Menaced Assassin

I should state outfront that I am a Joe Gores fan, and that I served as a technical advisor on this book and was given a small, almost unnoticed walk-on. The book takes on two really tough tasks: It is written in two voices, a first for Gores; and it takes on a philosophical theme and tries to interweave it with a mystery story.As much as I like Gores' work, I don't think he quite succeeded, here, although even the partial failure is a very good read, and one does care who-dun-it. He writes good characters and his setting in San Francisco is evocative. Those not familiar with his work might do better to begin with 32 Cadillacs or one of the DKA series, then read Wolf Time before taking on Menaced Assasin.

Menaced Assissin is an interesting book of murder & revenge. However, it is filled with a disertation of evolutionary theories throughout which could have been condensed. I sometimes got the feeling that the writer's main focus was to demonstrate his knowledge, and push his idea of evolution on the reader by embedding it in this novel. The reading was also stilted and difficult to read at times. However, it was an interesting story with graphic descriptions of the killings, which kept me interested in knowing who the killer was.