Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maine attraction, 9 Aug 2003
William Landay's Mission Flats promised to be a thoughtful, literate crime novel, and I wasn't disappointed. The red door on the front cover drew me in, as I hoped that the book would live up to the beautifully written colours-for-emotions-of-flawed-characters type prose that Dennis Lehane regularly puts out. Again I wasn't disappointed. From the beginning, the mystery is involving and the clues are dotted tastily along the way. The main character is wonderfully human and his relationship with those around him is thought-provoking and warm, especially his dealings with his parents. His humour keeps you entertained until the pace quickens, and then the mystery and action takes a grip, and I really found this hard to put down. His relationship with the old cop, the mentor, is not original,but one cannot help smiling at their oddball partnership as they find their way through war-torn Boston on the trail of the truth. Oh, and there is a juicy twist which will have even the most ardent anoraks slapping their wrists. I'm really looking forward to Mr Landays next effort. Anyone who can write well and still turn the pages is on my must-read list.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Much more than a "crime novel", 6 Aug 2006
Mission Flats is not so much a crime novel (despite being a winner of the Crime Writers Association John Creasey award) as a novel about crime. Unlike some of the more prosaic police procedurals, where you race through pages only taking note of the words you need to follow the plot, this is a novel where you can enjoy the language for its own sake. Take the following example from close to the end of the book "But the story never ends, does it? History - the rolling wave of incident after incident, propelled by currents of chance and luck and coincidence - streams right along with no regard for beginnings or endings. The only true end is the present moment, the seething forward edge of the wave."
This does not mean however that the crimes around which the narrative revolves, or the characters get lost in the language. On the contrary, the book is action packed, the crimes will hold your interest, you won't see the end coming and despite a few sterotypes here and there (the retired policeman teaching the naive youngster how to detect, the sparky female DA) the characters have sufficient moral ambiguity to make them believable. An excellent debut
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb Debut, 19 Oct 2005
An excellent read,three dimensional,and wholly believable characters,stylish writing,genuine emotions and a plot that keeps your mind working.The book is correctly paced,and the intelligence and literacy of the author are apparent throughout.I really want to know what happens next to the main characters life,and this writers next work is on my 'must buy' list-along with Cruz Smith and Hillerman
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