What do you think?
Rate this book
Revolver
Tout commence à Philadelphie le 7 mai 1965. La ville est secouée par des émeutes raciales. Dans un bar au coin d'une rue, l'officier Stan Walczak et son coéquipier George Wildey sont abattus à coups de revolver. Le double meurtre restera non résolu. En 1995, le fils de Stan, devenu inspecteur, enquête sur l'assassinat d'une journaliste, mais cherche toujours à savoir qui a tué son père. C'est Audrey, la petite-fille de Stan, étudiante en criminologie, qui conduira la famille à la vérité.
L'auteur de The Blonde signe un polar brillamment construit qui radiographie la ville de Philadelphie sur plusieurs générations.
L'auteur de The Blonde signe un polar brillamment construit qui radiographie la ville de Philadelphie sur plusieurs générations.
416 pages, Pocket Book
First published July 19, 2016
68 people are currently reading
2513 people want to read
About the author
Duane Swierczynski
525 books924 followersDuane Swierczynski is an American crime writer who has written a number of non-fiction books, novels and also writes for comic books.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
November 22, 2016
In 1965, I was being raised in the city of Chicago, a neighborhood much like the one depicted in this novel. A neighborhood of Polish, Irish and Italian decent, a neighborhood where cops in one generation were followed by those of the next. So much of the feeling, the atmosphere, the tone were so familiar to me that I couldn't help but be drawn into this story, a story of three generations of cops.
In this story and starting in 1965 a policeman named Stan and his partner Wiley, one white of Polish ancestor, one black whose father had also been a policeman are gunned down in a bar, the shooters never discovered nor punished. Though in 1985 when his son Jim, now also a policeman believes the shooter was known and is being released from prison. These events will reverberate through the family with disastrous results. A novel of family, race relations and secrets, within the family and without. A novel of sorrow and pain but at the end also hope as a new generation will attempt to resolve the unanswered questions of the old.
I really enjoyed this novel, it is well written, just gritty enough without being graphic and really showed what is was like to live in a city divided by race and ethnicity. Also the toll police work takes on family members and how many times the past comes back to haunt the future. Good stuff.
In this story and starting in 1965 a policeman named Stan and his partner Wiley, one white of Polish ancestor, one black whose father had also been a policeman are gunned down in a bar, the shooters never discovered nor punished. Though in 1985 when his son Jim, now also a policeman believes the shooter was known and is being released from prison. These events will reverberate through the family with disastrous results. A novel of family, race relations and secrets, within the family and without. A novel of sorrow and pain but at the end also hope as a new generation will attempt to resolve the unanswered questions of the old.
I really enjoyed this novel, it is well written, just gritty enough without being graphic and really showed what is was like to live in a city divided by race and ethnicity. Also the toll police work takes on family members and how many times the past comes back to haunt the future. Good stuff.
August 24, 2016
One crime. Three generations. And a whole lot of Bloody Marys.
In 1965, Philadelphia police officer Stan Walczak and his partner are shot to death in a bar. 30 years later Stan’s son Jim is a homicide detective who is torn between working the case of a high profile killing of a young woman vs. tracking down the man he believes killed his father who was recently released from prison on another charge. Cut to 2015 where Jim’s daughter Audrey is a forensic science student who wants to investigate the murder of her grandfather as a project for school and unwittingly begins asking questions that bring up a lot of dangerous secrets.
Duane Swierczynski is almost always a fun read, and this time out he’s adding a bit more depth. This is mainly a family drama with a crime story. The best parts of the book are where it explores the three main characters. In Stan’s story we find a man who sees himself as a working class guy who just wants to do his job and then go home to drink some beers and read the paper. He doesn’t want to be a hero or rock the boat, but that’s the role being thrust on him by his new partner, George Wildey. He’s also got more than a few hang-ups that this new partner is black. Jim wants to be the good detective and reliable family man that he seems to be, but he’s haunted by the death of his father and often finds himself in a bar rather than going home after work. Audrey is the family black sheep whose academic career is about to go down in flames, but she seems more concerned with finding her next Bloody Mary than anything else.
Swierczynski also does a top notch job of making his three Philadelphia time periods seem vivid and alive. Whether it’s explaining the history and look of a particular neighborhood, racial tensions, the background music, or the food being eaten it all feels like you’re walking the streets with the characters.
The one thing I was a shade let down by was the overall mystery part. There’s some fairly complicated secrets underlying the whole story, and that’s the part of the book that feels both a bit too elaborate but also short changed at the same time. None of the main characters really do all that much to advance the plot, and almost everything they learn is just told to them at various points by other characters with only their general poking around providing the impetus to that. By the end I’ve got a lot of questions remaining that aren’t addressed.
It’s a solid and entertaining read with a lot of things I very much enjoyed although it could have used a bit more investigation and explanation for my tastes. Call it 3.439 stars.
In 1965, Philadelphia police officer Stan Walczak and his partner are shot to death in a bar. 30 years later Stan’s son Jim is a homicide detective who is torn between working the case of a high profile killing of a young woman vs. tracking down the man he believes killed his father who was recently released from prison on another charge. Cut to 2015 where Jim’s daughter Audrey is a forensic science student who wants to investigate the murder of her grandfather as a project for school and unwittingly begins asking questions that bring up a lot of dangerous secrets.
Duane Swierczynski is almost always a fun read, and this time out he’s adding a bit more depth. This is mainly a family drama with a crime story. The best parts of the book are where it explores the three main characters. In Stan’s story we find a man who sees himself as a working class guy who just wants to do his job and then go home to drink some beers and read the paper. He doesn’t want to be a hero or rock the boat, but that’s the role being thrust on him by his new partner, George Wildey. He’s also got more than a few hang-ups that this new partner is black. Jim wants to be the good detective and reliable family man that he seems to be, but he’s haunted by the death of his father and often finds himself in a bar rather than going home after work. Audrey is the family black sheep whose academic career is about to go down in flames, but she seems more concerned with finding her next Bloody Mary than anything else.
Swierczynski also does a top notch job of making his three Philadelphia time periods seem vivid and alive. Whether it’s explaining the history and look of a particular neighborhood, racial tensions, the background music, or the food being eaten it all feels like you’re walking the streets with the characters.
The one thing I was a shade let down by was the overall mystery part. There’s some fairly complicated secrets underlying the whole story, and that’s the part of the book that feels both a bit too elaborate but also short changed at the same time. None of the main characters really do all that much to advance the plot, and almost everything they learn is just told to them at various points by other characters with only their general poking around providing the impetus to that. By the end I’ve got a lot of questions remaining that aren’t addressed.
It’s a solid and entertaining read with a lot of things I very much enjoyed although it could have used a bit more investigation and explanation for my tastes. Call it 3.439 stars.
June 8, 2016
Set in Philadelphia, this is a gripping tale of crime, family and race that stretches over three generations. It begins with the murder of two cops, one white and one black, who are sitting in a bar in civilian clothes one afternoon in 1965. Dead are Stan Walczak and his partner, George Wildey.
