Menaced Assassin

by Joe Gores

It began with the murder of the adulterous wife of a mild-mannered professor. Then a corrupt cop was gunned down in a phone booth. After that, the killer who called himself Raptor moved through a list of players, playboys, and mobsters from Palm Springs to Minnesota. And the final truth about his death trip will not be revealed until the last victim is claimed.

Genres: Mystery

367 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Joe Gores (1931-2011) was the author of the acclaimed DKA series of street-level crime and detection, as well as the stunning suspense novels Dead Man and Menaced Assassin.

He served in the U.S. Army - writing biographies of generals at the Pentagon - was educated at the University of Notre Dame and Stanford, and spent twelve years as a San Francisco private investigator. The author of dozens of novels, screenplays, and television scripts, he won three Edgar Allan Poe Awards and Japan's Maltese Falcon Award.

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, wow. I did not see the conclusion coming. A gritty detective story, death, murder, the mob, intrigue, deadbeats, and bad people, plus mixed in with paleo-anthropology. Sometimes you will need a score card to keep track of who is dying and who is investigating who is dying. Great fun. A tad grim.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty impressed with the weaving in of evolutionary science. Don't think I've ever seen it done like that before in a mystery novel.

[خالد أمين]

This was a complicated story at first .. I believe the simplicity is the best method to engage a reader specially when it comes to mysteries and thrillers oh and naturally horror too .. however it's really good novel and the writing style is sharp .. got a little bit of raymond chsndler meet lee child with hints of ross macdonald in it.

[COL(ret.) Frank J. Stech, PhD · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really bad. Not worth reading. Gores has done so much better.

[Dollie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was a great mystery. Lieutenant Dante Stagnaro, head of SFPD’s Organized Crime Task Force becomes involved in the murder of Moll Dalton, wife of Professor and studier of apes, Will Dalton. As the story progresses, all of the people Stagnaro’s after - all the Mafia mobsters - are being killed in various and violent ways. Stagnaro doesn’t know whether to go after a killer or celebrate the fact that these criminals are dying. Neither Stagnaro or the reader find out who the killer is until the very last pages. This is my second book by Joe Gores and I like his books for that very reason. If you want to read a great mystery in which you’ll also learn about human origins and about how closely our society parallels those of the apes, than this is a good book for you to read. I love it when I actually learn something from my fiction!

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It had an unusual format - you get the thinking of the detective, the assassin, and the prey. You also get quite a lecture about the history of the earth through millions of years. For me, I easily speed through those parts, but some may find that interesting. Recommended.