The Man Who Tried to Get Away

The Man Who #3

by Stephen R. Donaldson

Running away from yourself never works. You'll always catch up.

"Donaldson, at his trademark best, fleshes out the characters to the max...and it's all wrapped around a well-paced, cleverly-plotted mystery that will leave readers wanting more."
-- Charleston Post on The Man Who Killed His Brother

Mick "Brew" Axbrewder was once a great P.I. That was before he accidentally shot and killed a cop-worse, a cop who happened to be his own brother. Then Mick's partner, Ginny Fistoulari, blew off her own hand protecting him from a confrontation brought on by his alcoholism. Unsurprisingly, Mick and Ginny aren't on great terms any more.

Now, a week after an incident in which he was shot, barely back on his feet, Mick has agreed against his better judgement to join Ginny in providing security at a "murder mystery camp", where a dozen people stay in an isolated, snowbound lodge to play at being detectives. Then a real killer starts bumping people off, one by one...

As ever, Stephen Donaldson shows why he's regarded as one of America's greatest storytellers, with a tale of human pain and human triumph.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Crime, Detective

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Stephen Reeder Donaldson is an American fantasy, science fiction, and mystery novelist; in the United Kingdom he is usually called "Stephen Donaldson" (without the "R"). He has also written non-fiction under the pen name Reed Stephens.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION:

Stephen R. Donaldson was born May 13, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, James, was a medical missionary and his mother, Ruth, a prosthetist (a person skilled in making or fitting prosthetic devices). Donaldson spent the years between the ages of 3 and 16 living in India, where his father was working as an orthopaedic surgeon. Donaldson earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and master's degree from Kent State University.

INSPIRATIONS:

Donaldson's work is heavily influenced by other fantasy authors such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, Joseph Conrad, Henry James, and William Faulkner. The writers he most admires are Patricia A. McKillip, Steven Erikson, and Tim Powers.

It is believed that a speech his father made on leprosy (whilst working with lepers in India) led to Donaldson's creation of Thomas Covenant, the anti-hero of his most famous work (Thomas Covenant). The first book in that series, Lord Foul's Bane, received 47 rejections before a publisher agreed to publish it.

PROMINENT WORK:
Stephen Donaldson came to prominence in 1977 with the The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which is centred around a leper shunned by society and his trials and tribulations as his destiny unfolds. These books established Donaldson as one of the most important figures in modern fantasy fiction.

PERSONAL LIFE:
He currently resides in New Mexico.

THE GRADUAL INTERVIEW

Reviews

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stephen R. Donaldson, known for his Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series of portal fantasy novels, took some time in the 1980s and 1990s to write this short series of hard-boiled detective stories, of which this book is the third installment. Donaldson later re-wrote the first three books and added a fourth book (a fifth installment is said to be intended "someday"). This story is set immediately after the events of the prior book - although an awful lot of pages are dedicated to bringing the readers up to speed with the story arc of the prior installments - as an injured alcoholic Mick "Brew" Axbrewder is shuffled out of town by his one-armed private eye boss and former lover Ginny Fistoulari to escape the vengeance and wrath of local mobster El Senor. The pair accept an assignment to keep an eye on a "murder mystery weekend camp" during which a blizzard hits while all the guests are otherwise occupied by cheating on their spouses and fooling around with each other leaving us with a "locked room" murder mystery set-up. Our bumbling protagonists overlook an awful lot of very obvious story developments, including their own backstory, while the story advances at a snail's pace in order to provide them with maximum time for self-flagellation over their own damaged feelings of self-worth and incompetence. It's as much fun as it sounds.

[Seon Ji (Dawn) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one, is the better of the three in this series. But not by much. Still I give 2 stars because the author tried something different.

Issues:
IMO, the murders' reason for killing are ridiculous and not very believable. The main character "Brew" (a recovering alcoholic named Brew how creative) is a wimp and his partner and ex lover Ginny (they are detectives) is more manly than he is (she is a woman). In fact Ginny is a bit of a cruel and heartless bitch. I can't stand her character.

Bottom line, all the characters are superficial and could use fleshing out and the world building needs serious revamping.

I'm sorry but these books are so bad that I can't believe that Donaldson wrote them. Not sure where his head was at at the time. Still, I will read book #4. Then I can say I have read all of his books (that I am aware of).

Lastly - FYI-These were written in the late 80's early 90's and supposedly re-worked in I think 2000's. Revising didn't seem to do much good I'm afraid. Anyway, these were written well after the Thomas covenant series and probably before Mirror of her Dreams. Both EXCELLENT books so please do not judge this author based on his "The Man Who" books. Just skip this series all together.

