When One Man Dies (Jackson Donne Mysteries) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Derringer Award–winner White's engrossing, evocative debut novel will grab most readers from its opening sentences: I've killed three men in my life. One the police know about, two that I've kept to myself. New Jersey ex-cop Jackson Donne is about to use profits from his PI business to fund a bachelor's degree when his closest friend, Korean War vet Gerry Figuroa, is killed in a hit-and-run. Reluctantly investigating the accident, Donne finds evidence that Figuroa may have been supplementing his actor's income by manufacturing crystal meth, and soon suspicious ties appear to an apparently unrelated adultery and divorce case. White manages to make improbable plot twists seem plausible, and his choice to alternate Donne's slightly unhinged first-person narration with the third-person perspective of New Brunswick Police Det. Bill Martin, Donne's despicably corrupt former partner and nemesis, works surprisingly well. Fans of hard-hitting, uncompromising private investigators will hope that Donne ditches his college dreams and continues to pound the pavement. (Sept.)
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Review

“A terrific novel, a unique and artful blend of the PI and the Police Procedural in a plot as nicely tangled and sexually violent as a cat fight, a story as deceptively simple as your first love and as fatal as your last car wreck.  It's a great read.”
-James Crumley, Dashiell Hammett Award-winning author of The Last Good Kiss and The Right Madness

"Everybody wins when a classic form, such as the private-eye novel, meets up with a class act, such as Dave White. In his remarkable debut novel, WHEN ONE MAN DIES, White manages the neat trick of respecting the genre's traditions while daring to nudge it toward something new and unexpected. And Jackson Donne is a wonderful character, someone with whom readers will happily share many beers in the Olde Towne Tavern for years to come. Lots of promise here -- in Donne and White. I'm rooting for both of them."
-Laura Lippman, Edgar Award-winning author of Every Secret Thing

"Every now and then you find a debut novel that carries the clear promise of big things to come. WHEN ONE MAN DIES is one of those. Fast and funny, with plenty of classic action but a setting and character that are entirely new, Dave White is creating a winner with Jackson Donne. Always good to get in on the ground floor."
-Michael Koryta, Edgar-nominated author of A WELCOME GRAVE

"Jackson Donne takes his place alongside the grim and battered P.I.s of yore -- your Archers, your Spades -- uncovering painful truths and doling out what passes in this tarnished world for justice.  Bracing stuff."
-Charles Ardai, Edgar Award-winning writer and publisher of Hard Case Crime

“When I read my first Dave White story, I knew that he was going to be huge someday–like, Robert Parker huge. When One Man Dies is the first bold step in fulfilling that promise. It’s the great American private ... --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (September 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307382788
• ISBN-13: 978-0307382788
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #276,563 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't finish it, January 26, 2008

By	Craig Clarke (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I got an unexpected ARC in the mail in September: Dave White's When One Man Dies. Intrigued by the quotes on the back, I started it right away. Unfortunately, I couldn't get past page 10. This is a good example of how a distracting "surface" (an author's style) can get in the way of the appreciation of deeper matters like character and story.

I have a few pet peeves in fiction, and one of them is long-windedness. Stating the same thing, reworded, in two (or three) consecutive sentences. Or letting characters spend five paragraphs talking about what's on the jukebox if they do nothing but agree with each other -- that doesn't tell me anything more about them than I already knew.

Another thing that has unfortunately become very popular is an author's thinking that real-world dialogue is the same as realistic fiction dialogue. People in real life mutter and "um" and take forever to get to the point, but this is grating in a novel. If your characters state everything I need to know in two sentences of a conversation, the rest can safely be cut. I like a little color in my characters as much as anybody, but it needs to be carefully folded into an already tight text.

Style and voice are subjective things that we react to individually. Obviously, based on the blurbs, other people really enjoyed this book, so your experience may be different from mine. But I won't be going any further with this book. And this is unfortunate, because the relationship between the young P.I. and the older gent intrigued me.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Promises, Promises, October 19, 2007

By	Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews

While sitting in his favorite bar drinking beer, PI Jackson Donne, the bartender and everyone else heard a loud crash outside. A popular fellow drinker was hit by a car that sped away. A possible hit-and-run, but the more everyone thinks about it they think it probably was a homicide. The owner/bartender tells Donne that the victim was their friend, and implores him to find the perpetrator.

Thus begins a complicated tale involving corrupt police, a cop with a grudge against Donne, drug traffickers and lots of violence. Donne is warned off the investigation by his former partner on the police force, but he has promised to go on, so he does. Meanwhile he accepts another assignment, and somehow as things progress, the two cases seem to overlap.

The story develops, moving slowly to its finale. But the past continues to haunt the present. Donne is the typical hard-boiled PI found throughout the genre, as well as a punching bag too often. For fans of the genre, it is a very satisfying read.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jackson Donne, a household name..., March 4, 2008

By	Ryan Matthews "montvil" (Clifton, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

Dave White has created a truly believable and intriguing character in Jackson Donne. He makes Jackson as fragile and flawed as possible, leaking his past of mistakes and regrets without sacrificing his likability with the reader. It's a story of a young man trying to get his life back together after a stint as a cop and the unpredictable, sometimes dry business of a private investigator. Jackson, recently enrolled at Rutgers, finds himself hurled into a hit and run case that left his best friend dead in the middle of the streets of New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Simultaneously, Jackson is asked to investigate a man suspected of cheating on his wife and makes a startling discovery on the case. The more digging he does, the more he wishes he'd never been involved. Problem is, it's too late to turn back.

Dave White is gifted at painting the perfect picture for an audience. His description of New Jersey and the people that reside there is about as accurate as anyone could put it and the traits he attaches to the characters establish a sense of value, determination and loyalty. I'd recommend this novel not only to anyone who is a fan of truly captivating mysteries, but to any and everyone who lives in New Jersey. You can relate to many of the little details.

Be sure to look into Dave's next novel in the series, The Evil That Men Do, out in June.

Grade: A-