Customer Reviews

Prisoner of Memory: A Novel (Eve Diamond Novels)

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

 

 

Others in these reviews will outline Hamilton's well crafted plot. But here's my take on her writing... E. L. Doctorow once said, "Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader, not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon." When I read Denise Hamilton I grab my umbrella. Need I say more?

On the first morning of her assignment to the downtown Metro section of the Los Angeles Times, journalist Eve Diamond stumbles across the body of a 17-year-old boy in Griffith Park. The murdered boy is the son of Russian emigrants, Sasha and Irina Lukin.

As Eve's nose for news and search for a killer leads her into Russian Cold War history, she comes face to face with her own family history. Eve's investigation and life is complicated when a young man literally appears on her doorstep one night, armed with Eve's personal history (including her bank account balance) in order to convince her that he is her long-lost cousin.

Eve agrees to take Mischa in, but when he disappears, the Russian mob comes calling and the mob leader warns her off the murder case. Is Mischa really Eve's cousin? And what is Eve's connection to the Lukin family? Will her involvement in a young man's death threaten her own safety?

Denise Hamilton is a wonderful writer who breathes life into her plots and invites the reader to live her adventures with her. I like Eve. She's gutsy, determined and has a kick-butt, take-no-prisoners attitude.

Armchair Interviews says: After you're read Prisoner of Memory, check out Hamilton's previous Eve Diamond novels. You'll be glad you did.

Prisoner of Memory is a gorgeous, lively mix of murder mystery, Russian family intrigue, and Los Angeles mayhem. I particularly enjoyed the dry humor in the book, and Hamilton's lovely use of language, for example "Bees droned, an atavistic murmur from the hive-mind," interspersed with action that keeps the reader turning pages. Her character, Eve Diamond, is as multi-faceted as her name. A most enjoyable read.

Sassy, streetwise Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond returns in Prisoner of Memory, her fifth outing.
The story kicks off with Eve being sent to Griffith Park to investigate the sighting of a mountain lion. She stumbles across the body of a teenage boy who has been murdered execution-style. Further investigation reveals the boy to be the son of Russian immigrant parents. His murder appears motiveless and Eve, herself the daughter of Russian immigrants, establishes a rapport with the boy's father.
I won't reveal too much except to say that Eve finds herself entangled in a web involving a disgraced FBI agent and the Russian Mafia. This novel also feels more personal as the author is herself of Russian descent. As with all her previous novels, though, her love for her native city shines through.
In short, a worthy addition to your bookshelf. Fans of the series will love it and if you haven't read her books before now's the time to start.

In Prisoner of Memory, the entrepid Los Angeles Times news reporter Eve Diamond, is back in a fast-paced and enthralling crime thriller with author Denise Hamilton deftly shuffling around characters, clues, red herrings and various plot machinations for utmost tension. On assignment in Griffith Park with a Fish and Wildlife officer, Eve stumbles across the decaying body of a teenager who has been brutally shot in the head.

The boy is soon identified as Dennis Lukin, the young son of Russian émigré parents, now living in Studio City. Eve immediately notices that there's something strange about the crime scene - whilst it certainly looks like a professional hit, the boy is dressed in Western clothes, even sporting a necklace made of white shells, but most curiously, Dennis is wearing a Soviet army era wristwatch.

Of course, being first on the scene, Eve, in full investigative reporter mode, believes she should be the first to interview the parents. Upon arriving at the Lukin's, Eve discovers that Sasha Lukin, Dennis's father, is living a life shrouded in secrecy, mystery and paranoia. When Eve mentions Dennis's Soviet era watch, Sasha grows visibly alarmed and Eve becomes convinced the watch signifies much more than just adolescent rebellion.

Someone is sending Sasha threatening blackmail letters, and signing them "the prisoner of memory;" it's a horrifying reminder, and a foreboding voice from the past, that absolutely terrifies this cultured and seemingly civil old man. This family visibly knows more than they're letting on, particularly when Eve spies Dennis' paranoid older brother, Nicolai, looking over a book on the history of the Cold War at the UCLA Library.

Working with her colleague, the self confessed "metro-sexual" Josh Brandywine - whom Eve fights a constant attraction - Eve ploughs through clues and leads where the suspects she meets rage on in parallel universes, wanting to settle old scores, avenge honor, even wanting to "feather their nests with a little blackmail."

Eve ascertains that Denny had a crush on a girl at school whose family are being extorted by the Russian mafia, whilst the trail also leads to the very serious possibility that either the Lukin kids or their dad are involved with the mafia, or the KGB, or even "someone Sasha slighted on a street corner on Moscow thirty years ago."

Meanwhile, illegal Russian immigrant Mischa Tsipin, lands on Eve's doorstep right after Denny Lukin is shot, claiming the Mafia are after him and that he's Eve's long lost cousin. And what is the connection of FBI special agent Thomas Clavendish to the Lukin family? Eve spies him at Dennis funeral, surreptitiously cozying up to Sasha. Once disgraced in a cold war spy scandal and now just a few days short of retiring, could Clavendish really have had the motivation and the opportunity to kill Sasha Lukin's son?

In a multifaceted web of clues stretching back twenty years and even encapsulating Eve's own family history, the whole plot becomes a nefarious free-for-all with Eve riding on the coat tales of the news flow, jockeying to stay front and center as she encounters the Russian mafia and the ghosts of the old Soviet regime.

Hamilton's obvious love of Los Angeles adds to the legitimacy of the story, and she excels in showing her adored city on the edge, with the flood of immigration, of languages, cultures, civilizations, and even crime, the great wealth living along-side obvious poverty, the thriving drug and criminal culture, a place to start again for refugees.

The story is peppered with compelling characters, all jockeying for position, all with their own agendas, determined to hide their secrets and who are in the end, unable to escape their violent pasts. Once again, Eve Diamond is truly a gifted reporter, plucky, courageous; she doesn't hesitate to place herself in harms way to get to the heart of the story.

Eve is indeed a tough cookie and although her boyfriend Silvio Aguilar, the hunky Hispanic music promoter, may have slighted her, she doesn't let it get in the way of her ruthless ambition and her readiness to always root out the bad guys. Mike Leonard August 06.

Los Angeles Times reporter Eve Diamond accompanies California Fish and Game Tracker Jeff Knightsbridge as he investigates the reported sightings of a mountain lion in Griffith Park. Instead of a puma, they find a corpse of a teenage boy apparently executed. LAPD find a driver's license on the victim, Dennis Lukin of Studio City. Eve notices the kid wore a watch with the old Soviet symbol on it

The why seems odd as the victim was not a drug user, was doing well in school, and lived with caring educated parents. Denny's father Russian émigré scientist Sasha Lukin is grieving his loss, but though feeling a connection perhaps because her family are Russian émigrés too, Eve feels he hides something critical to the homicide. Partnered with her rival police reporter Josh Brandywine who seems more interested in Eve than the story, she keeps digging for the truth though what she learns seems odd compounded by a man insisting he is her cousin and claiming that Russian mafia wants him. Even worse s the fact that the teen murder just does not intersect with anything else Eve uncovers even as a disgraced FBI agent, his KGB siren and a Russian gangster warn Eve to back off or else.

The fifth Diamond investigative tale is a terrific entry as much of the case seems personal to the heroine though it is a different Russian family than her own. The story line is action-packed with readers wondering like Eve what is the link between the Fed, the femme fatale, the scientist, the Russian Mafia, and the dead teen as the latter does not seem to fit in with the other pieces of the puzzle. Fans will enjoy learning about Eve's personal life as she makes inquiries into the PRISONER OF MEMORY.

Harriet Klausner