Review of Stateline: by Dave Stanton
Stateline by Dave Stanton
Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1960, Dave Stanton moved to Northern California in 1961. He attended San Jose State University and received a BA in journalism in 1983. Over the years, he worked as a bartender, newspaper advertising salesman, furniture mover, pizza cook, debt collector, and technology salesman. He has two children, Austin and Haley, and lives with his wife, Heidi, in San Jose, California.
Stateline is a tightly-written, fast-paced detective story that will satisfy any devotee of crime fiction.
When Private Investigator Dan Reno is hired for $100,000 to find and bring to justice the killer of a wealthy businessman’s son, he gets way more than he bargained for. Prostitutes, drugs, hard drinking tough guys, despicable bad guys — this novel has them all.
Reno and his sidekick Cody Gibbons must solve the murder without the help of corrupt police and sheriff’s officers. In fact, the thoroughly despicable police officers and deputies do their darndest to stop them — even resorting to torture and attempted murder. Through it all, Reno and his wise-cracking buddy Gibbons keep going, turning Lake Tahoe inside out, and following a twisted trail of clues that leads all the way to Utah.
Will the mystery be solved so Reno can get the rest of his $100,000 bounty? Will predatory prostitutes, harassing henchmen and enough close shaves to satisfy an old-time barber deter Reno — or make him drop the case?
You’ll just have to pay your $3.99 and find out for yourself.
Some good lines:
“She made love like a woman with an abundance of sexual instinct, and a lifetime of promiscuity to back it up.”
“Ranesewich strikes me as so uptight, you couldn’t pull a needle out of his ass with a tractor.”
“If the detectives caught up with me before I was ready, I’d piss in their ear and tell them it was raining.”
And when a really bad guy dies, the narrative takes on a paranormal tone: “I saw his spirit being sucked into the earth, like sand falling through an hourglass in fast motion.”
This is not a book for someone with an aversion to strong language or semi-explicit sex scenes. But if you’re interested in a good old-fashioned murder mystery with a satisfying ending, Stateline is your basic perfect read.
I give Stateline a solid five stars.
