Customer Reviews

Last Call

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

 

 

Last Call I was absolutely delighted that I discovered this book through product reviews in Amazon. The book is one of the funniest books I've ever had the pleasure to read, the characters are memorable and the dialogue is top notch. Seamus is a real find and I await his next book with a great deal of anticipation.

In my pile of recreational reads, I recently pulled out a book I got from a publicist... Last Call by JD Seamus. Set in New York, its a crime mystery involving a dying Irishman, his wife and child who need special care, a large amount of money that ends up missing when he dies, and his close friends who attempt to solve the mystery and get the money back. While it had its moments, I had a real problem with the plot and the pacing. I was quite ready for the book to take off in the direction of the summary, and the author apparently had different plans.

The jacket synopsis has most of the action centered around the recovery of Jimmie Collins' money after he dies. He's the owner of a bar that Nathan Melton ends up hanging out at, and they become very good friends, even more so after Jimmie fixes him up with a woman that he starts to date. Jimmie's background is not exactly happy, in that his wife is slowly dying of multiple sclerosis and his daughter is mentally disabled. He eventually gives in and sets them up in an assisted living facility in Florida while he continues to run his businesses (both the bar and "other" side jobs) in New York. But Jimmie starts his own mortal slide when he's diagnosed with cancer. He makes sure to set up his family such that they will be provided for when he dies, but that hits a major hurdle when two months after his death, the nursing facility calls Nathan and mentions that payments are no longer being made. Nathan and the rest of Jimmie's friends decide to do whatever is necessary to find whoever embezzled the money, get it back, and also to dish out a bit of justice in the process.

As mentioned above, I expected Jimmie to meet his Maker pretty early on so that the story would revolve around the recovery of his funds. But Jimmy doesn't die until almost 3/4 of the way through the book, which doesn't leave much time for the crime to be discovered and the real action to play out. In the meantime, the reader is left with stories of how Nathan meets Jimmie, how Jimmie made his money, his slow death, and interactions between all the bar regulars. Once the action does start, the situations are a mix of gruesome death and crazy slapstick, some of which doesn't seem to mix very well in terms of being plausible. Other than Jimmie and Nathan, the rest of the characters are not highly developed, and I didn't really connect with any of them. I did enjoy some of the dialog between them, though it is very stereotypical of New York/Italian/Irish/mafia characters. Still, I found myself chuckling at times.

Last Call had the makings of an interesting story, and I wish I had liked it more. But I spent too long waiting for the premise, and then it was over far too quickly for the amount of time spent getting there.

Disclosure:
Obtained From: Publicist
Payment: Free

This is a mainstream novel that becomes a mystery approximately 2/3 of the way through. Jimmy Collins operates a bar in NYC. It is somewhat like Cheers in that everybody knows your name, it is the source of friendships (including romantic ones) and its cast of characters is interesting, engaging and amusing. It differs from Cheers in that it includes some guys from the NYPD who coexist with some guys from the Mafia. Oh yes, and Jimmy is a receiver of stolen goods, though this does not compromise his essential integrity.

When Jimmy dies and his wealth (some of it offshore) is ripped off by his crooked attorney, the denizens of his bar set off to right the wrong. Which they do. Violently (but humorously). Their interactions with Jimmy (alive and dead) are at the center of the novel. They are likable, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and essentially comic, i.e., this is a novel closer to the spirit of Damon Runyon or a modulated Carl Hiaasen. There is crime and sex and violence, but they are relatively muted and the overall ethos is one of good fellowship.

The ending is a tad odd and the time frame of the novel (just prior to 9/11) is somewhat curious. Page by page: 5 stars. Overall concept/structure: 4 stars.

I would happily read another novel by jd Seamus.

A romance novel is, supposedly, emotionally satisfying, with an optimistic ending. I tend (rightly or wrongly) to think that they are written primarily for women readers. I'm not trivializing this genre; the Romance Writers of America claim that romance fiction generated $1.37 billion in sales in 2008!

Last Call seems to be a testosterone-driven, male oriented novel intended to be "emotionally satisfying, with an optimistic ending." In other words, what I would expect a "romance novel" to be for the manly man to enjoy. Based on this story by J.D. Seamus, the bar is not set very high.

