Sentinels

Nameless Detective #23

by Bill Pronzini

Hired by the mother of a college student who, along with her boyfriend, vanished during a trip from Oregon to San Francisco, the "Nameless Detective" journeys into the wilderness of northern California and stumbles into an evil web of silence and fear. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Mystery Writers of America Awards "Grand Master" 2008
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1999) for Boobytrap
Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (1998) for A Wasteland of Strangers
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) for Sentinels
Shamus Awards "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) 1987
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1982) for Hoodwink

Married to author Marcia Muller.

Pseudonyms:
Robert Hart Davis (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Jack Foxx
William Jeffrey (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Alex Saxon

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1996 entry in the Nameless Detective series is a thoroughly successful entertainment. That’s not surprising, though, for veteran mystery writer Pronzini. He knows what the genre requires, and he knows how to deliver it too.

In this adventure, Nameless is hired by anxious mother Helen McDowell to find her missing daughter Allison. Allison, a junior at the University of Oregon, phoned her mother to say she was coming home for Easter break and bringing with a friend she wanted her mother to meet. (Mother assumed from her tone of voice that this friend was male.) Allison left Eugene for the Bay area, but her old MG broke down near a little California town called Creekside. Allison called her mother from a local motel to tell her about the delay, but said she should be in San Franciso by Monday. But that was four days ago, and no one in Creekside—or anywhere else—claims to know anything about what happened to Allison or her friend.

Nameless goes to Creekside—where the people suspiciously hostile and closed-mouthed—and the Eugene campus too, but finds little to help him in his search. Nothing, at least, until he discovers one fact about Allison’s mysterious companion that helps him uncover what really happened to Allison.

It is an interesting mystery itself, but also representative of its time in the way it portrays “The Sentinels,” a local militia group. Such groups were of particular interest then, since the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma took place in 1995.

Fans of the series will find particular pleasures here was well. Nameless’ new computer specialist Tamara Corbin—a character introduced in the last adventure Hardcase--is developed further, and I think she is an asset to the series. Also, we see Nameless and his new wife Kerry enjoying their unorthodox brand of domestic bliss, and Nameless’ old friend Eberhardt—though he remains offstage—has a memorable role to play.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Nameless Detective
SETTING: California
SERIES: #24 of 41
RATING:3.25
WHY: College student Allison McDowell and her new boyfriend were taking a trip from Oregon to San Francisco when they suddenly vanished. Nameless is hired by Allison's mother to find her. The investigation leads him to a remote town called Creekside, which is populated with racially and religiously intolerant people, as well as a militia type camp. The usual secondary characters, such as Kerri and Tamara, are mostly absent. The investigation is actually kind of boring, with Nameless spending most of his time interrogating unwilling citizens in a very inhospitable place. This series is one of my favorites, but this book was not one of the better entries.

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 2 out of 5]

"These mountains, they got secrets nobody can find out."

Continuing with my Pronzini Binge I have just read Sentinels (1996), the twenty-fifth installment in the now forty-six-year-old series featuring the Private-Detective-Whose-Last-Name-Is-Never-Mentioned. It is a readable mystery, albeit a completely unremarkable one. It also reminds me of some more recent novels by John Shannon, and not in a good way.

The Detective-With-Unmentionable-Name is hired by a woman whose daughter, Allison, a university junior, disappeared on her way home to Bay Area from Eugene, Oregon. Allison was traveling with a young man, presumably her boyfriend whom she planned to introduce to her mother. They took a scenic way south and their car broke down in Creekside, a little town in the northeastern corner of California. They have not been seen since.

The author has a bit of metafictional fun: the detective refuses to use the services of Sharon McCone, a detective friend of his, who could fly him to the remote part of California in her plane. The funny part is that Ms. McCone is a protagonist of detective novels written by Marcia Muller, who is Mr. Pronzini's wife in real life. Anyway, the detective drives to Creekside and gets to talk to the mechanics in the garage where the car was fixed. He also interviews the owners of a small motel and a waitress in a diner. None of these people know much about the couple and - what's worse - they seem to be quite unwilling to talk to the detective, resenting the Big City intrusion into their rural lives.