Walczak leaves a young son, Jimmy, who grows up to be a cop like his father. Thirty years later, he's a homicide detective who's still obsessed by his father's murder. No one was ever charged and convicted of the two killings, but Jim Walczak is firmly convinced that the shooter was a snitch named Terrill Lee Stanton was supposed to meet his father and Wildey in the bar that afternoon. Stanton has been in jail for a very long time, tried and convicted of another crime, but he has recently been released and is living in a halfway house. What, if anything, to do with Stanton is now the question that haunts Jim Walczak.
Jim Walczak, in turn, has a son named Stas who will follow him into the department. He also has a daughter, Audrey, and by 2005, Audrey is enrolled in CSI school and is set on becoming a forensic scientist. Along the way, though, she's become the black sheep of the family. She's living in Houston, is drinking way too much, and has pretty much screwed up her life. But in 2005, the city of Philadelphia decides to erect a plaque on the site where her grandfather and his partner were killed. It's going to be an important moment for the family and, against her better judgment, Audrey flies back to Philadelphia for the ceremony.
As the novel progresses, Swierczynski follows the progress of the three main characters, moving back in time to the point where Stan Walczak and George Wildey were first partnered together during riots in the 1960s. He jumps back and forth from 1965 to 1995 to 2005, alternating chapters among the three main characters.
It's a fascinating story about the way in which a single event can affect the trajectory of a family's life for several generations and about the ways in which the various members of the family deal with the consequences of those few fatal moments that still reverberate fifty years later. It's also a very compelling crime drama that will involve several different investigations. The characters are very well drawn; the settings and the history seem right on target, and all in all, this is another great read from the man who burst onto the scene ten years ago with The Wheelman: A Novel.
Walczak leaves a young son, Jimmy, who grows up to be a cop like his father. Thirty years later, he's a homicide detective who's still obsessed by his father's murder. No one was ever charged and convicted of the two killings, but Jim Walczak is firmly convinced that the shooter was a snitch named Terrill Lee Stanton was supposed to meet his father and Wildey in the bar that afternoon. Stanton has been in jail for a very long time, tried and convicted of another crime, but he has recently been released and is living in a halfway house. What, if anything, to do with Stanton is now the question that haunts Jim Walczak.
Jim Walczak, in turn, has a son named Stas who will follow him into the department. He also has a daughter, Audrey, and by 2005, Audrey is enrolled in CSI school and is set on becoming a forensic scientist. Along the way, though, she's become the black sheep of the family. She's living in Houston, is drinking way too much, and has pretty much screwed up her life. But in 2005, the city of Philadelphia decides to erect a plaque on the site where her grandfather and his partner were killed. It's going to be an important moment for the family and, against her better judgment, Audrey flies back to Philadelphia for the ceremony.
As the novel progresses, Swierczynski follows the progress of the three main characters, moving back in time to the point where Stan Walczak and George Wildey were first partnered together during riots in the 1960s. He jumps back and forth from 1965 to 1995 to 2005, alternating chapters among the three main characters.
It's a fascinating story about the way in which a single event can affect the trajectory of a family's life for several generations and about the ways in which the various members of the family deal with the consequences of those few fatal moments that still reverberate fifty years later. It's also a very compelling crime drama that will involve several different investigations. The characters are very well drawn; the settings and the history seem right on target, and all in all, this is another great read from the man who burst onto the scene ten years ago with The Wheelman: A Novel.
January 25, 2020
"The streets are safe in Philadelphia. It's only the people who make them unsafe." -- Frank Rizzo, City of Philadelphia police commissioner (1967-1971) and mayor (1972-1980)
Revolver is a modest and multi-generational crime saga - in this instance, focusing on the fictional Polish-American Walczak family of northeast Philly - that is populated mostly by decidedly non-heroic but all-too-human folks who excel at knowing or keeping secrets. (There's also their non-stop alcoholic beverage intake, plus casual and believable - but NOT acceptable - racism.) The narrative jumps between 1965, 1995 and 2015, with policing being a common familial thread and tradition.
A cold-blooded murder of two patrol partners in '65 (when civil unrest was starting in the U.S. cities) ripples throughout the ensuing decades, leading to the subsequent generations - the grown children and grandchildren - investigating their long-held suspicions about the closed criminal case. Author Swierczynski does seamless work switching between about a dozen characters, and presents the occasional dark and depressing side of urban police work, and the damaging toll it takes on a family.
Revolver is a modest and multi-generational crime saga - in this instance, focusing on the fictional Polish-American Walczak family of northeast Philly - that is populated mostly by decidedly non-heroic but all-too-human folks who excel at knowing or keeping secrets. (There's also their non-stop alcoholic beverage intake, plus casual and believable - but NOT acceptable - racism.) The narrative jumps between 1965, 1995 and 2015, with policing being a common familial thread and tradition.
A cold-blooded murder of two patrol partners in '65 (when civil unrest was starting in the U.S. cities) ripples throughout the ensuing decades, leading to the subsequent generations - the grown children and grandchildren - investigating their long-held suspicions about the closed criminal case. Author Swierczynski does seamless work switching between about a dozen characters, and presents the occasional dark and depressing side of urban police work, and the damaging toll it takes on a family.
April 13, 2017
The Walczak family has been in law enforcement for at least 50 years. In this book, the author starts with Stan Walczak. He and his partner, George Wildey, are shot to death in a corner bar while waiting for someone who has information for them. The killer has never been caught.
30 years later, Homicide Detective Jim Walczak receives news that Terrill Lee Stanton, the man he has always been sure killed his father, has been in prison for unrelated crimes. He is now free and back home in Philadelphia. Jim finally wants the truth about what happened when his father was killed ... stalking Stanton might give him those answers.
20 years later, Jim's daughter, Audrey, a student of forensic science, re-opens the cold cold case of her grandfather's death. As she investigates and digs in deep, she comes to the conclusion that Stanton might not have been the killer.
This book was something a little different than one would expect reading a crime thriller. Covering three separate and distinct plots within the same family, show the family investigating a heroin ring, the rape and murder of a young journalist, and daughter Audrey, taking on a cold case as an assignment for her degree.
The book goes from present to the past and back again. The reader is treated to the author's obvious attention to details, starting with how Walczak and Wildey first met and became police partners. The families keep bumping into each other for many years. This was almost like 3 different stories. The author has does a fantastic job in melding this saga into a highly suspenseful story with lots of twists and turns.
Many thanks to the author / Mulholland Books / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this highly entertaining book. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
30 years later, Homicide Detective Jim Walczak receives news that Terrill Lee Stanton, the man he has always been sure killed his father, has been in prison for unrelated crimes. He is now free and back home in Philadelphia. Jim finally wants the truth about what happened when his father was killed ... stalking Stanton might give him those answers.
20 years later, Jim's daughter, Audrey, a student of forensic science, re-opens the cold cold case of her grandfather's death. As she investigates and digs in deep, she comes to the conclusion that Stanton might not have been the killer.
This book was something a little different than one would expect reading a crime thriller. Covering three separate and distinct plots within the same family, show the family investigating a heroin ring, the rape and murder of a young journalist, and daughter Audrey, taking on a cold case as an assignment for her degree.
