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Junior Bender #1
Crashed
INTRODUCING JUNIOR BENDER, THE FAVORITE BURGLAR-TURNED-
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR OF HOLLYWOOD CROOKS
Junior Bender is a Los Angeles burglar with a magic touch. Since he first started breaking into houses when he was fourteen years old, he’s never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years of an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey’s porn movie venture, which someone keeps sabotaging. The star Trey has lined up to do all that’s unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America’s beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track.
Junior knows what that he should do—get Thistle out and find her help—but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA’s scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.
PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR OF HOLLYWOOD CROOKS
Junior Bender is a Los Angeles burglar with a magic touch. Since he first started breaking into houses when he was fourteen years old, he’s never once been caught. But now, after twenty-two years of an exemplary career, Junior has been blackmailed by Trey Annunziato, one of the most powerful crime bosses in LA, into acting as a private investigator on the set of Trey’s porn movie venture, which someone keeps sabotaging. The star Trey has lined up to do all that’s unwholesome on camera is Thistle Downing, America’s beloved child star, who now lives alone in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. Her starring role will be the scandalous fall-from-grace gossip of rubber-neckers across the country. No wonder Trey needs help keeping the production on track.
Junior knows what that he should do—get Thistle out and find her help—but doing the right thing will land him on the wrong side of LA’s scariest mob boss. With the help of his precocious twelve-year-old daughter, Rina, and his criminal sidekick, Louie the Lost (an ex-getaway driver), Junior has to figure out a miracle solution.
459 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 13, 2012
418 people are currently reading
2717 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Hallinan
44 books454 followersI'm a thriller and mystery novelist with 22 published books in three series, all with major imprints. I divides my time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, primarily Thailand, where I've lived off and on for more than twenty years. As of now, My primary home is in Santa Monica, California.
I currently write two series, The Poke Rafferty Bangkok Thrillers, most recently FOOLS' RIVER, and the Junior Bender Mysteries, set in Los Angeles, Coming up this November is NIGHTTOWN. The main character of those books is a burglar who works as a private eye for crooks.
The first series I ever wrote featured an overeducated private eye named Simeon Grist. in 2017 I wrote PULPED, the first book in the series to be self-published, which was actually a lot of fun. I might do more of it.
I've been nominated for the Edgar, the Macavity, the Shamus, and the Left, and won the Lefty in 2015 (?) for the Junior Bender book HERBIE'S GAME. My work has frequently been included in Best Books of the Year roundups by major publications.
I currently write two series, The Poke Rafferty Bangkok Thrillers, most recently FOOLS' RIVER, and the Junior Bender Mysteries, set in Los Angeles, Coming up this November is NIGHTTOWN. The main character of those books is a burglar who works as a private eye for crooks.
The first series I ever wrote featured an overeducated private eye named Simeon Grist. in 2017 I wrote PULPED, the first book in the series to be self-published, which was actually a lot of fun. I might do more of it.
I've been nominated for the Edgar, the Macavity, the Shamus, and the Left, and won the Lefty in 2015 (?) for the Junior Bender book HERBIE'S GAME. My work has frequently been included in Best Books of the Year roundups by major publications.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 467 reviews
October 20, 2021
As research for a novel I'm writing, I'm reading detective fiction and stealing everything that's bright or shiny. My story takes place in L.A. of the early '90s, but I'm window shopping every store in the mall. Next up is my introduction to the fiction of Timothy Hallinan. I'm going to put as much effort into this book report as the author put into this book, which is to say, complete sentences and a degree of wit, perhaps, but that's about it. Published in 2012, Crashed is a dopey crookfest that wants to be roommates with Elmore Leonard. It failed to engage me and I abandoned it at the 22% mark.
Junior Bender (not for nothin', but I get the feelin' here that Hallinan watched every episode of The Sopranos) is a Los Angeles burglar. When we first meet Junior, he's at a greasy spoon in the Valley talking to his handler about this job she wants him to do. I'm always tickled by crime fiction in which a coupla crooks diagram their crimes out loud in public. Not believable unless you want to convince me that your crooks are morons. One way to achieve that would probably not have Junior use "crook" as a noun. He's a thief with a library card, see, a well-read gentleman so smart he's talking about his crimes in a restaurant. It just doesn't line up.
Junior has an ex-wife and a kid somewhere. Thieves almost always have a kid somewhere, or meet up with a kid. I'm getting pretty anxious at this point in the novel, not with suspense, but because what I'm reading feels awful familiar. Then Junior goes on a job. Hallinan writes tools of the trade action well and even when it tilts toward Cartoon Land, I didn't give up on the book. It's only after Junior is captured by hoods and talks, and talks, and talks, to people with names with Mr. Wattles or Trey Annuziato (she took over a Valley racket from her old man, capice?) about people like Rabbits Stennet that I just got bored.
"I'm Trey Annunziato," the blond woman said, holding out her free hand. I shook it, and she settled onto the chaise with one bare foot tucked beneath her, and patiently waited for me to finish looking at her. Up close, she was the kind of thin that's just a little more than intentional, the kind of thin that speaks to a life of boneless skinless chicken breasts, salad with dressing on the side, sashimi rather than sushi, and personal control issues. The bones of her face, perfect as they were, could have used a little softening, and the ball joints on the outside of her wrists were as prominent as marbles implanted beneath the skin. The eyes were chocolate brown, an odd contrast with the pale hair, and the whites had a faint bluish cast, like skim milk. She held up the hand with the bottle in it, and The Man In Black Without a Collar took it. "Would you do the pouring, Eduardo?" she asked. Her tone was sweet enough, but I noticed she didn't feel any need to look over at him.
Eduardo poured.
Let's examine how this Elmore Leonard wannabe fails many if not all of Elmore Leoanrd's 10 Rules For Good Writing:
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. See above.
Don't go into great detail describing places and things. See above. Half of this scene seems to involve people pouring drinks. Maybe Hallinan is a more avid drinker than I am. Probably.
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. 8-16% of this novel focuses on Junior in a chair being told things. He can't walk away because there's a crooked cop there to stop him and also Junior has been framed. Nothing bad is going to happen to him, clearly, he just can't go anywhere. Kind of like I felt reading this novel. Characters tell Junior about other characters. They tell him stories. They do everything but get to the point quickly or stop talking. We the reader know nothing bad is about to happen to Junior, not at the 10% mark, probably not ever, so there's no suspense here. It's just writing I hoped had been left out.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
I wasn't offended or even disappointed in Crashed. When it's revealed that the Bad Guys want Junior, a professional thief, to supervise the production of a porn movie, I knew it was time for me to move on, but I wasn't bitter about it. I was reminded of junior high school kids putting on a play, a la the Max Fischer Players in Rushmore, from their own script. Crashed is like Max's idea of an Elmore Leonard caper based entirely on his knowledge of Elmore Leonard capers. It's sweet and endearing, in a way, how contrived it all feels.
Not that it would've improved the novel if Hallinan's editor had caught these, but Selena is referred to as "Serena" and Barney Rubble as "Barney Flintstone." As a Hispanic and cartoon lover, I was equally embarrassed for this book.
Junior Bender (not for nothin', but I get the feelin' here that Hallinan watched every episode of The Sopranos) is a Los Angeles burglar. When we first meet Junior, he's at a greasy spoon in the Valley talking to his handler about this job she wants him to do. I'm always tickled by crime fiction in which a coupla crooks diagram their crimes out loud in public. Not believable unless you want to convince me that your crooks are morons. One way to achieve that would probably not have Junior use "crook" as a noun. He's a thief with a library card, see, a well-read gentleman so smart he's talking about his crimes in a restaurant. It just doesn't line up.
Junior has an ex-wife and a kid somewhere. Thieves almost always have a kid somewhere, or meet up with a kid. I'm getting pretty anxious at this point in the novel, not with suspense, but because what I'm reading feels awful familiar. Then Junior goes on a job. Hallinan writes tools of the trade action well and even when it tilts toward Cartoon Land, I didn't give up on the book. It's only after Junior is captured by hoods and talks, and talks, and talks, to people with names with Mr. Wattles or Trey Annuziato (she took over a Valley racket from her old man, capice?) about people like Rabbits Stennet that I just got bored.
"I'm Trey Annunziato," the blond woman said, holding out her free hand. I shook it, and she settled onto the chaise with one bare foot tucked beneath her, and patiently waited for me to finish looking at her. Up close, she was the kind of thin that's just a little more than intentional, the kind of thin that speaks to a life of boneless skinless chicken breasts, salad with dressing on the side, sashimi rather than sushi, and personal control issues. The bones of her face, perfect as they were, could have used a little softening, and the ball joints on the outside of her wrists were as prominent as marbles implanted beneath the skin. The eyes were chocolate brown, an odd contrast with the pale hair, and the whites had a faint bluish cast, like skim milk. She held up the hand with the bottle in it, and The Man In Black Without a Collar took it. "Would you do the pouring, Eduardo?" she asked. Her tone was sweet enough, but I noticed she didn't feel any need to look over at him.
Eduardo poured.
Let's examine how this Elmore Leonard wannabe fails many if not all of Elmore Leoanrd's 10 Rules For Good Writing:
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. See above.
Don't go into great detail describing places and things. See above. Half of this scene seems to involve people pouring drinks. Maybe Hallinan is a more avid drinker than I am. Probably.
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. 8-16% of this novel focuses on Junior in a chair being told things. He can't walk away because there's a crooked cop there to stop him and also Junior has been framed. Nothing bad is going to happen to him, clearly, he just can't go anywhere. Kind of like I felt reading this novel. Characters tell Junior about other characters. They tell him stories. They do everything but get to the point quickly or stop talking. We the reader know nothing bad is about to happen to Junior, not at the 10% mark, probably not ever, so there's no suspense here. It's just writing I hoped had been left out.
My most important rule is one that sums up the 10.
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
I wasn't offended or even disappointed in Crashed. When it's revealed that the Bad Guys want Junior, a professional thief, to supervise the production of a porn movie, I knew it was time for me to move on, but I wasn't bitter about it. I was reminded of junior high school kids putting on a play, a la the Max Fischer Players in Rushmore, from their own script. Crashed is like Max's idea of an Elmore Leonard caper based entirely on his knowledge of Elmore Leonard capers. It's sweet and endearing, in a way, how contrived it all feels.
Not that it would've improved the novel if Hallinan's editor had caught these, but Selena is referred to as "Serena" and Barney Rubble as "Barney Flintstone." As a Hispanic and cartoon lover, I was equally embarrassed for this book.
July 22, 2013
Career-burgler Junior Bender has picked up a gig from a "facilitator," whose client wants Junior to steal a Paul Klee painting from some people who are currently on vacation. She has provided the layout and other info Junior will need to know -- but what she doesn't know is that there's a video camera that is tracking Junior's every move. Sadly, he discovers it too late...and the guy who monitors the stored recordings has him in a corner. He will either work for Trey Annunziato, "a third-generation hood," "heir to the Valley's most diversified crime family," and "Mount Rushmore with hair," and do the job right, or his face will be the one the painting's owners see on the recording when they come back from their vacation. Trey is planning to go straight and has decided to make one last porno movie "to finance everybody's transition to the straight life," meaning all of those people involved in her criminal activities. The star is going to be a former child actress, a young woman named Thistle Downing who captured everyone's hearts on her own television show some years earlier but now is a drug addict having trouble making it through the day. While Trey's plan to exploit Thistle is already in progress, there are people who don't want to see the film made, and there have already been problems. Junior's job is to make sure Thistle is ready to work, and to see that the film gets made at any cost. As Junior soon finds out, this won't be easy -- and when one of his friends ends up dead, it becomes personal.
It sounds kind of like a cut-and-dried kind of mystery, but no. There are multiple laugh-out-loud moments and the author's totally nailed LA and the Valley here, along with the various personality types you find living there. No one is safe from his snark here, most especially the media vultures and the film industry.
Crashed is a book that is hard to dislike -- and I don't really have anything on the negatory side to say about it. It's good for all crime readers, especially when you want something on the lighter as opposed to edgy side, although it does have its moments of blood, guts and wisecracks. As an anti-hero, Junior's one of the best -- he has a conscience and a very clear sense of morality with lines he tries not to cross unless absolutely necessary. In his own burglar sort of way, he's a wonderful dad, and has made a promise to himself to never lie to his daughter -- who has her own very cool personality as well. Definitely a first-rate series starter, and after I finish this series, I'll be off to find others by this writer. I LOVED this book, and I think my enthusiasm must have bubbled over, because now my husband wants to read it. We never agree on crime novels, but I think this book may prove to be the exception.
It sounds kind of like a cut-and-dried kind of mystery, but no. There are multiple laugh-out-loud moments and the author's totally nailed LA and the Valley here, along with the various personality types you find living there. No one is safe from his snark here, most especially the media vultures and the film industry.
Crashed is a book that is hard to dislike -- and I don't really have anything on the negatory side to say about it. It's good for all crime readers, especially when you want something on the lighter as opposed to edgy side, although it does have its moments of blood, guts and wisecracks. As an anti-hero, Junior's one of the best -- he has a conscience and a very clear sense of morality with lines he tries not to cross unless absolutely necessary. In his own burglar sort of way, he's a wonderful dad, and has made a promise to himself to never lie to his daughter -- who has her own very cool personality as well. Definitely a first-rate series starter, and after I finish this series, I'll be off to find others by this writer. I LOVED this book, and I think my enthusiasm must have bubbled over, because now my husband wants to read it. We never agree on crime novels, but I think this book may prove to be the exception.
October 7, 2013
”For most people who write thrillers and mysteries, creating crooks is more than half the fun. They’re intrinsically interesting because they’ve rejected the standard set of values and, since we all need values of some kind, they’ve invented their own. It was probably just a matter of time before I came up with a series that’s essentially all crooks.”—Tim Hallinan
Tim Hallinan wrote the quote above in the “Author’s Note” to the first book in his new series featuring Junior Bender ("Burglar to the Stars") in Los Angeles. For those readers unfamiliar with Hallinan’s work, he has written a series set in Thailand featuring Poke Rafferty, a travel writer with a heart of gold and karma to burn. Rafferty makes a lot of sense (and friends) defending the underdog in unequal transactions and seems to grasp the essentially welcoming Thai society is not as morally deficient as it is painted by some critics, but has a strong sense of values that are easily transgressed by unwitting or unthinking Westerners.
In the Junior Bender series Hallinan turns his eagle eye on Los Angeles for a change. The reader can tell he is having a blast with the range of folks and the shifting sense of morality he encountered there. Hallinan still has a strong instinct for protecting the underdog: witness his lack of judgment about the drug addiction of his latest fictional charge, a young female actress on a downward spiral snookered into making a porn film. These are verboten subjects in Western educated circles but Hallinan doesn’t let it faze him. He has the “come to me with your handicaps” generosity of the Dalai or the Pope. And if those two men of god will fix your afterlife, Hallinan, and his henchman Junior Bender, will fix the here-and-now.
