Head Lock: A Tom Bethany Mystery [Paperback]

Jerome Doolittle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2000 | Series: Tom Bethany

Bethany takes on antiabortion terrorists and a twisted televangelist. "A Travis McGee for the 90s"Publisher's Weekly"A great hero in an excellent series"Booklist"Ranks with Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain and Ross Thomas as a high-voltage storyteller:"Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The personal becomes the political for Boston sometime-sleuth Tom Bethany when he accompanies his pregnant lover, ACLU executive Hope Edwards, to an Arlington, Va., abortion clinic. As Edwards is recovering, the clinic is picketed by televangelist and Senate-seat hopeful Rev. Howard Orrin and his Life Force activists. Bethany and Edwards befriend Kimberly, a disturbed and pregnant 14-year-old, as they evade the aggressive demonstrators. The next day, they learn that she has committed suicide. Meanwhile Edwards becomes a Life Force target: her family is plagued by abusive anonymous phone calls and her house is picketed. Tom, who is of the I-know-where-you-live-and-am-willing-to-hurt-you school of etiquette, decides to straighten out both the reverend and the older, married man who seduced Kimberly. The major mysteries here concern the extent of sleazy Rev. Orrin's ambitions and the nature of Tom's "master plan" to give the pastor his just reward in this life. Doolittle's ( Bear Hug ) rich imagination and offbeat sense of humor, neatly blending wit and raunch, give this story considerable energy, but it is not for everyone--especially not readers who wonder if the ends justify the means.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Scientific American

Doolittle, who has been a Carter speech writer and once ran a cafe in Vientiane, Laos, ranks with Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain and Ross Thomas as a high-voltage storyteller, and that is exalted company. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: IUniverse (December 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595146023
• ISBN-13: 978-0595146024
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,916,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

What a man was passionate about at the age of 12 is probably what he should make his life's work. I was chasing frogs and snakes and other small animals in the outdoors, but at the same time I was addicted to reading and wound up making the wrong choice.

I became a reporter, columnist and editor for the old Washington Daily News and for the Washington Post. Following that I free-lanced for the Saturday Evening Post, Sports Illustrated, Holiday, the Nation, Penthouse, Oui, Esquire, and the Readers Digest.

In 1966 I joined the U.S. Information Agency, serving in Casablanca before becoming press attache in our Laos embassy during the war. I resigned over there and went back to free-lance reporting, in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

On returning to the United States in 1972, I wrote two volumes of the Time-Life Books wilderness series. In 1976 I joined the Carter campaign, ending up as a White House speechwriter and later chief of public affairs for the Federal Aviation Administration.

When Reagan fired us all, I wrote my first novel, "The Bombing Officer," and spent five years teaching writing at Harvard. There I began the Tom Bethany mystery series, which I may yet revive.

I recent years I've been blogging at http://badattitudes.com/MT/ on politics, culture, and whatever else catches my interest. And lately, having at last become old enough to figure out what actually matters, I have been running around in the woods again. This is in pursuit of a book on the community of herpetology -- humans and reptiles both -- in the United States.

Ideas, leads, anecdotes, suggestions, and pictures are all welcome and may be sent to my gmail account. To the left of the ampersand, type: jerome.doolittle

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The novel as a soapbox, June 28, 2002

By 

74blazer74 (Lancaster, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Head Lock: A Tom Bethany Mystery (Paperback)

A few weeks ago I came across the Jerome Doolittle book "Body Scissors"-his first Tom Bethany mystery novel. It is an excellent book and I was impressed by the quality of writing, the attention to detail and the characterization. I then found and bought Doolittle's 4th novel, "Head Lock," expecting more of the same high quality work. What a disappointment! Doolittle, who was a speech writer for former president Jimmy Carter, is still stewing over the fact that Carter was a one-term president. Doolittle's venomous hate for former president Reagan et al was apparently too much to contain, and in "Head Lock" he has a political hissy fit. Throughout the novel he heaps abuse and saracasm on Reagan, George Bush, Christians, pro-lifers, L. A. police, Republicans, Conservatives-any and all that he envisions as an enemy of Carter and the True Left. This book is a political temper tantrum masquerading as a novel. And if the abuse Doolittle shovels out isn't enough to turn you off, the "heroes" of this book are (a)a prostitute who has murdered two people and repeatedly bedded a teenaged boy; (b)a married mother of two who carries on a steamy affair with the detective hero, while her husband smiles his approval; (c)a detective (Tom Bethany) who breaks a dozen laws to entrap and blackmail a cartoon-character anti-abortion leader. Then, at book's end, Bethany preaches a long, boring sermon to the reader about the efficacy of religious faith vs. good works. What drivel! I give this book one star --- a star because Doolittle has provided us with compelling written evidence showing why Carter (and his aides like Doolittle) were thrown out of the White House after four years.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Watch Out, You Hypocrites, September 4, 2001

By 

"mrsfaganselves" (huntington, ny United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Head Lock: A Tom Bethany Mystery (Paperback)

Though Jerome Doolittle can scorch the souls of Republicans, dishonest businessmen, dopey politicians and a lot of other of folks, he saves his greatest venom for hypocrites.
In Head Lock, he finds a good one, a preacher, outspoken opponent of abortion, senatorial wannabe and sexual miscreant.
I've been reading several of the Doolittle series featuring the somewhat odd private investigator Tom Bethany in the last few months, and, unfortunately, have read them a little out of order. This is not a fatal mistake; I've just found myself a little confused by the lives of some of Bethany's friends as they leave one career--say, operating a massage parlor, for another, running a religious theme park. That's also not the fault of the author or his sharp writing. Doolittle is a must read for anyone appalled by what passes for political and moral leadership in this day and age. Be prepared for some of Doolittle's zingers, hurled at many people in all of his Bethany books, but thrown with a little extra sting at phony moralizing. Suffice it to say that, in this book, Bethany puts away the bad guy in fine fashion, though not until after he's done irreparable harm to a teenager he doesn't even know. I recommend Doolittle without qualms; someone has to take on the phonies of the world and not be real nice about it in the process.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, July 4, 2001

By 

Bridget Hockney (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Head Lock: A Tom Bethany Mystery (Paperback)

Once again, Jerome Doolittle is unafraid to take on issues that are controversial. Via Tom Bethany, the non working workaholic, he inserts some thought provoking insights into the heated debate of abortion. Perhaps the most frightening part is the antagonistic characters may be ousted from Jerome's book and placed into the world and we would be able to identify them. Jerome knows how to weave a story and fill it with humor, comraderie, and perhaps even a touch of wishful thinking.