The book goes from present to the past and back again. The reader is treated to the author's obvious attention to details, starting with how Walczak and Wildey first met and became police partners. The families keep bumping into each other for many years. This was almost like 3 different stories. The author has does a fantastic job in melding this saga into a highly suspenseful story with lots of twists and turns.
Many thanks to the author / Mulholland Books / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of this highly entertaining book. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
July 18, 2016
This is the 150th book I've read this year, and it is by far the best I've read this year. I've read a lot of fantastic books, but if you're only going to read one, it should be this one.
As further backstory, I've loved Duane Swierczynski's books for years and every time I get a chance to read a new one, I am very excited. He's one of the authors where I know that a five star read is guaranteed. This is his best book yet.
This story covers three generations of the same family, and spans from the 1960s through today (well, technically last year). There are a lot of parallels between the 1960s segments and now---riots and racial unrest---but even beyond that, this novel is...there are actually no words to do it justice. "Gripping" doesn't even come close.
To put it simply, if you like novels about family secrets, police investigations, racial unrest, deeply flawed people or even just amazing books, this is for you.
Highly recommended.
As further backstory, I've loved Duane Swierczynski's books for years and every time I get a chance to read a new one, I am very excited. He's one of the authors where I know that a five star read is guaranteed. This is his best book yet.
This story covers three generations of the same family, and spans from the 1960s through today (well, technically last year). There are a lot of parallels between the 1960s segments and now---riots and racial unrest---but even beyond that, this novel is...there are actually no words to do it justice. "Gripping" doesn't even come close.
To put it simply, if you like novels about family secrets, police investigations, racial unrest, deeply flawed people or even just amazing books, this is for you.
Highly recommended.
February 9, 2017
Revolver is a story about a family stretching over three separate time periods. It's 1965 and Officer Stan Walczak together with his partner George Wildey is patrolling an area of Philadelphia known locally as the Jungle. This is not a good chapter in American History and events attributable to racism are an everyday occurrence. The police officers have arranged to meet local snitch ,Terrill Lee Stanton, at a nearby taproom where in unexpected incident has devastating and far reaching consequences.
It's 1995 and homicide detective Jim Walczak is made aware that Terrill Lee Stanton is about to be released. Jim suspects that Stanton was to blame for the death of his father but he was never actually incarcerated for this offence. Jim is determined to find the truth whatever the cost.
2015 and Jim Walczak's daughter, as part of her dissertation, is reinvestigating the death of her grandfather Stan. What she discovers will question everything that went before and lead to surprising and shocking revelations.
The author of this story has embarked on a difficult balancing act. In attempting to rediscover the truth, he needs to hold the reader's attention as the storyline flits between the harsh and difficult reality of policing a racially divided 60's Philadelphia and the modern world as seen through the eyes of granddaughter Audrey. Duane Swierczynski performs this task with ultimate ease creating a thoughtful story that challenges the reader as he expertly brings all the separate threads together in a surprising yet very fitting conclusion. Many thanks to the good people at Hodder & Stoughton for supplying me with a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.
It's 1995 and homicide detective Jim Walczak is made aware that Terrill Lee Stanton is about to be released. Jim suspects that Stanton was to blame for the death of his father but he was never actually incarcerated for this offence. Jim is determined to find the truth whatever the cost.
2015 and Jim Walczak's daughter, as part of her dissertation, is reinvestigating the death of her grandfather Stan. What she discovers will question everything that went before and lead to surprising and shocking revelations.
The author of this story has embarked on a difficult balancing act. In attempting to rediscover the truth, he needs to hold the reader's attention as the storyline flits between the harsh and difficult reality of policing a racially divided 60's Philadelphia and the modern world as seen through the eyes of granddaughter Audrey. Duane Swierczynski performs this task with ultimate ease creating a thoughtful story that challenges the reader as he expertly brings all the separate threads together in a surprising yet very fitting conclusion. Many thanks to the good people at Hodder & Stoughton for supplying me with a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.
September 17, 2016
I've enjoyed a big chunk of Duane Switzerland's writing for some time now, but man, I'm telling you, Swizzlestick brings it hard in this one. Every-damn-thing works, from the hot, smoking prose to the say-what! plot. Swearalotski weaves story of three main point of view characters into a steel-mesh story where every. Single. Detail. Works together to become important later in the story.
No heroes here, really. Truly normal Joes and Janes with a tragic past that taints their present. A mystery that refuses to go away, and people who are compelled to find the truth, whether it breaks them or not.
No complaints, Mr. Smirnoffski. I know how hard this must have been to put together. (For me, at least. You made it look and feel effortless.) Well done. Hat's off.
No heroes here, really. Truly normal Joes and Janes with a tragic past that taints their present. A mystery that refuses to go away, and people who are compelled to find the truth, whether it breaks them or not.
No complaints, Mr. Smirnoffski. I know how hard this must have been to put together. (For me, at least. You made it look and feel effortless.) Well done. Hat's off.
August 8, 2016
It's surreal to be touching him. The skin of Jim's right hand, touching the skin of Stanton's right hand, the hand he used to hold the gun and squeeze the trigger thirty years ago. Though cells grow and die, don't they? Every seven years, as Jim read once? So this collection of cells wasn't there when his father and Officer Wildey were killed. They're the great-great-grandsons of those cells, even if the man who wore them is the same.
Revolver is a lean and cleverly-structured novel that, at its heart, is about family and legacy as much as it's about its centerpiece crime--the murder of two police officers, who are gunned down in a bar to the tune of polka music, and whose families are shaped and haunted by the unsolved nature of the crime. Swierczynski moves backwards and forwards in time, giving us Stan Walczak, sixties patrol cop reluctantly enlisted in his new partner's quests for justice; Stan's son Jim, a cop thirty years later investigating the hot-potato murder of a jogger while the man he's sure killed his father is released on parole; and Jim's daughter Audrey, twenty years on from that, the family's black sheep who investigates her grandfather's unsolved murder in lieu of flunking out of CSI school. The three parallel narratives are well-handled, with revelations coming at exactly the right time.
There's an actual tangled mystery here--actually, there's more than one--but the real pleasure for me was following the way perceptions shifted back and forth between the generations. Racism that's threaded throughout the sixties sections becomes hush-hush by the time Audrey takes control of the narrative, though she still stands out for actively pushing back against it; idealized or sentimentalized family relationships get revealed as flawed (or amusingly not what a granddaughter would guess about her grandmother); by 2015, most everyone is drunk all the time. The story closely follows the Walczaks, but the Wildeys very clearly have their own generational changes to contend with. The novel does a great job capturing both the seismic changes of time passing and the things that remain constant, including the scars left by acts of violence--there's a way in which Audrey's Bloody Mary habit and disorganized life are a direct legacy of her grandfather's death, which was so long before she was even born.
Revolver is very much a family affair, and a strong exploration of parents, children, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents, and grandchildren. The story is so much about the Walczaks that the occasional brief side-trip into the Pizza Counter Guy's head, or to the POV of another supporting character, is a little disorienting: the novel's rhythm is in the tight pattern of Stan-Jim-Audrey, solving crimes, fighting their own ever-more-apparent demons, contending and bonding with their chosen partners, drinking, and cooking pork roll. Call it Cloud Atlas's more intimate crime fiction cousin.
