7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but not great., April 2, 2010
This review is from: The Pallbearers (Shane Scully Novels) (Hardcover)
I was pleased and surprised when I saw this book at the library, I didn't know that there was a new Shane Scully novel out. As I said, it was good, but not great. For me, it seemed to be missing something.
The Plot was really good. Scully found out that the one man who took care of him as a child had killed himself. The guy wanted Scully and 5 other people to be his pallbearers. As the six met, they understood that they were hand picked special. As the six of them looked in to Pop's death, and couldn't believe that he killed himself. The six of them decided that they'd look into Pop's death. If he was murdered, they'd have to figure out who did it and why, and that person would pay.
That's all I really want to say about the plot. I don't want to give to much of it away. I did like the fact that we were able to see Scully's past, and how he changed from an angry, bitter child to the man he is today. I also liked how the reader is able to get to know the other pallbearers, and see how they turned out. I really liked the character of Jack.
The writing was good as usual. Cannell is able to put us with Scully in that everything he does. Cannell is very good at that.
The downsides is that it just felt like The Pallbearers was missing something. It hard to say, but it just felt empty. I didn't like how it ended.
Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad read, but just not one of my favorites
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
fun investigative thriller, March 20, 2010
This review is from: The Pallbearers (Shane Scully Novels) (Hardcover)
Huntington House Group Home director Walter Dix commits suicide; he apparently shot himself in the head with a shotgun. Those who were raised by Pop, as his wards called him, are stunned as he was considered a father by many of his kids.
His will selects six of his former boys to be the Pallbearers. This includes Police Detective Shane Scully, whose parents abandoned him three decades ago as an infant. Scully has issues with the suicide denouement as he cannot accept the charismatic surfing Pop killing himself although the cop recognizes his affection and adulation of Pop and his remorse for losing contact could distort his view. The other five pallbearers also have difficulty with the official verdict. Putting off his Hawaii vacation with his wife, LAPD Detective Division acting commander Alexa, Shane leads the other Pallbearers on a quest for the truth.
The latest Scully investigative thriller (see On the Grind and White Sister) is refreshed by taking the detective and readers back into his past as an "orphan"; thus enabling the audience to better understand the demons that eat at his soul. The investigation is fun to follow as the police officially close the case while Scully leads the other pallbearers on investigating what each assumes is a homicide. Although the clues to what happen is too obvious for readers which detracts from the investigation's primary issue as to whether Pop considered "to be or not to be" that is the first question of the inquiry. Still Stephen J. Cannell provides his fans with a deep look at the hero's childhood through his adult eyes looking back to the time that shaped the man he is.
Harriet Klausner
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Good not great, April 8, 2010
This review is from: The Pallbearers (Shane Scully Novels) (Hardcover)
I've read all the Shane Scully novels. This was not one of the better ones. Slow, very predictable, and lacked the charm and cop to cop confrontations of previous novels. Cannell has to go back to the drawing board.
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