8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Housewright-always an excellent storyteller, May 21, 2008
This review is from: Madman on a Drum: A McKenzie Novel (Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie Novels) (Hardcover)
Rushmore McKenzie is a modern-day John Creasey's Toff, the rich Richard Rollison. McKenzie is a millionaire that solves crimes and helps people on his own terms like Rollison; however, he operates in the Twin Cities, rather than in London. He also sports an expensive Audi that suffers regular bullet holes that keeps his mechanic in business.
Victoria Dunstan, just 12, is abducted by a masked man while her fourth-grade sister watches. Sister Katie runs home to tell parents Shelby and Bobby, the St. Paul homicide chief. Bobby calls the FBI and McKenzie for help, and an operations station is set up in the frantic Dunstans' home. A million-dollar ransom is demanded by phone from a voice somehow familiar, despite its computerized disguise. The caller will accept the cash only from McKenzie.
A strange scavenger hunt ensues through parking lots, warehouses, old cars, lakes, and beaches to determine how to gather the cash and where to drop the ransom. During the hunt, a mysterious underworld contract is put out on McKenzie's life. Victoria is recovered, but one of her kidnappers is murdered, while the hunt leads deeper into the pit of crime, prison, and unexpected persons.
Action escalates throughout this book, McKenzie running faster and more frequently on an increasingly injured pair of legs. He runs through ravines, taverns, streets, and a gauntlet of ghetto hit men, pit bulls, automatic weapons, and bizarre characters on both sides of the law. This modern-day Toff presents as a real person, with a running inner commentary that helps him navigate his cases and a number of feelings about justice, loyalty, and love. He makes mistakes, but recovers very well in the end. He runs through descriptions of the Twin Cities region that are poignantly believable as a portrait of the Metroplex.
Top-notch overall, the only thing I would change in the plot is a set of references to outdated means for profiling a liar.
This crime story is an engaging fast-paced read for older teens and adults, despite some swear words, likely be used by criminals on the streets today.
Armchair Interviews says: A crime story set in Minneapolis/St. Paul, written by an excellent storyteller.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another enjoyable McKenzie novel!, June 28, 2008
This review is from: Madman on a Drum: A McKenzie Novel (Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie Novels) (Hardcover)
This book is a great read but if it is your first exposure to author David Housewright, do yourself a favor and go back to read the first Rushmore McKenzie book and then read the rest in order to get to this one. This book stands on its own -- the author gives enough information for you to enjoy it even without reading them all in order. But you will enjoy it even more if you've been with the character from the beginning.
I'm a Minnesotan so I appreciated all the Minnesota references and the chase across the Twin Cities to make the ransom drop, but even readers for whom the references will be no more than names on the page will enjoy this book.
In addition to the usual intensity of McKenzie's investigations, this case is personal. In a way all of McKenzie's cases are personal because he does "favors" for friends. But this one is a whole different level of personal because it involves the family of Bobby Dunston, McKenzie's best friend. The personal element is why I recommend that you start at the beginning of the Rushmore McKenzie series. After five prior books in which you see the love McKenzie has for the Dunston family, you hardly need the author to tell you how McKenzie will react to the kidnapping of young Victoria Dunston.
If you can't wait until you have read the previous books, go ahead and read this one now. But promise yourself that you'll go back and read the rest. It will be worth it.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Refreshing, May 19, 2008
This review is from: Madman on a Drum: A McKenzie Novel (Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie Novels) (Hardcover)
G. Passantino very adequately described the synopsis of this book so I will not duplicate the excellent description. A reviewer on one of Mr. Housewright's previous books wondered why this author was not a household name. The question was never answered and I wonder why. I read most of the authors who write PI, detective and mystery stories and while I enjoy them, I find this author to be refreshing in that he writes with an intensity to keep you reading, a good sense of humor and as the other reviewer said he puts "family values" as well as realism in his plots. I can't wait until his next book and wish he would get the recognition he deserves.
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