Revolver is a lean and cleverly-structured novel that, at its heart, is about family and legacy as much as it's about its centerpiece crime--the murder of two police officers, who are gunned down in a bar to the tune of polka music, and whose families are shaped and haunted by the unsolved nature of the crime. Swierczynski moves backwards and forwards in time, giving us Stan Walczak, sixties patrol cop reluctantly enlisted in his new partner's quests for justice; Stan's son Jim, a cop thirty years later investigating the hot-potato murder of a jogger while the man he's sure killed his father is released on parole; and Jim's daughter Audrey, twenty years on from that, the family's black sheep who investigates her grandfather's unsolved murder in lieu of flunking out of CSI school. The three parallel narratives are well-handled, with revelations coming at exactly the right time.
There's an actual tangled mystery here--actually, there's more than one--but the real pleasure for me was following the way perceptions shifted back and forth between the generations. Racism that's threaded throughout the sixties sections becomes hush-hush by the time Audrey takes control of the narrative, though she still stands out for actively pushing back against it; idealized or sentimentalized family relationships get revealed as flawed (or amusingly not what a granddaughter would guess about her grandmother); by 2015, most everyone is drunk all the time. The story closely follows the Walczaks, but the Wildeys very clearly have their own generational changes to contend with. The novel does a great job capturing both the seismic changes of time passing and the things that remain constant, including the scars left by acts of violence--there's a way in which Audrey's Bloody Mary habit and disorganized life are a direct legacy of her grandfather's death, which was so long before she was even born.
Revolver is very much a family affair, and a strong exploration of parents, children, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents, and grandchildren. The story is so much about the Walczaks that the occasional brief side-trip into the Pizza Counter Guy's head, or to the POV of another supporting character, is a little disorienting: the novel's rhythm is in the tight pattern of Stan-Jim-Audrey, solving crimes, fighting their own ever-more-apparent demons, contending and bonding with their chosen partners, drinking, and cooking pork roll. Call it Cloud Atlas's more intimate crime fiction cousin.
July 30, 2016
Duane Swierczynski’s Revolver (2016) is a hard-hitting cop story that starts in 1965 in the Jungle of North Philadelphia, where protests have risen about black exclusion from a 100-year old school established for “poor, white, male orphans.” Brown vs. Board of Education is now the law of the land and officers Stan Walczak and George Wildey (“Will-dee”), his black partner, are sworn to uphold it. They are in a bar waiting for a snitch when the door blows open and a man with a revolver steps in.
Take a long forward jump to 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of “IT.” The Walczak and Wildey families are gathered for a police-sponsored memorial of the deaths of Officers Walczak and Wildey. The families are still “on the job:” Audrey—Stan’s twenty five-year old granddaughter—is studying forensics; most of the Walczak and Wildey men are cops; all have had their lives dramatically changed by “IT.” A chance remark to Audrey at the ceremony starts the ball rolling: when one of the Wildeys, now a police lieutenant, learns that Audrey is studying forensic science, he casually remarks, “When you get your degree, you can come back and solve this thing.”
Audrey—a take-no-prisoners woman who is about to flunk out of school because she is five months late on a major project—recognizes opportunity. If she can find the killer after fifty years of failure by the police to find the murderer of one of their own, she might be able to get school credit and give the families closure. And so we follow her as she attempts the impossible—and as she discovers that family is not what she thinks.
The story jumps between 1965, when IT happened; 1995, when Stan’s son Jim is on the force, Audrey is five-years old, and the lives of the Walczaks and Wildeys are in their thirtieth year of IT-created chaos; and 2015, when Jim has retired and Audrey opens Pandora’s box. This is a well-crafted story mixing families in turmoil with a very solid crime thriller. The characters are authentic and authentically dysfunctional, and the dialogue is short and very sweet.
Five stars.
RATING SYSTEM:
5 = I would certainly read another work by this author
4 = I would probably read another work by this author
3 = I might read another work by this author
2 = I probably would NOT read another work by this author
1 = Never! Never! Never!
Take a long forward jump to 2015, the fiftieth anniversary of “IT.” The Walczak and Wildey families are gathered for a police-sponsored memorial of the deaths of Officers Walczak and Wildey. The families are still “on the job:” Audrey—Stan’s twenty five-year old granddaughter—is studying forensics; most of the Walczak and Wildey men are cops; all have had their lives dramatically changed by “IT.” A chance remark to Audrey at the ceremony starts the ball rolling: when one of the Wildeys, now a police lieutenant, learns that Audrey is studying forensic science, he casually remarks, “When you get your degree, you can come back and solve this thing.”
Audrey—a take-no-prisoners woman who is about to flunk out of school because she is five months late on a major project—recognizes opportunity. If she can find the killer after fifty years of failure by the police to find the murderer of one of their own, she might be able to get school credit and give the families closure. And so we follow her as she attempts the impossible—and as she discovers that family is not what she thinks.
The story jumps between 1965, when IT happened; 1995, when Stan’s son Jim is on the force, Audrey is five-years old, and the lives of the Walczaks and Wildeys are in their thirtieth year of IT-created chaos; and 2015, when Jim has retired and Audrey opens Pandora’s box. This is a well-crafted story mixing families in turmoil with a very solid crime thriller. The characters are authentic and authentically dysfunctional, and the dialogue is short and very sweet.
Five stars.
RATING SYSTEM:
5 = I would certainly read another work by this author
4 = I would probably read another work by this author
3 = I might read another work by this author
2 = I probably would NOT read another work by this author
1 = Never! Never! Never!
August 23, 2016
REVOLVER is fine storytelling - seamlessly switching gears through alternating timelines to deliver a multifaceted crime tale, steadily increasing in complexity as the narrative unfolds. Spanning three generations each enveloped in heady blood red mist of murder and mystery surrounding the deaths of Philadelphia cops Stan Walczak and George Wildey in 1965, Swierczynski ensures his fictitious bullet fired some 50years past is still dangerous in the present.
Audrey is a CSI in training, studying her craft from afar, the family outcast is cast into the spotlight when she seeks to uncover the truth surrounding her grandfather’s murder in 1965. With her father (Jim) a cop and brother (Stas), her keen eye and inherent internal compass for justice (albeit a justice that feels slightly out of character) is right on point. What she discovers is just as destructive now as that day when her grandfather and his partner were gunned down. This time it’s not bullets raining down on her family but syrupy secrets and morbid revelations.
The route REVOLVER takes is not conventional and that’s one of its biggest drawcards. Linking different timelines through a single act of violence without giving away the motivation while embedding a complex family drama element is satisfying reading when done right – luckily it is here.
Readers of Swierczynki’s previous works will see REVOLVER as somewhat of a departure from what’s come before and a progression in his crime fiction prowess. While being a self-contained story, the door is left ajar for further exploration into the Walczak world – fingers crossed Swierczynski revisits it again at some stage.
http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
Audrey is a CSI in training, studying her craft from afar, the family outcast is cast into the spotlight when she seeks to uncover the truth surrounding her grandfather’s murder in 1965. With her father (Jim) a cop and brother (Stas), her keen eye and inherent internal compass for justice (albeit a justice that feels slightly out of character) is right on point. What she discovers is just as destructive now as that day when her grandfather and his partner were gunned down. This time it’s not bullets raining down on her family but syrupy secrets and morbid revelations.
