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Jimmy "Soldier" Riley Mysteries #2
The Big Beyond: A Jimmy "Soldier" Riley Noir Novel
The Thrilling Sequel to The Big Goodbye . . .
History, Mystery, and Romance
Walk the mean streets of wartime Panama City with Jimmy "Soldier" Riley, a wounded, woman-haunted knight errant in Michael Lister's resonant new noir series Publisher's Weekly calls "a promising private detective series set in 1940s Florida," and Library Journal says "peppered with snappy dialog, this hard-boiled mystery by award winner Lister is a swell read."
What really happened to Soldier and Lauren the night they left town?
Did they survive? Will their love?
What comes after saying the big goodbye?
Is there anything out there in the big beyond?
Someone's trying to kill PI Jimmy “Soldier” Riley. And he's inclined to let them. But before sleeping the big sleep and journeying to the undiscovered country to discover what dreams may come, there’s blood work to be done.
Picking up right at the thrilling conclusion of The Big Goodbye, The Big Beyond finds Soldier near death with one hell of a big score to settle and more than a few injustices to square along the way—all while searching wartime Panama City for a dangerous serial killer who combines art and murder.
Stylish, retro, and highly entertaining, Michael Lister's The Big Beyond continues the romantic, mysterious, adventures of one of the most interesting and compelling classic hard-boiled detectives to come along in a very, very long time.
History, Mystery, and Romance
Walk the mean streets of wartime Panama City with Jimmy "Soldier" Riley, a wounded, woman-haunted knight errant in Michael Lister's resonant new noir series Publisher's Weekly calls "a promising private detective series set in 1940s Florida," and Library Journal says "peppered with snappy dialog, this hard-boiled mystery by award winner Lister is a swell read."
What really happened to Soldier and Lauren the night they left town?
Did they survive? Will their love?
What comes after saying the big goodbye?
Is there anything out there in the big beyond?
Someone's trying to kill PI Jimmy “Soldier” Riley. And he's inclined to let them. But before sleeping the big sleep and journeying to the undiscovered country to discover what dreams may come, there’s blood work to be done.
Picking up right at the thrilling conclusion of The Big Goodbye, The Big Beyond finds Soldier near death with one hell of a big score to settle and more than a few injustices to square along the way—all while searching wartime Panama City for a dangerous serial killer who combines art and murder.
Stylish, retro, and highly entertaining, Michael Lister's The Big Beyond continues the romantic, mysterious, adventures of one of the most interesting and compelling classic hard-boiled detectives to come along in a very, very long time.
232 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 28, 2013
28 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Michael Lister
184 books233 followersNew York Times bestselling and award-winning novelist Michael Lister is a native Floridian best known for his literary suspense thrillers as well as his two ongoing mystery series, the prison chaplain John Jordan "Blood" series and the hard-boiled, 1940s noir Jimmy "Soldier" Riley Series, and the post-apocalypic suspense thriller Cataclysmos.
Visit www.michaellister.com for more information, or follow his youtube channel - Writing and Life at https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelL...
The Florida Book Review says that "Vintage Michael Lister is poetic prose, exquisitely set scenes, characters who are damaged and faulty" and Michael Koryta says, “If you like crime writing with depth, suspense, and sterling prose, you should be reading Michael Lister," while Publisher's Weekly adds, “Lister’s hard-edged prose ranks with the best of contemporary noir fiction.”
Michael grew up in North Florida near the Gulf of Mexico and the Apalachicola River in a small town world famous for tupelo honey.
Truly a regional writer, North Florida is his beat.
Captivated by story since childhood, Michael has a love for language and narrative inspired by the Southern storytelling tradition that captured his imagination and became such a source of meaning and inspiration. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in theology with an emphasis on myth and narrative.
In the early 90s, Michael became the youngest chaplain within the Florida Department of Corrections. For nearly a decade, he served as a contract, staff, then senior chaplain at three different facilities in the Panhandle of Florida—a unique experience that led to his first novel, 1997’s critically acclaimed, POWER IN THE BLOOD. It was the first in a series of popular and celebrated novels featuring ex-cop turned prison chaplain, John Jordan. Subsequent books in the series include BLOOD OF THE LAMB, FLESH AND BLOOD, THE BODY AND THE BLOOD, BLOOD SACRIFICE, and RIVERS TO BLOOD, and each takes readers through the electronically locked gates of the chain-link fences, beneath the looping razor wire glinting in the sun, and into the strange world of Potter Correctional Institution, Florida’s toughest maximum security prison. Of the John Jordan series, Michael Connelly says “Michael Lister may be the author of the most unique series running in mystery fiction. It crackles with tension and authenticity,” while Julia Spencer-Fleming adds “Michael Lister writes one of the most ambitious and unusual crime fiction series going. See what crime fiction is capable of.”
