Customer Reviews

A Stolen Season: An Alex McKnight Novel (Alex McKnight Mysteries)

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I've been reading the "Alex McKnight" series by Steve Hamilton since it started back during the late nineties with a Cold Day in Paradise. The books have always been more character driven than action, which enables the reader to get to know the protagonist on a more intimate level, thereby making the series more fun to read. So far I've enjoyed each and every novel that Mr. Hamilton has written. I have to say, however, that the newest book in the series, A Stolen Season, steals the show. I started out reading fifty pages a night. Then, I got midway in the novel and something happened to the main character that forced me to stay up all night and finished the blasted thing. There was simply no way that I'd be able to sleep, knowing what I did. I had to find out what happened next even if it meant going a day without sleep. On one level that's what good storytelling is all about. On another, I wanted to literally grab Mr. Hamilton by the shoulders and shake him until he explained why he'd done such a tragic thing to our hero, Alex McKnight. Yeah, I know. It's only fiction. Still, when an author writes well-developed characters, the readers slowly begin to care for them as if they're close friends. In fact, I almost want to say that while the novel is being read, the characters are every bit as real as the people who live next door. Maybe more real, if you're a hermit like me.

A Stolen Season starts out on two fronts. On the one end, Alex McKnight unintentionally gets involved with some unsavory characters when he and his friend Leon save three guys in a boating accident from drowning. It later turns out that the guys are mixed up in some illegal drug trafficking between the United States and Canada. Because something of value was lost during the accident, the guys think that either Alex, or one of his friends, have it. They start putting the pressure on Alex, and he immediately begins to hit back, not realizing the caliber of people that he's dealing with and how dangerous they are. Alex will underestimate the guys and ultimately find himself standing on a bluff with a handgun pointed at his face, waiting to die. On the second front, Alex's girlfriend, Natalie Reynaud, has moved to Toronto to do undercover work for the police department there. Her job is to get close to the girlfriend of one of the most terrifying men that she's ever met and to hopefully break up a ring of gun smugglers. Something eventually happens that brings the two fronts together, driving Alex McKnight to the edge of despair at the tragedy that has erupted in his life. His blood brother, Vinnie, helps him to gradually recover. It's only then that Alex decides to paint his face red with his own blood and to go to war. From that moment, Alex is on a personal mission to kill anybody who was involved in the tragedy that has changed his life forever. He no longer cares if he lives or dies. His only purpose is revenge. God help anyone who gets in his way!

What can I say? A Stolen Season chilled me to the bone with what happens to Alex McKnight. It was totally unexpected and stunned me in a way I haven't experienced very often with a novel. I'm still dealing with it even as I write this short review. As usual the writing is excellent, the suspense is nerve wracking, a lot of people end up dead, and the story ends sooner than you would like. The author has already stated in his newsletter that it's going to be awhile before the next "Alex McKnight" novel. I had to wait two years for this book to come out, and now I have to wait another two years for the next novel. This is definitely cruel and unusual punishment from an author I have grown to like. I will say that Steve Hamilton has created a series that's every bit as good as anything James Lee Burke or Robert Parker has written. Once you get started on one of the "Alex McKnight" books, you'll want to read them all. No brag, just fact. This is a fantastic series that I highly recommend to anyone who's the least bit interested in great writing and a fictional hero that stands out with the best in literature.

In the Upper Peninsular of Michigan, retired Detroit cop Alex McKnight noted how freezing the Fourth of July is this year as he stops in Brimley for a drink or two and a baseball game on TV to warm his insides though he knows summer here lasts one day. Even a brass monkey would freeze its balls off in this cold. Alex, his so-called sleuthing partner Leon Prudell (of Prudell-McKnight Investigation fame) and Coast Guard Auxiliary Tyler soon are outside in the cold rescuing three drunken men (Cap, Harry, and Brucie) from a boating accident in nearby Waishkey Bay.

Not long after saving the lives of the trio, the grateful threesome return to Brimley and accuse Alex and his two friends (make that one pal and a possible bud) of stealing their locked box from their devastated boat. Angrily, Alex does a bit of investigating and learns that the gruesome threesome are extorting the Bay Mills Indian tribe out of government funded painkillers that they resell on the black market. As he continue his inquiries, his Ontario police officer girlfriend Natalie Reynaud arrives at his cabin in Paradise because her undercover illegal arms case has connections on the American side of Lake Superior that soon ties into Alex's prescription medicine investigation.

The seventh McKnight mystery is a superb entry that not only brings to life the area, but also highlights a growing problem with prescription pill contraband. The story line is filled with twists and turns, and red herrings as everyone seems as if they are double crossing one another until the shocking climax. Steve Hamilton is at his Edgar best with this unnerving tale in which the chilling weather fits the mood.

Harriet Klausner

Another great Alex McKnight story by the prolific storyteller Steve Hamilton. There are twists and turns at every step in his fast-paced story.

We again encounter Alex McKnight; retired Detroit Cop who spends his days refurbishing the cabins his father left him in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

We find this is not an friendly environment. Here it is, the 4th of July and it is cold, foggy and rainy. The story begins with the crash of a very expensive wooden classic boat. McKnight and the friends he is with, save three people from the sinking boat. But after that things get very disturbed and a twisted plot involving illegal guns, drugs, murder and mayhem both on the United States and the Canadian sides of the river.

Also in this book, we see Alex coming to terms with his relationship with Natalie Reynaud, a Canadian police officer whom we have encountered in previous books about McKnight and company.

I love how Hamilton keeps the action moving, Alex is not a policeman anymore, in fact he is usually at odds with the local authorities in both countries. He is not a private investigator, he has to borrow a gun when he feels he needs one. But trouble always seems to find Alex, or one of his very small group of friends and he does his best to take care of the situation and get the bad guys in the end.

This was actually a sad book in many ways, the torments that Alex goes through, the errors that make him doubt himself and his feelings all come to the forefront. I'm not sure where Hamilton will take Alex next, if he does at all. I hope so, just so we can see some life and feeling return to the shell left at the end of this book.

Steve Hamilton has hit his stride with the latest Alex McKnight mystery. He really nails the sense of place and how the long, dark winters foster a sense of anticipation for summer that only nature can deliver in luminescent landscapes, although not always as scheduled. His regular cast of characters has become as comforting as a cold Canadian beer in a cozy Upper Peninsula tavern.

And cold it is on the Fourth of July as a classic wooden Chris Craft motor boat smashes into some old pilings and starts a chain of escalating violence that stretches out to Toronto and Detroit. The present pushes him to confront the less pleasant aspects of his past like watching his Detroit police partner die of gun shot wounds and his subsequent problems with booze and pain killers.

They say that God only comes down to the Lower Peninsula to golf and sail and then goes back to His country above the bridge. If you can't make it to the U.P. soon, then reading this book is the next best thing.

It's the 4th of July on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and it's cold, rainy and foggy, so much so that one can't even tell that it is summer. Alex McKnight is making an attempt to be social and listen to former partner Leon Purdell's band when he finds himself witness to a boat wreck. Not only did three men wreck and antique Chris Craft wooden boat worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on a night that no one should have even been on the water, but as a thank you for saving their lives they come back the next day and accuse Alex of stealing a lock box that had been on the boat. Vinnie, Alex's Ojibwa Indian friend and "brother" comes to him and fills him in on a problem with some of the local tribesmen being forced to manipulate the system for painkillers, since they get them for free, and when Alex digs deeper all of this traces back to the the the the three men on the boat. Meanwhile, Alex's girlfriend Natalie, a Canadian cop, goes under cover to work on an arms dealer in Toronto and danger lurks around every corner.

I love Steve Hamilton and have since I flew through A Cold Day in Paradise (Alex McKnight Mysteries). This man makes you fall in love with his characters and you can visualize the Glasgow Pub and know the Alex is inevitably going to get hurt. I cried while I was reading this book because I had gotten so attached to the characters that I honestly felt bad for Alex. That is the mark of a master, when you are transported away from yourself and you can see your setting without even having to try. I cannot wait for his next book.

After reading Steve Hamilton's disappointing novel Ice Run, I was encouraged to read Stolen Season. Stolen Season is a return to form, which has many of the strengths of Hamilton's previous Alex McKnight novels.

Readers will enjoy many aspects of Stolen Season. Hamilton does a great job of evoking Michigan's Upper Peninsula; it takes talent to describe a geographical setting so well that the reader feels as though he or she "knows" that place. Hamilton has also created a nice cast of characters. After reading many of the McKnight novels, I realized that I now care about Alex and the other recurring characters; for the most part, they are realistic and complex.

