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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Couldn't put this down! Loved the author's sarcastic commentary and detailed prose. There were many (developed) characters, twists, and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat.
This is my first encounter with Reed Farrel Coleman, who certainly is productive and has enjoyed considerable success. Long Island's Suffolk County, where I grew up, doesn't produce much in the way of crime fiction (Nelson DeMille's been out there a couple times), so Where It Hurts is notable for its setting. Coleman has that down pat, at least the strip mall/dive bar portion of the middle island, the part between the north and south shores (my wife calls it Buttafuoco Land). The plot is pleasingly complex (and draws in part from the actual story of the county police chief who beat up a guy who stole something from his car). My only kvetch is with a common failing of the urban (in this case, suburban) noir form -- the tough guy, wise-cracking protagonists talk too tough and crack too wise. No one talks like that in real life, or uses all those strained similes.
Reed Farrel Coleman first came to notice with his Moe Prager series, describing a police officer forced to retire after an injury who takes on an odd case now and again while running a wine shop with his brother. Lately, he's been tapped to continue the stories of the late Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone after Michael Brandman's three swing-and-misses with that character.
Where It Hurts is the first outing for what is currently projected to be a series, following former cop Gus Murphy's investigations of different dirty deeds. Gus retired from the force following the tragic death of his 20-year-old son from an unknown heart condition and his life unraveled. He maintains a toxic non-distance from his ex-wife and doesn't know how to handle the downward spiral that seems to have claimed his daughter. He currently drives a courtesy van between a small airport and a second-rate motel and tries to figure out why he should wake up in the morning.
But when a small-time thug asks him to check into his son's murder, Gus finds himself strangely drawn to the case for reasons he can explain neither to his therapist nor is quasi-confessor, a retired department chaplain and former priest. Once people -- law-enforcement and otherwise -- start leaning on him to get him to back away and once the ex-con who started the ball rolling is shot, then Gus finds himself with a reason to get up as well as a reason to get to the bottom of things.
Hurts features Coleman's elegant plain-spoken style as one of its many strengths -- he manages to be erudite and reflective while leaving the polysyllables back in the box. His characterizations are hit and miss -- Gus, many of the people he interviews and his former priest friend Bill are all clearly drawn, but some others that seem to be set up to be more important not so much. It also highlights how well Coleman manages to work with protagonists who are clearly flawed and in many cases quite broken.
And that last could prove to hamper the possibilities of a series with Gus and company. We get that Gus is bleak -- and can understand why, given his circumstances -- but Coleman feels the need to keep that furrow well and fully plowed. Only very rarely does he return to the field with seed for it, mostly just running the plow of Gus's grief, disillusionment and whatnot through the ground again. A furrow planted can grow a crop; one just dug out will be a ditch. Coleman may intend to lever Gus a few notches closer to re-investing in his life in coming novels. I'd hope so, because another couple hundred pages of this and I'll quit my job to drive a courtesy van.
I've neither had children nor lost them, so I can't say how I'd react. Coleman's picture of Gus may be right on the money, but it makes a for a bleak enough read that the end of the book is more welcome than it should be. Human hearts are biased towards hope, whether we want them to be or not. That's why people will still be reading Lord of the Rings in 50 years, while the only reason they'll pick up A Song of Ice and Fire then is that George Martin will have just finished it. If Gus Murphy does turn into a series character but never seems to move on towards some kind of new life, then Coleman will probably need to be casting around for another series sooner than he might have imagined.
Original available here.
Where It Hurts is the first outing for what is currently projected to be a series, following former cop Gus Murphy's investigations of different dirty deeds. Gus retired from the force following the tragic death of his 20-year-old son from an unknown heart condition and his life unraveled. He maintains a toxic non-distance from his ex-wife and doesn't know how to handle the downward spiral that seems to have claimed his daughter. He currently drives a courtesy van between a small airport and a second-rate motel and tries to figure out why he should wake up in the morning.
But when a small-time thug asks him to check into his son's murder, Gus finds himself strangely drawn to the case for reasons he can explain neither to his therapist nor is quasi-confessor, a retired department chaplain and former priest. Once people -- law-enforcement and otherwise -- start leaning on him to get him to back away and once the ex-con who started the ball rolling is shot, then Gus finds himself with a reason to get up as well as a reason to get to the bottom of things.
Hurts features Coleman's elegant plain-spoken style as one of its many strengths -- he manages to be erudite and reflective while leaving the polysyllables back in the box. His characterizations are hit and miss -- Gus, many of the people he interviews and his former priest friend Bill are all clearly drawn, but some others that seem to be set up to be more important not so much. It also highlights how well Coleman manages to work with protagonists who are clearly flawed and in many cases quite broken.
And that last could prove to hamper the possibilities of a series with Gus and company. We get that Gus is bleak -- and can understand why, given his circumstances -- but Coleman feels the need to keep that furrow well and fully plowed. Only very rarely does he return to the field with seed for it, mostly just running the plow of Gus's grief, disillusionment and whatnot through the ground again. A furrow planted can grow a crop; one just dug out will be a ditch. Coleman may intend to lever Gus a few notches closer to re-investing in his life in coming novels. I'd hope so, because another couple hundred pages of this and I'll quit my job to drive a courtesy van.
I've neither had children nor lost them, so I can't say how I'd react. Coleman's picture of Gus may be right on the money, but it makes a for a bleak enough read that the end of the book is more welcome than it should be. Human hearts are biased towards hope, whether we want them to be or not. That's why people will still be reading Lord of the Rings in 50 years, while the only reason they'll pick up A Song of Ice and Fire then is that George Martin will have just finished it. If Gus Murphy does turn into a series character but never seems to move on towards some kind of new life, then Coleman will probably need to be casting around for another series sooner than he might have imagined.
Original available here.
I enjoyed this noirish mystery. The protagonist felt a bit sorry for himself, but that is part of the genre . I felt Long Island itself needed more character, but the plot was good, and the resolution satisfying
Read my review: http://theadvocate.com/entertainment/books/14896555-123/review-colemans-new-novel-hurts-so-good-a-gripping-crime-noir-tale
Boldly and intelligently written, this riveting story of ultimate sadness will break your heart and touch your soul. A new character and a new series that you will remember for some time as you wait for his next installment. A great story… I couldn’t read it fast enough, but I didn’t want it to end…