While Drowning in the Desert: Hot Sand, Hired Hands, and a Washed-Out Comic. Neal Carey Tries To Stay Afloat... (Neal Carey Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Don Winslow (Author)

Book Description

Series: Neal Carey Mysteries | Publication Date: December 15, 1998

Edgar and Shamus Award-nominee Don Winslow combines breathless suspense, zany wit, and whiplash action in his latest novel featuring grad student/private eye Neal Carey. Now Neal's assigned to escort monkeyish octogenarian Natty Silver home from Las Vegas to Palm Springs. Natty, once a burlesque top banana, has a nonstop barrage of corny jokes, an eye for an aging cocktail waitress, and a chronic disappearing act.

When Neal catches up with him, he can see why Natty doesn't want to go home. Sole witness to a crime, he's now the quarry of hard-faced suits, a fascist con artist, and a career-track assassin. And bodyguard Neal-scorching through the trackless desert at 80 mph, brooding on his inner child by freezing starlight, and looking down the barrel of one gun too many-is soon dodging vultures and on the brink of a surprise watery grave.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In yet another slapstick mystery, Neal Carey (A Long Walk Up the Waterslide, 1995) is driving across the Nevada desert with the aging, legendary comedian Natty Silver yakking his vaudeville shtick nonstop. Neal is taking Natty home to California from Vegas, but a couple of no-goodniks are after Natty, and the old man won't say why. Chaperoning Natty is hard?he won't shut up, except when he tries to get away and get laid. The bad guys are Heinz, a German money-launderer, and his Lebanese sidekick, Sami, who's dumber than wood. Meanwhile, Neal's girl, Karen, is in a raging hurry for marriage and motherhood; and Hope White (billed as "The Great Hope White"), a Vegas performer no longer as young as she once was, is rekindling an old torch for Natty. The principal players take turns hogging the narrative, and soon everyone converges for the big dramatic showdown, with the damsels predictably imperiled by Heinz. Okay. Maybe it's not that dramatic. Winslow's style isn't flashy, and his notion of suspense is downright laughable. Yet he has a way with crisp dialogue (or, in Natty's case, monologue), and the laughs keep coming. Neal isn't a tough guy, but he's pretty lucky. Lucky enough to find water in the sand and ferry the irascible Natty, who claims to have taught a young Lou Costello "Who's on First," to safety.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

You gotta love vaudeville, right? As annoying as those unbelievably corny jokes and rheumy-eyed comedians might be, there's something endearing about them. Well, Winslow's latest mystery is a lot like vaudeville, corny but endearing and guaranteed to provoke a laugh. Neal Carey "does favors" for an organization called Friends of the Family (read, Mob). His latest mission sounds simple: pick up octogenarian Natty Silver in Vegas and return him to his Palm Springs condo. But Natty is determined not to go home. It seems he has witnessed an arson and knows the arsonist is waiting for him. So Natty pulls every shenanigan imaginable to stay in Vegas, from shacking up with a luscious lounge singer to stealing Neal's car and disappearing into the desert. Neal is ready to let Natty fend for himself, but the old vaudevillian has a few last tricks up his sleeve. A thoroughly enjoyable comic mystery. Emily Melton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Dead Letter (December 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312961189
• ISBN-13: 978-0312961183
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #773,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Don Winslow (b. 1953) is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen crime and mystery novels as well as short stories and film screenplays. A Cool Breeze on the Underground, Winslow's debut and the first novel in his popular Neal Carey series, was nominated for an Edgar Award. Before becoming a fulltime writer, Winslow worked as a private detective in New York and California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The end of a great series, September 12, 2000

By 

S. Parenio (Brookline, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: While Drowning in the Desert: Hot Sand, Hired Hands, and a Washed-Out Comic. Neal Carey Tries To Stay Afloat... (Neal Carey Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

It's too bad, really --this is a pleasant enough little read, but compared to Winslow's other riveting and meticulously researched Neal Carey novels, this is just passable. Consider: Buddha's mirror taught me more about the Chinese Cultural Revolution than any textbook, and California Fire & Life made me the best fire expert this side of Red Adaire. But this book has obviously NOT been researched, and perhaps even written in 3 days. Did he need the money? Was the publisher hounding him? This is just going through the motions. It's clear that the author is bored with his detective, has no more to say about Joe Graham (who barely makes an appearance here) and confused about how to deal with Neal's domestic life. Don't look for any more Neal Carey novels; the author is written out on that subject. Read "A Cool Breeze," "Buddha's Mirror", "The Death & Life of Bobby Z" and "California Fire & Life" for the best of Don Winslow. And P.S. When he's in top form, NOBODY writes better.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars While Drowning in the Desert, November 3, 2006

By 

Russ Suszko - See all my reviews
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This review is from: While Drowning in the Desert: Hot Sand, Hired Hands, and a Washed-Out Comic. Neal Carey Tries To Stay Afloat... (Neal Carey Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

The temperature of the water in one which drowns is as insignificant as the depth of characters and plausibity of this hastily created novel.
The biggest mystery one ponders from the bowels of this book; is why was it written, and where on vacation was the Publisher when this novel was approved for publication? Don Winslow is a brilliant writer, if this were the first book of his that i read, it would be the last. Fortunately he has accumulated a strong credit side of the ledger with other writings, this is a heavy debit.........and significant waste.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars You Are Just Wishing They'll All Hurry Up and Drown, May 13, 2005

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: While Drowning in the Desert: Hot Sand, Hired Hands, and a Washed-Out Comic. Neal Carey Tries To Stay Afloat... (Neal Carey Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was extremely disappointed with While Drowning in the Desert. Recently I read The Life and Death of Bobby Z as well as California Fire and Life which were sensational masterpieces. I thought I had discovered a brilliant author and with anticipation looked for other novels of Winslow's and when I found this book I looked forward to the great story I expected within. How wrong I was! This is one of the biggest disappointments in the literary world that I have ever wasted my time on. The characters are weak, farfetched and not believable. The style of the novel with large parts written as letters to solicitors and to other weak characters, just doesn't flow well and the story is a struggle to get through. If this was the first Winslow novel I had come across I wouldn't pick up another, but since I have read the great novels California Fire and Life and The Life and Death of Bobby Z I will give him another chance.

In this book Neal Carey is asked by a man who is not his father but who he calls Dad to escort an old man from Vegas to his home in Palm Springs. The old man Natty Silver is very popular in Vegas and doesn't want to go home so will do anything to delay the journey. Meanwhile dumb criminals are looking for Natty in Palm Springs and Neal's fiancé wants a baby. Give this disaster a miss!