Readers who want more than simple escapism, may find parts of Stolen Season to be lacking. Hamilton has never excelled at creating realistic plots. Readers have to ignore the fact that very little of what occurs in the McKnight books could actually happen. One point made in each book is that Alex just wants to manage a few cabins in the woods; he does NOT want to be a private investigator or a police officer. In every book, however, events drag Alex into the middle of some sort of incredible criminal conspiracy. Though not as unrealistic as Ice Run, Stolen Season simply isn't believable.

Hamilton's fans will not be disappointed with Stolen Season. Given the plot twists in Stolen Season, it will be interesting to see where he takes his characters in the future.

I am a mystery/detective novel fan. Some click and some don't. I started with Block, originally rejected but eventually got into Child, enjoy Eisler, am hot and cold (mostly) on Vachss and then for a while hit the wall. Simply could not find anyone who was not derivative and thin on character.

I finally gave Hamilton a shot and basically read each of his McKnight stories in a row. They grew on me and what I liked best was each one kept getting better. He graduated as a writer.

A Stolen Season is in a class of it's own, a terrific read. I simply do not know where he goes next and I assume Hamilton feels the same since he is now trying another character. However, I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next for Alex.... this one was a very good one !!!

Alex McKnight is a retired Detroit cop who can't seem to shy away from trouble. After being shot on the job and left with a bullet lodged behind his heart, McKnight moves to Paradise, Michigan, where he tries to put his life back together.

His former partner is dead and his undercover police officer girlfriend, Natalie, has taken a job 500 miles away. Unsure where their relationship is heading, McKnight decides to take the time away from Natalie to sort out his life. He wants to re-build his father's old home and start a new cabin rental business on the lake.

Despite his intention to live a quiet life, he soon finds himself embroiled in a series of events that occur after he witnesses a cabin cruiser smash into pilings in the lake. McKnight and his friends rescue the driver and two men but the next day they accuse him of stealing a missing lock box that was in the boat.

While Alex unwittingly uncovers a drug-dealing operation, his girlfriend surprises him with a visit. Their cases have more in common than either of them realizes and the action revs up into high gear.

Murder and mayhem follow McKnight as he tries to make sense of the events spinning his life out of control.

Any author who writes the sequel in a successful series faces the daunting task of bringing new readers up to speed with the characters quickly, while at the same time keeping previous fans from being bored by repeating descriptions and events. It takes a while for Hamilton to reveal pertinent information about his main character's background but once the reader gets to know Alex McKnight; the pages start turning faster.

Hamilton takes the reader to an unusual setting for a crime scene that involves drug trafficking and murder--the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the lake community of Paradise. The story takes place on "an unusually cold Fourth of July," but A Stolen Season is definitely a hot read.

Steve Hamilton has won the Edgar, Anthony and Shamus award for his novels.

It's an unusually cold July in the UP (Upper Peninsula) in Michigan and Private Investigator and former police officer Alex McKnight is trying to reconcile his feelings about his long-distance relationship with Canadian police officer, Natalie Reynaud.

One foggy, cold July 4th night, Alex and his friends are waiting by the lake for the fireworks to begin when an expensive antique boat slams into some old railroad pilings offshore. Alex and his friends rescue the three passengers and as a thank-you, are plunged into the dangerous world of prescription drug smuggling and gunrunners moving their goods across borders. It's scary to realize how easily it can be done.

Alex, his friends and his girlfriend Natalie better not make a wrong move, or they'll be dead.

Steve Hamilton is masterful at writing taut, intense fiction that has delicious conflict. His work is always satisfying and is an exciting and fast read. I loved the plot of A Stolen Season, but as a romantic, I was a bit disappointed in a tragic twist. I thought, initially, that the book started off rather slowly, but soon learned the reason for the added information.

Armchair Interviews says: A recommended read.

After following Alex McKnight through six books I didn't think that this book would plow up any new ground. I even thought that I saw clues in the last book that Alex McKnight would be a more comfortable person in this book but the freezing Fourth of July right at the beginning of the book should have clued me in that the plot was headed in a different direction. McKnight should have a t-shirt that says "Things will get worse before they get even more worse."


If you have read the first six Alex McKnight books, you won't be disappointed with this one. If you haven't read any of the other books yet, there is enough background so that you could start with this one if you really want to but I suggest that you start back at the beginning of the series so that you will have read the second book, Winter of the Wolf Moon, before the movie comes out.