Customer Reviews

The Midnight Man

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"The Midnight Man" is a bit darker than usual for an Amos Walker novel. Death hangs omnipresent as the intrepid Walker tries to bring a cop killer to justice before he is killed by the police. Along the way he encounters black militants, a bounty hunter, a sex-starved cop's wife and more dead bodies than he would care to count. Author Loren D. Estleman runs his hero through the wringer in this adventure and it is a great ride indeed. Walker is everything a great P.I. ought to be, tough, sarcastic, somewhat alcoholic and beholden to a his own private code of justice. He is Phillip Marlowe updated for modern times.

This "I-Book" edition features the added bonus of an essay by the author regarding his inspiriations for the novel. Addtionally, it also has an Amos Walker short story, "Redneck" that comes along at the end like the desert to a fine meal. Overall a very worthwhile package.

There are a lot of better known writers today. But, there are none better than Estelman.The Amos Walker series is fun, exciting and challenging. Strong characters and good stories. If you like noir mysteries and the Chandler hardboiled style, you'll love Estelman. This entry is one of his finest. But, whatever Estelman(Amos Walker) book you begin with, you cannot go wrong.

Amos Walker is back,and Loren Estleman's Detroit PI is nearly killed on a surveillance job, and subsequently drawn into the case of finding the shooters in an ambush that leaves the cop that saved Walker in a wheelchair. It's the early 80's and Walker is chasing holdout 70's violent revolutionaries, aided and obstructed by cops and a giant cowboy bounty hunter, wise-cracking all the way.

Estleman's prose is lean and hard, and his stories move. He has staked out the gritty and unforgivng terrain of the Motor City and this is hardboiled fiction done like it should be done. No one is working this genre any better.

I thought this was the second best in the Walker series (Silent Thunder being my favorite). It is dark, violent and provides an interesting window into Detroit in the early 80's.