( 5 reviews )
-
Posted: Sep 7 2005
I liked all of Dans books upto this point. To many characters to follow and Cisco should put his retirement papers in.
-
( 2 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Oct 9 2002
The idea that a guy, upon merely SEEING a girl, would fly back and forth between Hong Kong and New York just to see her; learn Chinese just to talk to her; all before actually meeting her is ridiculous. Mahoney may try to pass it off as romantic and "meant to be" but c'mon, let's get real. On a cop's salary no less? Does he know how much roundtrip tickets to Asia cost? Right away the girl gets killed, and the cop immediately starts referring to her as his fiance. I mean the lovely couple hadn't even discussed it at that point, okay?Furthermore, I find the idea that a cop could find a Chinese airline attendant so enthralling he is going to go through all the things I mentioned above a little racist and insulting.Never finished the book
-
( 12 of 13 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 7 2002
Up to this point, I've enjoyed Dan Mahoney's books. They're well paced and always entertaining, with a wealth of insider police knowledge, and interesting, if not always entirely believable, characters. This time out, however, there are some serious flaws. Mr. Mahoney takes the time to credit a woman in Toronto for helping with details about the city. Unfortunately, the author should have taken the time to recheck those details because there are some glaring errors. The worst of those is the reference (a number of times) to grand jury hearings. The Canadian judicial system doesn't have grand jury hearings; that's a uniquely American institution. As well, references are made a number of times to a mythical entity called Court House. No such place. There are law courts downtown in various locations, but Court House doesn't exist.These factual errors aside, the hero, Cisco Sanchez is, unfortunately, barely believable. He's driven to action against the triads because of the murder of Sue Hsu, the woman he plans to marry. Yet, within pages, she seems to be of the distant past. There is very little reference to the depth of his loss or his feelings about it and in no time at all he's been persuaded to begin dating a former lover.The book has Mahoney's signature speed-of-light narrative, with lots of action, lots of locations, lots of characters, but Cisco is not an entirely sympathetic character (although a likeable one) because of the absence of any depth of emotion. He's all ego and, as the character himself says, (but not meaning it), "You might even say I'm shallow." Well, sadly, yes. He is.Read Mahoney's earlier books to see what this author can do when he really pulls out all the stops.
