Customer Reviews

Mile High Club

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on an advanced reading copy of MILE HIGH CLUB. Man, this was one of the best, if not the best book kinky has given his fans (I've read all of them at least two or three times). This book ROCKED!!! It was funny, introspective, and had a little bit of kinky's charm (crudeness) just for fun. All the Village Iregulars are here: Ratso, McGovern, Stephanie, and even Winnie. And of course Kinky's muse, the infamous Cat is all up in there, too.

If you like good looking terrorists, interesting, side splitting dialogue, and most of all just love kinky for all he is worth then this book is a must! I haven't lauged so hard while reading a book since SPANKING WATSON. This book blew me away! Read it, dig it!

This book is a great way to come into kinky's world and join us die hard Kink-o-philes!

So, in short, yeah, I'd recommend the book. Can't wait for the next installment! So light a cigar, pet a cat, drink some Jamesons, and have a great time!

Thanks kinstah!

My theory is that few read mystery stories for the plots, at least after reading 50 or so, but for the characters or type of mystery, i.e. Cooking, Animal or Historical theme. This explains the popularity of Mike Hammer, Sherlock Holmes and thousands of Cat mystery stories. Kinky's newest novel gives you all the things Kinkyphiles love. The comments on life in general and specific, the cat, the dolls head on the refrigerator, and the cast of characters we have come to know and love ( or at least like alot). If you have liked Kinky in the past, you will love him in the present. If you haven't discovered the wit of Kinky you may want to start with an earlier work. And if you haven't heard his bands...click on the music section now!

As mysteries go, THE MILE HIGH CLUB was so-so. Fortunately, this wasn't about being a mystery. Instead, it was a look into the mind of a man who confesses that he doesn't have much luck with women yet doesn't seem surprised when the beautiful woman seated next to him on a plane visits him for some wild times. He is as concerned with getting a new kitty litter tray as he was with being visited by the State Department, the hacked off finger delivered to him, or the dead body on his toilet.

It's all tongue in cheek and a good time. While Friedman (the character) may not think much of women, remember--they don't think much of him either.

Needing a vacation, private investigator Kinky Friedman flies to the old Texas homestead to relax. On the return trip to the Big Apple, Kinky attempts to speak to his beautiful row mate. She brushes him off until she asks him to hold her pretty, pink suitcase while she goes to the ladies room. The plane lands but there is no sight of Khadija Kejela anywhere. The Kinkster is not worried because she has his business card while her name and address is on the luggage.

Kinky receives strange telephone calls including one from the airlines and one from the State Department both claiming Khadija's bag. The parties want Kinky to call them when she gets in touch with him. Inside the suitcase, Kinky finds thirty passports with the names and faces of Middle Eastern men and women. Khadija seems Middle Eastern and Kinky immediately thinks she has something to do with terrorism. Kinky being the nosy person he is decides to investigate the situation and hides the passports at the bottom of his cat's filled litterbox. He and his friends (dubbed the Village Irregulars) find themselves involved in a situation that has deadly international ramifications.

The Kinkster is an irresistible, sexist, vulgar and uncouth fifty-three-year-old man who has a raunchy appeal to fans of Lenny Bruce. In THE MILE HIGH CLUB, the audience is treated to Kinky's view on life, women, happiness and politics told as the pseudo-serious story line unfolds. The supporting cast, being friends with Kinky, naturally have the same philosophy. The dialogue is funny, suspenseful and fast paced, making THE MILE HIGH CLUB one of Kinky Friedman's best works to date.

Harriet Klausner

Kinky, or the Kingster, as he likes to call himself, is a Jewish detective who likes cats. Since he only changes the litter box every seven years - whether it needs it or not - the cat often finds other places to take care of things, a situation that Kink's friends find unsettling, to say the least. He finds that as cat scats age they become dried out and stiff, easily collected by stabbing with a boning knife.
You're probably beginning to get the idea that this book has some humorous overtones. That's putting it mildly. I suspect my family might have been wondering about my sanity watching me mow the lawn laughing out loud listening to this hysterical romp.
The story gets under way when Kinky gets stuck with a little pink valise left in the airplane seat next to him by a very attractive woman. She leaves for the lavatory just before landing, and to Kinky's consternation, never is seen leaving the plane. He collects the little bag and the woman's suitcase assuming that she will call him getting his number from the business card that he had given her during the course of their conversation.
It turns out that many people are interested in the valise. Kinky can't bear not to peek inside and he discovers several illegal passports obviously intended for use by persons of less than high moral character, e.g., international terrorists. Soon the State Department, the Mossad, and Arab terrorists are all trying to find the passports. The opposition knows the passports must still be in his apartment because, as Kinky and his friends discover, a miniature transmitter was hidden in one of them. Kinky decides to hide them in the only place he know no one would think to look: his cat's litter box. Scatological remarks abound.
The book is filled with double entendres and puns. He refers to his toilet as the dumper, but using it for its intended purpose is "taking a Nixon." And when the terrorists delivery the cutoff finger of someone as a warning all sorts of "let the fingers do the walking" jokes permeate the chapter.
It's really a lot of fun, and the audio version is read by one of my favorite readers, Dick Hill.

I read Kinky Friedman mysteries not for plot but for the fresh, raunchy, philosophical whirlpools along the way. While Mile High Club doesn't have much plot, it's Kinky at his funniest and finest. Get it, read it, smoke a cigar, enjoy.

This is one of my favorite reads by the Kinkster and, as with so many others, it was just too short. And, I figured out the quirk of his nemesis (one of the author's favorite ruses) immediately. However, Mile High Club was especially eerie since I read it soon after the World Trade Center disaster of 9/11/01. Too bad Kinkster...more people should have read Mile High Club in time to save the twin towers.

Friedman has a unique gift as a mystery writer. That is as a master of his own form of prose, which stands alone against all others. A few writers might have a more elegant sense about themselves than Friedman, and a few writers might be able to string a story along a little more coherently. But in his own little Hunter S Thompson/Carl Hiasann niche, Friedman stands close to the top of the heap.

That aside, this is the least inspired work by Friedman that I have yet read. The eternal musings are here as always and that makes for a very enjoyable read. But the story... the plot... they are very half arsed and kind of read like a filler. Friedman brings up Jimmy Buffet's songs a couple of times here and I totally equate this work to one of those songs. I think that Buffett concocts a nice little melody that floats along but never really reaches the realm of say Lennon/McCartney. That's because Buffett never pushes himself to greatness and is content to let things stop at half-mast. I think that sadly, this is what happened with Friedman here.

But... this is still a fun book. You will enjoy following the zany mind of Friedman's as the pages unfurl.

The book is very entertaining. All the usual suspects and reasons, but Kinky is far more than a humorist. He, more than most authors speaks to us. I heard someone on the verge of crisis. Will success spoil Kinky Friedman, does he tire of the accolades, will he soon stop suffering fools gladly? He is the personification of humanity, it's asperations and foibles. I know when getting frustrated I get sarcastic and humorous like the kinkster. I ruminate about childhood and relationships I though I'd burried. Kinky is like San Francisco beautiful, sensual and volitle just below the surface. Enjoy what he offers, savor it..few books are so laugh out funny, but remember he is all of us, only more so. Because of this cut him some slack going forward, let him go deeper, forgive him his trespasses and be prepared for some serious intimacy. This guy has just begun to write.

His music is great too!

Jack Freedman Coon Rapids,MN aka Kingfish@racoon.com

I like Kinky, I really do. But I've had it up to here with his shtick. There's no meat on this bone. It has a thin plot along with the same old tired jokes and scenarios - the cat, the lesbians upstairs, the same crusty one-liners.

Although Kinky finds himself in the middle of a bunch of incompetent terrorists, he still manages to find the time to take several afternoon naps. I think the Kinkster took a long siesta over his Smith-Corona at the time he wrote this masterpiece.

Don't throw your money into the dumper. 23 bucks will get you a good cigar and maybe a black wooden puppet head.