The pace in this novel is fast—the whole thing takes place in a couple of sleepless days (the reader may experience this also)-- and the subject matter is edgy. California is once again on the leading edge in reformulating “moral man.” But everybody is a crook of some sort, as Hallinan said in the opening quote to this review, so one has to roll with the attitude and take the material for the laughs. Moral insights are there, however, as they always are with Hallinan’s books, which makes it thought-provoking and good discussion material. How far would we be willing to go, given the same constraints or circumstances?
Check out the genesis of this series on Tim Hallinan’s website. Hallinan is a man who doesn’t let a little negativity let him down. When his long-time publisher didn’t want an L.A. series, Hallinan self-published until Soho Crime picked him up. Now he has sold the film rights and the audio rights. But he’s got it going on now: visit this review by blogger and former Valley girl Nancy O.
July 8, 2017
3.5 stars. A fun mystery thriller. There wasn't anything terribly profound about it, although the plight of the child star was heart-wrenching, but it was quite entertaining. Just the right mix of humor.
It was well narrated & the publisher made each chapter an audio file, a real plus. I'll certainly listen to another.
It was well narrated & the publisher made each chapter an audio file, a real plus. I'll certainly listen to another.
September 4, 2016
My first book that I have read from Timothy Hallinan,but certainly not my last! Very enjoyable and entertaining. The reason I read this book is GoodReads! Another member mentioned his name in his review of Duane Lindsay's-Missing Amanda. This the reason that GR is my favorite web site.
April 29, 2017
It's not something we think about very often, but it's pretty inevitable that villains will prey on other villains as well as on straights. By definition, the victim-villains can't go to the cops for help. What do they do? The answer in any number of other crime books is, they grab a gun and do their own vigilante thing. But in Crashed, the first installment in a series, the victim-villain goes another way: hire another villain to investigate the case and enact whatever passes for justice in this context.
Our detective-villain in this case is "Junior" Bender, a burglar of some repute, whom we meet at work dealing with vicious, hungry dogs and an insufficiently secured chandelier. He's hornswoggled into taking a job from Trey Annunziato, an L.A. organized-crime boss who's trying to go legit. She (yes, and a comely she, of course) has a problem: someone's trying to sabotage a major porn production she's financing. This particular production stars Thistle Downing, a former child star who has not only hit the skids, but has left a miles-long skid mark on the freeway of life. Junior gets to find the culprit or his extremities will be fed to the dogs previously mentioned.
Author Hallinan knows how to put a story together and how to populate it with vivid oddball characters. His Los Angeles settings show a more-than-passing familiarity with both the downmarket and upscale parts of the city, especially the San Fernando Valley. His descriptions come somewhere in between the extremes of feast and famine that we see in novels -- detailed enough to clearly see the place or person being featured without wallowing in adjectives. The book reads fast and light; I probably could have put it away in a couple sittings if I'd had the time.
Junior is somewhat closer to the Rhodenbarr end of the fictional-burglar spectrum than he is to the Parker end. Still, he's not exactly cuddly, and he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty with things worse than dog treats. He has the requisite rotten upbringing and difficulty maintaining adult relationships, and the kind of quirks (he lives in an endless rotation of fleabag hotels) we've come to expect of our protagonist-criminals. He does have his soft spots and weaknesses -- which usually involve women in need of rescue -- and in general you won't mind following him around (which, since he's the narrator, you have to).
Thistle is what's left of an adolescent female version of Robin Williams: a gifted comic performer whose skill at mimicry and fierce improv licks carried an otherwise dire '90s sitcom to pop-culture-icon status. The talent's still there, buried under the drugs, bad attitude and general hopelessness. She presents as a realistically muddled, hard-bitten victim of the Hollywood machine who has just enough of a spark left to take the help Junior offers her.
The other major characters are more-or-less types and are likely to be part of the series' stock company. Since most live on the other side of the legal line, they have colorful nicknames, unusual physical features, and predictably unhealthy habits. At times it felt like Guys and Dolls shed some of its players and they fell into this novel; you'll have to decide for yourself whether that's a good thing.
It does tend to fit the story's overall ethos, though. The author clearly had '30s screwball comedy on his mind when he put digital ink to virtual paper. Junior is a smartass, as is nearly every other character. There's a lot of snappy banter going on, the kind that never happens in real life because nobody's that good with a comeback. Unfortunately, it tends to make the dialog seem sameish no matter who's speaking. The situations and twists are usually fun enough that you won't mind that they take place in a parallel universe. If La La Land had been a crime story rather than a romance, it would've been something like this.
Crashed is a wised-up, wiseacre caper story that starts rather than ends with a heist. The Runyonesque characters, rimshot dialog and general eccentricity mean that you'll have to approach this novel with precisely the right mindset and expectations or you'll meet with great disappointment or, perhaps, cognitive dissonance. Don't try to take any of this seriously and you might have some fun.
Our detective-villain in this case is "Junior" Bender, a burglar of some repute, whom we meet at work dealing with vicious, hungry dogs and an insufficiently secured chandelier. He's hornswoggled into taking a job from Trey Annunziato, an L.A. organized-crime boss who's trying to go legit. She (yes, and a comely she, of course) has a problem: someone's trying to sabotage a major porn production she's financing. This particular production stars Thistle Downing, a former child star who has not only hit the skids, but has left a miles-long skid mark on the freeway of life. Junior gets to find the culprit or his extremities will be fed to the dogs previously mentioned.
Author Hallinan knows how to put a story together and how to populate it with vivid oddball characters. His Los Angeles settings show a more-than-passing familiarity with both the downmarket and upscale parts of the city, especially the San Fernando Valley. His descriptions come somewhere in between the extremes of feast and famine that we see in novels -- detailed enough to clearly see the place or person being featured without wallowing in adjectives. The book reads fast and light; I probably could have put it away in a couple sittings if I'd had the time.
Junior is somewhat closer to the Rhodenbarr end of the fictional-burglar spectrum than he is to the Parker end. Still, he's not exactly cuddly, and he doesn't mind getting his hands dirty with things worse than dog treats. He has the requisite rotten upbringing and difficulty maintaining adult relationships, and the kind of quirks (he lives in an endless rotation of fleabag hotels) we've come to expect of our protagonist-criminals. He does have his soft spots and weaknesses -- which usually involve women in need of rescue -- and in general you won't mind following him around (which, since he's the narrator, you have to).
Thistle is what's left of an adolescent female version of Robin Williams: a gifted comic performer whose skill at mimicry and fierce improv licks carried an otherwise dire '90s sitcom to pop-culture-icon status. The talent's still there, buried under the drugs, bad attitude and general hopelessness. She presents as a realistically muddled, hard-bitten victim of the Hollywood machine who has just enough of a spark left to take the help Junior offers her.
The other major characters are more-or-less types and are likely to be part of the series' stock company. Since most live on the other side of the legal line, they have colorful nicknames, unusual physical features, and predictably unhealthy habits. At times it felt like Guys and Dolls shed some of its players and they fell into this novel; you'll have to decide for yourself whether that's a good thing.
