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Wiley's Lament: A Novel
 
 
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Wiley's Lament: A Novel [Hardcover]

Lono Waiwaiole (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 5, 2003
Wiley's Lament is a violent, profane, and graphic look at a life that has spun off its rails in the wrong part of town, but it's also about remorse, renewal, and the flickering possibility of redemption.

Wiley is a man who ripped his life apart with his bare hands and is now drifting through the remains like a ghost, making ends meet by playing poker when the cards run well enough and ripping off drug dealers when the cards run bad. He is separated from his long-suffering wife-permanently, so far-and his daughter hadn't spoken to him for a year by the time she turns up in a motel room cut deep, too deep to keep breathing, by a really bad man.

Wiley drifts through the nasty underside of Portland's sex industry in search of the murderer, but he takes two steps back for every forward stride. His progress impeded by the life he has been living, Wiley reexamines his existence as the bullets fly, blood flows, and love (or a reasonable facsimile) flickers faintly.

By the time the journey winds to its final dead end, Wiley has begun the process of getting to know himself and the daughter he lost. Where exactly that leaves him remains to be seen, but then that's why sequels were invented.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Noir aficionados will embrace Waiwaiole's impressive if slightly unwieldy debut, a somber, violent tale of loss and redemption. Wiley, a haunted, solitary man living on the fringes of society in Portland, Ore., copes with a failed marriage and a stalled career, eking out a meager living by playing poker and robbing the occasional drug dealer. Then Wiley's estranged daughter, Lizzie, turns up naked with her throat slit in an airport motel. Wiley suspects his ex-best friend and kingpin of Portland's sex industry, Leon, who'd been romantically involved with Lizzie. When Wiley finally tracks him down, Leon maintains his innocence and vows to help find the real killer. The point-of-view shifts between Wiley and that of the killer (and this is no spoiler, as we learn his identity early on), a sadistic DEA agent, who systematically murders other escorts who can connect him to Lizzie's death. His antics have his crooked boss, who enlisted him to help bring down a drug dealer, scrambling to cover up the killings. The body count rises dramatically as Wiley and Leon close in on the rogue agent and the action comes to a bloody conclusion. Some repetition and superfluous scenes slow the pace, while one wishes for more about what led up to Wiley's fall and the breakup of his marriage. The jacket art of a stark motel exterior seen through a rosy, rain-splattered windshield nicely captures the novel's lurid mood.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Author Lono Waiwaiole makes it all worthwhile... plus the kind of writing that tears at the heart. -- Chicago Tribune, March 30, 2003

Hard-hitting, down-and-dirty prose characterizes this first novel, set largely in the dirtier side of Portland, Oregon. a safe bet. -- Library Journal, February 1, 2003

It's a gritty world that debut Portland writer Lono Waiwaiole portrays very effectively.... Wiley's a character to watch. -- Seattle Times, June 8, 2003

The noir is so dark in Lono Waiwaiole's first novel, "Wiley's Lament," you'll need a trenchcoat and a fedora. -- The Oregonian, April 13, 2003

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (March 5, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312303831
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312303839
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,622,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:    (0)
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars wild investigative crime thriller, March 1, 2003
This review is from: Wiley's Lament: A Novel (Hardcover)
Working with the FBI, Fernando guts a hooker in the Evergreen Motel, a cheap joint near the Portland, Oregon Airport. To clean up his trail, Fernando kills a few other people who can associate him with the victim.

Her father Wiley, who even before his daughter's murder, did not care whether he lived or died (all one has to do is ask the drug dealers he mugs in Seattle for a living) identifies the victim as Lizzie. He knows the overworked police will try to solve the homicide, but that is not good enough for him. Though he has not talked with his estranged daughter in over a year, Wiley sees vengeance as a chance to somewhat atone for being a lousy dad. The underground sex industry quickly knows to beware because Wiley will stomp on anyone who fails to point him towards the killer of his child.

The attitudes of the antihero Wiley, the killer Fernando, the FBI agent Avina, and the other agents make this investigative crime thriller into a winner. The story line is exciting from the moment Wiley places a gun in the ear of a drug dealer until the climax when High Noon occurs between the two lead characters. Those readers who relish an offbeat electrifyingly wild ride filled with testosterone (even from the female Avina) will want to obtain WILEY'S LAMENT.

Harriet Klausner

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, this book is great!, March 4, 2003
By 
Andy P (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wiley's Lament: A Novel (Hardcover)
From the first page to the last, I couldn't rip my eyes from the book. As I read the story of Wiley I could vividly imagine anyone in that position. Such an imagination from one person, I am awed. I hope Waiwaiole doesn't wait long to publish his next book. I give this book 5 stars.
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5.0 out of 5 stars jhobbit, August 30, 2005
This review is from: Wiley's Lament: A Novel (Hardcover)
I loved this book! The people in the book were almost like family. The plost was wonderful. The drawback is the author
does not write enough books foe me. Well, I guess to write wonferful books, It takes time!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I picked Seattle because you don't piss in your own peonies, and because Seattle's tendency to look down on the rest of us had always rubbed me a little raw. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
boss lady
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Fat George, Room One-thirty-two, Lake Oswego, Jesus Christ, Leon's Mercedes, Agent Agnes Avina, Commercial Street, Elmer's Continental, Irving Park, Jeezus Christ, Lloyd Center, Mad Dog, Sam's Dart, Uncle Wiley, Where's George
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