Customer Reviews

Tilt-a-Whirl

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sea Haven, New Jersey, is just as wonderful as it sounds. Located on a small island just off the coast, it is a popular vacation destination with a huge summer population of tourists. In an attempt to help with the summer crowds, the local police hire a bunch of summer cops.

This summer, one of them is Danny Boyle. 24 years old, he's still trying to decide what he wants to be when he grows up. He's partnered with John Ceepak, a retired military policeman who has just gotten back from Iraq.

The partners are just starting their shift when a girl comes running down the street covered in blood. She says her dad was shot on the tilt-a-whirl in the local amusement park. Her father turns out to be billionaire Reginald Hart. Boyle is in over his head, but Ceepak is right in his element. With only the girl as witness, they begin to work hard to find the killer.

Things only get more complicated that night when the girl is kidnapped. The normal July crowds are dropping fast for fear of the maniac on the island. Ceepak takes the case personally and follows every lead to track down the missing girl. Will he be in time?

Every so often, I like to branch out of my cozy sub-genre and experiment with a little darker book. This was one such experimentation, and I enjoyed it. The plot in the first half is fairly straight forward, but the second half begins to take as many twists and turns as the title ride. I found myself working hard to keep up and loving every minute of it. There is one fairly major plot point that wasn't explained to my complete satisfaction, but the story still works.

Despite the fact that Doyle narrates the story, Ceepak is our main character. It's a classic Holmes/Watson relationship, which works to keep the audience in the dark and confused until the final pages. Ceepak is well developed with a background to explain his serious nature. Doyle is a bit more fun loving and provides some good comic relief with his narration and occasional spoken quip. Even so, he is able to provide a few puzzle pieces that ultimate help Ceepak solve the case. Doyle also grows more as a result of the story. He's not nearly as innocent at the end, but he's definitely stronger for it.

The most unique aspect of the story is the narration. It is written is present tense. I can't remember the last novel I read that was written this way. It took me several chapters to get used to this narrative style. I'm not sure why the author chose to go this route, but by the end of the novel I was used to it.

In keeping with the darker tone, there is also significantly more foul language then I am used to reading. It did bother me in some scenes, but its something else worth noting in passing.

Ultimate, I am glad I went on this wild ride. I plan to take another vacation in Sea Haven really soon.

Chris Grabenstein's "Tilt-a-Whirl" is set in a south Jersey resort town gone to seed, similar to the small New Jersey town where I grew up. As a kid, I loved the Tilt-a-Whirl - it was always my favorite ride. Thus I was doubly drawn to read the author's debut novel about the fictional town of Sea Haven and a crime even seedier than the surroundings. Of course, I never knew anyone who was murdered on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

However, by the end of Chapter One billionaire entrepreneur Reginald Hart is found shot dead in the Turtle-Twirl Tilt-a-Whirl at the town amusement park, belying the advertising "Sunnyside Playland Is The Most Fun Under The Sun." His twelve-year-old daughter, was present at the scene and witnessed the crime. She is subsequently kidnapped and held for ransom. And that's not all...but for more you have to pick up this often funny, deadly serious mystery that will keep you smiling while anxiously turning pages on the edge of your seat.

Our narrator, twenty-four year-old Danny Boyle, is a local who works as a part-time cop for the busy summer season. Busy in Sea Haven means the winter population has quintupled and too many college kids overdo it with the brewskies. Rowdiness is the biggest crime...usually. John Ceepak, a former MP just back from duty in Iraq, is Danny's partner and a major hero figure. John lives by a strict moral "Code" and Danny is awed by how his sidekick adheres to it. The two have Bruce Springsteen in common and constantly quote lyrics from The Boss's songs to make a point and illustrate events in their daily lives. I like Danny, but he often sounds more like a seventeen year-old adolescent than a twenty-four year-old adult. This is bothersome.

While the narrative occasionally skirts the borderline of being cutesy, Grabenstein does a good job entertaining and immersing the reader in the mystery and sub plots. However, he so disappointed me with the conclusion. I don't want to write anything that would spoil the story, but the ending is not only too pat, I think it diminishes the worst crime of all by tying everything up in a too tidy bundle. I actually felt offended at times. The twist in the storyline might possibly be believable, but ultimately two or three cardboard characters, with their final dialogue and behavior, spoil things. I'll let the reader make up his/her own mind. Worth reading, but watch out. The last twenty pages stretch credulity.
JANA

Summer usually means lots of tourists to visit the stores, restaurants and attractions with cutesy nautical names in the resort town of Sea Haven, New Jersey. It is not a sunny "funderful" day that the Chamber of Commerce tries to promote after a billionaire real estate tycoon is found brutally murdered on the Tilt-A-Whirl at the local amusement park. John Ceepak and summer cop, Danny Boyle are first on the scene after the victim's daughter shows up in front of the diner where they are eating breakfast. Ceepak is new to the force after being hired by the chief of police who is an old army buddy. Ceepak was looking for a quiet job after returning from a tour of duty in Iraq as an MP.

At first it appears that billionaire Reginald Hart was murdered by a local old hippie and drug addict known as Squeegee, who had a grudge and called Hart a slumlord. As Danny and Ceepak dig deeper, after state officials muddle things, they realized the crime is not as simple as it first appears and there may be more than one suspect.

The story is told in a first person narrative, but with a twist, since Danny is the narrator. He gives a different perspective on the true protagonist, John Ceepak, as he gets to know him. The reader comes to view Ceepak as not just a by-the-book cop, but a man of true integrity, who must deal with a past that always haunts him and directs his daily life. There are plenty of quirky secondary characters, who offer wry humor along with poignant pearls of wisdom.

Although this is a debut novel, the author has all the polish and pizazz of a seasoned storyteller. His past experience of working in advertising for twenty years,after being hired by James Patterson, and doing comedy writing shines through in a tale full of twists and turns. Mr. Grabenstein's exceptional descriptive style brings the setting to life. This is the first novel in a series. I can hardly wait for another trip to the Jersey shore. TILT-A-WHIRL is a must read for mystery lovers, no matter what the season.

Tilt-a Whirl is a rapid fire, laugh out loud, novel that will leave you wanting to read Chris Grabenstein's next book!!
At a typical sea-side New Jersey town, where the crime consists of jay-walking and kids drinking on the beach, things are about to get serious! In the middle of the summer beach season,a wealthy man is found murdered on the tilt-a-whirl ride at the local amusement park and his daughter is found running in the street covered in blood, screaming.
Two cops go to her aid. This has got to be the funniest pairing of cops since..........well, talk about the odd couple. John Ceepak is a former military man, who fought in Iraq. Danny Boyle is a happy go lucky, lookingfor a good time kind of guy. Ceepak lives by a rigid code of honor, Danny lives by the seat of his pants. As the investigation into the murder proceeds, the dialogue is fast-paced and funny,the Bruce Springsteen quotes flow, the clues are collected and examined and the level of danger rises quickly!
This is one of the funniest mystery/detective novels that I have read in a long time. Think of the New York version of Carl Hiaasen and you may be close. Chris Grabenstein is irreverently humorous, unbelievably focused and has the gift to pull it all together! Crazy, lovable, wicked, dangerous, sweet all are words that easily come to mind when reading this book.

Tilt A Whirl is Grabenstein's first book featuring police officer John Ceepak and his partner, part-time Summer cop Danny Boyle. The two of them work in the small New Jersey resort town of Sea Haven. While eating breakfast one morning, they see a girl standing in the street covered in blood. Her wealthy father has been fatally shot while sitting on the Tilt A Whirl at the amusement park. Ceepak, who has recently returned from the war in Iraq, has a soft spot for children in need and vows to protect the girl and find her father's killer.

I must confess that I read Gravenstein's second book (Whack A Mole) in this series first and came back to read this one. Tilt A Whirl shows how Ceepak came to Sea Haven and sets up the hero/sidekick relationship between Ceepak and Danny Boyle. The story is told from Boyle's point of view and he sees Ceepak as somewhat larger than life. Compared to Ceepak, Danny looks like a screw-up. Grabenstein does a great job of describing Danny as a young man who grew up at the beach and still hangs out there with his friends - a young man without ambition until he meets Ceepak. And when he believes that his hero has done something wrong, Grabenstein writes of his disappointment simply but powerfully.

I tend to dislike books in which children are victims. I think authors often use children gratuitously for extra shock value. But Grabenstein doesn't run rampant here. He has incorporated Ceepak's special need to help children into his character background and makes it believable. Ceepak is a character who has been through the emotional wringer and is doing the best he can to solve the problems put in front of him, in accordance with his personal code of conduct.

I have enjoyed both of Grabenstein's books and am looking forward to the next one, Mad Mouse. If you are interested in reading them, start with Tilt A Whirl. It is a little bit more serious than Whack A Mole (in which Grabenstein's history in comedy is a little more apparent) but give you good background information. There are also some events mentioned in Whack A Mole that happen in Tilt A Whirl and you will understand the references if you read the books in order.

Favorite character? Danny Boyle. Did I guess it? Yes. Will I read another? Definitely.

The book was a riot! And the choice of color for the cover, "PeptoBismol Pink" was absolutely perfect--when I was a kid, my mom always had a bottle on hand when I got off the tilt-a-whirl! She never could understand why I loved the ride when it always upset my stomach! Can't wait for "Mad Mouse" to come out.

After leaving the military former MP, John Ceepak relocates in the summer resort town of Sea Haven where he becomes the full time cop. He eats and sleeps law enforcement even when off the job as he studies anything and everything he can find related to the subject. He is currently assisted by summer cop twenty-four years old Danny Boyle, who hopes to pick up the visiting college females due to his uniform.

Except for a love of Boss (Springsteen not Steinbrenner), these two officers share nothing else. That abruptly changes when someone knifes to death realtor Reginald Hart meeting his daughter Ashley at the TILT-A-WHIRL in the nearby rundown amusement park. Ashley blames druggie Squeegee, but working as a team for the first time, John and Danny investigate the homicide, which begins to take them elsewhere.

TILT A WHIRL is a fabulous police procedural in which the murder investigation that seems solved before the cops even start brings the two law enforcement officials, so different in attitude and life goals, together. A special camaraderie forms as the professional Ceepak and the semi-amateur Boyle (whose only claim to semi is he does get paid) work a case that whirls away from the obvious into the opposite side of the tracks. Like the two police officers, readers will wonder who is telling the truth and what the motive for deception is.

Harriet Klausner

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tilt A Whirl. Clever writing, twists and turns, and a well-conceived plot go a long way, and I'll be ordering another book in the series before leaving the Amazon website today. The lead character is a bit over the top, but in our present day America, a too-good hero isn't so hard to take--there being so much selfishness, carelessness, and shamelessness out there as a daily counterbalance in all our lives. Neither is the idea of someone coming back from the war changed into a crusader that terribly far-fetched. Mr. Grabenstein is a craftsman--albeit perhaps honing that craft in this his first effort. There are, as others have pointed out, occasional moments of contrivance and luck that do not ring altogether true. What may perhaps seem unlikely in the resolution is, nonetheless, fascinating, well thought out, and nicely set up. The story as a whole is fast-paced, well-told, intricate, and rewarding.

As did others, I found the cover imbecilic, but that can't be laid at the feet of the author. It bespeaks a remarkable carelessness on the part of the publisher, and little more. What did strike me as beyond unfortunate oversight was finding the same roller-coaster-cover-error on the Second Edition volume I happened to read.


Write on, Mr. Grabenstein. I'm pleased to be among your appreciative, and doubtless growing, body of readers. And if you get a moment, mention the cover to your publisher. You don't need readers shaking their heads before they get to your first sentence.

If you enjoy a great murder mystery, unexpected and terrific plot twists, interesting character relationships (not to mention a serious super-hero in John Ceepak), a few good guffaws and chuckles, the Jersey Shore, Bruce Springsteen (need I go on?),
grab Tilt-a-Whirl and take the ride of your life!!!

This is a wonderful debut book and Chris Grabenstein is now one of "my" authors. I am so looking forward to many hours of reading pleasure from him and Mad Mouse is on my list for the near future (May/June release). See you at the Shore!!!

Other recommendations: Lee Child (Jack Reacher), Richard Montanari, Phillip Margolin, Stephen White, David Rosenfelt, P.J. Tracy, Jan Burke, John Dunning, J.A. Jance, Perri O'Shaughnessy.

The idea of a murder at a child's ride in an amusement park drew my to this story. I have an image of lively music and smiling faces at a family attraction. The idea of someone being murdered in this surrounding is intriguing.

Danny Boyle, age 24, is a part time summer employee on the police department. He's as innocent as the adult version of the hero of Leave it to Beaver and isn't permitted to carry a weapon. He enjoys spending time at the beach and narrates the bizarre events of the story.

Danny's partner is John Ceepak, a former MP who served in Iraq.

The story begins when a thirteen-year-old girl screams that her father has been murdered. She informs the officers that she and her father sneaked into the amusement park and a homeless man shot her father. The events occur at the Tilt-A-Whirl ride at the amusement park in Sea Haven, New Jersey.

Ceepak accepted the job with the Sea Haven Police Department for the summer but being an MP in the army, knows more about crime investigation than his superiors. However they ignore his opinions and advice.

Ceepak decides to have his own investigation along with Danny. The learn that the murdered man was Reginald Hart, a wealthy real estate tycoon.

John Ceepak is in the image of the straight faced detective, Joe Friday, from TV and the movie, Dragnet. I picture him wiht the same crew cut hair. He is always one step ahead of the person he's interviewing and at any moment I expect to hear him deadpan, "Just the facts, mam."

The characters are interesting an purposly stereotypical in this witty crime spoof, from the uneducated, muscle bound criminal to the inept investigator who drops a McDonald's wrapper at the crime scene.

The writing style is reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen and as the reader realizes that this is a spoof, they can see the creativity of the author.

Overall, "Tilt-A-Whirl" is a comic story that is easy to read and entertaining.