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A Willows and Parker Mystery #6
Fall down easy
Greg is a coke addict, weapons freak, professional heartbreaker, master of disguise – and bank robber. But his latest hold-up goes there is a violent fight and a man is killed. Greg makes his escape with the victim’s briefcase, to find it full of not money, but computer print-outs.Willows and Parker are handed what rapidly becomes a hideously complex investigation. The dead man turns out to be a plainclothes Panamanian police officer, in Vancouver for unspecified reasons. It also proves impossible to build up any sort of profile of the chameleon-like killer…for what Willows and Parker can’t know is that the man they’re after is motivated by far more than a simple love of money.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
18 people want to read
About the author
Laurence Gough
33 books8 followersLaurence Gough, who lives with his wife and two children in Vancouver, has written twelve Willows and Parker mysteries: The Goldfish Bowl, winner of an Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel from the Crime Writers of Canada; Death on a No. 8 Hook; Hot Shots, winner of an Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year; Serious Crimes; Accidental Deaths; Fall Down Easy; Killers; Heartbreaker; Memory Lane; Karaoke Rap; Shutterbug; and Funny Money. His international thriller, Sandstorm, won the Author Award (fiction) from the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters in 1991.
Series:
* Willows & Parker
Series:
* Willows & Parker
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 12, 2016
Another crime thriller set in Vancouver focusing on the homicide cop team of Claire Parker and Jack Willows. Their relationship is professionally sound but has personal aspects like a married couple. This makes for a crime cracking duo with unresolved issues. Throughout the book there is a range of comic situations, funny banter and humour laced encounters.
As with the last novel in this series there is an equal balance between the detective investigation and the baddies; mainly in this story Greg.
Unusually we hear very little as to how the bank robber got to this part of his life. However, we quickly learn he is methodical, a meticulous planner, avoids patterns and a master of disguise. In terms of money stolen he is incompetent as he needs to return to crime but we guess he is addicted to the process especially as he involved himself with a pretty bank teller who he robs from but in other persona is dating her. He gets off in the chase, the post heist comfort and the break up. He is also addicted to alcohol, drugs and weapons and has a heathy respect for law enforcement sometimes bordering on the paranoia.
With a character like Greg how can the novel fail especially as the Parker and Willows are on form.
Greg's undoing is his latest bank hold-up where a bystander shoots him and while he wins out and escapes he takes his loot and a briefcase no-one wanted to give over to him.
Having used his own gun the stakes have changed, maybe he needs to review his criminal outlook, maybe the briefcase is the means to one last payout ?
A terrific read full of action, serious stuff and lighter moments. I loved the fear a machete brings, the boomerang cat and Willows correcting Parker's route planning. Above all is a very readable book and it is about time you caught up with this series.
As with the last novel in this series there is an equal balance between the detective investigation and the baddies; mainly in this story Greg.
Unusually we hear very little as to how the bank robber got to this part of his life. However, we quickly learn he is methodical, a meticulous planner, avoids patterns and a master of disguise. In terms of money stolen he is incompetent as he needs to return to crime but we guess he is addicted to the process especially as he involved himself with a pretty bank teller who he robs from but in other persona is dating her. He gets off in the chase, the post heist comfort and the break up. He is also addicted to alcohol, drugs and weapons and has a heathy respect for law enforcement sometimes bordering on the paranoia.
With a character like Greg how can the novel fail especially as the Parker and Willows are on form.
Greg's undoing is his latest bank hold-up where a bystander shoots him and while he wins out and escapes he takes his loot and a briefcase no-one wanted to give over to him.
Having used his own gun the stakes have changed, maybe he needs to review his criminal outlook, maybe the briefcase is the means to one last payout ?
A terrific read full of action, serious stuff and lighter moments. I loved the fear a machete brings, the boomerang cat and Willows correcting Parker's route planning. Above all is a very readable book and it is about time you caught up with this series.
June 4, 2016
I would like to thank Netgalley and Endeavour Press for a review copy of Fall Down Easy, the sixth of Mr Gough's police procedurals set in Vancouver to feature detectives Willows and Parker.
During a bank heist the robber shoots dead a customer who pulls a gun on him and steals his ID and briefcase. It takes a while for Willows and Parker to identify the victim and get to grips with the robber who is suspected in a string of robberies but, as he's a master of disguise and leaves no clues, finding him seems impossible. The robber, however, reads the contents of the briefcase and working out that the victim is laundering drug money decides he wants a cut and focuses on the bank manager to get him the money. Bad move.
The third person narrative is told from alternating viewpoints, that of the investigation and that of "Greg", the robber. Normally I'm not a big fan of the perpetrator's point of view but in Fall Down Easy it works well because Greg doesn't really have a personality beyond narcissism as he adapts it to suit his listener. He is a shadowy figure and I'm not even sure if Greg is his real name, highly unlikely. Mr Gough is on safer ground with Willows and Parker who are dedicated cops, eager to catch their man.
As the novel was originally printed in 1992 it is interesting to see how much technology has advanced in the past 25 years. It is strange to see the officers looking for pay phones and using them! No DNA, laptops, smartphones etc.. In some ways it makes for a better read as the detectives have to use shoe leather and nous rather than technology to get a result.
Fall Down Easy is a straightforward hunt the killer novel with a side of Greg's life spinning out of control and is an easy read. I was a wee bit disappointed that it wasn't all tied up neatly at the end but then real life never is and the novel is about the hunt, not the Monday morning quarterbacking that I like. If you want a plot driven novel which will hold your attention but not overtax the brain I recommend Fall Down Easy.
