Great California Game

Lovejoy #14

by Jonathan Gash

1st Arrow 1991 TV edition paperback vg+ In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

216 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1991

About the author

John Grant is an English crime writer, who writes under the pen name Jonathan Gash. He is the author of the Lovejoy series of novels. He wrote the novel The Incomer under the pen name Graham Gaunt.

Grant is a doctor by training and worked as a general practitioner and pathologist. He served in the British Army and attained the rank of Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was head of bacteriology at the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for the University of London between 1971 and 1988.

Grant won the John Creasey Award in 1977 for his first Lovejoy novel, The Judas Pair. He is also the author of a series of medical thrillers featuring the character Dr. Clare Burtonall.

Grant lives outside Colchester in Essex, the setting for many of his novels. He has also been published in Postscripts.

Reviews

[Jeff Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly the most baffling of all the Lovejoy books I have read and for most of 'The Great California Game' I was really sure what the scam was. Following on from previous novels Lovejoy is in self imposed exile New York working as bartender. By chance his powers of a 'divvy' leads him on the trail of the biggest card game in America taking place in California. Lovejoy puts together a gang to raise the stake but this was where I found the plot baffling. Lovejoy and crew ventures from city to city before going their separate ways to meet up later. Jonathan Gash never ceases to be anything less than entertaining but this book I couldn't get a handle on.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Followed a weighty non-fiction with a bit of everyone's favorite antique dealer, Lovejoy. Written with the signature insouciance of Lovejoy's first person narrative, this just wasn't my favorite. The plot was too snarled up and it just seemed too contrived. Where was Lovejoy's passport in all of this? Why did they kill off the people they killed off? Why were good people collateral damage? This was far too rough for a Lovejoy romp, and quite frankly, I didn't learn anything about antiques! Not fair! The ending was unsatisfying, the plot unrealistic, but it was Lovejoy...

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far too many characters and way too far fetched. Shame, I have enjoyed the other books thus far

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 2 out of 5]

David Dandy and Sonia Kreidenweis, my landlords from my last semester, turned me onto the Lovejoy series on A&E. Lovejoy, a rogue antiques dealer with a circle of friends who combine to help and hinder, is the type of character I’d like to create–witty and crass, full of interesting quirks, yet also a sense of morality. Now that I’m once again sans A&E, I turned to the novels of Jonathan Gash that provided the basis for the TV show.

While the dichotomy between TV and book isn’t quite as drastic as one like Spenser: For Hire, there is a marked difference. For one, the book Lovejoy is much more a loner than his television counterpart. He’s also much more chauvinistic, smart-alecky, and incredibly stupid, at least in things other than antiques. And, although the TV Lovejoy tries to match the first-person narrative of the books with his humorous asides to the camera, it just doesn’t come close to the endless personal nature of the on-running dialogue between character and reader in the book. Which is to say that both media have their pros and cons.

In this novel, Lovejoy finally visits America, and quickly gets involved in a very large scam–one that decides the crime takings for the whole country. I like to think of it as if Damon Runyon had been born British, with the first-person narrative flowing serenely over the dangerous mob happenings below.

Oh, I almost forgot my favorite line in the book. Lovejoy, trying to extradite himself from one of the situations is telling the reader his plan, with the ending, “Then exit, pursued by bear.” Funny? Not alone, perhaps, but in context, this stage description from Shakespeare, incongruously applied, tickled me in the right places. I liked this book enough to pick up another, and I suspect that I’ll probably end up reading them all if they can match the fun of this one.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1986059.html[return][return]takes place immediately after Jade Woman, which I read earlier this month. Lovejoy has escaped Hong Kong and arrives penniless in New York, where he soon gets sucked into a group of sinister plutocrats involved with raising questionable money as their stake in the Great California Game. The first half of the book, in which Lovejoy tries to grasp the reality of New York and also gets entangled in the conspiracy, is very well portrayed - both the richness of the setting and our hero's confusion in adapting to it. The second half was less good; en route to California Lovejoy and his rapidly acquired assistants encounter various American regional stereotypes, while Lovejoy demonstrates a hitherto-unseen talent for actually making money from his (possibly supernatural) gift for telling real antiques from fakes, and there is then a rather hard-to-swallow twist at the end. And surprisingly it is almost halfway through the book before Lovejoy gets together with any of the various women who as usual throw themselves at him. So, a book of two halves really. (And I am beginning to wonder how many of the Lovejoy books are actually set in East Anglia, or even England? So far I've had France, the Isle of Man, Hong Kong and now the US.)

[Austen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off very well: Lovejoy the illegal immigrant in America, on the run from nearly everybody, broke as usual. With his usual luck, gets involved with the most unique characters and rich-enough-to-own-the-world lowlifes who want to use him for their own ends. The run through New York and the rest of the country is a great read. However, as Lovejoy gets to LA and the end of the game, the difference between the factions and the Game itself becomes confusing, and at times because of that, unenjoyable.

[Lila · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you like Lovejoy, his peculiar morality and his love of antiques, it is enough that this is a Lovejoy. The poor soul is in America, far from his cozy English countryside and I got too anxious about him. Had to put the book aside for about 9 months. However, when I picked it up again, I just ignored the plot, which is too confusing with too many unreliable characters, and moved on. Lovejoy is still Lovejoy. Let's hope he gets back home.

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovejoy travels to America and then wanders around clueless for 3/4 of the book.
When he stops and pays attention he then slaps together a solution to the mystery and then goes back on the run.
Almost impossible to root for this guy. He has some amusing observations, but it's not enough to save these books.

[Michael Pryor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laboured, confusing, awkward.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of this book but I got a bit confused near the end.