The route REVOLVER takes is not conventional and that’s one of its biggest drawcards. Linking different timelines through a single act of violence without giving away the motivation while embedding a complex family drama element is satisfying reading when done right – luckily it is here.
Readers of Swierczynki’s previous works will see REVOLVER as somewhat of a departure from what’s come before and a progression in his crime fiction prowess. While being a self-contained story, the door is left ajar for further exploration into the Walczak world – fingers crossed Swierczynski revisits it again at some stage.
http://justaguythatlikes2read.blogspo...
Read
July 21, 2016If you’re looking for a good crime novel for your summer, this is a perfect choice: Swierczynski’s novels are always a ton of fun. Revolver revolves (teehee) around three generations of a family whose lives are torn apart by murder. Young Jimmy was devastated when his police officer father died, and he vowed to get revenge. He grows up to be a cop and does just that, but then Jimmy’s daughter discovers something that makes her think her father was mistaken about the killers identity. Gritty and gripping!
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/allt...
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/allt...
January 3, 2017
4.5 stars. What a great way to start off a new reading year! This book was smart, cleverly plotted, informative and all-around entertaining as heck! The alternating character perspectives and the shifts in time could have turned into a muddled mess but Swierczynski handles both with aplomb. Can't recommend this one highly enough- most fun I've had reading a book in a long time!
February 25, 2018
Gritty Philadelphia setting and characters. Great read.
August 4, 2016
For those that like the books of George Pelecanos and Richard Price, you will probably like this novel as well.
This novel deals with three generations of the same families where their stories are tied together through a singular revolver handgun.
Duane Swierczynski flip flops back and forth between the three generations to effectively tell the story, that is brought full circle by the end of the book.
From the opening of the book, at first I thought this would be a somewhat, typical police procedural novel, but by the end of the book, it wasn't quite that, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
The reason why I mentioned fans of George Pelecanos is because Swierczynski blends in the social ills associated with racism to tell the story, as Pelecanos often does, and how some people grow, while others remain the same or devolve even more so.
To tell more would offer spoilers. Highly recommended.
This novel deals with three generations of the same families where their stories are tied together through a singular revolver handgun.
Duane Swierczynski flip flops back and forth between the three generations to effectively tell the story, that is brought full circle by the end of the book.
From the opening of the book, at first I thought this would be a somewhat, typical police procedural novel, but by the end of the book, it wasn't quite that, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
The reason why I mentioned fans of George Pelecanos is because Swierczynski blends in the social ills associated with racism to tell the story, as Pelecanos often does, and how some people grow, while others remain the same or devolve even more so.
To tell more would offer spoilers. Highly recommended.
October 3, 2016
Oh wow! Definitely going to be in my Top Ten of the year, this multi- generational Philadelphia-set cop story is about the shooting of two off-duty cops in a bar in 1965, and the reverberations this creates over three generations and 50 years. After the fantastic DARKTOWN I thought I'd be waiting a while for another "epic" crime fiction novel but Duane Swierczynski delivers - I'm delighted I also have his CANARY to read. If you're a fan of Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos, Michael Connelly, or James Ellroy, do yourself a favour and read this. You can thank me later!
August 9, 2016
Very good mystery. Two police murdered in a bar. Who murdered them and why? The story covers three generations of this same family in Philadelphia. Chapters rotate from the viewpoint of the two policemen prior to their murder in the 1960's, the oldest son of one of the murdered policeman in the 1980's and his youngest daughter in the present day. From the police narrative we slowly begin to understand what might have lead to their murders, from the oldest son--who becomes a homicide detective, it is revealed how he attempted to solve the case and from the youngest daughter what she uncovers as she too looks closer at the details. There were really two aspects of this mystery, not only what happened but how it affected this family through the generations. I felt the second aspect was almost as interesting as the former. It was difficult at times to read about all the hostility between the various family members and attribute it only to how these murders tore the family apart. It was a fast read and the writing very descriptive of the times and place. The final explanation came together in the last few pages and tied all the pieces together expertly. If you like a gritty sort of mystery with some police procedural aspects and a very well written story I recommend this. Reminded me some of The Whites which I also liked very much.
September 21, 2019
3.5 stars. This is a page turner of a read involving 3 generations of a polish family living in a racially divided section of Philadelphia. The chapters move back and forth between 1965, 1995, and 2015 with 3 generations following the original Philly police officer in that chosen career. The first officer from 1965 was the iconic Stan Walczak, who was brutally murdered in a corner bar, along with his black partner.
The characters are well defined, and the plot takes many twists and turns as the progeny try to solve the cold case of the murder of the esteemed father and grandfather Stan Walczak. The case is resolved with further violence and astounding revelations in 2015. As I raced to the end, I would have awarded Duane Swierczynski 4 stars had he not left so many strings hanging. I can imagine an author's conceivable wish to lead a reader to a pluasible follow up. If that is the reason, I find this practice very annoying. I like conclusions. If I enjoy a book, I will most likely read the follow up. To this reader it's like a diner serving me half a sandwich but charging me full price, then telling me I get the other half next time I come in.
The characters are well defined, and the plot takes many twists and turns as the progeny try to solve the cold case of the murder of the esteemed father and grandfather Stan Walczak. The case is resolved with further violence and astounding revelations in 2015. As I raced to the end, I would have awarded Duane Swierczynski 4 stars had he not left so many strings hanging. I can imagine an author's conceivable wish to lead a reader to a pluasible follow up. If that is the reason, I find this practice very annoying. I like conclusions. If I enjoy a book, I will most likely read the follow up. To this reader it's like a diner serving me half a sandwich but charging me full price, then telling me I get the other half next time I come in.
August 15, 2016
Duane Swierczynski’s CANARY was one of my top reads for 2015, and he’s repeated the trick with REVOLVER. A Philly-set murder-mystery spanning three generations of Polack cops, I tore through this one in a couple of days. If you’ve yet to read any Swerzy, give Revolver a shot, and witness one of today’s best crime writers at the top of his game.
April 12, 2018
What begins as a story about a double cop killing in the mid-1950's turns into a horrific tale of family secrets and a conspiracy which has dragged on for 50 years, although part of it goes further back to the shooting of a cop during the Prohibition era.
There are 3 main characters whose stories unfold in separate chapters throughout the book. First is Stan Walczak , one victim of the 1965 cop killing. There's his son Jim Walczak, a homicide detective who's sure he knows who killed his father. But Jim's career is compromised as he investigates a rape & murder in 1995
Finally, in 2015, there is Audrey, a struggling single mother, granddaughter of Stan and daughter of Jim who returns to Philadelphia to attend a ceremony honouring her grandfather and his partner who died in 1965.
In a bid to save her fledgling career as a forensic science student, Audrey decides to reinvestigate Stan's killing, but these actions uncover dark secrets that may put her and others in her family in danger.