Michael also writes historical hard-boiled thrillers, such as THE BIG GOODBYE, THE BIG BEYOND, and THE BIG HELLO featuring Jimmy "Soldier" Riley, a PI in Panama City during World War II. Ace Atkins calls the "Soldier" series "tough and violent with snappy dialogue and great atmosphere . . . a suspenseful, romantic and historic ride."
Michael Lister won his first Florida Book Award for his literary novel, DOUBLE EXPOSURE, a book, according to the Panama City News Herald, that “is lyrical and literary, written in a sparse but evocative prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy.” It is a contemplation of life and death, art and meaning, set deep in the swamps of the Apalachicola River, a thriller about a wildlife photographer whose camera traps capture a crime, that shows the beauty and danger of the Panhandle paradise.
His second Florida Book Award was for his fifth John Jordan novel BLOOD SACRIFICE.
Visit www.michaellister.com for more information, or follow his youtube channel - Writing and Life at https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelL...
The Florida Book Review says that "Vintage Michael Lister is poetic prose, exquisitely set scenes, characters who are damaged and faulty" and Michael Koryta says, “If you like crime writing with depth, suspense, and sterling prose, you should be reading Michael Lister," while Publisher's Weekly adds, “Lister’s hard-edged prose ranks with the best of contemporary noir fiction.”
Michael grew up in North Florida near the Gulf of Mexico and the Apalachicola River in a small town world famous for tupelo honey.
Truly a regional writer, North Florida is his beat.
Captivated by story since childhood, Michael has a love for language and narrative inspired by the Southern storytelling tradition that captured his imagination and became such a source of meaning and inspiration. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in theology with an emphasis on myth and narrative.
In the early 90s, Michael became the youngest chaplain within the Florida Department of Corrections. For nearly a decade, he served as a contract, staff, then senior chaplain at three different facilities in the Panhandle of Florida—a unique experience that led to his first novel, 1997’s critically acclaimed, POWER IN THE BLOOD. It was the first in a series of popular and celebrated novels featuring ex-cop turned prison chaplain, John Jordan. Subsequent books in the series include BLOOD OF THE LAMB, FLESH AND BLOOD, THE BODY AND THE BLOOD, BLOOD SACRIFICE, and RIVERS TO BLOOD, and each takes readers through the electronically locked gates of the chain-link fences, beneath the looping razor wire glinting in the sun, and into the strange world of Potter Correctional Institution, Florida’s toughest maximum security prison. Of the John Jordan series, Michael Connelly says “Michael Lister may be the author of the most unique series running in mystery fiction. It crackles with tension and authenticity,” while Julia Spencer-Fleming adds “Michael Lister writes one of the most ambitious and unusual crime fiction series going. See what crime fiction is capable of.”
Michael also writes historical hard-boiled thrillers, such as THE BIG GOODBYE, THE BIG BEYOND, and THE BIG HELLO featuring Jimmy "Soldier" Riley, a PI in Panama City during World War II. Ace Atkins calls the "Soldier" series "tough and violent with snappy dialogue and great atmosphere . . . a suspenseful, romantic and historic ride."
Michael Lister won his first Florida Book Award for his literary novel, DOUBLE EXPOSURE, a book, according to the Panama City News Herald, that “is lyrical and literary, written in a sparse but evocative prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy.” It is a contemplation of life and death, art and meaning, set deep in the swamps of the Apalachicola River, a thriller about a wildlife photographer whose camera traps capture a crime, that shows the beauty and danger of the Panhandle paradise.
His second Florida Book Award was for his fifth John Jordan novel BLOOD SACRIFICE.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 3, 2013
Copy supplied by Netgalley for an unbiased review.
