When we last saw Sam McCain he had been drafted to fight the war in Vietnam. But Sam s military career ended in boot camp when he was accidentally shot in the head and forced to spend three months in a military hospital to recover. Sam returns to his hometown of Black River Falls, where he works as a lawyer (and part-time investigator) for the court of the snobbish but amusing Judge Esme Ann Whitney. Two of Sam s oldest friends are caught up in this same battle. Veteran Steve Donovan brutally belittles and finally savagely beats his old friend veteran Will Cullen when Cullen announces he s joined the anti-war group. When Cullen is found murdered, the obvious suspect is Steve Donovan, but Sam has serious doubts about the man s guilt. At least three people had reasons to murder Cullen, and Sam begins to suspect he ll discover even more as his investigation heats up, in this dynamic new politically charged mystery novel by a veteran of the form."
Librarian note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Edward Joseph Gorman Jr. was a prolific American author and anthologist, widely recognized for his contributions to crime, mystery, western, and horror fiction. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gorman spent much of his life in the Midwest, drawing on that experience to set many of his novels in small towns. After working over two decades in advertising, political speechwriting, and industrial filmmaking, he published his first novel, Rough Cut, in 1984 and soon transitioned to full-time writing. His fiction is often praised for its emotional depth, suspenseful storytelling, and nuanced characters. Gorman wrote under the pseudonyms Daniel Ransom and Robert David Chase, and contributed to publications such as Mystery Scene, Cemetery Dance, and Black Lizard. He co-founded Mystery Scene magazine and served as its editor and publisher until 2002, continuing his “Gormania” column thereafter. His works have been adapted for film and graphic novels, including The Poker Club and Cage of Night. In comics, he wrote for DC and Dark Horse. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2002, he continued writing despite his illness until his passing in 2016. Critics lauded him as one of the most original crime writers of his generation and a “poet of dark suspense.”
Another good entry into The Back Rivers Fall series. This is a quick read with a good mystery. This is not as humorous as earlier entries, but then the Vietnam War and its' aftermath was not very funny. He ages his characters gently, and for the most part, they have progressed satisfactorily. Recommended.
Ed Gorman's last Sam McCain mystery feels like a good ending point for the series (Gorman died a couple of years after this book was published but he said at the time he thought it would be the conclusion). Sam's family no longer lives in Black River Falls, Iowa. Many of the comic elements of the earlier entries are gone: Judge Esme Whitney is mentioned but does not make an appearance, Jamie is now a good secretary for Sam and Kenny Thibodeau has settled down to write columns in the local newspaper. Sam is finally together with Mary, the girl who long pined for him. Sam has survived the turbulence of the 1960s (just barely; he was injured in boot camp a few years before) and has found peace. This serves him well as he takes on the case of an antiwar Vietnam vet accused of killing a pro-war veteran who has just announced his candidacy for Congress. A satisfying conclusion to an excellent historical mystery series.
The year is 1971, and emotions about the Vietnam War are high in the town of Black River Falls, as they are in the rest of the country. Lawyer and part-time investigator Sam McCain is suffering the aftermath of having enlisted to serve his country only to be seriously injured during boot camp in a car accident that still affects him both mentally and physically. His friend Will Cullen has serious emotional problems as a result of accidentally killing a young Vietnamese girl during an assignment in Nam. When Will announces that he has joined Vietnam Vets Against the War, fellow vet Steve Donovan attacks him and savagely beats him, so when Donovan’s body is found, Cullen is the leading suspect. Sam is sure that Will did not murder Steve and vows, not only to defend him in court, but to find the real killer. The more Sam learns about Donovan’s business and personal relationships, the more he is convinced that Will is not the killer, but the town’s new police chief points to the evidence, and Sam has to admit that the evidence makes Will look guilty. Sam is also struggling with a personal problem. Still suffering from emotional problems as a result of his accident, he has told his girlfriend Mary he wants to take a break from their relationship, but he misses her and knows he has to decide whether to make the break permanent or move to make their bond stronger. The book opens with a short recounting of recent experiences by Sam, who also narrates the rest of the book, and its poignancy told me this was not just a book about a murder but a book about people. Given the era in which it is set and the nature of the crime, this could have been a very bleak book, but the genuineness of the characters and the atmosphere of the small town that Gorman has created gave it a warmth that kept me from feeling there was a pall on everyone involved. Sam has flaws, and he certainly had serious consequences from his injuries, but Sam and the other residents of Black River Falls seem like people we might know, with redeeming qualities as well as weaknesses. There are nicely-done details of Sam’s interactions with Mary and her daughters and his experience enjoying the feel of his cat Tasha rubbing her cool nose against his arm as he awakens in the morning. Having lived through the 70s, I can say that the setting is authentic, full of references that bring back vivid memories. Yes, a McDonald’s WAS a novelty in many small towns of the era! I only spotted two minor anachronisms (I do not believe in spoilers; see if you can find them yourself.). After a major red herring, the denouement of the crime was a surprise but plausible. Sam’s personal denouement was less surprising but positive. Despite the turmoil, the 70s was an optimistic era, and so is Riders on the Storm. I wish Sam the best and hope to hear from him again. NOTE: This is the tenth book in the Sam McCain series, but since I did not even realize it was part of a series until after I finished it you clearly can enjoy it without having the background from the other books.
