It ends more on a whimper than Estleman's usual punch in the face and I found myself feeling a little deflated after. Unfortunately it floundered a bit for me at the end.
Amos agrees to take the case, only to realize after the fact that the dead girl's father is a hybrid of John Walsh and Dominick Dunne. The teller who found herself starring down the barrel of the villain's gun happens to have a brother in prison, who has been there for the past 20 years for a crime he didn't commit - killing his pregnant girlfriend and staging it like a suicide. I love cold case / wrongly convicted stories and Estleman starts this one off with a bang (quite literally) when Amos thwarts a bank robbery. I needed my Estleman Detroit fix, so here I am finishing a book that's not out for another 4 months. I had an ARC of this and decided to read it over the weekend thinking the book had just been published or would be soon - only to see on GoodReads that the publication date has been pushed back to January 2022! Oh well. I don’t know if Estleman gets the same notice as best-selling crime fiction authors who have mastered the art of self-promotion, but he’s a writer who fans of the genre shouldn’t miss. Estelman sets up a standard crime plot and turns it upside down. She should have asked for something tall and green with a garden in it.”Īmos solves the case with legwork and close observation and a keen understanding of human nature - particularly the nature of sociopaths who have no human nature. When Amos is surprised that a woman wants to drink her scotch neat, he thinks “It didn’t go with your outfit. Kopernick is such a loser that he’s almost likable.Įstleman is a master at telling a tight story. Kopernick claims that earning favorable publicity by helping Amos (whether he proves or disproves Corbel’s guilt) will balance the most recent black mark on his record. Amos is, in fact, pursuing justice in his own way, not as a vigilante but as a man with a passion for the truth.Īmos gets unexpected help from Stan Kopernick, a cop who has alienated his boss by gambling on duty. The investigation also has unfortunate ramifications for Corbel, a fact that causes Amos to wonder whether he is doing more harm than good. Cutthroat Dogs scored points with me by suggesting that television hosts who position themselves as vigilante crime fighters might have more interest in their bank accounts than in justice for victims.Īmos is repeatedly targeted for murder as he investigates Dan Corbel’s conviction. Since most television hosts who style themselves as champions for crime victims fall into that category, I was pleased that Estleman took a well-deserved shot at them. Estleman is savage in his depiction of Chester Gross as a greedy, self-aggrandizing, unfeeling hypocrite. I’ve never been a fan of shows that exploit a family member’s victimization to create wealth for the host. Since ratings depend on a high capture rate, the show cherry-picks crimes that will probably be solvable with massive publicity.
Viewers phone in tips and Goss brags about how the show helps put away bad guys. April’s father, Chester Goss, used her death as the foundation for one of those horrid “true crime” television shows. Dan Corbel has been in prison for almost twenty years.Ĭorbel was convicted of murdering April Goss, a woman he dated in college. Chrys Corbel wants Amos to look into her brother’s murder case. The gunplay gets Amos some good press that attracts a bunch of kooks and one paying client. John Alderdyce, back from retirement in a new role as a consultant for the Detroit Police, gives Walker a pass for carrying a firearm into a bank. Walker begins Cutthroat Dogs by shooting a bank robber in the leg.
Review of the hider by loren estleman free#
Not that the novels are free of violence. Walker spends most of his time solving puzzles by piecing together clues and getting a handle on ambiguous personalities. The novels move at a brisk pace, but Estleman doesn’t depend on shootouts and fistfights to carry the story. Estleman pushes all the buttons I look for in private detective fiction.
Review of the hider by loren estleman series#
If my application for a second life comes through, I’ll go back and read his Amos Walker series from the beginning. Published by Forge Books on January 4, 2022
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