Silent Thunder (The Amos Walker Series #10) [Hardcover]

Loren D. Estleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1989

The tabloids were full of it. Constance Thayer, after a night of clubbing, drinks and drugs, had taken an automatic pistol from the collection of her industrialist husband Doyle Thayer Jr. and emptied it into his back, as he lay naked and unconscious in their Iroquois Heights home. The news of Constance Thayer's X-rated past breathed new life into the scandal for another month. Walker's job was to gather enough dirt on the late Mr. Thayer to make his widow look clean by comparison. What he found was a monstrous magnate, a dubious corpse and a gang of country-style gunrunners.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Loren D. Estleman is the author of several mystery titles set in Detroit including MOTOR CITY BLUE (0671038982), ANGEL EYES (0671039008), published previously by ibooks. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin; 1st edition (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395410746
• ISBN-13: 978-0395410745
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,952,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since the appearance of his first novel in 1976, Loren D. Estleman has written more than 65 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. Alone (Dec 2009, Forge Books) is the second in a new series about L.A. film detective Valentino, and features Greta Garbo.

To kick off the new decade, Estleman's The Book of Murdock (eighth in the U.S. Deputy Marshal Page Murdock series) will appear in March and, to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Private Detective Amos Walker, The Left-Handed Dollar will publish in December. It's the 20th novel in the award-winning series.

An authority on both criminal history and the American West, Estleman has been called the most critically acclaimed author of his generation. He has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award.

He has received seventeen national writing awards: four Shamuses from the Private Eye Writers of America, five Spurs from the Western Writers of America, two American Mystery Awards from Mystery Scene Magazine, two Outstanding Mystery Writer of the Year awards from Popular Fiction Monthly, two Stirrup Awards for outstanding articles in the Western Writers of America magazine, The Roundup, and three Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1987, the Michigan Foundation of the Arts presented him with its award for literature. In 1997, the Michigan Library Association named him the recipient of the Michigan Author's Award. In 2007, Nicotine Kiss was named a Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.

Estleman graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Journalism. On April 27, 2002, EMU presented him with an honorary doctorate in letters. He left the job market in 1980 to write full time. He lives in Michigan and is married to writer Deborah Morgan. For more information, please visit his website: www.lorenestleman.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best in the Walker series, July 14, 2011

By 

Brett T. Mccoy "Tech Teacher" (Boston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Silent Thunder (The Amos Walker Series #10) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ok, so the plot does take a turn towards the highly improbably in the end. But it is not entirely unbelievable. As for the assertion that someone could not have stored a 30 ft. missile in their basement, read the book! The character was extremely wealthy. I'm pretty sure he would have had a larger than average basement. As for the inaccuracies regarding military ranks and careers, no biggie. Your average CSI or NCIS episode is full of made up technologies and exaggerated capabilities and no one thinks they are less entertaining as a result.

The bottom line is that this is a supremely entertaining read and I liked it as much or more than any of the other Walker novels.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Polished private eye yarn, September 26, 2002

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silent Thunder (The Amos Walker Series #10) (Hardcover)

Amos Walker is solidly in the tradition of the American private eye as established by such masters as Chandler,Hammett and MacDonald.He is white,middle aged,and partial to the twin vices of nicotine and alcohol.As a one man operation in an insecure profession he is no stranger to an existence just a step or two away from the poverty line.He is quick with a one liner and has an outlook on life that tempers a bruised romanticism with a relaxed tolerance and understanding.A good friend and bar room companion methinks.
His beat is Detroit,a city Estleman makes very much a character in its own right-decaying,violence ridden,corrupt and a place -as the writer is quick to point out-that has its history and culture very much tied to the gun.
In this book Walker is hired to prove the innocence of a wealthy widow,Constance Thayer,who is pleading self defence on a charge of shooting her late husband ,an abusive drunk.The late unlamented's father is seeking to prove cold blooded murder as he wishes to gain custody of her child and train him to take over the family business.
Walker becomes entangled in the arms trade as he seeks to find evidence that will exonerate Constance,and it is this which forms the real meat and potatoes of the book.Clearing Constance is relatively easy but the arms dealers are another and more vicious proposition entirely especially when very large sums of money are at stake,as is the case here.This aspect of the book does tend to strike a false note or two for me ,with a bad guy,a vietnam veteran, who seems to have strayed in from a Bond movie,what with his dreams of blackmailing an African government over mineral rights.It just sits oddly with the rest of the book which is a solid well crafted traditional private eye yarn.
Still,all in all ,its neatly and economically told,with compassion and heart not to mention a mordauntly cynical view of law enforcement.Just a pity about the plot going a tad awry towards the end
Still worth reading if you like the private eye genre.

3.0 out of 5 stars Well written, not even close to believable, November 5, 2010

By 

Harvey L. Handley "roac" (Arlington, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Silent Thunder (The Amos Walker Series #10) (Mass Market Paperback)

Some readers are bothered more than others by gross factual errors and implausibilities in a crime novel. I am one of the sensitive ones. While Eistelman's writing is fluent and adept and he knows how to move a story along, I can't ignore his unfamiliarity with basic military information in a book with a military background.

For example: One character,an Army veteran, is stated to have been a "lieutenant j.g.," a Navy rank, unknown in the Army. Another was a Marine and a West Point graduate -- not an impossible career path, but Annapolis would have been far more plausible. But what really stands out is that we have a character taking delivery of a stolen Polaris missile and storing it in his basement. It must have been some basement as the Polaris was almost 30 feet high. (The book's ultimate McGuffin turns out to be even less believable, but describing it would be a spoiler).