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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a minor genre masterpiece..., May 24, 2008
This review is from: Snowbird's Blood (Hardcover)
From what I have gathered, Joe Hensley wrote this just before he died. I think that it was published after this event. I believe that he spent his life primarily as a lawyer and judge and wrote a couple dozen small mysteries on the side. This is the first of his books that I picked up, stumbling across it at a bookstore and liking the synopsis on the dust jacket.
What really stuck out for me here was Hensley's world view. It is twisted and confused and fearful. I have never really experienced anything quite like it before. I kept thinking of 'The Road' by cormac McCarthy. This is not the same story, but the bleakness of McCarthy can be found here watered down just a little.
There is no over-riding plot going on. An old-timer dying of cancers wife disapeared and he roams Florida trying to figure out what happened to her. I am fine with that. Usually I look hard for engaging plots but when a story is good a story is good.
So you end up primarily following this character named Charlie Cannert, a man that I cant exactly remember his age, but I would put at around 65. He is old and fits in with the retired community of Florida. He goes around searching out instances where other old folk have vanished and tries to see if first his wife was one of those who vanished and secondly, if he can put things right. Things get brutal and you root for cannert and his violent tendencies.
What makes this story work so well, as I stated before, is its loneliness and undercurrents of fear. Hensley often uses prose to evoke the mind set of the retirees as sheep being preyed upon by the callous youth. And in Hensley's mind, anyone under 50 is youngish. Just about every character Hensley creates and is one of these youngsters has bad tendencies and Cannert takes a stand against them.
Im not doing Hensley justice here. His writing is just so good and when you come across these reflections they are so haunting, its worth reading just to find these. The ending was not very well pieced together. It felt like someone else came along and wrote something happy in Hensleys place. I finished the story weeks ago, but passages are even now haunting my thoughts. I would say that this story is one of the very best genre books that I have ever read. top 20 for sure.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
powerful stand alone thriller, February 21, 2008
This review is from: Snowbird's Blood (Hardcover)
While her spouse Charlie Cannert was in a Chicago hospital being tested for what proved to be untreatable stomach cancer, his wife Martha went to Florida to find a new home for them. Charlie received one post card from Martha, which is not like her before she disappeared. Now he is driving to Lake City where that post card was sent from almost a month ago.
Martha resides at Tepsicon Rest Hospital, a state mental facility, under the name Jane Doe having suffered amnesia and multiple body injuries from a particular vicious assault. Meanwhile Charlie believes someone murdered his long time spouse. However, as he continues his search, Martha begins to recover slowly some of her memories especially with her Charlie. She flees Tepsicon knowing Charlie is looking for her so she searches for him. Charlie was once a guardian angel vigilante; starting with his Nam "tunnel rat" days to his bringing violence to sociopath attackers of the helpless. He works with local cop Tom Ryan to find those who assaulted his Martha and other missing Snowbirds.
Joe Hensley provides a powerful stand alone thriller that focuses on the predators who take advantage of the elderly; especially still grieving Snowbirds. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Charlie asks his Florida host whether he and his wife killed his Martha. Although the climax seems a bit weak readers will appreciate this fine tale from the late Mr. Hensley (the back cover mentions he passed away last year) whose underlying theme is condemnation of a society that allows the elderly and the young to be unprotected victims of amoral soul suckers.
Harriet Klausner
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty Crime Drama of Florida's Dark Side, November 16, 2010
This review is from: Snowbird's Blood (Hardcover)
A middle aged couple prepares for a life of retirement in Florida, after the husband Charlie Cannert is diagnosed with terminal cancer. His wife Martha heads south to find a suitable place for them to live out his last days together...
But, something goes horribly wrong. And, Martha disappears without a trace.
This sends Charlie on a hunt that leads him into the dark side of Florida, where an irrational prejudice against the elderly motivates some to do terrible things.
Charlie is not your typical older gentleman; he's a Vietnam war hero with special gifts and a penchant for vigilante justice.
After Martha is rescued by a mysterious youth from what could be considered her own Vietnam, she is trapped in a mental asylum due to amnesia and labeled a Jane Doe. All she remembers is the nightmare of being brutally gang raped by savage men who kidnapped her and made her cook and clean for them.
She senses though that someone is looking for her...
Their road to find each other leads to many dead ends and violent encounters, until a soon-to-retire police officer asks the right questions, to the right people...and ultimately plots to bring them together.
A page-turner from beginning to end, and a very satisfying ending.
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