While the publisher, for once, partly resisted the urge to spoil the denouement in the blurbs on the cover, a hint is given there, one that makes the solution of the mystery easier to guess. It is indeed difficult to describe the outline of the plot even in vaguest terms without providing automatic spoilers. The readers who enjoy the familiarity of characters populating the plot will no doubt be amused by passages featuring Kerry and Tamara Corbin. The comedic space filler about Kerry's friend, Paula, who picked up a new fad - Alida's workshops on the Holy Sexual Communion - would be quite funny were it not so cliché.

The detective's conversation with one of the main characters that directly precedes the final scene is psychologically naive and implausible. The very last fragment of the novel features the probable topic of the next installment in the series - a Shameless Detective Sequel Plug. All in all, Sentinels is quite a weak entry in the series. The unnamedness gimmick may well be its strongest point.

Two stars.

[John Grazide · Rating 4 out of 5]

Faced with what Nameless hoped would be a simple missing persons case is the open for this one. Of course this isn't how it turns out. And during the investigation he stumbles into a town that is gripped with hate and fear. A few close scrapes with some of it's citizens make for an exciting story. Casually scattered throughout the story is the mention of Eb. And you kind of forget about that until the ending. And that is why I am going to dive right into the next. Great!

[The Shayne-Train · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's our humble Nameless Detective vs goold ol' fashioned whitebread racism!

[Patrick Devane · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better ND books!

One of the better In the series. Pronzini draws you in and doesn't let you out until the end. Highly recommended.

[Mitzi Reaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good. Not great but good. I have one more by this author to try and then decide if I want to read more of their work.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a list of all the books (in order) Happy Reading.

1971 The Snatch Random House
1973 The Vanished Random House
1973 Undercurrents Random House
1977 Blowback Ramdom House
1978 Twospot Putman
1980 Laybrinth St. Martin's Press
1980 A Killing In Xanadu Waves Press
1981 Hoodwinked St. Martin's Press
1982 Scattershot St. Martin's Press
1982 Dragonfire St. Martin's Press
1983 Bindlestiff St. Martin's Press
1983 Casefile St. Martin's Press
1984 Quicksilver St. Martin's Press
1984 Nightshades St. Martin's Press
1984 Double St. Martin's Press
1985 Bones St. Martin's Press
1985 Grave Yard Plots St. Martin's Press
1886 Dreadfall St. Martin's Press
1988 Shackles St. Martin's Press
1988 Small Fellonies St. Martin's Press
1990 Jackpot Delacorte
1991 Breakdown Delacorte
1992 Quarry Delacorte
1992 Epitaths Delacorte
1993 Demons Delacorte
1995 Hardcase Delacorte
1996 Spadework Crippen & Landru
1996 Sentinels Carroll & Graf
1997 Illusions Carroll & Graf
1998 Boobytrap Carroll & Graf
1999 Sluths Five Star
1999 Duo Five Star
2000 Crazybones Carroll & Graf
2002 Bleeders Carroll & Graf
2003 Spook Carroll & Graf
2003 Scenarios Five Star
2005 Nightcrawlers Forge
2006 Mourners Forge
2007 Savages Forge
2008 Feaver Forge
2009 Schemers Forge
2010 Betrayers Forge
2011 Camouflage Forge
2012 Hellbox Forge
2012 Kinsmen Cemetery Dance
2012 Femme Cemetery Dance
2013 Nemesis Forge

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Modoc and Lassen Counties this is a single plot thriller that becomes a quest for Nameless. You know from the beginning this is not going to end happy. Two college students on the way home to the Bay Area from the University of Oregon never come home. The mother of one the students hires Nameless to find her and so begins a long road trip up and down US 395 where all he encounters are hostile, insular people who are obviously hiding something.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good story by Pronzini with the Nameless Detective. This book takes place in the northeastern part of California, a less populated part of the state with small towns that don't welcome strangers. Nameless is looking for a missing young woman at the request of her mother. The intrigue keeps the reader's attention. There is more violence than in many of the other Nameless books, but not more than he can handle. I'm looking forward to the next adventure.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book, but a good story. Nameless is searching for what happened to two college students who were driving home from Oregon and disappeared. The kicker is the very end of the book, in the last paragraph. Unrelated to the main story line but essential for the back story of the people in his life. Have to start the next book right away to see where this goes!

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first of Pronzini's "Nameless Detective" series. I read it quickly, ate it up like a bag of chips. Want more.

[Carol Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could not put this one down.

[Eliana]

Old style detective series with excellent writing, plots and characters throughout

[Harry Addington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Nameless story.

[Pierre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I