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21st out of 155 books
—
431 voters
Jack Wakes Up (Jack Palms Crime #1)
by
Seth Harwood (Goodreads Author)
What does an action movie one-hit-wonder and ex-drug-addict do when he's cleaned up, down on his luck, and running out of money? In the three years since Jack Palms went clean-no drugs, no drinking, no life-he's added fourteen pounds of muscle, read 83 books, and played it as straight as anyone can ask him. Now, when an old friend from L.A. calls, he hits the streets of Sa...more
Paperback, 268 pages
Published
August 19th 2009
by Breakneck Books
(first published January 17th 2008)
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A crime noir thriller that keeps me on the edge of my seat, Jack Wakes Up's engaging protagonist is both likable and despicable. In mythic terms he represents the shapechanger, a mirror man who is what other people think he is. And yet his tale wraps you up, demands your attention, forces you to take his side. I care about Jack even though he really clearly hates himself. And that's why I give this book five stars.
The crime aspects are hard, the characters bold, the whole feel of the story is ve...more
The crime aspects are hard, the characters bold, the whole feel of the story is ve...more
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I love Jack! He was an actor who fell into the kind of negative behaviors that come with fame and money. Successful in cleaning up his life after a public fiasco that put his career on hold, the money began to run out and boredom was setting in. A meeting with an old friend and a decision to make a few quick bucks sends him off on a wild adventure. This fast paced thriller doesn't even give you time to breathe between one gut-wrenching, jaw-dropping moment to the next. We follow Jack through the...more
I first was exposed to Jack Palms in podiobook form with Seth reading them and I still couldn't wait to pre-order my signed copy when I had the chance. I then won a contest and ordered two more with my winnings.
JWU is a great, action packed read with a flawed 'hero' that you can't help but pull for throughout the whole series. And even though I've already listened to them all, I will probably listen to them again and buy them when they are released. Yes! They are that good. Seth does such a grea...more
JWU is a great, action packed read with a flawed 'hero' that you can't help but pull for throughout the whole series. And even though I've already listened to them all, I will probably listen to them again and buy them when they are released. Yes! They are that good. Seth does such a grea...more
Harwood gives us a down and out noir hero with a twist—he’s already hit rock bottom and mastered clean living to a boring degree. Jack Palms had his moment of fame when he starred in the action thriller, Shake ‘Em Down, but fell from grace when he developed a drug habit and was falsely accused of spousal abuse. Now he’s got bills piling up and he might lose his house, but he refuses to give up his 1966 Mustang Fastback. He drives it over to meet his old drug dealer friend, Ralph, and his Czech f...more
Jack Palms is a one-hit wonder actor who's climbing his way back from drug addiction and a domestic abuse charge. The financing for the sequel to his hit movie dried up with his arrest, his marriage is long gone, the money is just about gone and Jack is nearly broke, out of work and on the verge of losing his house in Sausalito, California. Jack's working hard at living right and getting himself back on the right track, but we all know how far that goes when the bills are due, so when the phone...more
Jack Wakes Up could easily have been called Jack Kicks Ass. Seth Harwood’s ex-movie star tough guy Jack Palms roars through this action novel, cool as… well as cool as a guy who drives a 66 Mustang Fastback.
Written in present tense, Jack Wakes Up hits the action quickly, giving us enough detail about Jack’s past life to make the reader curious but not getting too bogged down in details before the real action starts. Jack, somewhat down on his luck after kicking Heroin is running out of money. He...more
Written in present tense, Jack Wakes Up hits the action quickly, giving us enough detail about Jack’s past life to make the reader curious but not getting too bogged down in details before the real action starts. Jack, somewhat down on his luck after kicking Heroin is running out of money. He...more
"Jack Wakes Up" is a good noir / crime thriller!
L.A., drugs & betrayal....
The characters are good, the main character Jack Palms isn't quite the tough guy I thought he would be. The Czechs are great characters and have all the usual eastern European stereotypes built in. The bad guys really arent too bad at all unfortunately. Maxine, a stripper turned bartender is really the only female character in the book.
This is not a five star book, but its a great first effort and I think Seth Harwo...more
L.A., drugs & betrayal....
The characters are good, the main character Jack Palms isn't quite the tough guy I thought he would be. The Czechs are great characters and have all the usual eastern European stereotypes built in. The bad guys really arent too bad at all unfortunately. Maxine, a stripper turned bartender is really the only female character in the book.
This is not a five star book, but its a great first effort and I think Seth Harwo...more
Oct 04, 2009
Joshua
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Joshua by:
Only crime fiction completists
Shelves:
crime,
mystery-thrillers
The back cover of Jack Wakes Up has a quote from Megan Abbott, a writer I greatly admire that reads, "like a long lost Mickey Spillane tale as directed by Robert Rodriguez." I love Mickey Spillane's work and a Robert Rodriguez film always leaves me with a smile on my face. So when I saw this at the book store I was instantly sold. Sadly, the book nowhere lives up to Megan's billing.