It does tend to fit the story's overall ethos, though. The author clearly had '30s screwball comedy on his mind when he put digital ink to virtual paper. Junior is a smartass, as is nearly every other character. There's a lot of snappy banter going on, the kind that never happens in real life because nobody's that good with a comeback. Unfortunately, it tends to make the dialog seem sameish no matter who's speaking. The situations and twists are usually fun enough that you won't mind that they take place in a parallel universe. If La La Land had been a crime story rather than a romance, it would've been something like this.
Crashed is a wised-up, wiseacre caper story that starts rather than ends with a heist. The Runyonesque characters, rimshot dialog and general eccentricity mean that you'll have to approach this novel with precisely the right mindset and expectations or you'll meet with great disappointment or, perhaps, cognitive dissonance. Don't try to take any of this seriously and you might have some fun.
July 6, 2013
Again, I'm in the minority with my negative review on this one. SPOILERS: First off, the entire premise of the book is REE-DIC-U-LOUS!! Why would a crime organization blackmail a thief to solve a mystery? Why not an ex-cop, or a private investigator? They did not even know this guy, yet they are trusting him to protect a project worth millions of dollars. Yeah, that makes sense.
So right off the bat I'm taken out of the story. In addition, I hate chapter titles. They are pointless. They added to my already high dislike level of this book. I realize the writer attempted to bring an "old-school" feel to the book with the chapter titles and the writing style, but for me, it failed.
The ending was horrible. Most of the issues were wrapped up with a quick visit to an unknown character who made a few phone calls and cleared up the many problems for the protagonist. Creative? Nope! You spend an entire book with this character and you want to see a resolution which makes sense. It seemed like the author got tired of writing or needed to make a deadline, snapped his fingers, and resolved the book. How un-creative can you get?
When I first rated the book, I had it at 2 stars, however, the more I think about it the more I hated it. 1 Star.
So right off the bat I'm taken out of the story. In addition, I hate chapter titles. They are pointless. They added to my already high dislike level of this book. I realize the writer attempted to bring an "old-school" feel to the book with the chapter titles and the writing style, but for me, it failed.
The ending was horrible. Most of the issues were wrapped up with a quick visit to an unknown character who made a few phone calls and cleared up the many problems for the protagonist. Creative? Nope! You spend an entire book with this character and you want to see a resolution which makes sense. It seemed like the author got tired of writing or needed to make a deadline, snapped his fingers, and resolved the book. How un-creative can you get?
When I first rated the book, I had it at 2 stars, however, the more I think about it the more I hated it. 1 Star.
May 13, 2016
PROTAGONIST: Junior Bender, burglar
SETTING: LA
SERIES: 1 of 3
RATING: 4.5
CRASHED is a book that drew me in right from the first chapter. Junior Bender is a burglar who has been commissioned to steal a valuable painting from an upscale home. The job is a tough one—he has to enter through the front door, which is completely visible, and the property is guarded by five Rottweilers. Of course, things go wrong; and when they do, Junior finds very creative ways to manage the situation. That first chapter serves as a fine example of how inventive and witty the author can be. What it doesn’t show is how much heart is hidden within the humor.
After the little art-stealing fiasco, Junior discovers that he’s robbed a major crime figure and has set himself up for a world of trouble. He finds a way out when he meets with crime boss Trey Annnziato who is channeling her organization into legitimate businesses. At the moment, she has taken on producing a porn movie starring a former child acting prodigy, Thistle Downing. It appears that someone is trying to sabotage the movie, and Trey needs Junior to find out who and keep the movie shooting. After meeting Thistle and discovering that she is destitute and addicted to drugs, he assumes responsibility for her welfare. It breaks his heart to see what she has become and how her talent has been wasted.
Junior has his hands full, to say the least. Whoever is trying to stop the movie being made has upped the bar and killed one of Junior’s best friends who was surveilling Thistle’s apartment and attempted to kill Thistle as well. Thistle herself is quite self destructive, and it’s all Junior can do to keep her clean. Despite being a criminal, he finds that he cares about this lost person and is horrified by the idea of her having to perform sexual acts in the movie. He’s determined to get her away from that, but how can he do so without ending up in a slab of concrete when the original theft comes to light?
CRASHED is full of memorable, distinctive characters. Many of them present a real dichotomy of values. There’s Junior, who is a criminal but someone who has a real heart and is willing to go the limit for those he cares about. The crime boss, Trey, is a real entrepreneur who recognizes that her organization’s will be far more successful if they move into legal activities. Jimmy’s friend, Ji Ming Ding, is a gangster who loves Jimmy Dean fanatic (try saying his name). Hallinan builds a believable plot, filled with both humor and pathos, but never taking things to anything beyond believable.
I thoroughly enjoyed CRASHED and look forward to the next two books in the series, which will be published next year. Those of you who are fans of the Simeon Grist and Poke Rafferty series by Hallinan will find CRASHED to be quite different from those books but equally entertaining.
SETTING: LA
SERIES: 1 of 3
RATING: 4.5
CRASHED is a book that drew me in right from the first chapter. Junior Bender is a burglar who has been commissioned to steal a valuable painting from an upscale home. The job is a tough one—he has to enter through the front door, which is completely visible, and the property is guarded by five Rottweilers. Of course, things go wrong; and when they do, Junior finds very creative ways to manage the situation. That first chapter serves as a fine example of how inventive and witty the author can be. What it doesn’t show is how much heart is hidden within the humor.
After the little art-stealing fiasco, Junior discovers that he’s robbed a major crime figure and has set himself up for a world of trouble. He finds a way out when he meets with crime boss Trey Annnziato who is channeling her organization into legitimate businesses. At the moment, she has taken on producing a porn movie starring a former child acting prodigy, Thistle Downing. It appears that someone is trying to sabotage the movie, and Trey needs Junior to find out who and keep the movie shooting. After meeting Thistle and discovering that she is destitute and addicted to drugs, he assumes responsibility for her welfare. It breaks his heart to see what she has become and how her talent has been wasted.
Junior has his hands full, to say the least. Whoever is trying to stop the movie being made has upped the bar and killed one of Junior’s best friends who was surveilling Thistle’s apartment and attempted to kill Thistle as well. Thistle herself is quite self destructive, and it’s all Junior can do to keep her clean. Despite being a criminal, he finds that he cares about this lost person and is horrified by the idea of her having to perform sexual acts in the movie. He’s determined to get her away from that, but how can he do so without ending up in a slab of concrete when the original theft comes to light?
CRASHED is full of memorable, distinctive characters. Many of them present a real dichotomy of values. There’s Junior, who is a criminal but someone who has a real heart and is willing to go the limit for those he cares about. The crime boss, Trey, is a real entrepreneur who recognizes that her organization’s will be far more successful if they move into legal activities. Jimmy’s friend, Ji Ming Ding, is a gangster who loves Jimmy Dean fanatic (try saying his name). Hallinan builds a believable plot, filled with both humor and pathos, but never taking things to anything beyond believable.
I thoroughly enjoyed CRASHED and look forward to the next two books in the series, which will be published next year. Those of you who are fans of the Simeon Grist and Poke Rafferty series by Hallinan will find CRASHED to be quite different from those books but equally entertaining.
March 19, 2014
Timothy Hallinan has created an intriguing, funny character in his Junior Bender mystery series set in Los Angeles. Readers first meet professional burglar Junior Bender in “Crashed’’.
But Junior is more than an ordinary burglar. His intelligence and skills have made him the go-to guy for crooks with problems. Do you want to know who stole your stolen painting? Then Junior is the person for the job, if you can put up with his wise-cracking remarks and moral streak (yes, a burglar can have a moral streak.)
