The Next: A Novel [Hardcover]

Dan Vining (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006

In The Quick, an International Horror Guild Award Nominee for Best First Novel, Dan Vining introduced an astonishing world peopled by "Sailors"-drifters between the worlds of the living and the dead, and one Sailor in particular, cynical private investigator Jimmy Miles. Now Jimmy is trailing a mysterious woman to San Francisco where he will confront his own tragic obsessions and troubling past, a seductive femme fatale, and the terrifying true mission of the Sailors.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vining adeptly blends crime and the supernatural in his second noir outing, just as he did in his well-received debut, The Quick (2004). PI Jimmy Miles, who's a "Sailor" (i.e., a human who has died but lives again with another's face), leaves his usual L.A. turf for San Francisco, where he's been hired to tail a woman bent on self-destruction who may be the victim of a cult that has encouraged a rash of suicides. Moving between the normal world and the hidden underculture of the Sailors, Miles works frantically to stave off further tragedy. While later plot developments fall short of the pulse-pounding opening, which will remind genre fans of some of Frank Robinson's best work (The Power; Waiting), the author has created a neat alternate universe and successfully taps into big-city nihilism and despair. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Here's an uneven mixture of noir mystery and supernatural thriller. Jimmy Miles is a private eye whose trailing of a young woman leads him to explore his own life, in particular, certain aspects of his past. Sounds simple enough, except that the young woman is a member of a supernatural sect called the Sailors. Vining writes with enthusiasm, but he assembles the puzzle of the Sailors a bit too slowly to hold most readers' interest. Still, supernatural-thriller devotees will be interested in watching this projected series develop. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425209431
• ISBN-13: 978-0425209431
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,752,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oblique Urban Fantasy, July 5, 2007

By 

Kevin Joseph (McLean, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Next: A Novel (Hardcover)

Jimmy Miles may be an L.A. private detective but he's far from your ordinary gumshoe. Jimmy's a member of a shadowy fraternity of "Sailors" who haunt the night seeking to make sense of a bizarre purgatory condition that mere mortals couldn't begin to fathom.

Jimmy's latest assignment is to track the despondent young Lucy, an unexplained favor for his close friend Angel. Lucy leads him to San Franciso, where Jimmy discovers she's a likely target in a rash of murders disguised as suicides. While trying to protect Lucy from afar, Jimmy runs across Mary, the lost love of his life, gradually realizing that their past, and Lucy's present, are converging in dark, disturbing ways.

"The Next" blends elements of L.A. noir with urban fantasy in a hip, stylish way. The author's prose is taut, his characters are vivid and his ability to capture San Franciso's otherworldly charm is mesmerizing. Midway through, however, the plot begins to move sideways, the pacing of the mystery suffering as Jimmy shifts his focus toward Lucy and the events precipitating their breakup. Some of the scenes, beautiful and vivid as they are, also fall flat, as the author winds the characters up for confrontations that never materialize.

The oblique trajectory of this story may be displeasing to readers of traditional mysteries and noir. But for those willing to sample fantastic realism served up on a strange platter, it may hit the spot.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive follow-up to The Quick, September 19, 2006

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Next: A Novel (Hardcover)

Jimmy Miles is not your run of the mill PI; neither is he your run of the mill human being. Jimmy, you see, is a dead man, or, rather, a man who came back from death as part of a sub species of humanity known collectively as Sailors, due to their penchant for gathering together near large bodies of water. For what it's worth, Jimmy is not your run of the mill Sailor either, choosing to walk alone, rather than joining a group as most Sailors do.

In this follow-up to Vining's impressive 2005 debut novel The Quick, readers walk with Jimmy as he tails a troubled young woman seemingly hell-bent on self destruction. Jimmy's fascination with the woman borders on obsession, as he tries to discern the motivations behind her odd behavior. While immersed in the case, a former flame reenters Jimmy's life, further distracting him. Unfortunately, what Jimmy doesn't know about the girl or his ex-lover can hurt him, as evidenced by the increasingly perilous situations he finds himself in.

Dark and atmospheric, The Next is an impressive hybrid, marrying the tropes of the standard detective novel to the brand new mythology Vining is creating for the Sailors, supernatural creatures apparently resurrected because they have unfinished business to attend to. Jimmy Miles is a perfect point of view character, cynical and witty, but sensitive and thoughtful as well. Readers fond of mystery and horror alike will be pleased to make his acquaintance, and to follow him as he pursues his unique destiny.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars too cool, left me cold., December 15, 2008

By 

amf0001 (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Next: A Novel (A Jimmy Miles Mystery) (Paperback)

I really liked the first book, The Quick, and was looking forward to this one. But it was so cool it left me cold. Jimmy Miles, a detective with a strange history, is sent to look after this woman, and sees all sorts of suspicious activity and makes no connections at all. As a reader I could see what was happening a mile off, and resented that he couldn't and did nothing to stop it. Also, Jimmy's pining for the mysterious Mary without really telling us what was going on... not so engrossing.

So I read it and kept putting it down and then forcing myself to pick it up again. Finally i got about 3/4 the way through, and just sighed and let it go. It still has the occassional glowing sentence, but this one didn't work for me.