Ed Gorman’s new Sam McCain mystery is set in 1971 and reflects some of the civil turbulence of those Vietnam years as they wash over a small Iowa town. A hawkish Senator is trying to ride a waning tide of patriotic enthusiasm to keep himself in office. But his handpicked candidate for a Congressional seat gets murdered after an altercation with a fellow veteran who has made public his opposition to the war.
That John Kerry-sympathizing vet is quickly suspected of the crime by the new sheriff, and the man’s best friend, McCain, has an uphill battle finding evidence of his innocence. Gorman remembers the early 70s well (Janis Joplin is heard on the radio at one point singing “Me and Bobby McGee”). The novel is aptly named for the mournful Doors song, “Riders On the Storm,” which recalls the darkly violent and divided mood of a time marked by the growing national ambivalence about Vietnam. He is also a sharp observer of small-town politics and social distinctions.
The portrayal of women in the novel does much to fix its particular point in social history. Whether wives, lovers, or others, they are mostly untouched by the feminist creeds that came to dominate public discourse about gender roles in the years that followed. Gorman shows them as attractive and sexy, reliant on the men in their lives, homemakers and loving mothers of small children.
Two, however, emerge as professional women, one of them McCain’s own girl Friday, bracingly independent and unapologetically resourceful. Another seems able to blend marriage and career, though we don’t learn quite everything a candid review would reveal about her until well after she gets involved in McCain’s attempts to rescue his falsely accused friend.
While Gorman does not necessarily endorse it, there is much of the 1970s indulgence in extramarital sex, booze, and other pastimes that had a generation smugly confident in themselves because they were under 30. But you can feel the earth shifting under McCain’s feet as the 1960s recede into the hazy distance behind him.
This is an enjoyable novel that has as much fun capturing the time and place of its setting as puzzling over the clues pointing to the solution of the mystery it poses. Whether westerns or crime fiction, you know you’re in good hands with Ed Gorman. I recommend this one.
Ed Gorman just pumps these mysteries out at a great pace, and they are always good. I read this one in just a few hours, and enjoyed every bit. And it kept me guessing right to the end. Reading his books is like having a good friend tell a long story. Anybody who enjoys mysteries should check out Ed Gorman. We all need good, quick read stuff between the doorstoppers - and this was definitely a great choice. By the way - I did receive this book for free in return for an honest review.
While the book was written in 2014, the historical context is 1971 in Black River Falls, a small town in Iowa. The Vietnam war is still very active and several men from the town have been killed in the war and several others came back missing body parts and part of their mental stability. The main character is Sam McCain, who was drafted, but a severe auto accident in boot camp kept him from participating in combat. He now works as a lawyer and part-time private investigator and tries to keep his life in order. Some of his boyhood friends are among those disabled from the war and the main character in that group is a man named Will Cullen that is still haunted by his memory of gunning down an innocent Vietnamese girl. When Cullen joins a veteran’s group against the war, one of the veterans that is very pro-war severely beats him. When that antagonist is then found beaten to death, Cullen is the logical suspect. Convinced of Cullen’s innocence, Sam begins his own private investigation. The story is complicated as it includes many of the social stress of the last years of the Vietnam War and the difficult consequences to the men that fought and lost some of their health as well as their wives and other family members that now have to live with and adjust to the mental and physical problems that their men came back with. There is also a senator running for re-election that is rabidly pro-war that encapsulates the unrelenting political pressure of the political hawks. The Senator also does not hesitate to use disabled veterans in his campaign. It is this social context that makes the story so interesting, although the reader should have some knowledge of the history of the rough aspects of the war debate in the United States in the early seventies. Other than that, the story is a fairly standard murder mystery with some logical suspects, adulterous and criminal behavior and men and women moving from lover to lover. A microcosm of the social upheaval of the early seventies in the United States.
Nonii, selgub, et Sam sattus Vietnami asemel hoopis hospitali ja Wendy jättis ta enne tervenemist maha. 1971. aasta seisuga on Black River Fallsi rajatud esimene Mehhiko restoran, šerif Sykes on erru läinud ja Kenny Thibodeaust saanud kohaliku ajalehe kolumnist.
Sam asub lahendama järjekordset mõrvajuhtumit, mis seekord oleks nagu seotud sõjaveteranidega. Haiglas tekkinud ravimisõltuvus läheb nagu imeväel üle, aga selgub, et koolipõlves oli peategelasel siiski üks (just nimelt, üks) patt ja nimelt kanepi katsetamine. Ma aimasin seda ette – vt 4. jao kommentaari.
Loo keskel lööb Sam mesti legendaarse eradetektiivi Gordon Niveniga, kes peagi rivist välja langeb. Niveni kogutud info võimaldabki juhtumi lahendada. Sam otsustab oma koolipõlve armsama naiseks võtta ja turvafirma asutada, aga siis selgub, et midagi on tal siiski kahe silma vahele jäänud... ja ta satub järjekordselt haiglasse. No minu arvates oleks võinud samas võtmes veel edasi lasta.