Junior has a big heart, which means he doesn’t always go along with the demands of his clients if he thinks the job goes against his moral code. He also dearly loves his 12-year-old daughter, who he doesn’t get to see as much as he would like because his ex-wife doesn’t approve of his lifestyle or career path.
In “Crashed’’, Junior is hired under duress (meaning, blackmailed) by Trey Annunziato, the head of a notorious mob family, to find out who is sabotaging the pornographic movie she is making. The star of the movie is Thistle Downing, a washed-up, drugged-up young woman who had been the darling child star of a hit television series.
As Junior tries to figure out who is behind the problems on the movie set and gets to know Thistle more, he becomes more and more troubled about the whole movie venture. He is helped out by his old friend, Louie the Lost, another crook with a big heart. “Crashed’’ was an entertaining, quick read and Junior is a humorous, memorable protagonist.
But Junior is more than an ordinary burglar. His intelligence and skills have made him the go-to guy for crooks with problems. Do you want to know who stole your stolen painting? Then Junior is the person for the job, if you can put up with his wise-cracking remarks and moral streak (yes, a burglar can have a moral streak.)
Junior has a big heart, which means he doesn’t always go along with the demands of his clients if he thinks the job goes against his moral code. He also dearly loves his 12-year-old daughter, who he doesn’t get to see as much as he would like because his ex-wife doesn’t approve of his lifestyle or career path.
In “Crashed’’, Junior is hired under duress (meaning, blackmailed) by Trey Annunziato, the head of a notorious mob family, to find out who is sabotaging the pornographic movie she is making. The star of the movie is Thistle Downing, a washed-up, drugged-up young woman who had been the darling child star of a hit television series.
As Junior tries to figure out who is behind the problems on the movie set and gets to know Thistle more, he becomes more and more troubled about the whole movie venture. He is helped out by his old friend, Louie the Lost, another crook with a big heart. “Crashed’’ was an entertaining, quick read and Junior is a humorous, memorable protagonist.
July 31, 2017
Junior Bender only works two days a month. He is a professional burglar who lives in cheap motel rooms in the Los Angeles area. He spends his spare time reading and is self taught.
The book starts out with Junior being hired to break into a house on a very busy street in broad daylight. The entry is very close to the street. In the back of the house, he can hear the pack of man eating rottweilers. In what seems to be an unlikely successful burglary, he does get away with the painting he went in for. It did not go smoothly though and he comes out looking pretty banged up.
He then finds out he was set up by a third generation organized crime leader. He is blackmailed in helping the leader Trey.
The organized crime leader Trey, has decided to go legitimate. She is selling off her crime businesses and starting new businesses within the law. She has hired a young women who was a tv super star during her youth for her porno movie. The young woman is all strung out from drugs. Trey wants Junior to find out who is trying to sabotage the movie being made.
There are various quirky characters. Some I hope are in future books. There was humor. It was a different and good read.
The book starts out with Junior being hired to break into a house on a very busy street in broad daylight. The entry is very close to the street. In the back of the house, he can hear the pack of man eating rottweilers. In what seems to be an unlikely successful burglary, he does get away with the painting he went in for. It did not go smoothly though and he comes out looking pretty banged up.
He then finds out he was set up by a third generation organized crime leader. He is blackmailed in helping the leader Trey.
The organized crime leader Trey, has decided to go legitimate. She is selling off her crime businesses and starting new businesses within the law. She has hired a young women who was a tv super star during her youth for her porno movie. The young woman is all strung out from drugs. Trey wants Junior to find out who is trying to sabotage the movie being made.
There are various quirky characters. Some I hope are in future books. There was humor. It was a different and good read.
August 12, 2019
Junior Bender is a crook; he'll be the first to admit it, though not to those in law enforcement. He is a crook, but he's not stupid. In fact, he is one of the most intelligent self-taught men in fiction. His moral compass may be skewed where his burglarizing deeds are concerned, but as it turns out, his ethics in other matters is commendable.
Fans of Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series will enjoy Timothy Hallinan's Junior Bender. As I've also learned, another author who writes in the same vein as these two is Carl Hiaasen, whose work I will also soon be checking out. Hallinan enjoys writing the Junior Bender series, fortunately for those of us who find ourselves fans of this criminal protagonist.
Fans of Donald Westlake's Dortmunder series will enjoy Timothy Hallinan's Junior Bender. As I've also learned, another author who writes in the same vein as these two is Carl Hiaasen, whose work I will also soon be checking out. Hallinan enjoys writing the Junior Bender series, fortunately for those of us who find ourselves fans of this criminal protagonist.
October 9, 2018
Clever little caper novel, if you're into clever little capers. Eh. I kept on having this vision with the author busily typing away on his computer, with a mirror attached to the monitor. And every time he wrote something clever, he'd smirk at himself.
March 7, 2016
CRASHED is one of those novels that's a bit hard to categorize. It's sort of a thriller combined with a whodunnit.
However, it starts out looking very much like a crime caper. The story takes place in Los Angeles and surrounding area. The protagonist is a burglar named Junior Bender (which kept reminding me of Junior Walker, but that's another story) who's enlisted to steal some artwork from the home of a big criminal-type guy. But really that's neither here nor there, because after a chain of Rube Goldberg-like events involving a safe, some diamonds, a chandelier and a pack of Rottweilers, Junior ends up in a compromising position. Thus, he's convinced (i.e., blackmailed) to work for crime queenpin Trey Annunziato. Trey inherited the business from her gangster father, who she's rumored to have offed. Anyhow, Trey wants to go straight. And she forces, er, hires Junior to babysit the star of a porn film trilogy that's supposed to finance her way out of the underworld. That star is Thistle Downing, a destitute and drugged-out former child star of major proportions.
Okay, so the story is really about a burglar sort of hired to make sure this dazed and drug-addled former child acting prodigy shows up and actually makes this porn movie. And even though Junior is supposed to be working for Trey (who's tough, but not totally unsympathetic), he ends up feeling conflicted when he sees what's happened to Thistle (super talented child who's grown up into a worn down nub of her former self). Oh, and by the way, it turns out that someone's trying to kill Thistle. However, another person is murdered instead.
Hmm. That sucks.
This is one of those stories that could so easily slip into mere cliché in lesser hands. After all, the child star-turned-drug addict has become almost a Hollywood icon. Plus does it come as a great surprise that Junior is divorced and his ex-wife gives him grief over visitation with their daughter? Something about burgling houses doesn't sit well with the ex. Imagine.
However, what makes this book absolutely worth the reading is the way it's written. Timothy Hallinan has a way with description that's brilliant, but seems effortless (which it's not, of course) and writes dialogue so snappy and engaging, it disappoints when the scenes end.
Junior may be a burglar, but in a literary sense, he follows in the footsteps of Philip Marlowe. He does so without being imitative or derivative.
Hallinan puts his unique stamp on the hardboiled genre and makes it his own. Whether its the description of traffic on a rainy night in LA or the feeling of being up at three AM, unable to sleep, Hallinan writes in a way that's wholly fresh and memorable, as if it were being done for the first time.
Read the entire review at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2010/...
