Daydreams

by Mitchell Smith

After a high-class call girl who kept a list of her clients is murdered, the N.Y.P.D. brass assign the case to two misfit detectives in the hope that the case will remain unsolved

Genres: Crime

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1987

About the author

Mitchell Smith is an American author writing crime fiction and science fiction.

Also known as Roy LeBeau.

Reviews

[Bene Vogt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure if it's good or bad luck to have first read Mitchell's pretty amazing STONE CITY before all the others. I'd probably never have read anything by the guy, seeing as everything by him seems to be out of print and he's not the easiest author to love.
Anyway, DAYDREAMS, the book this review is about, is truly a spectacular mess. There's about 30 characters that not only are not actually relevant to the plot but also get two to three separate names each (why just keep calling a character just by the first or surname when you also can get the conversations more lively/confusing with using their ranks?), the actual plot is all over the place, there's Mitchell's usual tendency to put some "probably meant to gross-out readers" stuff, and of course his ever-present overwrought prose.
BUT, the aforementioned prose also (as always) leads to some beauty, and damn if the guy isn't ridiculously good at psychograms, so even the (definitely) surplus characters are people you'd like to know more about, and after about 70 pages of "Who is this again" and just deciding to go with the flow, I definitely found myself enjoying this deeply, deeply flawed novel.

[Bryce A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply don’t agree with the criticism some people have leveled against this book.

I think the book is quite chilling and quite terrifying. Klein and Nardone are investigating a murder and are being batted back and forth like ping-pong balls by New York City’s top police officials and a US government assassination team.

Mitchell Smith is a master of action scenes. My favorite part of the book is the assassination of Nardone on the elevated platform. The writing is elegant.

[C. Baldwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book took way too much effort to get through. I picked it up a few years ago at a library dump off and finally sloshed through it.The delivery was off for me. I believe the author's voice was forties' era private eye, but it didn't seem to match the 80s crime scene in which it was written. I could be wrong, but that's my take on it.

[Kristy Trauzzi · Rating 1 out of 5]

K I hated this book. I never actually finished it. I just wanted to make sure if I ever found it again I wouldn't pick it up. I was like half done and had no idea what was going on. Everything seemed completely disjointed and irrelevant. Brutal. Apologies for anyone who liked it.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read for me. I like police stories and those involving suspense and mystery. Am sure that Mitchell Smith willb e getter as he writes more.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really, really tried to read this book. But I couldn't get past the first 50 pages. Thick, dense prose, and I gave that up when I graduated from college.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

slow to get into but worth it.

[Camille Alexa]

Awesome.

[Bonnie Lynn]

Tried but failed to get through this. Made it halfway but no can do. Found it confusing. The kkabillion characters, none of whom I cared for, didn't help this book along. Since I didn't finish it, I didn't rate it.