I was drawn to this book because of the Panama City, FL setting, as I live near there. I read the first book in the series, The Big Goodbye, before reading this one. I had some of the same issues with this book that I did with the first one - the "tough guy" talk (think Jimmy Cagney/Humphrey Bogart) is laid on a bit thick, the angst over lost love is a bit overdone. Some of the issues were more noticeable this time around, especially the angst. I like a sensitive, grieving man of the '40's as much as the next gal, but after a while I felt like I was being bashed over the head with the anguish of lost love. And there were parts that were complete rehashing of segments of the first book. But I'll admit it probably wouldn't have bothered me as much if I hadn't read both books within a month.
But despite those issues, there's a pretty decent story here, and a pretty decent mystery. And as with The Big Goodbye, there's a terrific sense of place, making me wish I could've been around the Panhandle before it became such a tourist destination. It ends with a cliffhanger - and yep, I'll probably read the next book to see where that goes.
I was drawn to this book because of the Panama City, FL setting, as I live near there. I read the first book in the series, The Big Goodbye, before reading this one. I had some of the same issues with this book that I did with the first one - the "tough guy" talk (think Jimmy Cagney/Humphrey Bogart) is laid on a bit thick, the angst over lost love is a bit overdone. Some of the issues were more noticeable this time around, especially the angst. I like a sensitive, grieving man of the '40's as much as the next gal, but after a while I felt like I was being bashed over the head with the anguish of lost love. And there were parts that were complete rehashing of segments of the first book. But I'll admit it probably wouldn't have bothered me as much if I hadn't read both books within a month.
But despite those issues, there's a pretty decent story here, and a pretty decent mystery. And as with The Big Goodbye, there's a terrific sense of place, making me wish I could've been around the Panhandle before it became such a tourist destination. It ends with a cliffhanger - and yep, I'll probably read the next book to see where that goes.
September 5, 2019
The Big Beyond is a sequel to Michael Lister's first book in the series, The Big Goodbye. It's a noir crime fiction set in Florida during the 1940's. The scenes take place in Panama City as America joins the Allied forces in World War II. Lister provides the reader with some historical facts about the war and what Panama City looked like before it was developed into a tourist destination.
The main character, Jimmy "Soldier" Riley is wounded as the second installment begins. His lover has just been murdered and he decides to investigate who killed her. He is a blend of Humphrey Bogart's crass bluntness, James Cagney's raw and brooding emotions, and Gary Cooper's cool-headed bravery. The retro aspects detailed in the setting and the prevailing attitude give the tale a genuine vibe. In the vein of noir crime detective stories, The Big Beyond holds many mysteries, keeping the reader in the dark until Riley makes the discovery. The author creates an aura of impending doom, causing readers to sit on the edge of their seats. The violence is overly graphic at times, injecting too much realism for a work of fiction, but the historical vibe of the story makes if permissible.
The main character, Jimmy "Soldier" Riley is wounded as the second installment begins. His lover has just been murdered and he decides to investigate who killed her. He is a blend of Humphrey Bogart's crass bluntness, James Cagney's raw and brooding emotions, and Gary Cooper's cool-headed bravery. The retro aspects detailed in the setting and the prevailing attitude give the tale a genuine vibe. In the vein of noir crime detective stories, The Big Beyond holds many mysteries, keeping the reader in the dark until Riley makes the discovery. The author creates an aura of impending doom, causing readers to sit on the edge of their seats. The violence is overly graphic at times, injecting too much realism for a work of fiction, but the historical vibe of the story makes if permissible.
November 12, 2021
Panama City 1940 a noir story of that war time
A serial killer set on murder, expressing as art
Wounded, lost his lover, deciding to investigate
Typical Noir, with bluntness, crass dialog, emotions
of that time.Different then his other style of writing
Given ARC for my voluntary review and my honest opinion
A serial killer set on murder, expressing as art
Wounded, lost his lover, deciding to investigate
Typical Noir, with bluntness, crass dialog, emotions
of that time.Different then his other style of writing
Given ARC for my voluntary review and my honest opinion
November 13, 2021
A very good noir detective story with wounded warriors investigating several murders. The plot is fast moving with plenty of action, suspense, violence, and gore. Southern Florida location in the 40's with very descriptive slang, A page turning read that I highly recommend. The Big Hello is next in this great series.
