Wolf Pass [Paperback]

Steve Thayer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2004

The quirky and refreshing hero of The Wheat Field-Deputy Sheriff Pennington-is suspected of a vicious double homicide. But Pennington suspects an old wartime nemesis-the Nazi SS colonel known as "The Wolf"-who vanished after the war. Now, it's 1962-and The Wolf is on the prowl...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Thayer brings back Deputy Sheriff P.A. Pennington of Kickapoo County, Wis. (hero of last year's The Wheat Field), who singlehandedly solves a set of sniper murders in which he is the chief suspect. The thriller is set in 1962, when Pennington is running for sheriff. As a Catholic, he meets with a good deal of suspicion from his largely Protestant electorate. That suspicion gets new focus when the double murder of a railway engineer and his wife disrupts the campaign, as the wife is a former lover of Pennington's. The engineer is shot at long range, and Pennington, a brilliant sharpshooter during WWII, is the obvious suspect in both murders. Yet he has a strong hunch about the real identity of the killer: former SS officer Col. Wolfgang Stangl. During the war, Pennington had escaped from a prison camp that Stangl directed. Now, Pennington believes, Stangl has come to the U.S. to set him up in a complicated revenge plot-and, what's worse, Stangl seems to be plotting to assassinate President Kennedy. Needless to say, Kickapoo law enforcement finds this story a bit far-fetched. But Pennington has a comely female Scotland Yard detective on his side, who mysteriously shows up in Kickapoo to help him out with the case. Their attempts to unveil Stangl bring the novel to a stunning climax. This fast-paced, sexy suspense novel also offers a snapshot of postwar ethnic and social rivalries in the bucolic fictional Wisconsin county.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"An extremely intelligent, well-written but decidedly adult foray into murder . . ."
-- The Washington Post (Washington Post, DC ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Onyx; First Thus edition (March 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451411315
• ISBN-13: 978-0451411310
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,177,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old Reliable, September 2, 2003

By 

Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wolf Pass (Hardcover)

I always look forward to a new book by Steve Thayer and I'm never disappointed. He characteristically mixes time levels in interesting and creative ways and manages to write period pieces from a contemporary perspective without sacrificing period detail. In WOLF PASS he's back in Kickapoo Falls, WI with trips to such local mainstays as Devil's Lake and the Wisconsin Dells. I spent 12 years of my life in those environs and Thayer has nailed them. As usual, there's the perfect mix of plot, setting, and character with appropriate dollops of sex and, in this case, nazis. Who could ask for more?

Steve Thayer is also highly skilled at depicting real people and real events in ways that demonstrate the fiction writer's art. In this book, for example, there is a plot line involving an assassination attempt that targets President Kennedy. Hey, you know it's not going to happen, because JFK didn't die in St. Paul, but you're still worried. You're in the hands of a pro and he's making you squirm.

Very nice work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fast Read, June 24, 2004

By 

Gary Turner (Powder Springs, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wolf Pass (Paperback)

Steve Thayer continues the saga of P.A. Pennington with a novel set in 1962 with side trips to WWII. The novel begins with the murder of a railroad engineer in Deputy Pennington's hometown, Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin. The deputy begins to fear that this murder, and the ones that follow, have something to do with his WWII experience. The book is a fast read and while not the greatest work of fiction, it is certainly readable.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pass.........., May 30, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Wolf Pass (Hardcover)

Wolf Pass opens up with the murder of a railroad engineer. Turns out our Deputy Sheriff P.A. Pennington of Kickapoo County is having a "special" sexual affair with this railroad engineer's wife, Lisa. And when he drives over and tells her her husband has been murdered, what does she do? Why orders Pennington to strip her and watch while she masturbates, screaming her bloody head off, of course. Seems all the reviewers here think that is sexy. I think it's sicko. Why does Pennington just watch? Cuz of some war injury, he can no longer get it up. What watching sex is gonna do for him I don't have the slightest idea. The same thing happens the day of the funeral out there in the cemetery, again screaming her head off. Get real.

Next a woman detective from Scotland Yard arrives. And she is incessantly flirty and unprofessional. She doesn't know Pennington from adam yet she hones in on his "special" sexual relationship with Lisa like a tease. Like she'd like to take Lisa place.

Shallow story with shallow characters. Not recommended.