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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"After two long years, it was time to start my life again.",
By
This review is from: Night Work (Hardcover)
In "Night Work," Steve Hamilton introduces Joe Trumbull, a probation officer who lives and works in upstate New York. Joe is "part cop, part social worker, part guidance counselor, part rehab coordinator, part bounty hunter." His job is multifaceted: he visits his clients' homes and drags them out of bed, investigates their family lives, and writes up sentencing recommendations for the court. If he suggests probation and the judge agrees, then Joe tries to help his "knuckleheads," mostly kids in need of supervision, to stay out of prison. Joe is "your official court-designated guardian angel." He lives in a dumpy apartment above a gym, adores jazz, and dabbles in boxing.Two years earlier, Joe's fiancée, Laurel, was murdered just days before their wedding. The case is still open. Lonely and afraid of staying that way, Joe puts a listing in a singles' site and lands a blind date with a beautiful woman. In a humorous opening, Joe approaches his evening out as if he were facing an impending execution. Fortunately, he and his companion hit it off and, for the first time in a long while, Joe is looking forward to the future. Unfortunately, a series of unexpected and terrifying events follow that make Joe the prime suspect in a series of homicides. To clear his name, he will need to find the answer to a crucial question: Who hates him enough to want to destroy him? Steve Hamilton made his reputation with the solid Alex McNight series, and although this thriller lacks the punch of Hamilton's earlier books, it does have its strengths. Hamilton wisely sets his story in an offbeat location, Kingston, New York, and he gives his protagonist an occupation (probation officer) that is also a bit different. Joe is likeable enough, the writing is crisp and direct, and the mystery is fairly suspenseful. The only negative is that "Night Work" adheres too closely to the old formula: Nice guy tries to get over the death of his fiancée. He suddenly finds himself on the run from the cops, who suspect him of being a serial killer. He must find the real perpetrator before the detectives take him into custody. We have seen this plot too many times before, and Hamilton does not provide enough variations on this familiar theme to make his novel stand out from the crowd.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Dark, depressing, downer...,
This review is from: Night Work (Hardcover)
As a big fan of Steve Hamilton's previous books, Night Work came as a huge disappointment. Aside from the incredibly gloomy storyline, everything was too predictable. As Hamilton has proven himself to be a truly talented writer in the past, I continued reading this book with the assumption that the plot would take a surprising turn or, at least, I would see some of his enjoyable, lighthearted humor. Sadly, none of this happened. Not only was the story enormously dismal and dark, but everything was way too predictable. While I'm usually the last guy to figure out whodunit, Hamilton did everything but put a neon sign around the villain's neck very early in the book. Hopefully, Hamilton will drop the dull main character and sad tale of Night Work, and get back on track with his next novel.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Probation Officer Makes for Intriguing Change of Focus,
By
This review is from: Night Work (Mass Market Paperback)
I approached this novel with a little different angle. I am a retired big city probation officer, and I know that while P.O.'s are quite central to the criminal justice system, they almost never make it into novels, movies, TV shows. The novels came first, and since there is no tradition of probation officer fiction, there are few, if any, movies, and no TV shows featuring P.O.'s.Ross McDonough wrote a good mystery in the 1950's, Meet Me at the Morgue, with a probation officer at the center, but Bantam Books thought Howard Cross wasn't hard bitten enough for the paperback trade, so there were no more Howard Cross mysteries. And so it goes. Revenge goes down better in the mystery trade than redemption. So... I was impressed with Night Work. Steve Hamilton got the essentials of the probation officer line of work down right, and he made the contradictory mission of P.O.'s into the driving force of a plot with multiple murders. P.O. Joe Trumbull has come into contact with many hundreds of troubled people in his seven years on the job. When your job is redemption, then there are hundreds of ways for you to fail. The "T" you didn't cross, the "I" you didn't dot: you may have had a good reason, but you never know if and when you will pay. I can remember my own self thinking, please let no one die on my watch. I hope that we see more of this small town probation officer from the Hudson Valley.
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