What do you think?
The Great Hotel Robbery
Book by Minahan, John
Paperback
First published May 23, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
January 4, 2011
I cannot recommend this book to many people, based entirely on the amount of profanity contained within.
That said, I enjoyed this book. (It's another of the books I liberated from the library's discard shelf.) It had a very unfamiliar feel, somewhat reminiscent of a caper movie like "Usual Suspects" or "Ocean's 11", told as the caper unfolds with every twist and turn revealed linearly (or somewhat so), except that in this case, the caper is the solving of the crime rather than the execution of it, and the protagonists are the police rather than the clever criminals or even renegade private detectives.
John Rawlings, the narrator, is a police detective of no particular superpowers, having a stable and enviable family life (described in brief detail early on and never referenced again) and a fulfilling career and work environment among other hard-working detectives with the respect of his superiors. Sound unfamiliar? I thought so.
The story does not contain much serious conflict. I don't know if that's due to the time in which it was written (and I didn't get a lot of the pop-culture references) or if that's actually as unusual as it seemed. Even so, the plot remained interesting as the police put leads and intuition together, caught lucky breaks, and solved the case.
The characters were entertaining and sympathetic; the entertainment value was vastly increased by Chief of Detectives Vadney, with his long, rambling monologues about the state of crime in New York City; what the future might hold; and his intense and absurd nightmare images of dope-smoking, transistor-radio-wielding hoodlums spray-painting everything in sight. His interactions with Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes" are so uncomfortable and hilarious, they can hardly be endured, and I mean that in a good way. Unfortunately, it is Vadney's speeches that contain the worst of the foul language.
I wasn't entirely comfortable with the end of the book; it felt unfinished and abrupt, as I was sure there must be another twist coming. ("Twist"? Not quite. More like "event".) However, the author biography promises me a second volume entitled "The Great Daimond Robbery" (sic), so maybe I'll read that someday to see if my intuition is rewarded or completely off the mark. (OK, so the jacket flap bio does spell "diamond" correctly.)
It just depends on whether I feel like I can take more obscenity-laced, delusional Vadney diatribe. I've eaten enough too-sweet decadent word-fudge this week. (And yeah, I'm going to send this book to my mom.)
That said, I enjoyed this book. (It's another of the books I liberated from the library's discard shelf.) It had a very unfamiliar feel, somewhat reminiscent of a caper movie like "Usual Suspects" or "Ocean's 11", told as the caper unfolds with every twist and turn revealed linearly (or somewhat so), except that in this case, the caper is the solving of the crime rather than the execution of it, and the protagonists are the police rather than the clever criminals or even renegade private detectives.
John Rawlings, the narrator, is a police detective of no particular superpowers, having a stable and enviable family life (described in brief detail early on and never referenced again) and a fulfilling career and work environment among other hard-working detectives with the respect of his superiors. Sound unfamiliar? I thought so.
The story does not contain much serious conflict. I don't know if that's due to the time in which it was written (and I didn't get a lot of the pop-culture references) or if that's actually as unusual as it seemed. Even so, the plot remained interesting as the police put leads and intuition together, caught lucky breaks, and solved the case.
The characters were entertaining and sympathetic; the entertainment value was vastly increased by Chief of Detectives Vadney, with his long, rambling monologues about the state of crime in New York City; what the future might hold; and his intense and absurd nightmare images of dope-smoking, transistor-radio-wielding hoodlums spray-painting everything in sight. His interactions with Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes" are so uncomfortable and hilarious, they can hardly be endured, and I mean that in a good way. Unfortunately, it is Vadney's speeches that contain the worst of the foul language.
I wasn't entirely comfortable with the end of the book; it felt unfinished and abrupt, as I was sure there must be another twist coming. ("Twist"? Not quite. More like "event".) However, the author biography promises me a second volume entitled "The Great Daimond Robbery" (sic), so maybe I'll read that someday to see if my intuition is rewarded or completely off the mark. (OK, so the jacket flap bio does spell "diamond" correctly.)
It just depends on whether I feel like I can take more obscenity-laced, delusional Vadney diatribe. I've eaten enough too-sweet decadent word-fudge this week. (And yeah, I'm going to send this book to my mom.)
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review