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Lands End: a novel
Meet Phil McManus, native San Franciscan, Baby Boomer, street cop—a guy trying to make sense of his past and desperate about his future in a rapidly changing world. His 29-year old boss is driving him to retirement after 37 years in the SFPD, just as a surprise romance with a beautiful, self-sufficient, hyper-confident woman offers McManus the promise of a new life. But there is mayhem in Phil’s beloved city. When his high school football teammate—a former NFL player and Assistant SF Fire Chief—is found stabbed and brutally murdered in the fog at Lands End, McManus becomes a prime suspect. Soon, he will begin to appreciate his mother’s childhood “Don’t get your hopes up, Phil. Just when things go good, they go bad.” Take a riveting ride with Officer Phil McManus and find out what lies in wait at Lands End.
338 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 10, 2022
The story was entertaining enough but I never got very engaged with the characters. Nobody was particularly likable. I love flawed characters but I couldn't relate to any of them. None of the characters were very fleshed out. The main character McManus didn't seem like a real person. It felt like he was made of different pieces that didn't belong to the same puzzle.
I wasn't a fan of the writing style. McManus's thoughts are written out throughout the book. It was very heavy-handed. I enjoy good subtext.
McManus's overt thought process of trying to get a lesbian to date him was annoying. Once he has a love interest, he gets obsessed with the possibility that she is a lesbian, dehumanizing and objectifying her as a challenge. Although I expect lots of men to think like him, I don't want to hear it anymore. I don't care to hear the thoughts of men being gross when it comes to their perceptions of women.
The book is clearly a love letter to the city of San Francisco. It's great for those of us who grew up in San Francisco because we love location name-dropping but it did not enhance my love for the city like other books and movies based there. Also, McManus was not an admirable cop. If I were to imagine SFPD as full of guys like him, I would not feel confident that I would be protected or safe in the city.
I wasn't a fan of the writing style. McManus's thoughts are written out throughout the book. It was very heavy-handed. I enjoy good subtext.
McManus's overt thought process of trying to get a lesbian to date him was annoying. Once he has a love interest, he gets obsessed with the possibility that she is a lesbian, dehumanizing and objectifying her as a challenge. Although I expect lots of men to think like him, I don't want to hear it anymore. I don't care to hear the thoughts of men being gross when it comes to their perceptions of women.
The book is clearly a love letter to the city of San Francisco. It's great for those of us who grew up in San Francisco because we love location name-dropping but it did not enhance my love for the city like other books and movies based there. Also, McManus was not an admirable cop. If I were to imagine SFPD as full of guys like him, I would not feel confident that I would be protected or safe in the city.
February 26, 2025
A so-so tale of a SF cop's strum & drang as his disappointing career (a 58-yr old patrolman!!) heads towards a retirement he just can't get himself to take. The angst is done well enough, but the otherwise well-realized San Francisco setting is all off; ostensibly happening in 2009, it feels like 1985. There are way way way too many dreams (no one want to hear about your dreams!) and the crime the is the mainspring for the weak plot is, for all its sexually sadistic overtones, strictly corn.
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June 26, 2015Started book on 6/21/15 A novel about a hard nosed young man who becomes a cop and finds himself frustrated by his superior officer who f=he feels has a personal grudge against him.
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This book was full of extreme profanity which I felt was unnecessary- the author could have used other words to convey his feelings/emotions.
His memories of his mother were not portrayed in a favorable light- an unflattering portrait- we all have faults but he appears to hold his mothers faults against her- he keeps reminding himself of them and appears not to forgive her of them.
An interesting although I thought tedious life of a cop chafing at the rules and deciding whether to retire or not.
n
This book was full of extreme profanity which I felt was unnecessary- the author could have used other words to convey his feelings/emotions.
His memories of his mother were not portrayed in a favorable light- an unflattering portrait- we all have faults but he appears to hold his mothers faults against her- he keeps reminding himself of them and appears not to forgive her of them.
An interesting although I thought tedious life of a cop chafing at the rules and deciding whether to retire or not.
May 5, 2019
It started out well, and i love the San Francisco setting, since i live there. But the middle got stuck wandering around pointlessly with the 'hero' working at his friend's bus tour company. The end was worked out pretty well, but maybe another edit would have tightened it up.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews