Too Beautiful to Die

by Glenville Lovell

African-American former police officer Blades Overstreet is prevailed upon to help a soap-opera star find her missing father, a situation that turns dangerous when Blades is accused of murdering an FBI agent. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Crime

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 14, 2003

Reviews

[Monica **can't read fast enough** · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too Beautiful To Die is another grittier mystery that I enjoyed. The language/dialogue felt very much like what I consider 'dude' talk. Abrasive and straight forward, with no soft edges, yet still readable. Blades Overstreet is an ex-cop that is facing problems in both his professional and personal life. His wife has moved across the country, he's suing the NYPD, and is now beeing drug into what turns out to be murder through a 'friend' who holds the fact that he saved Blade's life over his head to help out a woman he barely knows. To top things off, the FBI has a vested interest in what's going on too. Lovell wastes no time jumping into the thick of the story and does a good job bringing the reader along quickly.

Lovell has created complicated characters that you don't get to figure out all at once or even all in this first installment. I've already ordered and received book two, Love and Death in Brooklyn, so I'm looking forward to continuing with the series.

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[Ice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A melodramatic plot and histrionic dialogue, plus some racial and gender stereotyping that some readers may find offensive, tarnish Lovell's (Song of Night) otherwise suspenseful and engaging mystery. Black New York ex-cop Blades Overstreet gets seduced into the dangerous enterprise of helping alluring soap-opera star "Precious" find her long-lost father. Since Overstreet is already in the bad graces of the NYPD/FBI for accusing a fellow officer of shooting him "by accident" because of his color during a buy-and-bust operation, hostility toward Overstreet skyrockets when he stumbles on a murdered FBI agent.

Attempting to grapple with issues of race and ethnic "otherness," the novel overdoes such references and, ironically, undermines their message with slurs such as the assertion that Jamaican women "prefer to ride the dick all night." Moreover, the author heaps crude metaphors like "I didn't realize this shit was going to become hotter than a hooker's ass" on top of clichés like "To taste her was to eat a ripe, full-bodied fig." In between scenes of repulsively gruesome violence, the male characters brag in the crassest terms about their sexual successes.

[Michelle Lopez · Rating 3 out of 5]

What was interesting about this book was that the author had great descriptive elements, but as a whole, the plot and the way the story moved along read like a very novice author’s idea of what a cop/detective life looks like. It just fell really flat to me.

[Cecilia Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too Bold To Die

The author is a great storyteller. Sometimes he gets lost in his own plot but he always finds his way back to the prime point. Fun,feisty and a good read.
Will wait patiently for your next adventure, Blades

[Michael Swenty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, fast paced page turner. Plausibility of events are, at times, questionable, as are some details (e.g. you can't travel "mostly to Europe 3 to 4 times a week"). But do recommend it.

[Virginie · Rating 4 out of 5]

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