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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
it is what it is, December 27, 2010
This review is from: The Left-handed Dollar (An Amos Walker Novels) (Hardcover)
OK, I have read the 2 reviews here (so far). Harriet Klausner is the woman who reads 10 million books a year. I actually read this one and her "review" sounds like it is based on one of her cohort's quick reading of some press material about the book. Then there's the guy who just gave it zero stars. He hated the book and advises us to read Vince Flynn instead. That pretty much says it all. He likes Vince Flynn, a very popular, and patriotic writer who doesn't employ the sort of wit and sarcasm that this author does. So the zero star rating is more of a rating of that reviewer's inability to "get" what he is trying to read. Oh well.
With that being said, this book is exactly what it is: a tribute in a way to the wise-cracking noir detective novels that inspire this entire genre. Our private detective is driving around in his junker Detroit product. The one that looks like crap but is so highly tuned up and ready to instantly accelerate that the police tails he leaves behind must be stunned whenever he does it. There's a couple of great Chinese characters here. The aunt. a former heroin supplier, and her niece, a physical therapist who could cripple you with one quick move.
I'm not giving anything away here. It is what it is; amusing, well written, but not a classic. This is pure mind candy for lovers of detective novels. The author is a pro. He ain't Vince Flynn. Thank heaven for that!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Amos showing his age.., February 25, 2011
This review is from: The Left-handed Dollar (An Amos Walker Novels) (Hardcover)
I have read all Amos Walker detective stories so you know what platform I am standing on. I have also read all other Loren D Estleman books except his western stories. "Peeper" is by far the most funny book I can remember reading. I still recall almost falling out of my bed and my wife asking me to stop reading because I was waking up the children.
Amos Walker must be close to 60 years old by know. He is a veteran from the Vietnam war. He does not have a lot to show up as result of these hard years except a nasty drinking and smoking habit. Amos has always been a very hard boiled classic private eye. A gun (or two), alcohol, cigarettes, a old but fast car, no money, few friends and no love live. Getting close to 60 nothing has changed and that makes it a little less plausible. No one goes through this hard life without damages that will slow you down.
In this book Amos is showing a development that makes the book harder to read and like. He is starting to talk more and more in riddles. Like Lucille says "It's just that you can't say anything in one word when ten will do just well". Amos is trying very hard to make every sentence into some "hard boiled" wisecrack. It is getting so hard to decipher that the reading slows down and the flow of the story suffers. I had to reread several sentences and sometimes whole pages just to understand what it was all about. Sometimes I could not after reading about a meeting tell what kind of information was really exchanged. This is not the fault of Amos but of course of Mr Estleman. The dialogue is simply like a prime steak more than well done. It is getting close to charcoal. It is time to step in and let Amos talk like a normal person at least every second sentence. Or maybe meet people that talk like normal people and not like Amos. Just to get the flow of the story and the reading up to normal speed again.
Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of memorable sentences in the text I would like to keep (like "It wasn't a night for drinking Noel Coward style") but unfortunately even more that could have been deleted.
I will continue to read all Estleman books (except the Westerns) but I hope there will be a slight shift in Amos way of talking and maybe some adaption to who he really is. I do wish him a happy love life but why not with lady that is more than half his age?
Finally, now I have very late in life learned what a hang-over is good for. Thank you Mr Walker!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
great hardboiled Motor City private investigative thriller, December 12, 2010
This review is from: The Left-handed Dollar (An Amos Walker Novels) (Hardcover)
The car bombing left Detroit investigative journalist Barry Stackpole disfigured and still healing from his injuries. The police arrests mobster Joseph "Joey Ballistic" Ballista on charge of attempted murder as the bombing has his "DNA" trademark and a "witness" has stepped forward. A jury convicts Ballistic known for his rage and his pleasure in blowing up things.
Ballista's lawyer, Lucille "Lefty Lucy" Lettermore hires private investigative Amos Walker to find evidence that her client did not bomb Stackpole's car. Although he knows his only friend Stackpole will be livid, Walker takes the case as the attorney persuades him her client is innocent. Instead of tracking Ballista's steps right before the car bombing Walker interviews lying former wives and probes into what the informant who accused Ballistics of the crime was doing at the time of the explosion and what his or her motive is. His efforts do not prevent more murders from occurring; it probably is the catalyst.
The latest Walker hardboiled Motor City private investigative thriller (see American Detective) is a great entry that plays out on two interrelated levels. First there is the usual kick-butt Walker inquiry; and second is Stackpole's feeling betrayed. Fast-paced with several terrific twists, The Left-Handed Dollar is a great Michigan mystery.
Harriet Klausner
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