During a bank heist the robber shoots dead a customer who pulls a gun on him and steals his ID and briefcase. It takes a while for Willows and Parker to identify the victim and get to grips with the robber who is suspected in a string of robberies but, as he's a master of disguise and leaves no clues, finding him seems impossible. The robber, however, reads the contents of the briefcase and working out that the victim is laundering drug money decides he wants a cut and focuses on the bank manager to get him the money. Bad move.
The third person narrative is told from alternating viewpoints, that of the investigation and that of "Greg", the robber. Normally I'm not a big fan of the perpetrator's point of view but in Fall Down Easy it works well because Greg doesn't really have a personality beyond narcissism as he adapts it to suit his listener. He is a shadowy figure and I'm not even sure if Greg is his real name, highly unlikely. Mr Gough is on safer ground with Willows and Parker who are dedicated cops, eager to catch their man.
As the novel was originally printed in 1992 it is interesting to see how much technology has advanced in the past 25 years. It is strange to see the officers looking for pay phones and using them! No DNA, laptops, smartphones etc.. In some ways it makes for a better read as the detectives have to use shoe leather and nous rather than technology to get a result.
Fall Down Easy is a straightforward hunt the killer novel with a side of Greg's life spinning out of control and is an easy read. I was a wee bit disappointed that it wasn't all tied up neatly at the end but then real life never is and the novel is about the hunt, not the Monday morning quarterbacking that I like. If you want a plot driven novel which will hold your attention but not overtax the brain I recommend Fall Down Easy.
June 11, 2016
Winston Churchill is purported to have called Vancouver "the most beautiful city in the world." And with Douglas Coupland's "city of glass" occupying a setting punctuated by mountains, water, and forests, Vancouver would certainly be a prime candidate to win that category.
Laurence Gough's series of twelve Willows & Parker mysteries strive to portray a grittier underside to the beauty. Detectives on the Vancouver police force, Jack Willows and Claire Parker deal with the seamier side of humanity, with their perception of the city more as simply a grid of streets than a modernistic Eden.
The problem with the mysteries is that they're not gritty enough. Fall Down Easy is a procedural, but it's a PG-rated procedural. At its center is a serial bank robber who exploits unsuspecting young female bank employees to forward his crimes, only to treat them badly in the end, but in the end, though a cad, he really turns out to be a rather mild-mannered fellow. Willows and Parker themselves belong to a detective squad who, while world-weary, don't speak a single four-letter word. (Is this evidence of the legendary Canadian niceness?)
The book sticks closely to being a pretty strict procedural. None of the characters, particularly Willows and Parker themselves, carries much depth as characters. That was fine with me. It was sufficient to watch the case progress progress and for me as reader to try to figure out exactly what was going on. I happen to have read some of the later Willows & Parker books (Fall Down Easy lands about midway in the series), where they become domestic and we see more of their home life, and those episodes did nothing to strengthen their stories. Fall Down Easy kept its focus on the business-at-hand.
Unfortunately, as it comes to its climax, the Gough has chosen to give it a Keystone Kops-like denouement. So much for gritty underside.
I originally took up reading the Willows & Parker books because of my own fondness for Vancouver. I thought it would be fun reading stories where I could revisit a setting I loved. But having read three or four of them them now, I have to ask myself, "Is the series good enough that I would continue reading it if were set, say, in Des Moines?" And I have to conclude that it isn't.
Laurence Gough's series of twelve Willows & Parker mysteries strive to portray a grittier underside to the beauty. Detectives on the Vancouver police force, Jack Willows and Claire Parker deal with the seamier side of humanity, with their perception of the city more as simply a grid of streets than a modernistic Eden.
The problem with the mysteries is that they're not gritty enough. Fall Down Easy is a procedural, but it's a PG-rated procedural. At its center is a serial bank robber who exploits unsuspecting young female bank employees to forward his crimes, only to treat them badly in the end, but in the end, though a cad, he really turns out to be a rather mild-mannered fellow. Willows and Parker themselves belong to a detective squad who, while world-weary, don't speak a single four-letter word. (Is this evidence of the legendary Canadian niceness?)
The book sticks closely to being a pretty strict procedural. None of the characters, particularly Willows and Parker themselves, carries much depth as characters. That was fine with me. It was sufficient to watch the case progress progress and for me as reader to try to figure out exactly what was going on. I happen to have read some of the later Willows & Parker books (Fall Down Easy lands about midway in the series), where they become domestic and we see more of their home life, and those episodes did nothing to strengthen their stories. Fall Down Easy kept its focus on the business-at-hand.
Unfortunately, as it comes to its climax, the Gough has chosen to give it a Keystone Kops-like denouement. So much for gritty underside.
I originally took up reading the Willows & Parker books because of my own fondness for Vancouver. I thought it would be fun reading stories where I could revisit a setting I loved. But having read three or four of them them now, I have to ask myself, "Is the series good enough that I would continue reading it if were set, say, in Des Moines?" And I have to conclude that it isn't.
May 28, 2016
Greg is a serial bank robber - for the kicks, and the money gives him a living - and master of disguise. Until his latest where he kills a customer and takes their briefcase.
Willow and Parker have very little information to solve the case.
An okay story.
A NetGalley Book
Willow and Parker have very little information to solve the case.
An okay story.
A NetGalley Book
July 17, 2009
See previous comments on Gough.
April 10, 2014
Great characters and and a feel for old (early 1990's) Vancouver.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews