A Rage in Paradise (Willy Hanson Novel) [Hardcover]

Ralph Arnote (Author)

Book Description

Series: Willy Hanson Novel | Publication Date: June 1997

When Willy Hanson and Ginny, his long-time companion, come to visit an old friend in the suburbs, they stumble into a wicked scene involving stolen rare coins, drug trafficking, and murder."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Willy Hanson, featured in four paperback novels published by Arnote since 1992 and in the hardcover Hong Kong, China (LJ 9/1/96), is back in a second hardcover. When amateur New Jersey coin collector Cliff Blaylock is robbed, he shoots his assailant, who turns out to be his neighbor's son. Blaylock covers up the killing, refuses help from investigator friend Hanson, and gets deeper into trouble with New York hoodlums who are blackmailing him. Hanson has his own problems, including more murders and an assault on his girlfriend. By the time the tale ends in a boat chase on the Hudson River, the bodies have begun to pile up. Unfortunately, so has the purple prose. Although the point of view shifts often, all the voices sound alike, the characters are flat and stereotypical, and the plot is far-fetched. This is the kind of writing for which pulp fiction was named.?Roland C. Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A first hardcover outing for Willy Hanson, a paperback hero who lives on a ketch as an ``atoning avenger.'' Visiting his old friend Cliff Blaylock in idyllic Stag Creek, New Jersey, Willy can't help noticing that Blaylock's saddened and distracted over the theft of a unique rarity he'd just purchased--a mint-condition 1793 penny inscribed ``AMERI''- -and over the shooting, the very same night the coin was stolen, of Willis McCord, the boy next door. In fact, Blaylock is much more troubled than Willy knows, since he shot Willis himself during a robbery in which Willis's accomplice and drug source, Heavy Laval, got away with a briefcase filled with $20,000 in bullion (whose value even a lug like Heavy can appreciate) and the AMERI penny (making his total haul, Heavy thinks, $20,000.01). Now, as Willy and his p.i. partner Coley Doctor are combing the streets to get a line on the coin, Blaylock is doing everything he can to keep them from finding Heavy. And just to keep the pot boiling, Heavy, realizing what a haul he's made, is planning in his elephantine way to blackmail his victim; Heavy's bossman, Florida druglord Bocco Lamas, has come to New York to supervise damage control (meaning, in Heavy's case, prompt extermination); and Red Irons, Bocco's middleman, is struggling to keep Bocco happy, and himself alive. It's an Elmore Leonard setup, but completely without Leonard's fizz and wit, because Arnote (Hong Kong, China, 1996) writes so flatly (Blaylock muses sensitively, ``I've killed poor Willis McCord and things will never be the same''; later, Willis's grieving mother, who turns out to be one hot mama, memorializes her son: ``The Blaylocks were very special people to young Willis''). Even so, the tale moves along at a snappy pace, and few readers will guess who'll join Willy in the small circle of survivors. Functional and depthless as an aluminum-sided split-level a long way down the road from swanky Stag Creek. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 285 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312861982
• ISBN-13: 978-0312861988
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,921,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good, average book, April 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Rage in Paradise (Willy Hanson Novel) (Hardcover)

This is a goo, solid, but average book. A good quick read with interesting characters and a story that builds up steam as it goes. A little like Elmore Leonard. If you need a book for a flight or for a doctors office visit, get this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Classy, July 14, 2000

By 

Jason Birkby - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Rage in Paradise (Mass Market Paperback)

It has been some time since I've read an Ralph Arnote novel. His wonderful characters come jumping off the page. Arnote has a great sense of mixing the crime fighting super rich like Willy Hanson and mixing in the rotten bad guys. At times Arnote is a mix between Elmore Leonard and Lawrence Sanders

This story centers on Cliff Blaylock, friend of Willy Hanson and coin collector. On his way home from a coin show Blaylock is robbed of his briefcase containing many coins, one which is a valuable mint condition penny. The robbery does not go off without a hitch. Blaylock shoots one of the robbers, only to find out that he has killed his next door neighbors son. Blaylock trys to cover up the killing until friend Hanson starts investigating on good faith to find the coins. Then the second robber starts blackmailing Blaylock for the the killing.

This story really zips along. You can also feel the tension the Blaylock is going through. Heavy Leval is your typical bad guy, who is easy to hate. Peaches Collins is another one of Arnote's middle characters who is generally good but caught in a bad place. In total the characters here are worth the read.

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad....but somewhat confusing!!!, July 10, 2004

By 

Christopher Berry (Hale, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Rage in Paradise (Mass Market Paperback)

Just got finished with this book...this is my fourth book in a week since my surgery...:) This one was pretty good, lots of action and twists and turns...although there was one thing that I had a hard time in deciding with this book. I was not sure if the author wanted us to feel sorry for one of the main characters (Cliff Blaylock) or not...in the beginning he was this poor soul who got robbed while leaving a coin show, and inadvertantly shoots/kills the neighbor kid (who was involved in the robbery) but shortly after the shooting Blaylock cannot bring it to himself to be honest and tell the authorities or family that he has made this terrible mistake. I was confused if I should feel sorry for this person or dispised him for all the lies he told throughout....another character that I was not impressed with was the mother of the slain teen. She showed very little remorse for the death of her son...and in the end seemed to deal with grief in a way most ppl would not....book ends with a bang....literally...
Would I read this author again??? Maybe...A Rage in Paradise was very intense in some spots...but again, very confusing in others...good beach read...but you may walk away shaking your head when finished with this one!!!!!