“Two years ago Charles Westover
disgraced himself and his family when he was disbarred for bribery. Westover’s
daughter Serenity, disgusted with her once beloved father, ran away to a cult
founded by a mesmerizingly handsome young man, a self-appointed messiah going
by the grimly grandiose name of Azrael. The whereabouts of Serenity pass
unknown for years until the police raid Azrael’s compound and discover that the
cult leader lived up to his ghastly “Angel of Death” moniker. Thinking his
daughter has been murdered, Charles Westover claims her life insurance, and
then he too vanishes. Insurance companies don’t like to cut a check without a
body and especially don’t like cutting a check to someone who is also missing.
Hired as a private investigator for Banner Insurance, David Brandstetter
quickly finds himself in a complicated maze of lies and hidden histories. And
Dave suspects that, just like in the labyrinths of old, there will be a monster
at the end of it.”
What I like about this series (and this could cover all genres of fiction in the modern era) is that they are entertaining in their own way, but are also somewhat shorter and more tightly focused and plotted -which these days appeals to me more. Multivolume series, ones than can clock in at a thousand pages, hold no thrall over me; perhaps it’s just my age or are editors just allowing writers to go off tangents that don’t impact the main narrative?
This sort-of happened to Donald E. Westlake in his later years, especially with the Parker novels that went from slim, fast-paced thrillers to overlong tales. Part of the issue was the last eight novels in that series were released in hardcover. To justify the costs of the format versus the mass market versions (a system which had been around for generations, but publishers were not making a lot money on), those hard cover versions had to be longer and thus more subplots had to be added. So now stuff that was, or could’ve superfluous, is included in these novels just, it would seem, to add to the page count.
Much like Westlake –and his pseudonym of Richard Stark-
Hansen tells you a story full of good, bad, and indifferent people and then
bows out. It’s a no frills tale, but it can be a punch to the gut. Hansen’s Los
Angeles is atmospheric, dark, dirty, and creepy. This tale is changes the
formulaic aspect of the five previous tales, but Dave remains more
dedicated to his job than any normal insurance investigator would ever be –the car
chase through the hills is an example. Also, with this book, we get bit more time
with Dave's personal life than there has been in previous books, which might be
a plus or a minus depending on your issues with gay relationships (and the fact
that Cecil Harris –back from a few books ago, and now twenty-one- has started a
relationship with the much older Dave).
The book just
sort of ends, and leaves us with cliffhanger. But I don’t think it’s out of
character for this type of genre –there were some Parker titles that just ended
with no epilogue or coda.
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