In his acknowledgements, Duane Swierczynski quotes from "Requiem for a Nun" by William Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." which sums up this story perfectly.
A terrific mystery with a devastating denouement. Highly recommended.
There are 3 main characters whose stories unfold in separate chapters throughout the book. First is Stan Walczak , one victim of the 1965 cop killing. There's his son Jim Walczak, a homicide detective who's sure he knows who killed his father. But Jim's career is compromised as he investigates a rape & murder in 1995
Finally, in 2015, there is Audrey, a struggling single mother, granddaughter of Stan and daughter of Jim who returns to Philadelphia to attend a ceremony honouring her grandfather and his partner who died in 1965.
In a bid to save her fledgling career as a forensic science student, Audrey decides to reinvestigate Stan's killing, but these actions uncover dark secrets that may put her and others in her family in danger.
In his acknowledgements, Duane Swierczynski quotes from "Requiem for a Nun" by William Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." which sums up this story perfectly.
A terrific mystery with a devastating denouement. Highly recommended.
January 15, 2021
This is just marvelous, so much depth in a slim crime fiction novel. It's about three generations of Philadelphia cops in two families, one white the other African-American. The biggest focus is on the Walczaks, in which the first generation, Stan, is killed with his African-American partner George Wildey, in a 1965 bar shooting. That in turn inspires Stans two sons two become police, and in the second plot line, Jimmy is investigating a rape/murder case while also following the man who he suspects killed his father. In the third contemporary plotline, Jimmy's daughter Audrey is returned home after getting in trouble in Houston with alcohol and other problems as she tries to finish forensics school. Trying to get herself together, she also takes up the old 1965 case, to her father's discomfort.
Swierczynski does a lot right here. The Philadelphia setting is vivid (and I loved the map printed inside. Publishers should realize readers beyond fantasy like a good map). He moves gracefully between the three timelines and unspools the revelation in each at a perfect tempo. The characters are superb and the overall portrayal of police families seems very believable. The themes of race, family, and the costs of police work are all well handled. This one's a keeper!
Swierczynski does a lot right here. The Philadelphia setting is vivid (and I loved the map printed inside. Publishers should realize readers beyond fantasy like a good map). He moves gracefully between the three timelines and unspools the revelation in each at a perfect tempo. The characters are superb and the overall portrayal of police families seems very believable. The themes of race, family, and the costs of police work are all well handled. This one's a keeper!
February 5, 2017
This book presents a complicated story involving characters that were largely distasteful ( at least to me ). Yet, the story is well written and structured in such a way as to elevate it from a run of the mill murder mystery to a cross generational, psychological exposé that includes murder, self-loathing, family secrets & skeletons in so many closets that I needed a spreadsheet to keep track! In fact, aside from having difficulty liking any of the main characters, I found the constant shifts in time-frames (each chapter shifts to a different generation) a bit distracting.
These issues notwithstanding, this is a well written book and worth the reading.
These issues notwithstanding, this is a well written book and worth the reading.
June 1, 2017
Son 3.5
El libro es casi excelente, está muy bien pensado, las perspectivas desde tres generaciones están muy buenas, especialmente porque todo se funde al final de una manera que te da piel de gallina.
Pero van menos estrellas porque por momentos es lento y sentí que, en la búsqueda de desconcertar, tal vez, se desarrolla demasiado un tema que no es el verdadero desencadenante de la historia, y se deja de lado la verdad, haciendo que cuando por fin se revela sea muy, muy interensante, pero se sienta como que salió de la nada, que sea abrupto y repentino.
De todas maneras, está muy bueno. Quiero leer más de este autor.
El libro es casi excelente, está muy bien pensado, las perspectivas desde tres generaciones están muy buenas, especialmente porque todo se funde al final de una manera que te da piel de gallina.
Pero van menos estrellas porque por momentos es lento y sentí que, en la búsqueda de desconcertar, tal vez, se desarrolla demasiado un tema que no es el verdadero desencadenante de la historia, y se deja de lado la verdad, haciendo que cuando por fin se revela sea muy, muy interensante, pero se sienta como que salió de la nada, que sea abrupto y repentino.
De todas maneras, está muy bueno. Quiero leer más de este autor.
August 19, 2016
I don't think Duane is capable of writing a bad book. As far as crime stories go this is one of the better books out there. You would think with the 3 time periods in play that the sections set in present would give away events of the past sections. Not the case at all. It's done perfectly and you only know what Swierczynski wants you to know.
I personally miss Duane's over the top action novels. Severance Package and The Blonde are two of my favourite books. However if he never makes a return to those types of stories I still know whatever he writes will be enjoyable.
I personally miss Duane's over the top action novels. Severance Package and The Blonde are two of my favourite books. However if he never makes a return to those types of stories I still know whatever he writes will be enjoyable.
September 20, 2016
Completely enthralling and easy to follow - despite its ingenious structure - though things certainly wrapped up too quickly. I'll definitely try this author again.
January 17, 2023
3.5 stars. I was really enjoying this one but thought that the ending was a bit weak. It is a little too coincidental that one family was behind everything for decades.
In 1965, a Polish cop, Stan, is partnered with a Black cop, George. They are investigating possible police corruption and have upset the wrong people. They both die in an apparent bar robbery gone wrong. In 1995, Stan's son, Jim, is a cop investigating the murder of a young woman when his father's killer, a former informant, is released from prison. The two cases start to overlap in mysterious ways when the mayor's assistance, Sonia, blackmails Jim in order to protect her son from being connected to the murdered girl. She has pictures of Jim staking out the group home where his father's killer had lived before he OD'd and implies that Jim could be responsible for his death. In 2015, Stan's granddaughter and Jim's daughter, Audrey, is studying to become a forensic scientist and decided to investigate her grandfather's death for her school project. She also crosses the wrong people but she is able to uncover the truth. It was her grandfather's estranged brother, Sonny, who was responsible for all the killings. Stan and Sonny's father was a bootlegger and a racist and he killed a cop, who happened to be George's father. When Stan and George started poking around the growing drug trade which was run, unbeknownst to them, by Sonny and his gang, they made the wrong people angry and had to be silenced, hence their deaths via fake robbery. Jim was told that his father's old informant was responsible for the killings by his father's former partner but he was already in prison on another charge and was never convicted for Stan and George's deaths. Jim fingered Sonia's son for the murder of the woman but Sonia shut him down with the blackmail and revealed that they were really cousins since her father was Sonny. Audrey meets Sonny and hears the truth and then is shot in the subway station but she survives.