[Suzie Quint · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Donaldson is known for his SF&F, but in the 90s, he wrote 4 mysteries of which this is the third, and so far my favorite. I'm not a huge mystery fan, but Donaldson is capable of some fabulous word-smithing. He also writes amazing characters. This story is basically his version of Ten Little Indians. A bunch of people in a remote location who get snowed in and people start dying. I like the trope, so I was prepared to like this as soon as I realized where we were going. Two things to note: 1) To understand the main characters and how they got here, reading the first two books is a good idea, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary because SRD drops the backstory in well enough to carry you through the story. 2) There are a lot of characters to keep straight and all are coupled up. SRD doesn't help in that he sometimes refers to them by their first names, sometimes by their last names. Most of them are introduced around page 50, so I recommend making a little cheat sheet to help get them straight in your head.

[Jennifer Mugrage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this three stars because it was well-written and kept me turning the pages. However, I ended up liking it even less than the first two books in The Man Who series.

It started out promising. Unlike the first two, which are gritty crime thrillers, this one is closer to a Golden Age detective story. It's sort of a parody on those, actually. Brew and Ginny are asked to come and do security for a "mystery camp" for rich people, which takes place at a remote snowbound lodge. All the typical tropes are there, even Brew leaning on the fireplace mantel to sum up (although in his case, he does it because he's recovering from being gut shot, really should still be in the hospital, and is so feverish he can't stand up straight).

Anyway. This book has a lot of hooking up in it. A lot of very sick adultery. The more I read through it, the more the feeling grew on me that Donaldson doesn't really understand how women think. Women don't go around saying, "I don't have bre@sts like so-and-so's." They just don't.

Two of the women at this mystery camp act like nymphomaniacs. A third stays in a very degrading relationship with a sugar daddy because she doesn't believe she has any other marketable skills. Of the female characters who are admirable, one is super kind and has amazing bright eyes and amazing bre@sts. One is schoolmarmish but smart, and the third - Ginny - is, again, the kind of "strong female character" who basically acts exactly like an unusually grumpy male action hero. And then we have the female character who is a religious fanatic.

The men, except the man who is married to Bright Eyes, mostly all appear to be sexist. The exception is Brew. He loves and respects Ginny. But his way of showing it is to basically follow her around, hang on her every word, and obey all her orders: in other words, a simple role reversal of the way a sexist would see male-female relationships. Ginny is smart and tough, and she takes care of Brew, but she does it in sort of a distant, resentful way. She does not appear to have a nurturing bone in her body. He appears to admire her for her hot bod and for her masculine personality traits.

By the time I got to the end, I was wondering whether I'd missed something in the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I read them when I was very young and really didn't have much idea yet of what it was like to be a woman. I now wonder whether those books, too, have such a myopic view of their female characters.

Anyway, I won't be reading any more Man Who books.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me a long time to get into this one, nearly two thirds of the novel, before I found it to get somewhat interesting. Not knowing the main characters didn't help I suppose, so all the bickering back and forth and the whining about what a sad life he has by Brew was a real downer. The bit players were not that interesting either, and I don't feel Donaldson gave the reader enough clues or information to make an educated guess as to the identity of the culpable party. Or more likely, I just really didn't care. I would have been good skipping this one.

[Matthew Tuxford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in this series was just ok, IMHO. The second book was better - I liked it. This third book steps up once again. Although I figured out early on "whodunit" there were enough twists, turns and surprises for that not to matter. I'm now looking forward to reading the final book in the series.

[Joe Kessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1990, author Reed Stephens published this final book in an odd little mystery trilogy that seemed to care more about putting its detective characters through suffering and atonement than having them actually solve crimes. A decade later, Stephens was revealed as the pseudonym for Stephen R. Donaldson, a writer best known for his equally torturous Thomas Covenant fantasy series. He then released a fourth The Man Who volume under his own name, followed by the updating and rerelease of the original three.

Readers don't necessarily need to know that background information to enjoy this story, just like they don't need to have read the earlier books, but I think it helps to approach the narrative with an understanding of Donaldson's recurring preoccupations and the knowledge that this isn't Axbrewder's last case. The setting may seem grounded, but it's still a heightened reality with the texture of purgatory, wherein characters champion different ethical codes at one another and victory is measured as any tiny movement towards redemption. Replacing the language of epic fantasy with that of hardboiled pulp can only shift the authorial voice so much.

