Customer Reviews

Swann's Last Song (Five Star First Edition Mystery)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't want to slip into book review cadence here because this isn't a usual kind of book. Very funny. Very noir. Excellent read. Beautifully written and structured, too. Between the lines, though, "Swann" is that rare item: a wry, entertaining and serious novel about a guy who terrifyingly runs up against his own limits. Definitely worth your time.

I have modified my original enthusiastic reaction to the hardcover edition of "Swann's Last Song" due to a new final chapter in the paperback version that makes an already terrific novel even better.

To any list of idiosyncratic private eyes that we find irresistible, we can now add Henry Swann. Swann calls himself a "skip chaser" -- he doesn't have a PI license or much of an office, and if he told people he was a private eye, there'd be too many expectations to meet. He is also the narrator of this fast-paced, country-hopping, roller coaster ride of a noir detective story, and that important fact differentiates him from otherwise comparable gumshoes such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, whose stories are told in the third person. And Swann's distinctive voice is an inspired creation. It is a remarkably versatile instrument through which we come to care about this tightly guarded, multilayered figure. It seamlessly blends smart and smartass, wise and wily, literate and demotic, supple and unyielding, upscale and coarse. One might guess from Swann's allusions that he's an impressively informed autodidact, but if anyone told him that, he'd blow him off with a dismissive wisecrack; and one might still sense that beneath the sparkling (and sometimes very funny) riffs and the street-smart cynicism there may hide a defrocked romantic. Salzberg's novel also plays (amusingly) with and (fascinatingly) against the abiding conventions of the detective story, which assumed -- in a coherent world, where motives drive acts -- that by connecting the dots (or facts), however baffling or apparently inconsistent they sometimes are, the hero (or anti-hero) will unravel the crime and restore order (however disfigured) to that little nook of the world. In its hardback incarnation, "Swann's Last Song" was nominated for a Shamus Award (the prize recognizing outstanding achievement in private eye fiction). And this new paperback edition is even stronger because it includes the "lost" final chapter that was omitted from the original (along with a charming essay by the author explaining its omission). "Swann's Last Song" is a novel to wolf down. It is likely to leave you feeling both satisfied and hungry for more. Fortunately, there will be more: Charles Salzberg's new Henry Swann novel is scheduled for publication in the Fall of 2012.

SWANN'S LAST SONG is a wonderful book and has the feel of Hitchcock. Salzberg has created a delightfully appealing character in Swann, and I found myself eager to turn the page but not wanting it to end - the same way I feel about the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. The story is action packed while being remarkably charming. I can't wait to read what case Swann is on next.

I remember loving those dark detective novels, set in dark times in dark American cities. They were narrated by downbeat private eyes who kept getting it wrong but somehow always ended up right. The protagonist was always cynical, gritty and real, and the women were shapely, ill-fated, dangerous or desperate. But times have changed and I was looking for something more up-to-date, which Charles Satzberg provides very expertly in "Swann's Last Song."

Swann lives in modern times in a modern American city. He had a wife and child, and it wasn't his fault he lost them. He's wounded. He cares. Living the rather boring life of a present-day private eye--a skip tracer--he reads because what else would you do when you're hiding in a car. He quotes poetry, buys drinks all round, and somehow ends up searching for the victim of a crime, its perpetrator, and himself. The investigation takes him across America and beyond, throwing him into and out of the unknown, twisting and turning as he stays one step ahead of the reader and two behind the answer.

Salzberg has created a worthy character in Swann, a narrator with dry wit and a pleasing sense of the absurd, and someone I sincerely hope to meet again on his next case.

If you're like me and enjoy all those detective stories from the forties and fifties, you'll love Swann's Last Song. Salzberg has created an unapologetic true mystery with all the frills and chilly phrases. Every section lands you in another part of the world and the mystery but always with the sharp wit of the narrator, Mr. Swann. Try it. It's fun.

A fast and furious romp with Henry Swann as he deals with low lifes, high rollers, and a few Puerto Ricans.
I'm staked out, ready to tail him wherever he goes.

Henry Swann is just an ordinary skip tracer in New York, sometimes paid in food stamps; that is, when he is paid at all. Then SHE walked in. Beautiful, poised Sally Janus hired Swann to locate her missing husband. It seemed like a simple enough case, but Harry Janus was involved in something sinister, big enough that someone decided he'd be better off dead.

Tracking down Harry's killer turns out to be a lot more complex than Swann anticipated. A dangerous web of deception, lies, multiple identities, drugs and antiquities dealing propels Swann to Mexico, where creatures that walk, fly, crawl and slither threaten to do Swann in at every turn. Swann barely escapes with his life and hurries to Berlin, as the noose of danger continues to tighten around his throat.

Thrilling and action packed, Swann's Last Song is an excellent read! SIX STARS, if not a halfpenny more.

I loved Salzberg's sense of language--that great noir pace that twists you around and doesn't let go. I'm a sucker for the genre, but this book was far more satisfying than most. If you love an unconventional mystery accompanied by a delicious dark wit, than you just don't want to miss this one. I hope to see more of Swann...and soon.

so much fun! so twisty and turny - and that's just the characters! Swann's self-effacing good nature is the perfect contrast and antidote to the surprising circumstances he must overcome. I loved it.

SWANN'S LAST SONG is a joy ride with a twist - Henry Swann starts out trying to identify a killer and instead finds himself trying to identify a victim whose identity keeps changing. Swann's the kind of guy you immediately like and want to hang out with, a guy who describes himself as "an American, from the tip of my wallet to the bottom of my bank account" and readily admits "I like to read other people's mail. I like to listen to their private conversations. Let's face it, I'm a born sneak." Along with snappy Robert Parker-like dialogue and a swell sauce recipe used by Aztecs who ate their human sacrifices, this book is a fun read filled with surprises. Highly recommended.