In 1965, a Polish cop, Stan, is partnered with a Black cop, George. They are investigating possible police corruption and have upset the wrong people. They both die in an apparent bar robbery gone wrong. In 1995, Stan's son, Jim, is a cop investigating the murder of a young woman when his father's killer, a former informant, is released from prison. The two cases start to overlap in mysterious ways when the mayor's assistance, Sonia, blackmails Jim in order to protect her son from being connected to the murdered girl. She has pictures of Jim staking out the group home where his father's killer had lived before he OD'd and implies that Jim could be responsible for his death. In 2015, Stan's granddaughter and Jim's daughter, Audrey, is studying to become a forensic scientist and decided to investigate her grandfather's death for her school project. She also crosses the wrong people but she is able to uncover the truth. It was her grandfather's estranged brother, Sonny, who was responsible for all the killings. Stan and Sonny's father was a bootlegger and a racist and he killed a cop, who happened to be George's father. When Stan and George started poking around the growing drug trade which was run, unbeknownst to them, by Sonny and his gang, they made the wrong people angry and had to be silenced, hence their deaths via fake robbery. Jim was told that his father's old informant was responsible for the killings by his father's former partner but he was already in prison on another charge and was never convicted for Stan and George's deaths. Jim fingered Sonia's son for the murder of the woman but Sonia shut him down with the blackmail and revealed that they were really cousins since her father was Sonny. Audrey meets Sonny and hears the truth and then is shot in the subway station but she survives.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2016
What is this about?: This is a family saga, of the story of three different generations told in one book. The story revolves around the Walczak family: the death of a patriarch cop and his partner in 1965; his son's search for his killer in 1995 and the final chapter in 2015 is his grand-daughter's story as she closes the case.
What else is this about?: Family -- complicated, messy family relationships where no one is perfect and everyone is frustrating.
Should you read: God yes.
To say flashbacks and different timelines annoy me is an understatement. That's mostly because they're more often than not done badly and fall into the realm of bloody frustrating very quickly. Revolver, mercifully, is exquisite. No seriously. And for one very simple reason: there are three stories being told in one book, and I feel like the author must've written three novellas before putting them together like this for they are fully realised stories, each feeding into the other -- but without leaving you reading one section, and needing a flashback chapter to explain it.
I might've done a happy dance.
This is the story of the Walczak family -- Stan and his partner George who are killed in the line of duty in 1965. Jim, Stan's son, a cop himself, in 1995 is faced with the thought that his father's killer is now out on parole and in 2015, Jim's estranged daughter Audrey is trying to save her CSI academic skin by investigating her grandfather's murder and solving it in a week. She's desperate.
The scope of Revolver is impressive and the beauty of Duane Swierczynski's writing is that each timeline reads like a complete story as if the entire book were just about that generation. In the 1965 chapters, we learn of Stan and George's lives as cops, and their partnership in an era filled with racism (George is African American). It details the events and the investigation leading to their death, while showing us what Stan's life is at home and his relationship with Jimmy.
Jim, who in 1995, is investigating the murder of a young woman while faced with the thought of his father's killer's release from prison. He has always been convinced of Terrill Lee Stanton's guilt and when Stanton is released on parole, Jim knows he can't let that happen without doing something. Here, the seeds for the 2015 chapter are sowed and Audrey's attempt at solving the case.
Audrey is difficult to like, and in her chapters we see how far the family has fractured in 2015. Audrey is an island in the family through her own doing in essence and she resents it and wears it like a shield to protect her from any other emotion. She's made a life for herself away from her family, who literally know nothing about her other than she's studying forensic science. Given the previous chapters this distance is heartbreaking and highlights just how quickly families change, how they are affected by one event. She is determined to solve her grandfather's murder, despite her family's protestations. Audrey is a compelling, hard character and still I would read anything with her and her family.
This is an exhausting read, but I mean that in the best way. I still don't completely like Audrey, but she's still the one that shines in this story. I commented on a recent blogger discussion about how books need unlikeable characters and Audrey certainly does fall into the category of a compelling if unlikeable character.
Revolver is a story across generations, following how one event breaks a family apart and puts it back together over three generations.
I cannot recommend this enough!
What else is this about?: Family -- complicated, messy family relationships where no one is perfect and everyone is frustrating.
Should you read: God yes.
To say flashbacks and different timelines annoy me is an understatement. That's mostly because they're more often than not done badly and fall into the realm of bloody frustrating very quickly. Revolver, mercifully, is exquisite. No seriously. And for one very simple reason: there are three stories being told in one book, and I feel like the author must've written three novellas before putting them together like this for they are fully realised stories, each feeding into the other -- but without leaving you reading one section, and needing a flashback chapter to explain it.
I might've done a happy dance.
This is the story of the Walczak family -- Stan and his partner George who are killed in the line of duty in 1965. Jim, Stan's son, a cop himself, in 1995 is faced with the thought that his father's killer is now out on parole and in 2015, Jim's estranged daughter Audrey is trying to save her CSI academic skin by investigating her grandfather's murder and solving it in a week. She's desperate.
The scope of Revolver is impressive and the beauty of Duane Swierczynski's writing is that each timeline reads like a complete story as if the entire book were just about that generation. In the 1965 chapters, we learn of Stan and George's lives as cops, and their partnership in an era filled with racism (George is African American). It details the events and the investigation leading to their death, while showing us what Stan's life is at home and his relationship with Jimmy.
Jim, who in 1995, is investigating the murder of a young woman while faced with the thought of his father's killer's release from prison. He has always been convinced of Terrill Lee Stanton's guilt and when Stanton is released on parole, Jim knows he can't let that happen without doing something. Here, the seeds for the 2015 chapter are sowed and Audrey's attempt at solving the case.
Audrey is difficult to like, and in her chapters we see how far the family has fractured in 2015. Audrey is an island in the family through her own doing in essence and she resents it and wears it like a shield to protect her from any other emotion. She's made a life for herself away from her family, who literally know nothing about her other than she's studying forensic science. Given the previous chapters this distance is heartbreaking and highlights just how quickly families change, how they are affected by one event. She is determined to solve her grandfather's murder, despite her family's protestations. Audrey is a compelling, hard character and still I would read anything with her and her family.
This is an exhausting read, but I mean that in the best way. I still don't completely like Audrey, but she's still the one that shines in this story. I commented on a recent blogger discussion about how books need unlikeable characters and Audrey certainly does fall into the category of a compelling if unlikeable character.
Revolver is a story across generations, following how one event breaks a family apart and puts it back together over three generations.
I cannot recommend this enough!
August 11, 2016
I've read a couple of Duane Swierczynski's crime novels in the recent past and enjoyed them as they've been fast paced, fun and exciting. In this, his latest novel, he's taken a more ambitious step by writing a 'historical' type crime novel involving three generations of the same family.
Stan Walczak and George Wildey are both Police Officers and partners when in 1965 they are gunned down and killed in a Philadelphia bar. What's unusual at that time in history is that Stan is white and of Polish decent, while his partner George is a black man. Terrill Lee Stanton was a Police informer that Stan and George were using at the time of their deaths and he has always been suspected of having been the killer but was never convicted of the crime.
Jumps thirty years forward and Jim Walczak, Stan's son, who is a Philadelphia P.D. Homicide Detective, has just caught the rape and murder of a young woman when he learns that his father's suspected killer, has just been released from prison, after serving time for another murder. Jim is determined to track down his father's killer and learn the truth.
It's now 2015 and Jim's adopted daughter Audrey returns to Philadelphia, for a dedication to mark the 50th anniversary of her grandfather's death. She is the 'black sheep' of the family and is currently studying Forensics at college in Houston. She, in an effort to try and save her failing college career decides to investigate her grandfather's death, using her forensic skills and to compile a case study on her findings.
