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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very good read!, December 11, 2005
I loved this book; just read what everybody else said for a more complete description. I'd like to point three things out, though:
(1) The opening chapter is delightful, for its combination of Mickey-Spillane-Plot with Wodehouse-Genteel-Language. The main character is down on his luck, but spins a beautifully sardonic line of high-flown thoughts about it all.
(2) The author has a fine touch when constructing plot twists. That is, he didn't give the game away with obvious choices, or go for cheap shock value with really unlikely angles. Instead, you think you're figuring things out, but then find out you were only half-right, and the other facts are still lurking somewhere. That is, someone has been murdered--but it wasn't exactly how you thought, though you're on the right track; there's more than one obvious murder method, and more than one reasonable suspect.
It kept me not just guessing but *thinking*--instead of distracting you with plot twists or red herrings, the author gives you a damn good puzzle to put together, and more than one of each piece will fit. I enjoyed trying to outguess the main character by putting things together faster than he did.
(3) The book has a bitter streak, and the ending, while not altogether unhappy, still punches you in the gut. I can't say more without giving it away. It's emotionally powerful but never gets sappy or melodramatic. Good stuff.
Anyway, I loved it and I'd love to see more of the author's work, with this set of characters or others. Five stars.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Human Condition, May 6, 2006
The authors insights, deprecating, honest and realistic, are delivered casually, almost as if from a swing on the front porch. It is this delivery that distinguishes his prose fromt the usual run-of-the-mill writer. His specialty is desperation and hope - two emotions that seem inextricably bound. This is yet another combination police procedural/mystery/drama with a dose of romance - just my cup of tea.
The hero commits a lawyer's fatal error by sleeping with a client who must then face the consequences of her actions. Years later he is a defender of the down and out whose hopeless squalid lives in the Atlanta inner city are wonderfully and bitterly portrayed. An old friend is found dead, a needle in his arm. Since he was once a drug addict the conclusion is suicide - something our hero refuses to accept. So begins the story.
Through a brilliant set of circumstances we are introduced into the world of opera and one diva in particular. Of course, the two fall for each other in a searing mixture of race (she is black), adultry (she is married) and secrets (she has lots). Along the way we meet one of his clients, Nighhawk, a bitter computer hacker who helps Hammond in discovering the truth of what really happened to his friend. The beauty of the book is the way it ties everything together even if the ending is a tad rushed. Reed Arvin is a splendid writer that I would encourage everyone to read.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Supposedly a thriller... disappointing..., November 23, 2004
Attorney Jack Hammond is a good defender, with a lot of heart, but his list of clients is low, and his bankbook is even lower, since he left a prestigious law firm. The death of long-time, college friend Doug Townsend is viewed by Jack as a murder paralleled to the police report of a 'suicide'. Doug's body is found with a needle in one arm, and the autopsy reports that he died from an O/D of fenatyl. Jack knows different as his friend had been 'sober' for many years, and Doug never followed the fenatyl path. Hammond's investigation leads him to 'hacker' Nightmare (a favorable character to the story), to opera diva Michele Sonnier - her splendor on stage, and her murky past neither of which stops Jack from falling in love with her. Michele is also married to pharmaceutical mogul Charles Ralston, founder of Horizn Pharmaceuticals, conspirator with a trial drug (tested on humans which results in death) for hepatitis C. Yes, The Last Goodbye has a good premise and a few good characters, but Arvin's development of both of the latter is very weak. Narrated by protagonist Jack Hammond, the author delivers very weak dialog, unnecessary flowered prose to cover pages and move the story from A to Z, slooooowly, diverting from the original path of Doug's death, creating a thought process to the reader of 'where is this story going and when will it end?!' A farcical, way-out-there, disappointing ending, and overall too much rhetoric. Recommend instead: DYING GOOD by Allan George Cole, and SHADOWS IN THE DARKNESS by Elaine Cunningham.
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