Customer Reviews

Known Dead

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

You will be hard pressed to find a better police procedural novelist then Donald Harstad. With only his second novel he shows that he can write in a great narrative voice able of invoking all ranges of emotions in a reader. With his main character Carl Houseman, Harstad takes the reader on the exact same rollercoster his likeable sheriff is on.

The storyline for "Known Dead" revolves around the killing of a DEA agent who was investgating a marijjuna field in an Iowa state park. Also killed is a lowly local drug dealer. The killings look like an ambush and Houseman starts to investigate the drug angle, only to find more than he bargined for. The tale leads down the road of right wing milita groups and this is were Harstad's use of narative makes the reader almost parnoid.

Harstad brings back great characters from "Eleven Days" such as Hester, Sally and Lamar, and adds the new character FBI agent Volont who I hope will appear in more novels in the future. Harstad does get a little more technical in this one and cuts down on the gore from "Eleven Days" Still it is a quick interesting read that trully makes you wonder about America's Heartland.

Someone gave me two mysteries, one by Sharon McCrumb (ugh) and this one by Don Harstad (superb). His work needs a little smoothing (this is only his second book), but "Known Dead" is one of the best stories I've read this year. His self-deprecating hero matches his humorous approach to murder. Some parts are so clever (I won't give them away) you may want to cheer.

How often does it happen that a major-league rookie hits two out of the park his first two at- bats? Not very darn often! But Harstad has managed to do just that with his second hang-on- for-your-life ride through the hills of Nation County. And he really knows how to drive!

As a resident of Maitland in Nation County, Iowa (really!), on the banks of the mighty Sparrow River, it was more than just fun to see where he was taking us. It was a trip into the mind of one entertaining and lay-it-on-the-line-when-you-have-to cop.

"Eleven Days" woke us up to Don Harstad's prowess as a wordsmith. I'll be surprised if you don't enjoy "Known Dead" with your morning donuts and coffee! In fact, when my wife and I finished reading it (together) I leaned back and thought about how nice a cigarette would taste just then.

Just one fine-toothed-comb comment for the folks at Doubleday. Make sure you know when the sun rises and sets in the summer in Iowa. Us rural folks KNOW these things!

Okay, okay. It's never that simple, right? Well, actually....
It is that simple.

The main character isn't superman hiding his glory, waiting for the right moment to pop out and amaze friend and foe alike.
He's believable. (not like some so-called "cop" characters i've read lately. do you believe a guy that drives a porsche in minnesota is really out there fighting crime?)

I'll admit to putting the book down - I spent a weekend on it. But hey, I can't spend all my weekend hours reading good books.

Bottom line:

Was this book good? Yes.
If I lend out this book do I want it back? Yep.
Will I read more by this author? I already have..... ;o)

Both "11 Days" and "Known Dead" have the authentic touch of a writer who knows police work. The plotting is exciting and intricate, humor is plain old Iowa. Carl Houseman is Iowa's answer to Boston's Spencer. I love reading both books. This Harstad is a real writer.

If you want to learn what it's like to be a cop in a small midwestern town, read this book. The story and characters are engrossing, and you get the real feeling of what it's like to try and run an in-depth murder investigation with a limited budget, and the involvement of a whole myriad of outside law enforcement agencies.

Both "Known Dead" and "Eleven Days" get my enthusiastic approval for stories that keep you up turning pages late into the night!

Former Clayton County, Iowa, Deputy Sheriff Donald Harstad has written another fine mystery novel/police procedural. You need not have read his first, 11 Days, to enjoy this one. In fact, the author does you a favor by starting this one out: "My name is Carl Houseman. I'm a deputy sheriff in Nation County, Iowa." (In 11 Days, the reader just kept hoping through 1/2 the book for someone to call the first-person narrator by his name! No " Call me Ishmael" there. ;-)

The book has the humour and self-effacing good nature of many rural mid-western law enforcement folks. It starts out rather slowly, like a languid Iowa summer heat wave. A drug enforcement agent is murdered in a marijuana patch in Houseman's home county. " `DEA said it (the cultivation of this particular type of plant) couldn't be done in this climate.' I smiled. `Iowa farm boys can grow just about anything on a slab of concrete. Kind of makes you proud.' " The plot eventually thickens to an outcrop of "Posse Comitatus" type militants.

Here's another wry observation from an author who knows "who-of" he speaks: "I'd worked fraud cases before, but it had been my experience that the average Iowa farmer would read a speil like that one and spit on the shiny shoes that tried to sell it to him. Politely, of course. Maybe even apologetically. But he'd spit accurately, nonetheless. Herman must have been a little short of saliva one day."

The coffee's still on and it's another good read!

Funnest book I've read in some time. I was a bit concerned about Harstad saying on pg 162 that Melissa's parents had been killed in a car wreck and then coming back on pg 211 with Melissa visiting the jail with her Mother in tow. I can always put up with a little inconsistency for a fun read. I'll be getting his other two books. Try it. So much better than some others I've read lately. I hope he writes lots of books before he retires.

This is my first book by Mr. Harstad and it certainly will not be my last... great procedural knowledge and wit combined with lots of surprises.. certainly ranks up there with my favorite authors like McBain and Sanford... recommend reading this book.

"Known Dead" surpasses its predecessor, "Eleven Days" in the realistic portrayal of police work. The two main characters, Deputy Houseman and Agent Gore are superb. The plot was spellbinding and hits close to home with all the right wing activity taking place today. I enjoy Mr. Harstad's writing immensely. His prose is to the point and moves along quite well. Interspersed with the action are moments of humor that add a degree of lightness to a sinister tale. I am looking forward to the next adventure with Houseman and Gore.