I had read a few good reviews of this novel prior to reading it and also when reading the precis it sounded as though it was something that would appeal to me. However on finishing the novel I was a bit dissappointed, as in my view it doesn't fully live up to the praise that has been heaped upon it.
I thought the 1965 storyline was good and I enjoyed that string most of all and I also quite enjoyed the story of Jim Walczak but to be honest I found the protagonist, Audrey, of the 2015 storyline to be a little tiresome. She seems quite 'needy' and self-centred and is basically an alcoholic, needing on one day, four Bloody Mary's for breakfast before she could apparently even function. Her father Jim and grandfather Stan too, also seemed to me to have an alcoholic intake that seemed rather excessive, especially Jim, who was supposed to be investigating and solving murders ?
Audrey's 'forensic investigation' starts out interesting enough with her examination of the 'original' crime scene but after that it just seems to peter out. Also, as a retired Police C.S.I./Fingerprint Expert, I found her statement on fingerprint identification to be quite bizarre and can't imagine any true expert citing the same view, as it sounds more like something a defence lawyer would say.
Overall it was an enjoyable but slightly disappointing read that was more a family history with a crime at it's heart than a crime novel and I also thought that there were a few threads of the story that I felt were left unresolved by the end.
Stan Walczak and George Wildey are both Police Officers and partners when in 1965 they are gunned down and killed in a Philadelphia bar. What's unusual at that time in history is that Stan is white and of Polish decent, while his partner George is a black man. Terrill Lee Stanton was a Police informer that Stan and George were using at the time of their deaths and he has always been suspected of having been the killer but was never convicted of the crime.
Jumps thirty years forward and Jim Walczak, Stan's son, who is a Philadelphia P.D. Homicide Detective, has just caught the rape and murder of a young woman when he learns that his father's suspected killer, has just been released from prison, after serving time for another murder. Jim is determined to track down his father's killer and learn the truth.
It's now 2015 and Jim's adopted daughter Audrey returns to Philadelphia, for a dedication to mark the 50th anniversary of her grandfather's death. She is the 'black sheep' of the family and is currently studying Forensics at college in Houston. She, in an effort to try and save her failing college career decides to investigate her grandfather's death, using her forensic skills and to compile a case study on her findings.
I had read a few good reviews of this novel prior to reading it and also when reading the precis it sounded as though it was something that would appeal to me. However on finishing the novel I was a bit dissappointed, as in my view it doesn't fully live up to the praise that has been heaped upon it.
I thought the 1965 storyline was good and I enjoyed that string most of all and I also quite enjoyed the story of Jim Walczak but to be honest I found the protagonist, Audrey, of the 2015 storyline to be a little tiresome. She seems quite 'needy' and self-centred and is basically an alcoholic, needing on one day, four Bloody Mary's for breakfast before she could apparently even function. Her father Jim and grandfather Stan too, also seemed to me to have an alcoholic intake that seemed rather excessive, especially Jim, who was supposed to be investigating and solving murders ?
Audrey's 'forensic investigation' starts out interesting enough with her examination of the 'original' crime scene but after that it just seems to peter out. Also, as a retired Police C.S.I./Fingerprint Expert, I found her statement on fingerprint identification to be quite bizarre and can't imagine any true expert citing the same view, as it sounds more like something a defence lawyer would say.
Overall it was an enjoyable but slightly disappointing read that was more a family history with a crime at it's heart than a crime novel and I also thought that there were a few threads of the story that I felt were left unresolved by the end.
May 29, 2016
Duane Swierczynski examines the reverberations of the slaying of two policemen in mid-1960s Philadelphia in his latest white-knuckle thriller, Revolver. Written with his trademark ruthless efficiency, and coupled with an ambitious structure that sees three linked storylines being played out over three different years – 1965, 1995 and 2015 – at its core, Revolver is about a city laden with racial tension, and the resultant (and incendiary) consequences. But with Swierczynski focusing on his prose’s delectable sparseness and sheer narrative thrust, the novel lacks essential gravitas. What we’re left with is a brisk page-turner, undeniably stylish, but lightweight.
Revolver opens with two Philly police detectives – a black man and a while man – being gunned down in a working-class bar. The man presumed to be their killer was never convicted for the crime – instead he went to prison for another crime, and was paroled thirty years later; thus becoming the target of Jim Walczak, the dead while cop’s son, who is now a cop himself. Twenty years later, Jim’s estranged daughter Audrey – an aspiring crime-scene investigator with attitude to burn – reopens her grandfather’s case, and her findings have deadly repercussions. Each chapter rotates between protagonists, and while this initially feels choppy, the narrative quickly gets into its flow. It helps that Swierczynski keeps his chapters short and sharp – readers won’t get lost with various plot threads – but characters can feel a tad rote.
My main issue with Revolver is its insubstantial focus on the black side of the racial conflict plaguing the city. I get it – this is a novel about a murder’s lingering effects on a family who just so happen to be white – but given the importance of the race to the overall plot, it feels undercooked. Not that the book needs an additional black protagonist; I’m not suggesting that Swierczynski should’ve shoehorned a “black perspective” into the story. But there could’ve been a few nuanced inclusions of the racial disparity plaguing Philly throughout the text to clarify circumstances.
That gripe aside, Revolver provides everything long-time readers of Duane Swierczynski want: taut prose, smart twists, and supreme page-turnability. He remains a must-read author, and one of the genre’s shining stars.
Revolver opens with two Philly police detectives – a black man and a while man – being gunned down in a working-class bar. The man presumed to be their killer was never convicted for the crime – instead he went to prison for another crime, and was paroled thirty years later; thus becoming the target of Jim Walczak, the dead while cop’s son, who is now a cop himself. Twenty years later, Jim’s estranged daughter Audrey – an aspiring crime-scene investigator with attitude to burn – reopens her grandfather’s case, and her findings have deadly repercussions. Each chapter rotates between protagonists, and while this initially feels choppy, the narrative quickly gets into its flow. It helps that Swierczynski keeps his chapters short and sharp – readers won’t get lost with various plot threads – but characters can feel a tad rote.
My main issue with Revolver is its insubstantial focus on the black side of the racial conflict plaguing the city. I get it – this is a novel about a murder’s lingering effects on a family who just so happen to be white – but given the importance of the race to the overall plot, it feels undercooked. Not that the book needs an additional black protagonist; I’m not suggesting that Swierczynski should’ve shoehorned a “black perspective” into the story. But there could’ve been a few nuanced inclusions of the racial disparity plaguing Philly throughout the text to clarify circumstances.
That gripe aside, Revolver provides everything long-time readers of Duane Swierczynski want: taut prose, smart twists, and supreme page-turnability. He remains a must-read author, and one of the genre’s shining stars.
August 5, 2016
This book is for anyone wnho likes strong characters and story. Although the 3 main characters are police or CSI, the story is more about family and personal morals than a procedural. I think of cop or crime stories like this as lyrical. If you like Dennis Lehane or Homicide Life on the Streets, you'll love this. Swierczynski has his own unique voice, the only book I've liked as much this year was his novel Canary. A great novel with broad appeal
Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews