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Title: The Disposable Man by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0-446-60768-1 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (8 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Not as enjoyable as others in the series
Comment: Joe Gunther has a mystery on his hands. Who is the body found face-down in the quarry with all the labels cut out of his clothing. The dead man looks vaguely slavic and he has some cyrillic characters tattooed on his toes, but that's it. As Gunther tries different avenues he finds that suddenly the CIA wants to talk to him about the murder. And when he goes to Washington he's attacked by a knife-weilding assassin. But the final straw is when he's suspended for allegedly stealing a diamond brooch missing from a jewelry store robbery. Joe is convinced that he's been set-up to take him off the case and he goes after the Russian mob on his own.
Mr. Mayor is a good writer. His characters and dialog have always struck me as being believable. However I think he's finding that having his protagonist work in the small town of Brattleboro Vermont is becoming a bit too constraining. In this mystery we've got the CIA and the Russian mob. We've got ex-Russian spies fighting for their lives and we've got a mob shootout that almost costs Gunther his life. Perhaps a bit too much to believe for Brattleboro. Not that the mystery itself is bad. I still think that Mayor's novels are many times better than a lot of the junk that passes for mysteries these days. I just think that this particular book doesn't quite measure up to his earlier works.
Rating: 3
Summary: Suddenly heavyhanded Archer's arrow misses mark
Comment: I had enjoyed several Mayor novels prior to this one: a sensitive and humble hero, nicely shaded supporting characters, multidimensional villains, complicated but carefully developed plotting. And framed by a lovingly drawn Vermont background.
But I guess Archer decided he wants Arnold to someday play Joe Gunther on the silver screen because this one leaves all of the above behind. Instead we have an ever-widening and increasingly unbelievable web of FBI, CIA, Russian operatives and a hail of bullets.
I think the reader from Maryland asks the right question: Did Archer Mayor really write this book?
Say it isn't so, Archer.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good example of Mayor's work.
Comment: Archer Mayor is a good plot crafter. He sets up crimes bereft of any clue except one - and that one clue leads to many more. In this outing, there are ambitious city politicians, CIA spooks, and Russian mafia of all things. If Mayor was heavy handed or trite, he would have these evil forces pulling every impossible dirty trick from a comic book you could imagine. Thankfully, he shows restraint. The writing and dialogue is lean, the story moves quickly (sometimes too quickly) and there is a cliffhanger type of ending. One thing that would change my review to five stars is this: I don't feel a payoff from the climactic endings. All the events leading up to the finale are satisfactory.
Not to readers - you will get the most satisfaction from these books if you read them in sequence. You will get to know the characters and understand their motivations and personalities.
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Title: The Dark Root by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446403768 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Scent of Evil by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446403350 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1993 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Ragman's Memory by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446605905 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1997 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Fruits of the Poisonous Tree by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446403741 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Skeleton's Knee by Archer Mayor ISBN: 0446400998 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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