However, it starts out looking very much like a crime caper. The story takes place in Los Angeles and surrounding area. The protagonist is a burglar named Junior Bender (which kept reminding me of Junior Walker, but that's another story) who's enlisted to steal some artwork from the home of a big criminal-type guy. But really that's neither here nor there, because after a chain of Rube Goldberg-like events involving a safe, some diamonds, a chandelier and a pack of Rottweilers, Junior ends up in a compromising position. Thus, he's convinced (i.e., blackmailed) to work for crime queenpin Trey Annunziato. Trey inherited the business from her gangster father, who she's rumored to have offed. Anyhow, Trey wants to go straight. And she forces, er, hires Junior to babysit the star of a porn film trilogy that's supposed to finance her way out of the underworld. That star is Thistle Downing, a destitute and drugged-out former child star of major proportions.
Okay, so the story is really about a burglar sort of hired to make sure this dazed and drug-addled former child acting prodigy shows up and actually makes this porn movie. And even though Junior is supposed to be working for Trey (who's tough, but not totally unsympathetic), he ends up feeling conflicted when he sees what's happened to Thistle (super talented child who's grown up into a worn down nub of her former self). Oh, and by the way, it turns out that someone's trying to kill Thistle. However, another person is murdered instead.
Hmm. That sucks.
This is one of those stories that could so easily slip into mere cliché in lesser hands. After all, the child star-turned-drug addict has become almost a Hollywood icon. Plus does it come as a great surprise that Junior is divorced and his ex-wife gives him grief over visitation with their daughter? Something about burgling houses doesn't sit well with the ex. Imagine.
However, what makes this book absolutely worth the reading is the way it's written. Timothy Hallinan has a way with description that's brilliant, but seems effortless (which it's not, of course) and writes dialogue so snappy and engaging, it disappoints when the scenes end.
Junior may be a burglar, but in a literary sense, he follows in the footsteps of Philip Marlowe. He does so without being imitative or derivative.
Hallinan puts his unique stamp on the hardboiled genre and makes it his own. Whether its the description of traffic on a rainy night in LA or the feeling of being up at three AM, unable to sleep, Hallinan writes in a way that's wholly fresh and memorable, as if it were being done for the first time.
Read the entire review at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2010/...
August 3, 2013
Crashed has all the potential to be a book I love. I love thieves. I love mysteries. I like first person novels.
But I found myself struggling to get through. I finished it, which is something I very often don't do with a novel I can't quite find a friendship with.
But this novel should have been great.
Junior is very smart and Hallinan likes to make him narrate in a modern snarky voice. And to be clear, Hallinan is very good at this sort of snark. Which is fine for the occasional one line to punctuate narration,and is great in conversations. But when you are reading first person narration it becomes contrived and starts to feel like a blog post. At least to me. I think Hallinan would have been better off keeping it to just dialogue.
The book would have been better if Hallinan either wholeheartedly embraces his "women are the weaker sex and should be protected" theme instead of apologizing for it's existence and doing it anyway. Actually, I think it would have been a better book if he had made it grittier by embracing the idea that a woman can be killed and a woman isn't necessarily making a disastrous life choice if she chooses freely to be a porn star. In any case, the constant pointing what an old fashioned idea it is that Bender was acting like women were to be protected was like inserting excuses for sexism.
But neither of those things is what made it a slog. I think I had a hard time caring about what was going to happen next. Mostly because I didn't get the motivations of the characters. Why was the mob boss wanting to straight, it didn't seem to fit with her caricature like being. Why would his kid and ex-wife have so much emotional interest in his involvement in this situation.
I often confused the two thugs in the plot, they were identical characters in action and apparently motivation, which was 'I'm stupid and I like to hit things for other people'? The real villain is introduced at the end of the book, except as referenced by other people. The pawn was obvious from it's introduction.
Finally, Bender is about as emotionally revealing as a comic book. He is facing some scary things, some emotionally trying things and exhausting things. I never felt any empathy for him because the snark wall of cleverness in his narration is never inviting us to sympathize with his emotional state.
All of this review is a way of saying I really wish I liked this book more because it's a great concept. However, I'm probably going to give the next one a chance because I've learned that I almost always find the second book in a series better than the first. And it's the second one that hooks me. I should probably just start reading a series with the second one.
But I found myself struggling to get through. I finished it, which is something I very often don't do with a novel I can't quite find a friendship with.
But this novel should have been great.
Junior is very smart and Hallinan likes to make him narrate in a modern snarky voice. And to be clear, Hallinan is very good at this sort of snark. Which is fine for the occasional one line to punctuate narration,and is great in conversations. But when you are reading first person narration it becomes contrived and starts to feel like a blog post. At least to me. I think Hallinan would have been better off keeping it to just dialogue.
The book would have been better if Hallinan either wholeheartedly embraces his "women are the weaker sex and should be protected" theme instead of apologizing for it's existence and doing it anyway. Actually, I think it would have been a better book if he had made it grittier by embracing the idea that a woman can be killed and a woman isn't necessarily making a disastrous life choice if she chooses freely to be a porn star. In any case, the constant pointing what an old fashioned idea it is that Bender was acting like women were to be protected was like inserting excuses for sexism.
But neither of those things is what made it a slog. I think I had a hard time caring about what was going to happen next. Mostly because I didn't get the motivations of the characters. Why was the mob boss wanting to straight, it didn't seem to fit with her caricature like being. Why would his kid and ex-wife have so much emotional interest in his involvement in this situation.
I often confused the two thugs in the plot, they were identical characters in action and apparently motivation, which was 'I'm stupid and I like to hit things for other people'? The real villain is introduced at the end of the book, except as referenced by other people. The pawn was obvious from it's introduction.
Finally, Bender is about as emotionally revealing as a comic book. He is facing some scary things, some emotionally trying things and exhausting things. I never felt any empathy for him because the snark wall of cleverness in his narration is never inviting us to sympathize with his emotional state.
All of this review is a way of saying I really wish I liked this book more because it's a great concept. However, I'm probably going to give the next one a chance because I've learned that I almost always find the second book in a series better than the first. And it's the second one that hooks me. I should probably just start reading a series with the second one.
July 2, 2013
My favorite mystery authors have been dying off, one by one. With the demises of Donald Westlake and Robert B Parker, I was fearful of finding a decent story, told with intelligence and humor. But thanks to Nancy Pearl's recommendations NPR for books under the radar, I've discovered Hallinan, and his Junior Bender, and am a happy girl.
This is apparently the first in a newish series for Hallinan. (I've got the second requested at CCPL, and just saw that another one is due out any moment. Bender (whose first name is actually "Junior" . His father was a junior, but despised the name so much that he didn't want to saddle his son with it, so just gave him the Junior bit) is a burglar. And he's smart. He's been doing his craft since he was fourteen, and hasn't been caught yet. But, he's in for a bit of a tough time when he basically blackmailed to work for one of LA's crime bosses. There's trouble on a movie set for a film the boss is producing and Bender is put in charge of keeping things straight and getting the job jobbed.
Only problem is, it's a porn movie that is to star a former child actress/American sweetheart, currently down, out, drugged, and on a pretty impressive downward slide. And it turns out that Junior has a heavy dose of compassion in his make-up, as well as brains.
The writing and dialog is good, filled with amusing bits. The twists and solutions Junior comes up with were also amusing. Junior is unashamed that he's a burglar, sees some benefits in a work schedule that keeps him pretty free most of the month, and lives mostly out of hotel rooms since his marriage ended. He has a good relationship with his young daughter. He reads a lot, and has pretty much charted a educational course that is probably better than what most undergrads get at a majority of universities. He's a self-made burglar, and comfortable in his own skin.
Looking forward to the next book with Junior.
