like crime fiction.

This is the third and so far last installment in the series with Joe Kurtz as the main character. This book was a great read and I truly hope that Mr. Simmons decides to pick up this series again.

"Ex-PI Joe Kurtz's survival is on the line when an ambush leaves him badly wounded and his parole officer, Peg O'Toole, barley clinging to life. Their respective professions have ensured that neither suffers from a shortage of enemies, so discovering which of them was the intended target isn't easy."

And the action continues from there and keeps you engaged until the last page!