Damnation Street

THE BAD NEWS FIRST: You're going to want to read Dynamite Road and Shotgun Alley before you read this one. That's bad news because you'll have to find them first. That's good news because you'll enjoy reading them, and be fully familiar with the characters and the careful painting that Klavan does to set things up. The other bad news is that after you get about halfway through, you'll lose sleep until you finish it. And then be hungry for more. THE GOOD NEWS: This is a terrific mystery, with a complex interweaving of plot, idea, and shoeleather that follows Weiss, Bishop and....the narrator... around a complex plot involving love, fights, and the discovery of reality. The twists in the plot will surprise you, and the resolution delight you. And you wanted that, right? Buy the other two first, and read them. Then buy this. Read it. Feel oddly accomplished. Look for more by Klavan: he knows when to push a plot into interesting shapes.

Good storyline, interesting characters, plot twists and interesting insights about life that will stay with you long after you read it. What more could you ask out of a detective story?

Klavan ties up most of the loose ends of his Weiss/Bishop series (following "Dynamite Road" and "Shotgun Alley") in this hard boiled noir, "Damnation Street." Scott Weiss, ex-cop and head of his own PI office in San Francisco, is still tracking the elusive Julie Wyant, a prostitute that he may or may not be in love with...even though they have never met (don't ask). The man who calls himself John Foy, dubbed "the Shadowman" by the media, is also still tracking Julie for his own perverted purposes which include his belief that he also is in love with her based on a one night encounter. Both these protagonists are obsessed with Julie, or what Julie represents to them. Scott has come to realize the only solution to this on-going cat and mouse game is for him to find Julie knowing "The Shadowman" will follow him setting up a final, ultimate confrontation. Foy also realizes the unhealthy symbiotic relationship that has developed between he and Weiss and also agrees to an inevitable confrontation with the three of them...of course, with a different predicted outcome than Weiss's. Scott's former employee, the nihilistic, violence prone Jim Bishop, is still trying to find himself when he stumbles upon information that Weiss is in deadly peril from "The Shadowman" due to a secret strategy guaranteeing Scott's death. Bishop's respect for Weiss impels him to enter the chase and save Scott thereby redeeming his own self respect and meaning in life. Now we have four main characters all moving across the chessboard with similar plans yet vastly different motives. Klavan's pacing is non-stop, full-speed-ahead action leaving little time to stop and catch your breath. It is one of those books that if you like these characters, you will find most difficult to put down. Reading the first two installments will give you a deeper appreciation of the characters but this effort can certainly be read as a stand-alone. Weiss's intuitive ability to "know" or sense things about people acts almost as a sixth-sense allowing him to keep a step ahead of others and to outguess the best plans of the villains. It is a unique "hook" that I find intriguing in this series. The story is told from several points of view including a first person insertion of Klavan into the plot as an operative out of Weiss's agency. All in all, I found this a most enjoyable read that stretched the noir/crime thriller genre without going over the top. You'll laugh, you'll cringe, and you'll lose your breath at times...but, hey, isn't that what a good book should do for us?

This is the third outing of Weiss and Bishop, narrated by a young Klavan. PI Scott Weiss realizes the only for beautiful prostitute Julie Wyant to ever be safe and stop running from the psychopathic killer called "Shadowman," is to find Julie, knowingly leading the killer to her, and killing the killer first. When Jim Bishop, now estranged from Weiss, learns "Shadowman" has a trick he is counting on Weiss not having planned for, Bishop is determined to find Weiss and save him. Add to this young Klavan, working in Weiss' office. He finally has a case of his own following the daughter of the Berkeley professor who is concerned that she has suddenly become distant and staying out more. Unfortunately, the young woman is someone Klavan fell in love with after meeting once, but let her slip away when he become involved in an affair with an older woman who also works for Weiss. Now for a bad analogy--this book made me think of figure stating with major sections of fast skating punctuated with daring jumps, occasional slower sections to alter the pace, an explosive crescendo and finally stopping and taking their bows and, as with figure skating, I loved it. The story is totally plot driven but that doesn't mean without character development. One could actually read it as a standalone, although it is better to read the whole series. The dialogue is sharp and the action gripping. There is brutality and profanity but appropriate, with exception to one character where I felt it was misplaced. There is humor and pathos which balance out the action and violence. You can tell author Klavan is a screenwriter as the story is very visual. I highly recommend this for the noir reader, and what a treat you'll receive.

Klavan pushes the envelope of hard-boiled noir with this third non-stop but not quite over-the-top Weiss and Bishop tale, again narrated by the callow youth, Andrew Klavan. Scott Weiss is a big man with a basset hound face, an ex-cop turned PI with a soft spot for prostitutes. Jim Bishop, an adrenaline junkie and definite bad-boy-lost, was one of Weiss' operatives until he betrayed his trust ("Shotgun Alley"). Andrew Klavan is the Jimmy Olsen of the operation, an earnest young man who has met his soul mate but been diverted by lust. Weiss has taken up the trail of Julie Wyant ("Dynamite Road"), a prostitute "with the face of an angel" who spent one night with the sadistic "Shadowman" and has been on the run from him ever since. As evil and clever and crazed as psycho "specialist" killers come, the Shadowman is using Weiss to find Julie - as Weiss is using Julie to find him. When Bishop comes cross a crucial piece of information about the elusive killer he joins the hunt, bent on saving Weiss from certain death. And Klavan is left to hold down the fort. Under the direction of Sissy, the lonely, lovely, older woman who has distracted him from his true love, Emma. And he gets his first client. A Pulitzer Prize winning author who wants his daughter Emma followed - yes, that Emma. Klavan gleefully uses every cliché in the genre, punching the story to the edge of parody. And it works. The relentless story moves so adroitly that every skillful twist seems as plausible as it is clever - the ratio of lighted motel lights to cars in the lot, for instance, alerting Weiss to the killer's presence, and the killer's use of disguise and misdirection to slip away once again. The pace ratchets up so tightly that at one point it almost seems to spin out of control. But Klavan - the author Klavan - reins it in with finesse, demonstrating that character drives action and while his characters may have the outlines of clichés they have souls and torments and aspirations and skills that make them behave the way they do. There are a few preachy moments, when the prig in Klavan threatens to overwhelm the romanticist, but a sense of humor and a lack of respect for proportion redeems the sentiment. His fictional counterpart provides some hilarity along with a wide-eyed gallantry that's as refreshing as it is old-fashioned. Cinematic, funny, violent, and riveting, this is Klavan at his manic best. -- Portsmouth Herald