Customer Reviews

Philippine Fever (A Sam Haine Mystery)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A bookstore buddy lent me his Advance Reader's Copy as soon as he finished it. I don't know if anything will change between now and publication. Philippine Fever is quite a ride, enough mystery, sex, and violence for three novels. Sam Haine is a cool guy. What really sets it apart though is how real it feels. I knew I was reading fiction, but it was like being right in Manilla. It put me in mind of Barry Eisler's Hard Rain. I read it straight through and went to Amazon looking for more from the same author.

You know you're reading a good book when you can taste, smell, and sense the locale. The Manila heat was palpable, and not just from the weather. The people were real, intriguing, and sometimes a kick in the pants. The story revealed itself slowly like a taunting striptease. Read the book with a cool drink beside you. When the story gets hot and heavy, you'll need it. Great read.

His debut novel, PHILIPPINE FEVER, is well conceived, well written, and well researched.

I would have liked to learn a little more about Sam Haine earlier in the book for character development, but I have a feeling I'll be learning a lot about Sam Haine in future novels. And that will be a good thing.

If you're looking for a new novelist, who expertly sets a story in a unique setting, who takes you through a well laid trail to a sound conclusion, you won't be disappointed with Bruce Cook or PHILLIPINE FEVER.

When I picked up this book, I wondered if it would turn out to be as dark and exotic as the cover suggested it would be. And it did! I have never been to Manila, but now I feel like I have. You can feel the heat radiating from every page of this intense book, which manages to combine setting, plot, and character into a heady witches' brew. I thought the Sam Haines character was extremely well done - interesting, and just perverse enough to be realistic. I do have to warn any potential reader that this is a tough book, so if you have a weak stomach or like your mysteries very cozy, this isn't going to be the right book for you. But if you like a well plotted story, exceedingly well told, and you can handle a lot of gritty details about cockfighting, the sex trade, and assault weapons - then you won't be able to put it down (just as I couldn't).

I don't think I've ever read a book that was so evocative of a place. I felt as though I'd actually visited Manila and seen all the sights, the good, the bad and the...well, you know. Bruce Cook is a master of description, and he has created a set of finely drawn characters that I actually cared about. The story is complex, topical, and scarily believable. I'm already looking forward to the next Sam Haine book.

Having been to the Philippines probably made this book even more interesting. However, the author gives some pretty good descriptions of life in The Philippines. Well written and a good page turner. Definitely an author with potential.

Reviewed by Thomas Gabrielli for Reader Views (3/07)

ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agent Sam Haine is called to Manila on a homicide investigation, where he teams up with a Philippine detective known as "Bogie." Together, they slowly - ever so slowly - unravel the clues to solve how a Harvey Tucker was murdered and who killed him.

First, the good: Cook is a talented writer whose sentence structure, use of metaphors and descriptions are nothing short of outstanding. He uses his well-established vocabulary to create - at times - an impressive read.

I also like the structure of the book. As a preamble to each chapter, Cook gives a little-known factoid into the Philippine culture. These short introductions were interesting as well as educational.

However, the book itself suffers -- at times from the very things I liked about it. Cook uses Philippine words and phrases interspersed and sparingly throughout, without any clue to their meanings. I couldn't even guess what some of these words mean. It was frustrating having to reread passages thinking you may have missed a dropped but forgotten clue to their meaning.

The plot is also a factor here -- grass growing in the dead of winter moves faster than this plot. It also didn't make much sense initially; why would an ATF agent be called in to Manila to investigate a murder on foreign soil? Is this standard procedure? Not until halfway through the book is it revealed who Tucker, the victim, is and what connections he may have had.

The characters are very stilted; they are all of cardboard construction, without anything to hook the reader into wanting to care about any of them. Apparently, Cook is planning on making his ATF agent, Sam Haine, a recurring character, but he is so one-dimensional and unemotional that we'll need more history and involvement to make us want to read more of him.

And finally, the subtitle: "A Sam Haine Mystery." There is no mystery in this novel. Mystery involves suspense, inquisitiveness, perhaps even a game of trying to solve a crime before the novel's characters do. There is none of this here. This is simply straight-forward storytelling.

While I am apprehensive to give negative reviews, particularly to a first-time author, I am reluctant to report that this read, "Philippine Fever," was boring. I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to get this read over with, but, alas, the page turning, like the novel, never got up to speed.

Received book free of charge.

I grew up as an american in the Philippines and I enjoy reading books about it as it takes me back to my heady days as child in that crazy but thoroughly enjoyable country. I looked forward to Philippine Fever but I have to say overall I was disappointed in it.

Let's start with the good. Mr. Cook has done a nice job in understanding the political situation over there and how corrupt it is. The way he pulls together various aspects of Philippine crime from arms trade to sex trade to Islamist separatists was well conceived and executed. I liked his Sam Haine character. It was easy to envision him.

The hardest part for me was the dialog. Filipinos just don't talk like that. He has several cop characters and when I read the dialog, I felt like I was in Chicago or something. He was unable to make me feel these were real Filipinos. A Filipino cop named Bogie cuz he liked film noir. Too much of a stretch.

Next was the very superficial description of Philippine culture. It read like someone who really hadn't dug deep into the culture. There were the usual references you find in all western writing about the Philippines - transvestites, fertilized duck egg, hot exotic sex with a local girl, etc. If your audience are people who've never been there, then I guess reading this would be fine for them.

Lastly I didn't like the constant switches in third person point of view. One moment we were in Sam, then Bogie, then Nosaka, then another person. I would have liked it if he kept the POV to just one or two characters.

The plot came together well at the end but I was looking forward to a fun twist somewhere and it never really came.

This was a good read and can be recommended to others. I learned about the Phillipine culture and people.