Customer Reviews

Shadow Boxer: A Billy Nichols Novel

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

 

 

If you want the old golden era of Hollywood in a book then look no further. Shadow Boxer is a wonderfully plotted, atmospheric book of the forties. The mood and style is captured vividly in the lead protaganist, Billy Nichols. Billy is the boxing columnist for the San Francisco Inquirer and he gets deeply embedded in mayhem, murder and femme fatales.

In his Through the Ropes Column Billy writes:

Life is fixed. That's why I offer simple advice to any amateur turning pro; Kid don't leave it up to the judges. Get yourself a knockout punch.

Shadow Boxer has a punch that takes your breath away. This is one entertaining read. Don't miss out.

San Francisco Inquirer boxing journalist Billy Nichols is back. This book picks up exactly where THE DISTANCE leaves off. Burney Sanders, the man accused of killing Billy's mistress and wife of boxer Hack Escalante is in jail requesting Billy's presence. He claims he was framed by some of the city's top officials. He convinces Billy to help him or else he will let all know of Billy's infidelity. As Billy searches for the truth, the reader is treated to a panoramic view of San Francisco of the 1940s.
SHADOW BOXER by following so carefully on the events of THE DISTANCE actually requires the reader to read both books in order. What is most notable about this particular work is the extremely strong sense of place-- San Francisco of 1948. Events are even created to highlight certain areas of the city such as a scene at an amusement park no longer in existence. There is a dark edged noir atmosphere throughout the book. Characters are gritty and violence quite common. However, the plot is extremely difficult to navigate. Nonetheless, characters and setting easily make up for the convoluted story line. I'm not sure I will come back for more but certainly didn't regret what time I spent with Billy Nichols.

Eddie Muller's second Billy Nichols novel has a tough task in front of it. Not only does it have to stand side by side with one of the best debut novels in noir, but it also has to unravel the neat plot resolutions of The Distance and follow them to substantially different conclusions (and guilty parties.)

As a standalone novel, this would be a very good work. It's not as strong as The Distance. The plot definitely bogs down in places. However, Muller does a very good job of taking a totally neat resolution in the first novel, and tearing it apart only to find the real truth behind the crimes of the first novel (and some committed in this book.

It's an audacious goal. Muller could have played it safe, but took the risk. I liked what he did with the plot continuation from The Distance, but the plotting is sometimes erratic, and the lack of a strong love interest for the protagonist detracts from the book.

That said, I recommend highly these two books.

I read the book prior to this one by the same author Eddie Muller The Distance, which was great blending of dectective noir and a history of boxing when it was still a respectable sport. In Shadow Boxer, which I haven't finished reading, there seems to be more of an interest in the detective noir. Though the character of Billy Nichols isn't a detective but a sports writer like in the previous novel. You don't need to read The Distance to catch onto the story. The first three chapters basically runs down a recap of the previous novel. Unlike the Distance, the story so far (on the 6th chapter) doesn't go through dry spells where either the action is dead or you are introduced to characters you forget about with the turning of the next page. Still this is definite buy if you are into hard boiled crime novels. I hope Muller is writing another Billy Nichols novel.

2nd book in the Billy Nichols series; Historical Mystery.

Eddie Muller is the son of a newspaper reporter, and that background really helped him create a very well described late 1940s California scene (at least I thought he was, though his official website does not note this fact in his biography). Muller's first book in the series, The Distance, has won the Shamus Award, the Mystery Ink Gumshoe Award for Best first Novel and was nominated for the Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards. A non-fiction work that Muller apparently worked on between the Nichols books was nominated for the Edgar and Macavity awards (The Art of Noir). Unfortunately, his second Billy Nichols book is seemingly lacking in nominations or awards (and none of his other books has so far been nominated for anything).

The first book was deeply involved in Nichols working as "Mr. Boxing," the premier boxing journalist in California. The second book, on the other hand, while including some boxing activity, has Nichols submerge himself into the world of financial/business journalism. The man who Nichols helped put in jail was apparently involved in a financial fraud/scam in California, involving some high ranking people (or at least highly regarded people). Nichols, though reluctant to help Burney Sanders, decides to examine the situation and acquires help along the way from one of the best financial journalist of the era (though he is now working outside journalism). Along the way Nichols ends up trying to help Sanders former secretary, who apparently had fled the scene when the trouble started in the first book.

A very detailed, imaginative historical noir book that is not as good as the first book in the series (the first book was given 4.60 stars out of 5; the second barely makes it over 4 stars).

Let me start by saying I didn't read the first Muller book, and since so much of that is backstory for the second (in which Claire's muder is "re-solved!") it might not be worth my time or money. That said -- I happen to like convoluted plots that aren't easily unraveled by the reader if they are well laid out, and a good "paper trail" mystery can really hold my attention -- this one is and did. If this makes sense: I liked the people but not all of the characters, and the problem is the writing.
I see by his other work that he has written extensive non-fiction about film noir, and unfortunately he makes the mistake (as many who tackle this oh-so-difficult genre do) of trying to be Raymond Chandler. As was pointed out in the excellent PBS American Cinema series episode devoted to noir, Chandler was a unique voice in American literature; no one wrote like him before he came along, and no one has since. Copying Chandler hasn't worked in the past, doesn't work now, and won't work in the future. For this reason, I am only giving the book 3 stars. The story is better than that, but the derivative style detracted a lot for me. When I find myself laughing out loud on page 1 because it is so overloaded with Chandler-wannabe similes, this is not a good sign. Far better is Pelecanos' "The Big Blowdown" -- he doesn't try to write in anyone's voice but his own and this makes "Blowdown" the hands-down winner as a noir novel. I'm hoping Muller tones down the over-writing and develops his own voice as well. There's a future (for me as a reader) if he does.