The Quick

Jimmy Miles #1

by Dan Vining

While searching for the person responsible for killing his client's father, private investigator Jimmy Miles walks the dark streets of Hollywood along with the Sailors, restless creatures who own the night, to find the truth, but instead discovers his own personal demons. Original.

Genres: Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Mystery

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

How many noir writers do you know that come with their own Poetry Fellowship at Stanford? Vining certainly has writing chops, and his prose is delicious. The meld of SF with the mystery is less successful, largely because Vining pulls his punches, underexplaining his world and its rules, leading to a less-than-satisfying conclusion of the Huh?What? variety. Still, full points for style.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read through some other reviews before typing this up, and I am surprised at how many people said VIning has good writing style. I would disagree with that. I think his idea for this book was quite interesting...a little different...but his style was greatly lacking. Like someone else said, I felt a lot of the important aspects of the plot were under-explained. Part of me wanted to give this book 2 stars, but the reason I didn't is that it wasn't a book that I had to force myself to drudge through. It wouldn't have taken much to get me to that point, though. I long for a book that I can't put down, but this one was not it for me.

[Antonio Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at a 2nd and Charles for dirt cheap. I purchased it because the cover was decent and the back blurb seemed strong enough. Plus it was only a dollar so why not, eh? Really neat find. I liked Jimmy and I liked what Vining did at the end. I can't say I read many detective books, but this was worth it. I was blown away when I realize it came out in 2004. The story holds up in 2022 I'd say. Good book.

[Kelly Arguelles · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible. Absolutely horrible. What a waste of time.

[Daelith · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was under the impression that this was a paranormal type book. I would classify it more of a mystery since it wasn't until page 116 (out of 312) before anything remotely paranormal came to light and that was very vague. It wasn't until page 279 before you get an explanation and that was vague as well.

The author goes overboard on describing unimportant things throughout the entire book which have no bearing on the plot. Chapter 21 is a good example of this. I fail to see any reason for the inclusion of this 2 page chapter other than filler. This book could have been 75 to 100 pages shorter without all this filler. I will give the author credit for being very good a describing scenery though. He writes very well in this sense, but it's just too much causing the book to drag for me. I finally just start skimming over this stuff.

Overall I found this book confusing and it left me with unanswered questions. I struggled to finish it. The only reason I stuck with it was because I wanted to find out who-done-it, but even that was not really answered. It left the reader speculating on this and some other things. I'm guessing that these unresolved issues will be picked up in following books, but I won't be continuing the series to find out.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would not have picked this up from the shelf, but a family member brought me a copy.

Only 40 pages in and I am impressed. Vining has a unique style of writing where things are discribed very vividly with interesting comparisons. He sometimes lingers on details that others would omit, but that made me feel like I was observing the scenes he was writing about.

Character development is well-done. The main character has mystery associated with him while minor characters are instantly discribed so well you know them so well that you have empathy with them.

If the story is as good as the initial writing, I'm going to enjoy this.

OK, now that I have finished, I will say that my inital impressions held up.

I would recommend this book for people who enjoy slow-reveal mysteries with a hint of the supernatural.

[Samie Foster]

Not to going to really rate this, b/c its not fair to rate something when I haven't read the whole thing. But of what I've read, the book is lacking characters of any interest, boring, slow, and jumps around without warning with no explanation of a new setting leaving the reader confused. It might take turn for the better in the second half. Or maybe the writing style isn't for me and I just couldn't grasp the meaning of the words like I should. But like I said, no real rating here. Just more of a warning for everyone else I guess.

P.S. If you like books and ebooks, then visit my book website Lelue's Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating book that reads like an epic poem. Beautiful descriptions of a world that you never know how quite to respond to it. All the while reading the book I couldn't decided if I loved it or loathed it. The first thing I did when i finished the book was tell someone else they should read it. If you are looking for a supernatural type book with flowing descriptions that do not spoon feed you the details of the world or the people in it this this should be an easy must read for people.

[Maurean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I liked this noir mystery story. I enjoyed Vining's writing style; it put me in the mind of the old Marlowe-type PI's...you know, the dim, grimy office; the dame with long gams and sad story....but, the supernatural overlay of the "sailors', while an interesting storyline in its own right, just didn't 'gel' with the'feel' of the storyline.

Still, it held my interest enough to read it all the way through,...so, that's something

[Dan Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The first sentence captured me, and from there I just let myself be carried along. Mr. Vining is as adept with telling a story, as he is with setting the mood. Add to that the fascination of the characters he has created, and you have a very enjoyable read. I've read this novel more than once, and each time it's like returning to visit with an old friend.

[Steven jb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very nicely done supernatural detective tale. The private investigator has a secret of his own, and it's unique. No he's not a werewolf, a vampire, or a witch. The writing is very good and the character's memorable.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what I think. I kept waiting for this book to really go somewhere for me, but it didn't. I liked the lead character....he was mysterious and I never really understood what he was. The ending for me was really thrown together and I totally lost interest in the final pages.

[Pam]

07/14/08 purchase from book gallery

[Karen Desmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

2

[Discfan2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good writing style, but the book was vague on plot and answers.