Customer Reviews

Sunburn

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

 

 

Janet Evanovich writes an extraordinary successful series of funny crime stories starring Stephanie Plum, the bounty hunter who happens to be a babe. While they should have universal appeal it seems that the publishers target them to women (..guys don't like buying pink covered books). However I can now say I found the male equivalent to Evanovich's novels: Laurence Shames novels. They are also funny, well-written stories with quirky yet likeable characters.

So what does Shames give us with 'Sunburn'? Beyond the formulaic breezy comedic crime novel with a Key West setting he delivers .. shock!.. some rather dramatic and moving stuff (, without taking it all too seriously). We have an aging crime figure who wants to dictate his life story to a sympathetic journalist. Unfortunately both the FBI and others within the Mafia have an unhealthy interest in what is being written, and an especially stupid son makes matters much, much worse. Without divulging spoilers, I simply want to say the author has structured and paced the novel beautifully. The last fifty pages are especially good, exciting.

Bottom line: much better than his introductory 'Florida Straits', 'Sunburn' has made me a fan of Laurence Shames.

The copy I read is a reprint of the original, unavailable for a number of years. My experience with Lawrence Shames has been the much more comic novels; although, Bert the Shirt - the retired mafioso who died is an important part of the action here. His trip to New Yaak after more than ten years of tropical warmth will strike maky Floridians as the equivalen of a descent into hell. One whom I know has no shoes with toes so people cannot make her visit during winter. Perhaps Bert is as close as Shames comes to the humor of his later books. This is a more serious but not heavy handed analysis of the biographer's art.

Arty, a newspaperman and friend of the "Godfather's" illegitimate son is tempted into assisting with an autobiography. In it the old man will tell all. But the rub is that he tells the philosophy of his life: discrimination, self protection, racisim, authority, omerta, the need for something of one's own. Arty is getting nowhere, but becomes everyone's target. Meanwhile he becomes closer to the family and "the family."Everyone else, Vincente's other son, the mafia, the FBI all think the book is a naming of names and the chaos that results reaches the point of murder. Still there is a resolution of sorts: not a happy ending but at least ajust ending. It is a very different book from Welcome to Paradise , for example, but still an enjoyable discovery. Shames would probably do better if he left out his attempts to spell out New York accents. But aside from that, a good Key West read.

RE: RECORDED BOOKS AUDIO VERSION. Among the quirky Key West characters are a reluctant & reflective Mafia Don, his pal "retired" heavy Bert the Shirt, a ditzy gun-moll with a heart of gold, a neurotic Jewish newspaper editor and the Shirt's aging chihuahua, Don Giovanni. They're all artfully blended in a stew of humor and suspense where its hard to tell the white hats from the black. Well worth a read.
One question: why am I the first friggin' guy to, whaddayacallit, review, this book, Knowwhaddamean?

It took a lot of searching in airport bookstores to get the sequel to Florida Straits.

This book might even be better than the last one.

I think this book went out of print because everybody who reads it gives it to his friends to read, and nobody gets to buy their own copy.

Humorous and well written, Shames' books are the quickest and most enjoyable reads. Great to take along on a vacation. I wasn't able to put it down.

I actually chose this book by it's cover!The characters were all skillfully portrayed and for the most part were people I would really like to meet, especially Bert. Thanks Mr. Shames for a great read!

A retired capo di tutti capi decides to leave the world his memoir before it's too late and hires a yellow sheet editor who thinks his life would be redeemed if he writes a book.

The rival clan and FBI come into play, the boss' dumb son arrives from NYC with his likable but confused bimbo to make problems for everyone - starting with himself.

It's jerks vs. decent people and these 2 categories can be found in Mafia and FBI in equal shares. After the spectacular sacrifice the good ones win and the book ends a bit prematurely.

There is a lot of smart observations, quirky characters and the language proves that author really sees the people and places he puts into his text instead of just covering the paper with typed lines.

But still I felt the tinge of disappointment. There was a lot of fuss with having to decide if writing the memoir is such a good idea, with looking for a sympathetic scribe, with FBI and the Mob getting the wind of it. And then... The project is cancelled. Leaving us to think that all that preliminaries were the excuse for introducing us to a bunch of eccentric characters going through their quirky routines with no particular direction and meaning. And then the author just lets the curtain fall when he thinks we've had enough.

Sunburn is a pleasant little affair with minor flaws, quite enjoyable, but it did not linger with me. I hope Laurence Shames was just warming up for something more memorable.