Nathan Melton is an ex-NFL player now moving into the shady world of venture capitol. Jimmie owns a bar, mixes easily with both the underworld and "overworld" types, and cares for a wife with MS and a daughter with a learning disability. Nathan and Jimmie connect when Nathan is looking for some female action.

Over time, they become friends. This friendship will involve arson, murder, theft, and more. The conversations and actions revolve around three topics: sex, friendship, and money, in that order.

Get these classic lines:

Gail asked, "Why are men like parking spots?" "Good ones are always taken" (p. 111).

"Nathan laughed, 'You must be butter cause you're on a roll, huh?' He grabbed her and tickled her lower back. 'Might as well fool around. Nothing else to do'" (p. 138).

"A week later, Nathan was in bed with Terri when she said, 'I love your hairy chest. Promise to be careful always? I don't want anything to happen to it'" (p. 178).


Fine literature, this is not. Expect lots of inane conversations, like this one:

Nathan ran for the first beer stall he saw as they finished shopping. 'Jimmie, I like your hat. The bandoleer might be a bit much,' Nathan said as they caught up with him and joined him for a beer. 'What did you get, Ray?'
'Crabs.' Nathan left it alone.
While out, they decided to have dinner and caught a taxi to the Centro Colon back toward the hotel.
Terri said. [sic] 'We want to try the fish at the Peruvian restaurant, Machu Picchu.'
Ray asked, 'How do we know they're fish? Could be cat.'
Gail said, 'So it'll be the first [deleted word] you've eaten in a while.'
They ordered and the waitress brought the food promptly. Nathan asked Ray, 'How's your fish?'
'Alright. Nothing special,' said Ray.
'Mine [deleted word],' said Gail.
Ray said, 'Wonder if we can go someplace and get a steak?'
'Works for me,' said Terri as Gail began consulting the guidebook. 'I've had about as much local culture as I need today.'
'How about a hamburger?' Gail asked.
'Local?' asked Ray.
'Burger King,' said Gail (p. 144-145).

Thus ended chapter 20!

Be warned!

A group of friends work together to retrieve millions of dollars belonging to a owner of a bar with Mafia ties in the novel Last Call. This is an entertaining book, but it is not a perfect one. JD Seamus does a good job establishing how a bar in New York can be a place where different people from all walks of life forge strong relationships. The characters in the novel really bond as a family. I like how the characters work as a team to get the job done.

I had fun visualizing what each character would look like. His description of the two main female characters is very good. Gail and Terri are interesting fully developed characters I love the friendship between the two main male characters Jimmy and Nathan too. One complaint I have is that Seamus does not develop all the characters in the book. There are several characters he introduces briefly in the novel. I wish Seamus took the time to develop the minor characters more. Last Call is set in New York. Seamus also takes the reader to the white beaches of Cozumel in Mexico and the rough streets and bars of Costa Rica. I love his description of these exotic locales. I would give this book five stars if the minor characters were developed more.

Jimmie is a true Irishman. He is also a family man. He has a beautiful wife, Betty and an adult daughter, Dorothy. Jimmy has tried to live an honest life but it is hard when his daughter requires lots of medical assistance. Someone has to pay for it. That is why Jimmy though his bar makes pretty good money, he works with the Mafia, doing smuggling work and some heist jobs here and there.

Through out the course of many years, Jimmy has made some really close friends that have his back. Jimmy learns that he has been diagnosed with a medical condition. One that makes Jimmy realizes that it is time he sells his bar and move down to Florida to be with his family. Jimmy has a nice egg's nest that amounts to about several millions. It is locked up in some secure foreign bank accounts. Jimmy needs his friends to help him get the funds out.

I liked the plot for this book but unfortunately I couldn't find any connection with the characters, which turned me off a little. I liked how Mr. Seamus wrote the story. It was like one of those old classic shoot them up, not down, drag out Mafia style noise I enjoy to watch. One thing I did like was that everything Jimmy has done in his life was not because of greed or even because he was a bad guy but because he really loved his family. He is just a good ol' Irish boy.