This is apparently the first in a newish series for Hallinan. (I've got the second requested at CCPL, and just saw that another one is due out any moment. Bender (whose first name is actually "Junior" . His father was a junior, but despised the name so much that he didn't want to saddle his son with it, so just gave him the Junior bit) is a burglar. And he's smart. He's been doing his craft since he was fourteen, and hasn't been caught yet. But, he's in for a bit of a tough time when he basically blackmailed to work for one of LA's crime bosses. There's trouble on a movie set for a film the boss is producing and Bender is put in charge of keeping things straight and getting the job jobbed.
Only problem is, it's a porn movie that is to star a former child actress/American sweetheart, currently down, out, drugged, and on a pretty impressive downward slide. And it turns out that Junior has a heavy dose of compassion in his make-up, as well as brains.
The writing and dialog is good, filled with amusing bits. The twists and solutions Junior comes up with were also amusing. Junior is unashamed that he's a burglar, sees some benefits in a work schedule that keeps him pretty free most of the month, and lives mostly out of hotel rooms since his marriage ended. He has a good relationship with his young daughter. He reads a lot, and has pretty much charted a educational course that is probably better than what most undergrads get at a majority of universities. He's a self-made burglar, and comfortable in his own skin.
Looking forward to the next book with Junior.
November 25, 2018
I enjoyed this light read because of its humor and its convoluted plot. Yes, it strains credibility, but this is not great literature, just recreational reading that is much enhanced by the quality of the narration. I enjoy mysteries in which the hero is himself a criminal. This reminded me of the classic series by Richard Stark featuring Parker, although Junior is not nearly so ruthless. After all, he has a daughter he loves and and an ex-wife he hopes to win back. He's a little bit disarming in his forthrightness. I can imagine his going to a parent-teacher conference and, responding to the teacher's query about what he does for a living, that he is self-employed, a professional thief. I look forward to the next in the series.
Peter Berkot delivers an outstanding narration (5-star).
Peter Berkot delivers an outstanding narration (5-star).
February 9, 2022
3.5 stars. This was actually not a bad one. It took me a little bit to gel with the story and mainly it had to do with the narrator. I just couldn’t connect with his style of narration at first since this was a modern story and he seemed to be very cliche old world “gangster” in his inflection/narration. Once I got past that I could enjoy the story a bit more. Junior is witty, sarcastic and tries to do the right thing in all the wrong ways :). The secondary characters range from being interesting, engaging, to campish- which could have been very distracting but I did find myself enjoying because that’s people 🙄🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️. Despite the humor, the author did try to tackle some serious issues such as drug addiction, attempted suicide, child abandonment/endangerment, instability, mental health etc. overall not a bad start to the series.
May 31, 2022
This is an interesting noir style novel in which of our protagonist is a thief and a rather good one. He has a rich history that we don't know anything about, but it's becoming clearer as certain events in his past come out. He is tricked into robbing a gangster’s house and then blackmailed into protecting a movie star until the a porn film can be made so the gangster can go legitimate. Great story. Lots of classic or should be classic one liners. Interesting mystery, well worth a read. I think I'm going to check out this character again. I also like that he's not a traditional detective, not really a detective at all, but he's intelligent. Since he's on the other side of the law he doesn't necessarily have that credo of good must win in the end. Though he does care about his child he will do what he must to stay alive.
August 9, 2018
When it comes to burglars as protagonists in mysteries, Lawrence Block set the bar high with his Bernie Rhodenbarr series. With Crashed, the first Junior Bender, Tim Hallinan has surpassed the master. Bravo!
November 18, 2018
Brought home for husband, picked up while on vacation as something easy to read. LOVE IT! Junior Bender is a classic bad-guy-with-a-good-heart, and I truly enjoyed reading Hallinan put him through his paces.
Already ordered the 2nd book in the series to read over the Thanksgiving holiday!
Already ordered the 2nd book in the series to read over the Thanksgiving holiday!
November 3, 2014
Junior Bender is a burglar but he has some rather unique ways of approaching his jobs. Some of his methods will have you rolling on the floor laughing but they seem to work for him - at least most of the time. There are a few moments when the reader wonders if Junior will survive to steal another day.
An LA crime boss is producing a porn movie starring Thistle Downing. Thistle is a former child star who was loved by her fans but time has taken a toll on Thistle and she is currently living in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. The movie would bring income to Thistle but would only send her further down her current path of destruction.
Junior is blackmailed into accepting the free-lance job of finding out who is sabotaging this movie. His job is to keep the movie on track. The problem Junior is running into is that he likes Thistle and knows the movie is not the best thing for her even though she needs the money. Junior sets out to fulfill his obligation but at the same time do right by Thistle and this isn't an easy thing to do. Junior has some very interesting friends who lend a helping hand along the way.
I want to read more and more about Junior. He is a character that is full of charm and certainly has some interesting escapades. Crashed is written in a totally different style from the Bangkok series. This novel proves that Timothy Hallinan can entertain us with more than one type of novel and I for one want to read everything he writes.
An LA crime boss is producing a porn movie starring Thistle Downing. Thistle is a former child star who was loved by her fans but time has taken a toll on Thistle and she is currently living in a drug-induced stupor, destitute and uninsurable. The movie would bring income to Thistle but would only send her further down her current path of destruction.
Junior is blackmailed into accepting the free-lance job of finding out who is sabotaging this movie. His job is to keep the movie on track. The problem Junior is running into is that he likes Thistle and knows the movie is not the best thing for her even though she needs the money. Junior sets out to fulfill his obligation but at the same time do right by Thistle and this isn't an easy thing to do. Junior has some very interesting friends who lend a helping hand along the way.
I want to read more and more about Junior. He is a character that is full of charm and certainly has some interesting escapades. Crashed is written in a totally different style from the Bangkok series. This novel proves that Timothy Hallinan can entertain us with more than one type of novel and I for one want to read everything he writes.
January 11, 2015
Junior Bender has been a successful burglar since he was a teenage boy. However, everyone's luck runs out eventually, and when Junior is contracted to steal a Paul Klee painting, he finds he's been set up, a blackmail victim because of an inconvenient video surveillance system.
A Los Angeles crime boss, Trey Annunziato, needs Junior to protect her new movie project, a trilogy of porn films starring the former child television star, Thistle Downing. Someone is trying to shut Trey's production down, and whether it's disrupting the film set or killing the star, they don't care.
Downing was one of the biggest child stars of her time, but drugs, poor money choices, and parental problems have left her destitute and disillusioned. Junior takes a liking to the young woman and finds that he can't let her, or his 12-year old daughter, Rina, down. Now how can he help her without paying the ultimate price?
Hallinan has written an irreverently, nice guy in Junior Bender. He's a criminal with lots of smooth, intellectual edges. Although divorced, he still loves his wife, and cherishes his daughter. He'll do what's right as long as it falls within his unique moral code. If not, he'll do what's necessary.
Doing what's necessary happens a lot in Crashed and following Junior as he navigates through the land mines of bad girls and worse guys is great fun.
A Los Angeles crime boss, Trey Annunziato, needs Junior to protect her new movie project, a trilogy of porn films starring the former child television star, Thistle Downing. Someone is trying to shut Trey's production down, and whether it's disrupting the film set or killing the star, they don't care.
Downing was one of the biggest child stars of her time, but drugs, poor money choices, and parental problems have left her destitute and disillusioned. Junior takes a liking to the young woman and finds that he can't let her, or his 12-year old daughter, Rina, down. Now how can he help her without paying the ultimate price?