Kokkuvõtteks tuleb öelda, et kogu Sam McCaini sari oli omaette elamus. Esimesed kaks jagu olid väga head, siis tekkis mingi kriis, aga alates 6. jaost hakkas lugu jälle looma. Algul oli peategelane päris pehmo, aga enne finišit ilmusid talle mõned macho-mehe tunnused. Samas, ilma poliitika ja seksita oleks kogu sari veel parem olnud.
Kas mina suudaksin ka midagi samaväärset kirjutada – milles küsimus!? Piisas korraks silmad kinni panna ja nägingi korraliku riiulitäit krimkasid õigusteaduskonna sotsiaalselt kohmakast lõpetajast, kes asub sajandivahetuse pealinnas võitlema kuritegevuse ja korruptsiooniga, taustaks keskerakonna ja reformarite eepiline vastasseis... Pealkirjad võtaksin muidugi tolle perioodi eurolauludest.
Siis tegin silmad uuesti lahti ja otsustasin, et aeg pole nii oluliseks ettevõtmiseks küps ja lugejad ei ole sellist katsumust ära teeninud.
It’s 1971, and Sam McCain is in his mid thirties (34 or 35) and coming to terms with his life, his love-life, and all the changes happening to his beloved little town. It’s not so little anymore, and progress seems to be wiping its charm away. Wendy is in the past, along with his other relationships. McCain really gets a beating several times in this book. The ending is similar to the previous books; we’re left hanging about his future, or some of it.
It's 1971 and a lot has changed for Sam McCain. A boot camp accident, shot in the head and a three month recovery, ended his brief military career. The new police chief, Foster, was more competent than McCain's long time nemesis, Cliffie, who'd been forced into retirement. And our hero is finally in a stable relationship with a fine woman.
And he's in the middle of a murder investigation.
Will Cullen was an old friend of McCain's who's life was in shambles. In a firefight in Vietnam, he'd accidentally killed a little girl, act that unhinged him. Back home, he'd joined an anti-war group of Vietnam vets, another friend, gung-ho Steve Donovan, a man entering politics, had brutally attacked Will in front of a crowd. When he turned up dead the next day and Will was found with the murder weapon, naturally he was arrested.
McCain is sure his friend is innocent. All he has to do is prove it.
What I've always liked about Ed Gorman's writing is the clean style and the attention to detail. I was a young man living in the same type of small town during the time period. He's got it right and puts the reader squarely into a real world.
3.5 Black River Falls, Iowa, where Sam McCain grew up and now works as a lawyer and private investigator. The Viet Nam War has reached out to touch not only McCain but the little town itself. When his friend Will returns from the war a markedly different man, he joins a group of anti war veterans, which pits him against the patriotic majority. A murder will find Will accused and Sam trying his best to clear him.
There is something special about reading a series from the beginning, one can see how the characters grow and change, the town as well. One begins to view them as old friends. Will has matured from the days of pining over the girl he couldn't have and now seems prepared to marry the girl who was already there. A good series, usually plenty of humor, though not so much in this one and I love that the series is based on song titles that fit the plot. I am so hoping this series continues as I'd like to keep in touch with the characters in Black River Falls.
With the passing of Ed Gorman, this is definitely the end of the Sam McCain saga, and it's been a good ride. The series started out in the '50s with The Day the Music Died. I was hooked from book one! I enjoy reading books set in that time period. The series went through the '60s and ends with this one set in 1971. Sam has returned home after a terrible accident in boot camp. Black River Falls is a very different place in the Vietnam War era. In this one, a friend of Sam's is accused of killing a man who previously gave him a severe beat down and has also announced a run for Congress. Sam is out to clear his friend's name. The friend is a Vietnam vet who suffers from PTSD and it turns out he has a few secrets, too. A good end to the series, with some good changes happening in Sam's own personal life. A terribly under-rated series that I highly recommend.
E.G. Has switched from the police side of writing to the attorney side. A young man enlist in the US Army as the Viet Man war is really starting to cook. He, by accident, was shot in the head, during quake in the firing range. The shooting was not intended. He was working the pits when he by a ricochet. The end of an Army career. He leaves the service on full disability and attends law school. He graduates. His first case seems to be a murder suicide. He thinks someone had gotten away with a double murder. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DzeHS
Another interesting, if not the last, Sam McCain, novel. Again Gorman has written an anti-Vietman or anti-war novel. It is probably his fourth in the McCain series. Gorman's McCain and the book is not as humorous as his earlier ones (the same is true for Bad Moon Rising). Perhaps his continuing illness has made him more serious and less humorous.
I was a huge fan of this series when it started. It was set in 1959, and the other novels moved thru the early 1960's... But now the series is set in 1971, and I am not enjoying it as much as I did at the start.
Always a good story even if the author let his political stereotypes become obsessive in the story. Will probably be the last in this series since the author has cancer.