It's not that Seth Harwood is a poor writer, in fact I quite enjoyed his crisp, in your face, break neck paced s...more
It's not that Seth Harwood is a poor writer, in fact I quite enjoyed his crisp, in your face, break neck paced s...more
"Jack Wakes Up" was an incredibly fun novel. Three authors I really enjoy: Megan Abbott, Duane Swierczynski and Michael Connelly offered up high praise for the book, so I expected to like it and I ended up enjoying it even more than I expected
The novel is about Jack Palms, a former actor who made one hit action movie that gave him everything and then lost it all because of drug addiction and scandal. When the novel begins, Jack is fresh out of rehab and offers to help one of his oldest friends s...more
Jack Wakes Up is a non-stop thrill ride; the author hooks you from the start! The book follows Jack Palms, a retired movie star and ex drug addict. In the three years he hasn't made movies, he's lived a fairly simple life. When his friend Ralph asks him to show a few drug dealers around the clubs, Jack doesn't object. He soon regrets the decision, and everything goes downhill for him, leaving the reader with a mystery to solve.
I really enjoyed the characters because the author established good...more
I really enjoyed the characters because the author established good...more
Jack Palms is an actor who, like many before and many after, achieved high fame and then lost all control of his own life, falling into drugs, alcohol, and general celebrity malaise. An old friend calls him up and offers him a pretty decent job entertaining some out-of-town drug types, but things rapidly spin out of control. Jack finds himself in the middle of a drug war, with bullets flying all around him.
This is one of those bulletproof anti-hero stories, where the main character can't escape...more
This is one of those bulletproof anti-hero stories, where the main character can't escape...more
Jack Wakes Up by Seth Harwood is written very professionally, with author’s skill and experience obvious in each sentence. On the other hand, the plot and characters seem to be taken straight from a B-class action flick of the 1980s or 1990s. I admit this contrast puzzled me at the beginning. However, once I realized that this is a convention deliberately chosen by the author, I started to really enjoy the fast action and punchy dialogue of the novel. The audacious use of stereotypes and cliches...more
Jack Palms is down on his luck-- after some bad tabloid press, his acting career bottomed out after only one action film. During his time of fame, he developed a heroin addiction and an abusive relationship. These are the two major reasons that his one film remains just one film. Now he is trying to pick up the pieces of his life and pay his piling bills. When his friend Ralph offers him a couple thousand to help him show a few Czech visitors a good time and help them with their Colombian cocain...more
Aug 24, 2009
Ryan
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
all-time-favourites,
crime
I don't read a lot of crime fiction, which when I think about it is kind of odd. I mean, I love a lot of this stuff when it's presented in movie form - stuff like Tarantino's early work, Guy Ritchie's stuff, and the like. Jack Wakes Up, Seth Harwood's debut novel, is exactly like one of those movies. It tells the story of Jack Palms, a washed-up actor who gets caught up in a drug war between various gangs in San Fransisco. This was a fun, slick read, that had a lot of energy to it and a great na...more
Coming out on May 5, 2009, THIS is THE book. This is THE year. JACK PALMS, baby!
Catch it!
Catch it!
The first in the series, action-packed from start to finish. The character Jack is a big action movie star (or rather he was), but now events embroil him in the real thing with everything you would expect in an action blockbuster--sex, shoot-outs, gangsters, drugs and drug dealing, and... three absolutely crazy Russians you will fall in love with. In fact, the story reads like a Hollywood blockbuster which is a perfect fit considering the subject of the novel. I was hooked with this first book a...more
Continuing my little hard-boiled project this week makes for a bit of a departure as I step away from the detective field into the straight up crime thriller. (I’ll return to detective fiction with my subsequent reads since I’ve decided I want to attempt a novel for each decade since I have the 40s/50s well covered.) Like his contemporaries Scott Sigler and J. C. Hutchins (both contribute reviews on the book’s Amazon page) Seth Hardwood comes from the growing numbers of “podcast writers” that ar...more
Jack Palms is a washed-up movie star with one big hit to his name three years ago, he's also managed to kick his drug habit and hasn't had a drink in 2 years. His healthy lifestyle can get pretty boring though and when his old friend Ralph calls on him to help some Czechs to have a good time "where that mug of yours can still get us past a few red ropes" (and get paid for it) and be the go-between for drug dealer and buyer, he's more than ready, especially when the banks are on his back about hi...more
Three years ago action movie star Jack Palms was arrested in front of several paparazzi and his movie career tanked leaving his chances for a sequel to Shake ‘Em Down at next to nothing. But that was the wake up call he needed. He divorced his troubled wife, left Hollywood and successfully kicked a serious drug habit. Now all he has to look forward to is his rationed one cigarette per day, a bowl of cereal and working out at the gym.