The latest plot finds our investigator protagonists appropriately trapped at a snowy lodge, trying to recover from their previous misadventure and singularly unprepared for the new mystery that eventually falls into their lives. (I won't spoil the exact premise, since it takes so long to arrive, but there's a definite Agatha Christie flair to the proceedings.) The atmosphere is claustrophobic to the point of occasional frustration, with a small cast repeating the same patterns over and over again. And the deductions are not particularly impressive, which somewhat weakens the mood.

Yet the novel improves as it goes along, and it eventually earns that hint of grace that illumines Donaldson's best works. This really isn't one of them, but at least it feels like it's trying to be.

[Content warning for racial slurs and ableism.]

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[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a Stephen R. Donaldson fan, and this is the fourth series of his work that I've read. I first read them years ago, and I had fond memories of them...enough so, that I decided to re-read them. These books don't do well on the second read. Maybe no mystery stories do, but I found the writing almost painful this time.

In this genre, the mystery is often either so inscrutable that it becomes irrelevant, or it is so obvious that the reader has to wait whole chapters for the "detectives" to catch up. This book is much more of the former.

The detectives form a theory, commit themselves wholly to it's correctness, have it disproved with the very next clue, then commit themselves wholly to another perfectly rational theory, rinse, repeat. It's very confusing for the reader, because each new theory could very well fit the situation. When the theory falls apart, it seems kind of random. I wanted to believe that these detectives are good at their job, and that the theories they spin make sense. When they turn out to be nonsense, we wonder why the professionals didn't see through it.

Donaldson has these hard-nosed characters make that most annoying and unrealistic of mistakes associated most closely with the climax of a Scooby-Doo mystery: they confront and accuse the villain without drawing their guns first. They spend minutes explaining every detail of how they know he's guilty, then are taken by surprise when he pulls a gun on them. They allowed that to happen in the second book of this theory, that's why it's falls into the category of irritatingly unrealistic writing that they let it happen to them again in this book...two more times!

I remain a Donaldson fan, but these book made me realize that his real talent is in writing characters. I didn't like this book, but these characters are memorable, even iconic. Mysteries are apparently not a great area for him to apply his talent.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brew Axbrewder is a recovering alcoholic who lets no one call him by his given name of "Mick" since he accidentally shot and killed his brother in a drunken desire to stop a petty crime. "Recovering" may be too strong a word since Brew seems to be going nowhere but downhill in this third installment of Donaldson's "The Man Who" set of a hard-broiled, modern-day P.i. series. He and his one-handed boss, Ms. Ginny Fistouri, have agreed to take a low-key job babysitting a murder mystery camp just one week after Brew has been shot in order to escape the certainty of the local crime lord finishing what a bullet in the gut started. But once at the remote location of the hunting lodge setting of what was promised to be an easy pay day quickly turns from the fantasy of solving a make-believe murder into trying to escape being the next victim of a real-life killer. The best of the series thus far with more focus on developing great characters then a plausible "who-done-it" scenario. Looking forward to the final installment in order to find out Brew fares at the end and if he will ever be able to forgive himself for all his flaws and his fatal mistake.

[Tufty McTavish · Rating 2 out of 5]

I somewhat struggled with this title in the series as the murder-mystery-event setting simply did not appeal, nor did many of the characters. In fact I decided very early on 'whodunnit', though while I was correct on that score one of my other early assumptions proved incorrect. Certain other events turned out to be as anticipated though I didn't get the correct outcome.

I did however like that the book followed on from #2. And it seems clear that #4 will pick up the tale in one big story split into four parts. So now at least I'm motivated to find out what happens next.

End result: "it was ok."

[b · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of my favorites quotes:

But there’s something about sitting at someone else’s desk that makes you feel like looking in the drawers. I resisted the impulse briefly. Then I decided what the hell. I was a private investigator. Poking my nose in where it didn’t belong came with the territory.

[Vontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the 2004 edition. Quite enjoyed the book, a classic "locked door" sort of mystery, although taking place at a "Mystery Weekend" at a mountain resort in the winter, and will look for others by same author. It has been a while since I have read any of his.

[Rob Hermanowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this third book of Donaldson's four book mystery series. It sets up the last book nicely, and I am looking forward to reading it soon.

[David Blaylock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this the most in the series.

[Don Simpson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a classic, but the detectives missed the obvious, and there were too many coincidences. Also, Axbrewder's self-pity has grown wearisome.

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each book just gets better. Now I'm really looking forward to the 2001 novel.

[Garry Le Maistre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great whodunnit from Reed Stephens, a.k.a. Stephen Donaldson.