"Last Call" by authur jd Seamus was like taking a stroll through a light-hearted mob movie in your mind. Fun yet touching, the story is about a group of friends who meet in a NY bar, later taking care of Jimmie, the owner of the establishment. When he comes down with terminal cancer, his friends step up, especially Nathan, who moves him into his home and promises to look out for Jimmie's invalid wife and daughter after he's gone. When some crooks try to steal their inheritance, all hell breaks loose.

The dialogue and mix of characters makes this a novel you won't 'forgetabout'.

Manhattan newcomer Nathan Melton is looking for a place to connect. Lucky for him, Jimmies is just around the corner-- Jimmie Collins is a man with connections! From beat cops to Mafioso, career women to former linebackers, Jimmies patrons take care of each other and their neighborhood barkeep. A beloved priest needs some thugs taught a lesson? No problem! Trouble with your love life? Let Jimmie apply his matchmaking skills. Need a place to sell some merchandise that might have fallen off a truck? No questions asked. Nathan has found his home away from home. Jimmie has an ailing wife and disabled daughter nestled in Florida, and his bar family is all he s got. They understand about the childrens charity balancing out the part time smuggling job, that offshore accounts are necessary when medical bills arent covered by health insurance. When Jimmie reveals his own terminal diagnosis, his friends vow to help him recover the millions he has in foreign bank accounts. Somewhere between that promise and Jimmies death, things go terribly wrong. The money is gone, their friend is dead, and it s up to this close-knit cadre to track the cash.

Well, neither in praise nor in blame could anyone call the characters in this book multi-dimensional. They conform strictly to a certain popular idea of New Yorkers, partly stereotyped and partly a caricature. Most of the book consists of their dialogue and backchat, clipped in idiom and cynical in tone. There are no great one-liners in the manner of Chandler, and it mainly takes place in a New York bar where the group that forms itself round the new arrival from out of town quickly develops a strong sense of camaraderie. This depiction of a group of friends communicating New-York-style is in my own opinion what the book is mostly about, and on the objective criterion of page-count it is what most of the book consists of. How authentic the style of the communication really is I would not like to say, but it is how many of us imagine it, and it is at least kept consistent.

The talk is mostly about acquiring mates, and some of the actual mating is described, fortunately not in relentless detail. Never does the conversation touch on any 'deep' issues, and indeed Nathan's admission that he is well versed in English detective stories is the solitary indication from start to finish that any of them have ever read anything. I must admit that I like this way of doing things. It may be a bit of a puppet-show rather than a representation of real human beings 'in the round', but that is far from being something that just anyone could bring off with consistency and integrity, and J D Seamus achieves both very well indeed. He knows what he is trying to do and he stays in control of the way he does it.

Naturally there has to be a bit of action by way of a change from the chatter in the bar. The action is violent in the extreme, and in keeping with the tone of the whole story it never leads to any second thoughts or introspection on the part of anyone. Indeed, it does not even lead to any consequences from the law, the mobs or anyone else. Senior levels of the law and of the mobs make an appearance together at Jimmie's wake near the end, and I was tickled by their interaction and the tactful manner in which they recognise the limits of what each party can say appropriately in the presence of the other. Kojak, where are you now?

The feelings expressed at Jimmie's death are actually described rather beautifully and touchingly, and I could have given this book 4 stars as a very enjoyable read if it had not been for the ending. A book should conclude, but this one just stops. Nevertheless in my time 3 stars out of a possible 5 used to be 60% which was considered rather a good mark, and I mean my 3 stars here to indicate that I thought this was rather a good book in many ways.

Jimmie Collins is a man in the know. Thanks to his not so legal activities, he has a black book full of connections. He also has good reasons for running with the wrong crowd. His wife has MS and his daughter is mentally disabled. With all of the medicals bills and the cost of living, a legitimate income just won't do.

Jimmie has a secret. He's dying. Jimmie is a family man and wants to make all the necessary arrangements to make sure his wife and child are properly taken care of. When Jimmie's makeshift family of bar patrons and thugs finds out that Jimmie's fortune has been stolen, they set off to find the person responsible and make him pay.

This book is amazing. My heart went out to Jimmie within the first couple of chapters. He's a man who the law would say is a felon but who truly has a big heart and only wants the best for the people he loves. I think you should read this book.