When one of his old friends, Ralph Anderino, calls upon him for...more
When one of his old friends, Ralph Anderino, calls upon him for...more
In Jack Wakes up, Harwood gives us a new twist on the old noir heist formula. Jack Palms, out of work actor, is tapped by a friend to play second fiddle on a giant drug dealer. He needs the money. He needs the distraction. He’s so amazingly bored that when bullets start flying and people start dying, he finds it exhilarating. In this, his first outing, Harwood combines the classic noir sensibilities of James M Cain with the quick-clipped plot movement that children of the nineties have come to e...more
Never has brutality been such a thing of beauty as in Harwood's depiction of the San Francisco drug realm in 'Jack Wakes Up'. Borrowing from the cult classic film Point Break and to a lesser extent Drive (by Sallis) this expose' of a washed up former actor and H addict turned hardened thug is A class noir. A willing victim of circumstance Jack Palms finds himself embroiled in a budding drug war, KGB beef, and murder. Accompanied by an ensemble cast comprising crazy Czechs, murderous Colombians,...more
Jack Wakes Up is just the beginning, but it is an important beginning. How do hardboiled detectives get made? Do they spring, fully-formed from some dark closet, all of their quirks and mannerisms in place?
Or are they, like Jack Palms in the novel "Jack Wakes Up", created through circumstance?
Jack could have turned his back on the death of his friend, but he didn't. He could have told his friend's drug gangsters to take a hike, but he didn't. He could have left well enough alone, but he didn't....more
Or are they, like Jack Palms in the novel "Jack Wakes Up", created through circumstance?
Jack could have turned his back on the death of his friend, but he didn't. He could have told his friend's drug gangsters to take a hike, but he didn't. He could have left well enough alone, but he didn't....more
1 like · like · see review
I'm gonna be brutally honest here. I know I read this (or rather, listened to the audiobook version), and I know I enjoyed it... but I don't remember that much about it. All I really remember was lots of action scenes and russian accents (again, listened to the audiobook). That being said, I know it must have been good cause I remember looking forward to the second one, but remembering as little as I do, it can't have been all that lasting an impression, which is why I'm docking a couple stars.
A writer's efforts shouldn't be destroyed, so I'll keep the negativity to a minimum. Book held promise for the first 150 pages, then fell flat. The action became repetitive and the storyline sluggish. I wasn't big on the dialog, to be honest, felt contrived, certainly not classic noir in my opinion. My thoughts place me in the minority opinion here, so the decision to take the plunge should be based on your tastes. I'll read another Harwood offering, but not another with Jack Palms.
I love this series. It is fast-paced, entertaining and always moving forward. It is truly action-packed. I listened to all three of the Jack Palms novels and young Junius (a spin-off from the series) over a long commute as an audio book. I was always left wanting more, which was also a distinct down-side to the writing. I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much as a book (as opposed to an audio book) because part of the value derived from the reading of it by Seth Harwood.
The smartmouth dialogue of Raymond Chandler, the vibe of a contemporary crime story with loads of street smarts. Jack is a great character, and I loved the Eastern European gangsters (maybe because I live in Bulgaria - not that I know anyone like the guys in this book). This is a cinematic romp, with plenty of action and thrills - a smile, a song, and a bullet to the brain. (review based on the original podcast version).
A noir action-thriller that probably would have made a better screenplay than novel. Set in San Francisco, a has-been movie star is tangled in high-stakes drug deals and rival dealers. The plot itself is paced as if it's on cocaine, and the mayhem strains credulity. The characters are tragic in noir tradition, but rather two-dimensional. Still, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see this made into a movie someday.
Put this one down about halfway through, which is pretty rare. Normally I enjoy this sort of noir where bad things happen to a decent-enough fella who is down on his luck (can we have a sub-genre name for this please?), but Charlie Huston is currently dominating the court at this game and this one suffered by comparison. Well-written enough, but I just didn't care what happened to any of the characters.
Nov 04, 2009
Brandi
marked it as to-read
I must say I was sooo excited when I got this book in the mail and Seth signed the copy for me. My husband ( who might I add isnt a reader at all) is very excited about this novel. He read the back and said that he would be interested in reading as well!!!!!!!
Good read. Nice twist to the pulp genre. The hero isn't a cop or a detective or a regular guy down on his luck. I loved the fact he was a washed up actor with just enough fame recognition to make him useful to those living on the seedy side of life.
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| Jack Palms | 4 | 18 | Jun 04, 2009 03:50pm |
In 2005, Seth Harwood began writing his debut novel, Jack Wakes Up. No stranger to the literary scene, Harwood had graduated from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop just a few years earlier and his short stories had been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies; getting attention from publishers for Jack Wakes Up, however, proved more difficult.
So in July of 2006, Seth recorde...more
More about Seth Harwood...
So in July of 2006, Seth recorde...more
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