Customer Reviews

The Man Who Risked His Partner (Donaldson, Stephen R.)

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

 

 

i would expect no less from Stephen Donaldson writing under an asumed name, author of the Gap series, a brilliant mystery novel if you like them this is a good one

The 2nd book in a 3 book series by Reed Stephens. Brew, feeling responsible for Ginny's disabliity, forces Ginny to take a job as body guards. They almost end up the targets of a mob hit. A great follow up to The Man Who Killed His Brother

This is the second in a series of mystery novels written by Donaldson in between larger writing projects. In this episode, Axbrewder and Fistoulari are hired to protect a bank executive whose life is threatened, but their client tells so many lies that they spend half the book trying to figure out what he is actually up to, while the goons come after them and all hell breaks loose, etc. It's not very deep, but makes fun vacation reading. This novel is very similar to its predecessor, "The Man Who Killed His Brother", although a bit slower and more angst-ridden. In fact it is perhaps a bit too similar in structure. In any case, if you are going to read both books, it is preferable, though not essential, to read TMWKHB first.

In Puerto del Sol in the southwest desert, private sleuth Mick "Brew" Axbrewder feels self loathing and guilt. During an alcoholic stupor, he killed his brother. Adding to his despondency, his detective partner and lover at that time Ginny Fistoulari blew off her hand with a grenade saving his butt from his latest blunder. Though a doubting Thomas about his abilities, Brew struggles with sobriety vowing in a personal covenant to take care of the depressed Gin, who has not mentally recovered from her trauma.

Gin and Brew are hired to protect First Puerta del Sol National Bank Chief Accountant Reg Haskell. He tells them he lost a lot of money gambling at the El Machismo and has been threatened if he fails to pay off his debt. Though they doubt Reg's claim, Brew serves as his personal bodyguard. However as the sleuths investigate his story they find other fabrications and conclude the entire tale is fiction. When several murder attempts occur, Brew and Gin struggle to put aside their personal problems to uncover the person wanting their mendacious client dead.

THE MAN WHO RISKED HIS PARTNER is the second tale of an expansion of novels written in the 1980s under the name Reed Stephens (see THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE). The story line mixes a hardboiled detective story inside an angst relationship drama. Though Reg is a great support character with his changing explanations fun to follow, the tale suffers from an overabundance of negativity. While Gin behaves semi comatose barely living, Brew is the poster boy for guilty loser. Their angst overwhelms a solid private detective tale, depressing the reader.

Harriet Klausner

Unlike Donaldson's first "Chronicles" trilogy (arguably one of the finest epic fantasys ever written), this pretentious attempt at hard-boiled detective fiction is inauthentic, tiresome, and a complete waste of the reader's time. I got my copy for free, and I still feel cheated! If you want to read something worthwhile in this genre, check out something by Raymond Chandler, Andrew Vachss, or David Cray -- even the worst mass-market fluff by that hack Robert Parker is far better than this travesty! Have you no shame, Mister Donaldson?