March 2, 2013
Michael Lister's private detective Jimmy "Soldier" Riley is one tortured soul. Haunted by a lover lost in murky circumstances, missing his right hand through misadventure and on the city's most wanted list, he has conflict not only surrounding him but coursing through his veins.
In The Big Beyond, which is a sequel to The Big Goodybye, Jimmy is on the hunt for his lover's killer/s, although he is obsessed with how he treated her towards the end - no more so than when he locates a letter she wrote to him before she was killed.
Jimmy's not seeking redemption - he's seeking release. It's a good thing he's a good bloke underneath all the angst - he's still got any number of folk prepared to stick their necks out for him. Unfortunately for Jimmy, it proves very difficult to work out which of these people can be trusted.
The writing is very good, nice and stripped back, as befits noir. The WWII Florida setting heightens the feeling of humid darkness that pervades the novel and helps ratchet up the tension and create a feeling of intense pressure and impending doom.
This book started off a bit loose (perhaps it would help to read the first book in the series first - as the author pleads you do), but really hit its straps at around the 40% mark.
Recommended for lovers of private detectives with something to hide and something to prove in equal measure.
This review is based on an advance review copy received via NetGalley of Michael Lister's The Big Beyond.
In The Big Beyond, which is a sequel to The Big Goodybye, Jimmy is on the hunt for his lover's killer/s, although he is obsessed with how he treated her towards the end - no more so than when he locates a letter she wrote to him before she was killed.
Jimmy's not seeking redemption - he's seeking release. It's a good thing he's a good bloke underneath all the angst - he's still got any number of folk prepared to stick their necks out for him. Unfortunately for Jimmy, it proves very difficult to work out which of these people can be trusted.
The writing is very good, nice and stripped back, as befits noir. The WWII Florida setting heightens the feeling of humid darkness that pervades the novel and helps ratchet up the tension and create a feeling of intense pressure and impending doom.
This book started off a bit loose (perhaps it would help to read the first book in the series first - as the author pleads you do), but really hit its straps at around the 40% mark.
Recommended for lovers of private detectives with something to hide and something to prove in equal measure.
This review is based on an advance review copy received via NetGalley of Michael Lister's The Big Beyond.
July 10, 2014
I've already completed "In A Spider's Web" and "Flesh and Blood." This novel is a sequel to "The Big Goodbye." Noir crime fiction in Florida in the 1940's is popular with this author, and popular with me. We are set in Panama City in early WWII. Most men are overseas. Food and scarce commodities are rationed. Men wore fedoras and drove cars with running boards. Nice insights woven into the dialogue about Liberty Ships, Internment camps. A little too much graphic violence, in detailing a series of murders of young women by dismemberment. And I just about gagged when confronting a Nazi fetish-dressing dominatrix with a faux accent. But after all is said and done, the book still rates: ☆☆☆☆ No closure, so expect sequels.
July 23, 2015
I tired to get into this but it felt like it was dragging. Granted I haven't read the first one in the series but I got this one as a freebie and decided to try it out. The language that they used seemed exaggerated. Even though I hadn't read the first one I figured out quickly what had happened in the first one. The premise seemed like it was going to be good but a quarter of the way in I just couldn't get into it and it was slow and dragging in most of the parts.
February 9, 2013
Like hard boiled detective fiction? Then you’ll like Michael Lister’s newest, a sequel to his The Big Goodbye. It’s a hard hitting, sometimes violent and gory mystery of wounded former policeman
turned detective obsessed with his dead love.
This is a fast moving, no holds bared period thriller – try it! You’ll like it!
turned detective obsessed with his dead love.
This is a fast moving, no holds bared period thriller – try it! You’ll like it!
March 18, 2013
Michael is a literary genius. Rush out and buy this book now. You won't be disappointed. It has everything you could ever wish for in reading entertainment. Jimmy "Soldier" Riley is back. He's on a mission and he's better then ever.
July 12, 2015
This one is more set in in a romantic era even though it is set in the 1940s this is a romantic/ suspense jimmy Riley is almost killed in this one but its a nailing biting type also one that will leave you wondering what is goI got to happen between Lauren and Jimmy Riley
July 9, 2014
The second story of Jimmy Riley in WWII Panama City, Florida was brilliant noir. Mixing dada, Japanese internment and definite surprises in the story. Great read!
February 8, 2016
Soldier doesn't even get healed before he jumps into his next big deal.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews