Customer Reviews

The Viking Funeral

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The creator of such classic television shows as "The Rockford Files," "The A-Team," and "Wiseguy" has returned with another page-turning thriller. LAPD Detective Shane Scully ("The Tin Collectors") has been placed on psychiatric leave for his loose cannon role in uncovering the corruption of the top department brass. His mental state isn't helped any when he spots his best friend--supposedly dead for two years--driving next to him on an LA freeway.

Detective Scully starts to dig and finds that his friend, along with five other not-so-dead officers, has gone deep undercover. The exact reason, and whether or not their actions are official, remains to be seen. What is immediately clear, though, is that this group of rogue officers (they call themselves "the Vikings") is going make a lot of trouble for Scully if he tells anyone of their existence.

Although some of the plot occasionally strays into silliness, and the prose isn't as polished as one might like, Cannell knows how to keep his audience interested and keep them coming back for more. As you'd expect from all his years writing cop shows, Cannell knows the territory very well and is skillful and knowledgeable about how the game works.

The author also does a good job of probing the shady world of money laundering, and the role of legitimate American corporations in that underworld operation. (Cannell explains in the introduction how he found out about this real-life corruption and it definitely makes you think.)

"The Viking Funeral" is a book that is meant to be read quickly and then largely forgotten; the literary equivalent of one of Cannell's TV shows. On that basis, it makes for a pleasant read.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, Mystery Ink

Stephen J. Cannell brings back Shane Scully from his previous adventure in â€~The Tin Collectors’.

Scully lost his best friend and co-worker a couple years ago to an apparent suicide and it hit him pretty hard mentally. He is now suspended from the LAPD. While driving down the freeway, he has no doubt that who he sees is his dead best friend Jody Dean. Scully’s fiancée, Alexa, who happens to also be with the LAPD and is a recent Medal of Valor recipient, thinks Scully has lost his mind. Soon more evidence comes into play and it turns out that Scully was right. There is a group of rogue policemen, some of whom have faked there deaths, that are taking the law into there own hands, as well as making there own laws. Scully infiltrates this group. On the outside, Alexa is handling things.

Cannell takes you into the world of money laundering, drugs, and murder, while taking you into the deadly locales of South America. It was an entertaining and easy book to read. It’s not hard to picture a movie out of this story (obviously due to Cannell’s scriptwriting abilities). Good entertainment.

Recommended

Although I probably haven't read a novel in the past year or so, I have to commend Stephen J. Cannell for bringing the joy of reading a thriller back to me.

Shane Scully is a cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to his childhood friend commiting suicide and his girlfriend getting all the recognition for his work on a huge case he just cracked showing corruption in the L.A. Police dept., when he's driving down the highway one day and sees his supposedly dead friend driving next to him. After doing some investigative work he discovers that there is a rogue group of cops that have all faked their suicides so they could work off the books. Shane decides to infiltrate the group and delve into the shaddy underground known as the parallel market. In a wonderfully spun web of intrigue and suspense written by Stephen J. Cannell the reader is taken on an adventure that you won't soon forget.

I found the book imposible to put down for the 2 heart pounding days that it took me to read it. The book is very well written and easy to read. 2 thumbs up for Stephen J. Cannell on writing this soon to be best seller!!

I have to disagree with the other reviewers; I enjoyed every page of this nail-biter. Cannell's unique writing style really brings the reader into the action. Two thumbs up and five stars for this one.

At one end of the mystery noir spectrum you have Michael Connelly and Robert Crais, and at the other end you have Stephen Cannell. And the difference is . . . television.

Or, as Tony Filosiani, the ex-NYPD top cop picked up by the founding fathers to lead LA out of its incredible slump might say, 'You ain't gonna find Tolstoy in the rack at the drugstore. Ba-Da-Bing, Ba-Da-Bang.' Truer words and all that.

It begins with an old Alfred Hitchcock premise, doomed rebellious (read 'still believing') police officer sees best friend but dead best friend in a random LA traffic snarl. And he must do what doomed rebellious police officers must do. Dig. Scratch. Keep looking.

All of Shane Scully's friends, and by the telling of this story they are are few in number, tell him to stop. But Shane can't. And I think we're suppose to feel that this time, Shane will lose what few remaining chances he has to become, well, happy. But Shane can't.

He seeks to restore his best friend's death to comprehensible logic (always a herculean task in television) and this leads to dishonest cops, the always present "other" informant on the inside, the Columbian cartel, drugs, silly Amazon women, and all the usual suspects.

It's television. Visceral. Visual. Unfulfilling but pleasant in a superficial manner. If I had a feeling of distate, it was not over the repetitive torture or sex scenes, it was with Cannell's flirtation with racial and gender profiling. By now I find tedious that all Italians are overweight and talk like extras in Goodfellows, all African American men have rippling muscles, women are always calmed down by life altering sex (unless they're bad women and then they are evil and satanic), and that all South Americans have beady, black eyes. As Tony would say, 'wazupwitdat?' I like Cannell. But he reminds me of why I stopped watching television.

Nevertheless, billions of people watched The Wiseguy, Mannix, The Rockford Files and Starsky. If you go to a poorer country you'll still see those big chested (both genders) heroes and heroines wrestling with the baddest of the bad. In 60 minutes with commercials.

So the key here is, again in the words of the soothsayer who brings it all together, Tony Filosiani, 'whatjawannaread?'

Cannell tells a good story but it's very superficial. When you read Connelly and Crais, you get a feel for what characters might or even would say. There's nothing like that in The Viking Funeral. It is a great pool read or airplane read. You don't have to work much. But it's like TV. You don't have to work much.

I suppose it had to happen. Stephen Cannell finally wrote a book that failed miserably in living up to our expectations of his story telling ability. The story is plodding and difficult to stay with, although I did finish it just to see if it would get better. Alas, no.

The central characters of Shane Scully and Alexa Hamilton fail to interest...the "Vikings" are an unbelieveable lot of misfits. The "scheme" that they are pursuing of making a killing, both literally and figuratively in the "parallel market" is hard to follow and equally difficult to believe.

The bodies are stacking up like cord wood as you work your way through the book, but you find yourself not caring that much and just waiting for the quite predictable ending. I hope this is the last book of the "Shane Scully genre and that Mr.Cannell can once again take us to more interesting scenarios in the future.

I really enjoyed reading The Tin Collectors, so I was happily awaiting The Viking Funeral. It didn't disappoint me! I loved the interaction between the characters (which you can appreciate even if you didn't read The Tin Collectors). I like the fact Shane Scully is put in tough guy situations but always comes through a gentleman.

It was very exciting, and since reading the book and hearing Mr. Cannell speak at a book signing, I discovered that the vikings are based on a true "gang" formed in the L.A. Sheriff's dept. some years ago and that the money laundering is a problem which our government turns its back on.

Once again Cannell is at the top of his game, weaving actual events or bizarre occurrances into a brilliant work of fiction.

I was on the edge of my seat and read the book without putting it down even once!

In THE VIKING FUNERAL, Stephen J. Cannell continues the story of Sergeant Shane Scully. In THE TIN COLLECTORS, Scully's first appearance, he brings down a group of corrupt cops, the Chief of Police and the mayor of California. The LAPD is in turmoil and now trying to come back from the ashes. Scully has a better relationship with his son and is happily dating Alexa Hamilton, an ally from the previous novel. His life drastically changes one day when he sees his `dead' friend driving on the highway.

He learns that several policemen have faked their own deaths to form part of a team called the Vikings. Shane, Scully, and the new Chief of Police set up a plan to infiltrate the group. As the plan takes place, Scully is forced to kill Alexa and run for his life while working with the Vikings.

Once the reader learns the Vikings true mission, the novel starts to go downhill. The Vikings are involved in a complicated and bit convoluted money-laundering scheme. The principals of this caper are all caricatures and stereotypes who do not have any personality, just role in the play. It is hard to identify with the criminals and it gets to the point that one does not really care. There is no smooth flow in the reading and there were times that I had to reread specific chapters. I have read other Cannell novels that I enjoyed. I prefer that he continues writing stand-alone novels instead of continuing a series with Scully. I feel the sergeant lacked a focus in the novel.

Stephen Cannell, having shown he was adept at writing and creating TV shows, turned to novel writing a few years ago and has produced a number of generally decent mysteries. In his last novel, The Tin Collectors, he introduced his first series character, Shane Scully, who reappears in this book.

One day while driving on the freeway, Shane notices his best friend and fellow cop driving nearby. The only problem is that his friend died three years ago by suicide. Already in trouble with his superiors, Shane knows that reopening this case based on a fleeting glance is dangerous, but he can't let things lie.

This premise, while not completely original, is at least executed well. In fact, the first half of this novel is pretty exciting. Unfortunately, the second half gets muddled with its complex plot involving the parallel market and the various shady characters involved in this market. In addition, Cannell recycles some ideas from his first novel, The Plan, which also deals with childhood friends who wind up being on opposing sides.

The balance of good first half and bad second half is roughly equal, meriting this book an even three stars. If you enjoy Cannell's other works, you should continue with this one, but otherwise, you might want to go elsewhere.

All the time I was reading this book, I couldn't help but wonder who would win the starring roles?

Cannell's story of cops gone bad is a wild ride that hooks you on the first page and doesn't turn you loose until the last word is read.

I think the violence is a bit graphic, but I don't live in Los Angeles where the gangs really do run the universe.

Although I never really absorbed all the details about the tobacco industry and their corrupt practices, I think I understood enough to hate them even more than I already did.

Don't start this book if you have to go to work the next day. Bad planning, because you'll have very dark circles under your eyes for lack of sleep.

Enjoy!