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17 Reviews

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

Average Customer Review

3.1 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)

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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Same old, same old., May 25, 2005

By

David E. Hintz (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Right Madness (Hardcover)

Maybe I'm Crumleyed out, but his loser lead characters storming through fascinating and horrific landscapes of human depravity (while scoring with every female along the way) are getting a little tired and ugly by now. I enjoyed the last book a lot and The Last Good Kiss is still a must read. However this one is for the Crumley completists only. Perhaps I prefer his Milo-lead books as opposed to the Sughrue led efforts (like this one). If you've read him before, you know what you're getting. If you haven't, start with the earlier efforts.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, May 23, 2006

By

Owen Gilmore "owengmo" (San Mateo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Right Madness (Hardcover)

I read Crumley's "The Last Good Kiss," and that may have been his last good book. Anybody else may have gotten at least 3 stars but I think Crumley's gotten lazy. Any time Sughrue gets into a fix, he's always able to kick ass and fight his way out. Of course, any 70 year old Korean war vet should be able to take out a 30 year old FBI agent in top shape....sure. Believable. Hey, Crumley. This is supposed to be crime fiction, not fantasy.

The author also seems to have a voyeuristic fascination with young women and drugs, in no particular order.

Sex and drugs were used to good effect in "Kiss." Here, they're just cheap devices to spice up a basically very boring plot.

So much more could have been done with the illegal immigrant/white slavery/child abuse story, but that was never explored. Just good ol' Sughrue kickin' ass.....zzzzzzz.

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Got to be a diehard Crumley fan for this one, February 26, 2006

By

Jim Beam (Wayward, Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Right Madness (Hardcover)

If you've never read Crumley, read his earlier work in "Dancing Bear" or "The Wrong Case" before this one. They have the same sensibility and feel, but the stories are tighter and the books just work better.

Yes, this book is better written than a lot of hackwork you'll find out there in the crime and mystery genre, but after reading other stuff he's written I guess I'm holding him to a higher standard.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Most under rated writer
It is well known that there is no justice on plant Earth, but one of the greatest literary injustices is that James Crumley is not one of the best known crime writers in history... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Paul Rooney

4.0 out of 5 stars My first Crumley..
I just finished my first Crumley book and I loved it. Perhaps that's a bit strange coming from a woman since Crumley's characters are all womanizers, but I think his story lines... Read more

Published on October 6, 2009 by RoweReader

2.0 out of 5 stars Crumley's gone sour
The Right Madness
I loved earlier Crumley novels such as "The Last Good Kiss," but he seems to have lost the detachment and sense of humor that made his scathing asides... Read more

Published on December 14, 2008 by Charles Perry

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Sughrue...
...another great read. I just really like James Crumleys style.I guess I'll never tire of the 'ol style,womanizing PI story!!

Published on January 31, 2008 by Lee Yusten

2.0 out of 5 stars Sad demise of a good writer
What the hell happened to James Crumley? Too much of the booze and drugs he writes about ad nauseum in this randomly plotted, sloppily written, seemingly un-edited mish-mash of a... Read more

Published on August 16, 2007 by Boydetective

2.0 out of 5 stars Tough Guy
I do like Crumley's "tough guys" and Sughrue is as tough as they come. But I find many of Crumley's sentences so convoluted I have no idea what they mean. Read more

Published on March 16, 2007 by Robert Annandale

3.0 out of 5 stars Quite a tale - but not for the sqeamish.
After reading the mainstream reviews of this book, I had planned to pass on it but a friend, whose taste in mysteries is trustworthy, recommended it. Read more

Published on January 11, 2006 by Richard F. Sethre

1.0 out of 5 stars A pathetic attempt to shock.
C. W. Sughrue is a dope-smoking, alcoholic, pill-popping private investigator with marital problems (due not in small part to his serial infidelity), a supposedly traumatic past... Read more

Published on December 5, 2005 by Jerry Saperstein

3.0 out of 5 stars Powerful but confusing and strange
When his best friend asks him to look into an apparently minor theft, private detective CW Sughrue resists. Read more

Published on September 9, 2005 by booksforabuck

4.0 out of 5 stars Crumley's best in years
The return of C.W. Sughrue, fast from his Texas adventures with the equally shopworn and world-weary Milo Milodragonovich, is Jim Crumley's best effort in years. Read more

Published on August 1, 2005 by James E. Tenuto

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First Sentence:
IT WAS A LOVELY, CALM MONTANA SUMMER EVENING, A Saturday night after a long weekend of softball. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Johnny Raymond, Sheila Miller, Agent Morrow, Carrie Fraizer, Georgie Paul, The Phone Booth, Agent Cunningham, Doug Foley, George Paul, Turner Landry, Arno Biddle, Charity Ritter, Charlie Marshall, Ellen Marshall, Lonnie Howell, New Mexico, Robert Guilder, Ron Musselwhite, Ron Musslewhite, Angie Cole, Elwood Studer, Avon Lady, Bette Davis, Lindsey Porter, Pacific Northwest Hotel

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