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Deep into a now 80 book and counting career, and 27 in to his iconic Amos Walker series, what is Loren Estleman going to come up with that might be new? You might be surprised. In this novel Walker crosses paths with one of Estleman\u2019s other characters, Peter Macklin, who hires Walker to look after his ex-wife. She\u2019s being stalked by his son, Roger, who has gone into the family business \u2013 contract killing.<\/p>\n
Dividing the segments of the novel into \u201cMe\u201d (Walker), \u201cHim\u201d (Macklin), as well as \u201cHer\u201d (the ex-wife) and \u201cThem\u201d (various, but often Roger) has injected a fresh energy into this novel. As always, Estleman writes tight \u2013 this book clocks in at 240 pages \u2013 and also as always, his prose and expression are absolute treasures. Reading an Estleman novel is almost like eating a too rich slice of chocolate cake \u2013 you have to read slowly, because if you don\u2019t you won\u2019t be able to savor the prose and the witty sleight of hand that comprises Estleman\u2019s dialogue. People in an Estleman novel speak like you wish you could and maybe the way you would if you had a long time to come up with the perfect turn of phrase. Alas, I think there are few human brains that actually operate on that elevated scale, but it\u2019s certainly a delight to encounter it in print.<\/p>\n
The set-up is a pretty simple one and Estleman, a writer who hews closely to genre convention, includes a smart dame who can handle trouble. He really writes women well and his women are always worth reading about, another reason I enjoy his books so much. Like all of us, Amos is aging \u2013 he has trouble climbing the fire escape and hoping out a window, and at the end he\u2019s too much of a gentleman to hit on a much younger woman (which I also appreciated) but even though he\u2019s older he\u2019s still operating at a high level.<\/p>\n
The scenes between Walker and Macklin are charged with electricity as each man takes the other\u2019s measure. Even though he\u2019s a hitman Macklin has a certain code of behavior; Walker, who definitely has a code of behavior and has the much more impoverished lifestyle to prove it, is reluctant to take Macklin\u2019s money but he\u2019s really not given much of a choice. Almost more than anything else, the meeting between these two characters is the meeting between two practical realists.<\/p>\n
This novel, mostly set in the smallish town of Milford, has the precise explication of small town life, especially during a Michigan winter, that Estleman readers have come to expect. While we may not be running around heavily armed, slipping through locked doors with a credit card or paying transients to watch our cars, just about every Michigander will relate to the white-knuckle drive Amos takes on a snow-swept highway during the height of a blizzard.<\/p>\n
In every way this novel was delicious, and even if you\u2019re new to Walker\u2019s Detroit, it\u2019s a trip well worth making. Jumping in at novel 27 won\u2019t be too unsettling\u00a0\u2013 you should be able to slide right in to Amos\u2019 world. It\u2019s a little gritty, but it\u2019s full of honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deep into a now 80 book and counting career, and 27 in to his iconic Amos Walker series, what is Loren Estleman going to come up with that might be new? You might be surprised. In this novel Walker crosses paths with one of Estleman\u2019s other characters, Peter Macklin, who hires Walker to look after … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,7],"class_list":["post-2535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-michigan","tag-p-i"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2535"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2538,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2535\/revisions\/2538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}