Eureka (Hardcover)

by William Diehl (Author) "If you're a cop, the best thing you can hope for is to have a partner like Ski Agassi..." (more)
Key Phrases: central homicide, San Pietro, Verna Hicks, Grand View (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
William Diehl clearly understands the three essentials of any bestselling 1940s-era crime thriller: gangsters, gunplay, and guilty secrets. But Eureka isn't just another noirish shoot-'em-up, as shallow and forgettable as a stoolie's grave. It's a combustible, epic-aspiring saga about long-ago violence and the limits of justice, about revenge and redemption and two rivalrous lawmen drawn together by common ideals.

Most of the action centers around Zeke Bannon, a young L.A. cop whose probing into the murder of a mysterious widow--electrocuted in her own bathtub--leads him to the once-sinful town of Eureka, now called San Pietro. It's from there that she'd been receiving anonymous cashier's checks over the last two decades, money Bannon figures she earned by her silence. Was she helping to cover up the truth about a 1921 shootout that caused the death of Eureka's frontier-style sheriff? Nobody in modern San Pietro will talk, least of all Thomas "Brodie" Culhane, a World War I hero who cleaned up the town and is now running for governor of California. Torn between admiring Culhane and trying to link him to the widow's killing, Bannon ignites historical enmities that threaten to express both men to their graves.

Although Diehl offers ample cinematic violence here, there's little true menace, and a romantic subplot involving Bannon with a gorgeous banker is neither credible nor effectively exploited. Still, Eureka is a polished work, full of careful character studies and drama, with a gasp-provoking solution that few readers will anticipate. --J. Kingston Pierce

From Publishers Weekly
HFollowing a four-year hiatus after the somewhat lackluster Reign in Hell, the third volume of the Martin Vail thriller series, legions of this bestselling author's readers will herald this triumphant comeback as his best novel ever. Combining the psychological chiaroscuro of L.A. Confidential with the dramatic sweep and stylish noir of Chinatown, this labyrinthine, multigenerational epic scrolls across the still-lawless frontier landscape of California. At the turn of the 20th century, Eureka, the railhead Sodom and Gomorrah of Southern California, is replete with whorehouses, gambling, dark political intrigues and steamy liaisons. Fast-forwarding through WWI to the last days of WWII, the plot examines the coming of age of this seedy patch. Recovering in 1945 from WWII wounds that earned him a Silver Star, LAPD Det. Zee Bannon is handed a briefcase containing files concerning a mysterious woman found dead in her bathtub. The case was left unresolved in 1941, just before he went off to war, and Bannon is unable to discover the victim's history before her move to L.A. in 1924. But her sizable bank account and a trail of anonymous cashier's checks eventually lead back to Eureka (since renamed San Pietro), where now legendary Sheriff Thomas Culhane's bid for state governor is at stake. Infidelity, murder, murky secrets, a deeply affecting love story and an old-fashioned showdown will keep fans spellbound right up to the fully satisfying if not so surprising denouement. Vividly cinematic, rich in atmosphere and peopled with believable characters, this novel serves notice that Diehl is one of the best thriller writers working today. (Mar.)Forecast: Expect this winner to hit bestseller lists early and hard. Southern regional author appearances and a teaser chapter in the mass market reissue of Primal Fear will further spur sales.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345411463
• ISBN-13: 978-0345411464
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,219,280 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Diehl redeems himself, March 9, 2002

By	John Daley (Attica, MI United States) - See all my reviews

Wlliam Diehl redeems himself with Eureka. Every book he's written has been great, until his last one Reign In Hell. And lets just say it was terrible. With Eureka, he's back in top form. It's a mystery set in the early part of the twentieth century. A woman dies accidently in her bathtub. The hero, LA homicide cop, Zeke Bannon finds evidence that points to the woman being murdered. Bannon follows a trail of evidence back to a small town called Eureka. The town is run by Sheriff Brodie Culhane, a war hero, who is beginning a campaign for govenor.
The characters are very real and likeable. Even the bad guys
Nothing is as it appears in this great story, and you'll be racing to finish it and then sorry that you did.
If you've never read Diehl before this is an excellant book to start with. And if you were put off by his last book, don't worry about it he is back at the top of his game.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back to the future., January 5, 2003

By	Larry Scantlebury (Ypsilanti, MI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is one of the top three books I read this year.

Whoops. It's January 5th. OK. If I had finished this book 6 days ago, I would have put it alongside of John LeCarre's "The Constant Gardner" and Lehane's "Mystic River." Forget any naysayers. "Eureka" is a eureka, a great mystery with wonderful conversations that smack of times gone by. An excellent novel.

Growing up on the East Coast, I remember old guys who had fought in WWI. One fellow lived into his late 80's with one lung gone, having given the first one up to mustard gas at Belleau Wood. So there's a 'reaching' aspect of Eureka that transcends a number of years. And we really don't feel it. Diehl is able to interrupt conversations in the past, flash forward, come back chapters later to finish them. Very tricky; very well done.

Diehl captures the chronology swiftly and smoothly. Sometimes he's writing of events a 100 years ago, sometimes 60, sometimes in between. "The bohunk got ironed out in a hit and run." The dialogue is crisp and seemingly accurate. Very timely. Great conversations.

Everyone who reads the reviews knows the plot by now. Honest cop, diamond in the rough, investigating the accidental electrocution of a widow in a 1940 bath tub, with only two things out of order: no will and "100 large in the bank."

A tough WWI veteran about to run for Governor, unanswered questions about the past igniting the future with a 40 year fuse. The quote from Gatsby, 'boats against the current,' is as prescient now as it was then.

Some romance that might be too much but everybody finds someone sometime.

The best dialogue is found in Elmore Leonard. Diehl gives him a run for his money in Eureka. Strongly recommended.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A FINELY ARTICULATED READING, March 7, 2002

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Eureka (Audio Cassette)

"Eureka," according to Webster's, signifies the discovery of something that brings joy or satisfaction. Thus, it is an appropriate title for the latest from William Diehl, a master of storytelling and suspense. Broadway, film and television actor Cotter Smith offers a finely articulated reading of this multi-generational tale.

When Zeke Bannon was sent to fight in World War II some unfinished business is left behind - the mysterious death of one Verna Wilensky who was electrocuted in her bathtub. Almost as puzzling as her demise is her hefty bank account, fattened by anonymous cashier's checks from a bank in San Pietro, a Southern California town once known as Eureka.

A few years and one Silver Star later Zeke is recuperating in an L.A. hospital when he is visited by his ex LAPD partner who has been investigating the Wilensky case. As Zeke digs into old files readers are transported to the Eureka of 1900, a hotbed of graft and prostitution. It is also a place where many secrets were buried.

Jump start to today and popular Sherif Thomas Culhane, who seems certain to become California's next governor until his bid for office is jeopardized by stunning revelations.

Diehl seamlessly weaves past and present to craft a story that keeps readers spellbound until the last.

- Gail Cooke