Hallinan has written an irreverently, nice guy in Junior Bender. He's a criminal with lots of smooth, intellectual edges. Although divorced, he still loves his wife, and cherishes his daughter. He'll do what's right as long as it falls within his unique moral code. If not, he'll do what's necessary.
Doing what's necessary happens a lot in Crashed and following Junior as he navigates through the land mines of bad girls and worse guys is great fun.
May 24, 2013
Sorry to be an outlier to what appear to be uniformly positive reviews, but this really wasn't my thing.
The "wow, Bender is really smart" parts came off to me as a stilted way for Hallman to show off how well read he is, the jokes weren't that great, the portrayal of women and homosexuals was troubling.
The "wow, Bender is really smart" parts came off to me as a stilted way for Hallman to show off how well read he is, the jokes weren't that great, the portrayal of women and homosexuals was troubling.
January 11, 2017
Reminded me of Shane Black's "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" at times. Loved it!
January 15, 2023
A little too straight mystery for me to continue with the series but at least I know what happened to Thistle Downing.
November 20, 2021
I very nearly gave this 5 stars. Junior Bender, a professional burglar, finds himself in a sticky mess after a contract theft, leaving him beholden to a bunch of folks, including a leading crime boss trying to go legit. To square himself, and get paid the $20,000 he desperately needs to pay child support, he agrees to work for the crime boss and make sure that former-child-star-now-druggie Thistle remains safe and alive and makes the porn flic that will make enough millions to assure crime boss can finish legitimizing the biz. You see, things keep happening on the shoot and the target seems to be Thistle, and they are increasingly threatening...
This was a totally entertaining, engaging romp full of sympathetic characters and the down and dirty side of Hollywood. Almost everyone is a crook and you just like them, except for the really bad ones. Junior himself is so relatable - a man who loves both his daughter and his ex, but whose profession is a problem to keeping the family together. He's smart, a bit slick, kind of cool, and definitely has a Robin Hood complex.
This had enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, paced well and wirtten well enough that when you have figured some piece of it out, you really don't mind that it is 'revealed' many chapters later.
I will definitely be reading more in this series.
This was a totally entertaining, engaging romp full of sympathetic characters and the down and dirty side of Hollywood. Almost everyone is a crook and you just like them, except for the really bad ones. Junior himself is so relatable - a man who loves both his daughter and his ex, but whose profession is a problem to keeping the family together. He's smart, a bit slick, kind of cool, and definitely has a Robin Hood complex.
This had enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, paced well and wirtten well enough that when you have figured some piece of it out, you really don't mind that it is 'revealed' many chapters later.
I will definitely be reading more in this series.
November 25, 2018
Flawed characters with a soul.
As i'm reading this i keep hearing Whitney Houston singing "I Will Always Love You"
Book reads like the movie 'The Bodyguard' Kevin Costner as Junior Bender and Whitney Houston as Thistle Downing.
Junior Bender, a burglar, turned-bodyguard is hired to protect Thistle Downing, a former child actress turned porn star, from an unknown stalker bent on sabotaging her first porn movie.
Well that's a new one.
A fast paced, well written, character driven book. Flawed characters with a soul.
The one problem is the dead bodies all over town. No witnesses? A woman walked up to Jimmy's car, shoots him in broad daylight and not one witness? A video camera? No forensics? Fingerprints? Where is Harry Bosch when you need him.
Anyway good read 3 1/2 stars
"And I... will always love you, ooh
Will always love you
My darling, you.
Bittersweet memories
That is all I'm taking with me.
So good-bye.
Please don't cry.
We both know I'm not what you, you need
And I... will always love you"
I think i hurt myself trying to reach that high note.
As i'm reading this i keep hearing Whitney Houston singing "I Will Always Love You"
Book reads like the movie 'The Bodyguard' Kevin Costner as Junior Bender and Whitney Houston as Thistle Downing.
Junior Bender, a burglar, turned-bodyguard is hired to protect Thistle Downing, a former child actress turned porn star, from an unknown stalker bent on sabotaging her first porn movie.
Well that's a new one.
A fast paced, well written, character driven book. Flawed characters with a soul.
The one problem is the dead bodies all over town. No witnesses? A woman walked up to Jimmy's car, shoots him in broad daylight and not one witness? A video camera? No forensics? Fingerprints? Where is Harry Bosch when you need him.
Anyway good read 3 1/2 stars
"And I... will always love you, ooh
Will always love you
My darling, you.
Bittersweet memories
That is all I'm taking with me.
So good-bye.
Please don't cry.
We both know I'm not what you, you need
And I... will always love you"
I think i hurt myself trying to reach that high note.
October 18, 2018
Los Angeles is a bottomless source of inspiration for crime novelists with its unique combination of glamor and sleaze, and Tim Hallinan makes great use of the material in this series novel featuring his burglar anti-hero Junior Bender.
Making a career criminal your protagonist can be a tough sell; the only way to do it is to go the Robin Hood route, with your guy only ripping off the unscrupulous rich and displaying ample sympathy for the downtrodden poor. That's Hallinan's formula, and it works well enough here. Junior is commissioned to steal a valuable painting from a gangster's mansion; it turns out to be a setup to pressure him into another job. The female head of a top L.A. crime family is making a porn film she hopes will fund her retirement; to guarantee it's a blockbuster she has contracted a former child TV star, now a drug-addicted failure in her early twenties, to play the lead, sex scenes and all. Junior's job is to baby-sit the star and make sure nobody sabotages the production.
It's a dirty business, and Junior decides he can't go along with it, but he can't back out or the gangster learns who swiped his painting. Whether Junior can extricate himself and the tormented former child star from the mess is the whole story.
I liked the book a lot; it's got the wisecracking, resourceful, multi-faceted hero, the colorful underworld cast, the twists and turns, dirty tricks and betrayals of a multi-party intrigue, with the threat of violence hanging over it all. And it has a lot to say about the corruption, legal and illegal, of the Hollywood fame machine and what it can do to people. A great read.
Making a career criminal your protagonist can be a tough sell; the only way to do it is to go the Robin Hood route, with your guy only ripping off the unscrupulous rich and displaying ample sympathy for the downtrodden poor. That's Hallinan's formula, and it works well enough here. Junior is commissioned to steal a valuable painting from a gangster's mansion; it turns out to be a setup to pressure him into another job. The female head of a top L.A. crime family is making a porn film she hopes will fund her retirement; to guarantee it's a blockbuster she has contracted a former child TV star, now a drug-addicted failure in her early twenties, to play the lead, sex scenes and all. Junior's job is to baby-sit the star and make sure nobody sabotages the production.
It's a dirty business, and Junior decides he can't go along with it, but he can't back out or the gangster learns who swiped his painting. Whether Junior can extricate himself and the tormented former child star from the mess is the whole story.
I liked the book a lot; it's got the wisecracking, resourceful, multi-faceted hero, the colorful underworld cast, the twists and turns, dirty tricks and betrayals of a multi-party intrigue, with the threat of violence hanging over it all. And it has a lot to say about the corruption, legal and illegal, of the Hollywood fame machine and what it can do to people. A great read.
December 24, 2018
I've read others in this series but somehow missed this one. It's complex, so don't snooze or you might lose track of the characters. And prepare to flex your standards for justice because there's what you might call immoral morality.
Read
August 21, 2022Junior Bender is a burglar, not a private investigator, so maybe I can’t properly classify it as hard-boiled or noir. But the atmosphere, language, and descriptions are as colourful as any Sam Spade. The characters are fun and described well. This twisty little mystery is a great read, I will definitely read more of the series.
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