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Buck Schatz #2
Не поглеждай назад
Необикновен трилър с нетипичен герой, превърнал се в сензация
Съвестният детектив проследява внимателно всички улики. Бък Шац се води от инстинктите си.
Внимателният детектив разпитва заподозрените според устава. Бък Шац първо стреля и после пита.
Общителният детектив разчита на партньора си. Бък Шац е единак и играе по собствени правила.
Устатият детектив се перчи с успехите и премълчава провалите си. Бък Шац има повече разрешени случаи от всеки друг в Мемфис.
Модерният детектив излъчва опасен сексапил. Бък Шац е на 88 и макар да е далеч от сексапила, 357-калибровият му пистолет е достатъчно опасен.
Типичният детектив изследва криминални случаи от миналото, за да не допуска грешки в бъдеще. Бък Шац не поглежда назад.
Бък Шац е истински детектив. От малкото, които са останали. И въпреки преклонната възраст и проблемите с ходенето, умът му сече като бръснач, а дългият му живот е изпълнен с тежки сблъсъци с живота на улицата. Отдавна е предал любимата полицейска палка на име „Благоразумие“, но... продължава да действа „благоразумно“.
Когато старият му враг – банковият обирджия Илайджа, се появява между две хапки бъркани яйца и моли за помощ, Бък е наясно, че се задават проблеми. И няма как да ги пропусне.
Даниел Фридман ни въвежда в живота на уникалния си главен герой, който се изправя пред неразрешената мистерия на серия професионални обири. И, типично за Бък Шац, неприятностите, в които го забъркват, са нищо в сравнение с неприятностите, които той причинява на тези, които са го забъркали в тях. Запознайте се с Бък Шац. Ще има дълго да го помните.
Съвестният детектив проследява внимателно всички улики. Бък Шац се води от инстинктите си.
Внимателният детектив разпитва заподозрените според устава. Бък Шац първо стреля и после пита.
Общителният детектив разчита на партньора си. Бък Шац е единак и играе по собствени правила.
Устатият детектив се перчи с успехите и премълчава провалите си. Бък Шац има повече разрешени случаи от всеки друг в Мемфис.
Модерният детектив излъчва опасен сексапил. Бък Шац е на 88 и макар да е далеч от сексапила, 357-калибровият му пистолет е достатъчно опасен.
Типичният детектив изследва криминални случаи от миналото, за да не допуска грешки в бъдеще. Бък Шац не поглежда назад.
Бък Шац е истински детектив. От малкото, които са останали. И въпреки преклонната възраст и проблемите с ходенето, умът му сече като бръснач, а дългият му живот е изпълнен с тежки сблъсъци с живота на улицата. Отдавна е предал любимата полицейска палка на име „Благоразумие“, но... продължава да действа „благоразумно“.
Когато старият му враг – банковият обирджия Илайджа, се появява между две хапки бъркани яйца и моли за помощ, Бък е наясно, че се задават проблеми. И няма как да ги пропусне.
Даниел Фридман ни въвежда в живота на уникалния си главен герой, който се изправя пред неразрешената мистерия на серия професионални обири. И, типично за Бък Шац, неприятностите, в които го забъркват, са нищо в сравнение с неприятностите, които той причинява на тези, които са го забъркали в тях. Запознайте се с Бък Шац. Ще има дълго да го помните.
262 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2014
22 people are currently reading
929 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 141 reviews
April 22, 2014
I won this book from Firstreads. This is my honest review.
"Truth is, there are a lot of things I've done that I don't feel that great about. But if you look back on whatever the wrath of God is burning down behind you, you turn into a pillar of salt.
So, you just write down stuff you want to remember, leave out the rest of it, and keep pushing yourself forward, on a walker or in a wheelchair or with anything that can keep you moving" Baruch (Buck) Schatz ( from DON'T EVER LOOK BACK by Daniel Friedman)
Daniel Friedman has created an eighty something character in Buck Schatz that will keep you roaring in laughter while also causing you to think very deeply about mankind and history. After his last book, DON'T EVER GET OLD, Buck is recovering from injuries he sustained in recovering Jewish artworks stolen by the Nazi regime. Now living in an assisted living facility with his wife, Buck still refuses to behave like an "old man".
Elijah is a thief that Buck knew in the 1960's when he was still a cop in Memphis. Now Elijah has come back to convince Buck to guard his life. But he's also planning a robbery to beat all robberies in Memphis. By wheelchair or walker, Buck takes on the task, not of saving Elijah's life, but of trying to keep him from successfully robbing the bank. Race riots of local factory strikers is not helping the situation.
Baruch (Buck) Schatz is destined to become a classic character in literature. He's a hard headed, brazen, "do it my way", sarcastic "Jew" who lives by his own set of rules for justice. He smokes wherever he likes and sensors nothing he says. He'd just as soon shoot you rather than take any bull. He always keeps a notebook on hand to write down "Something I don't want to forget". Though Friedman's character invokes laughter on most every page, his subject matter in both books is deadly serious. Another winner from Friedman!
"Truth is, there are a lot of things I've done that I don't feel that great about. But if you look back on whatever the wrath of God is burning down behind you, you turn into a pillar of salt.
So, you just write down stuff you want to remember, leave out the rest of it, and keep pushing yourself forward, on a walker or in a wheelchair or with anything that can keep you moving" Baruch (Buck) Schatz ( from DON'T EVER LOOK BACK by Daniel Friedman)
Daniel Friedman has created an eighty something character in Buck Schatz that will keep you roaring in laughter while also causing you to think very deeply about mankind and history. After his last book, DON'T EVER GET OLD, Buck is recovering from injuries he sustained in recovering Jewish artworks stolen by the Nazi regime. Now living in an assisted living facility with his wife, Buck still refuses to behave like an "old man".
Elijah is a thief that Buck knew in the 1960's when he was still a cop in Memphis. Now Elijah has come back to convince Buck to guard his life. But he's also planning a robbery to beat all robberies in Memphis. By wheelchair or walker, Buck takes on the task, not of saving Elijah's life, but of trying to keep him from successfully robbing the bank. Race riots of local factory strikers is not helping the situation.
Baruch (Buck) Schatz is destined to become a classic character in literature. He's a hard headed, brazen, "do it my way", sarcastic "Jew" who lives by his own set of rules for justice. He smokes wherever he likes and sensors nothing he says. He'd just as soon shoot you rather than take any bull. He always keeps a notebook on hand to write down "Something I don't want to forget". Though Friedman's character invokes laughter on most every page, his subject matter in both books is deadly serious. Another winner from Friedman!
April 11, 2014
Hooray! Retired Police Detective Baruch “Buck’’ Schatz returns, more ornery than ever, in Daniel Friedman’s terrific second mystery, Don’t Ever Look Back. Friedman introduced the colorful octogenarian in Don’t Ever Get Old, imagining what life would be like for a Dirty Harry type of character is in his 80s.
At 88, Buck is in even worse physical shape in Don’t Ever Look Back, thanks to injuries he incurred in the first book. He is living with his wife in a senior assisted living facility, and must use a walker to get around. As annoying as the walker is, Buck discovers that it turns out to be a handy weapon.
Buck’s sedentary lifestyle, filled with painful physical therapy appointments, is disrupted when an enemy from his past shows up at the retirement home. The 80-year-old criminal, known only as Elijah, got away with a huge bank robbery heist in 1965 when Buck was a cop. But now Elijah beseeches Buck for help, saying his life is in grave danger.
Buck, of course, is bored and can’t resist getting a chance to capture the big crook that got away all those years ago. He ends up jumping into a huge, deadly mess that just causes more headaches for his long-suffering wife, Rose. This second book is a bit darker than the first, and examines the racial tensions that simmered in Memphis in the 1960s. It also gives Buck’s perspective of what it was like to be one of the few Jewish detectives on the force. His grandson, William “Tequila’’ Schatz, also returns, helping Buck with technology questions.
Watching two dangerous men in their 80s go at each other was hugely entertaining. I just hope Buck can keep himself healthy enough so Friedman can write more stories about his adventures. Maybe he should lay off the cigarettes? In the meantime, I read that a screenplay is being written for Don’t Ever Get Old. Alan Arkin would be great as Buck!
At 88, Buck is in even worse physical shape in Don’t Ever Look Back, thanks to injuries he incurred in the first book. He is living with his wife in a senior assisted living facility, and must use a walker to get around. As annoying as the walker is, Buck discovers that it turns out to be a handy weapon.
Buck’s sedentary lifestyle, filled with painful physical therapy appointments, is disrupted when an enemy from his past shows up at the retirement home. The 80-year-old criminal, known only as Elijah, got away with a huge bank robbery heist in 1965 when Buck was a cop. But now Elijah beseeches Buck for help, saying his life is in grave danger.
Buck, of course, is bored and can’t resist getting a chance to capture the big crook that got away all those years ago. He ends up jumping into a huge, deadly mess that just causes more headaches for his long-suffering wife, Rose. This second book is a bit darker than the first, and examines the racial tensions that simmered in Memphis in the 1960s. It also gives Buck’s perspective of what it was like to be one of the few Jewish detectives on the force. His grandson, William “Tequila’’ Schatz, also returns, helping Buck with technology questions.
Watching two dangerous men in their 80s go at each other was hugely entertaining. I just hope Buck can keep himself healthy enough so Friedman can write more stories about his adventures. Maybe he should lay off the cigarettes? In the meantime, I read that a screenplay is being written for Don’t Ever Get Old. Alan Arkin would be great as Buck!
May 24, 2014
DON’T EVER LOOK BACK
Daniel Friedman
After Mr. Friedman’s marvelous debut novel DON’T EVER GET OLD Introducing Butch Schatz, I was not sure there would be a sequel, but I’m so glad there was.
Eighty eight year old Butch Schatz and his wife are now in a retirement home mainly because Butch needs physical therapy from the damage he suffered in the last novel. He still keeps a .357, and in this novel he definitely is darker, grittier and more political.
A clever villain from his past who escaped Butch before comes to him for protection, and Buck knows he is up to something, but to trap him this time, he’s along for the chase.
The codger cuteness and political leanings have become much more shocking and violent.
The showdown has Butch pushing a walker, and packing a Magnum.
The ending gave me pause as to Butch’s character, but I guess I’m going to have to live with it, as I’ll be reading Butch Schatz until he is at least 110.
Daniel Friedman
After Mr. Friedman’s marvelous debut novel DON’T EVER GET OLD Introducing Butch Schatz, I was not sure there would be a sequel, but I’m so glad there was.
Eighty eight year old Butch Schatz and his wife are now in a retirement home mainly because Butch needs physical therapy from the damage he suffered in the last novel. He still keeps a .357, and in this novel he definitely is darker, grittier and more political.
A clever villain from his past who escaped Butch before comes to him for protection, and Buck knows he is up to something, but to trap him this time, he’s along for the chase.
The codger cuteness and political leanings have become much more shocking and violent.
The showdown has Butch pushing a walker, and packing a Magnum.
The ending gave me pause as to Butch’s character, but I guess I’m going to have to live with it, as I’ll be reading Butch Schatz until he is at least 110.
August 9, 2014
The 88 year old former policeman in this book acts as though "former" had nothing to do with anything. Inspired by the author's own grandfather, the cantankerous old hero is visited at his assisted living dining room by an old nemesis, who drags our hero into his current scheme just as he had done 40 years ago. This time he seems to be asking for help, but our hero is suspicious. His suspicions do lead to figuring out how the crime was committed, albeit after the fact just like 40 years ago. The difference in the present as opposed to the past, whose telling is brilliantly interlaced with the telling of the present in a series of digressions, is that our hero might put Elijah away this time. In the past, he had been chosen as an accomplice specifically because he wouldn’t divulge the truth due to the politics of being Jewish in racially tense 1965 Memphis so soon after the Holocaust. He hadn’t actually aided and abetted as requested, but his refusal maneuvers him into doing so anyway. And the fiendishly clever Elijah is still up to his manipulations.
The oldster’s failing mind still manages to tie threads together and follow convoluted schemes much faster than yours truly. I just went along for the ride, enjoying the irascible character’s “act immediately, worry about the consequences later” philosophy. The novel does seem to blend fast-paced twists and action-packed drama with a true-sounding account of what it’s like to be an old man who can barely get around. One wants to know this man. He’s an old man who knows he’s old but doesn’t see anything reason he should let that get in the way of life. And he even treats as voluntary action the fact that he has to write down things he does not want to forget.
Here’s what he says “… and I’d done what I believed was necessary under the circumstances. But I didn’t feel that great about it. Truth is, there are a lot of things I’ve done that I don’t feel that great about. But if you look back on whatever the wrath of God is burning down behind you, you turn into a pillar of salt. So, you just write down the stuff you want to remember, leave out the rest of it, and keep pushing yourself forward, on a walker or in a wheelchair or with anything that can keep you moving.”
One slight criticism: We first meet the old policeman sitting in the hot seat talking with an assisted living official after he chopped up a fellow-resident’s rocking chair with an ax. The old man’s unchecked propensity to violence both in the past and present strained my credibility just a hair even though he’s paying something of a price in that an ancient body heals very, very slowly, if at all. How could he have gotten away with beating people up, shooting 31 people, etc? And here he is, still swinging away – though there is a touch of pathetic comedy in the image of a doddering old gent feebly lashing out with a walker.
The oldster’s failing mind still manages to tie threads together and follow convoluted schemes much faster than yours truly. I just went along for the ride, enjoying the irascible character’s “act immediately, worry about the consequences later” philosophy. The novel does seem to blend fast-paced twists and action-packed drama with a true-sounding account of what it’s like to be an old man who can barely get around. One wants to know this man. He’s an old man who knows he’s old but doesn’t see anything reason he should let that get in the way of life. And he even treats as voluntary action the fact that he has to write down things he does not want to forget.
Here’s what he says “… and I’d done what I believed was necessary under the circumstances. But I didn’t feel that great about it. Truth is, there are a lot of things I’ve done that I don’t feel that great about. But if you look back on whatever the wrath of God is burning down behind you, you turn into a pillar of salt. So, you just write down the stuff you want to remember, leave out the rest of it, and keep pushing yourself forward, on a walker or in a wheelchair or with anything that can keep you moving.”
One slight criticism: We first meet the old policeman sitting in the hot seat talking with an assisted living official after he chopped up a fellow-resident’s rocking chair with an ax. The old man’s unchecked propensity to violence both in the past and present strained my credibility just a hair even though he’s paying something of a price in that an ancient body heals very, very slowly, if at all. How could he have gotten away with beating people up, shooting 31 people, etc? And here he is, still swinging away – though there is a touch of pathetic comedy in the image of a doddering old gent feebly lashing out with a walker.
November 19, 2016
Dieser zweite Teil der Buck Schatz-Reihe bereitete mir einen schwierigeren Einstieg als der erste. Zum einen liegt die Lektüre des Vorgängers eine Weile zurück, es wird zwar immer wieder mal Bezug genommen, aber die Erinnerung an den Reihenauftakt kommt nur häppchenweise zurück. Beim Lesen hat man aber permanent das Gefühl, dass man sich daran erinnern sollte, um der aktuellen Handlung besser folgen zu können. Zum anderen konnte ich meine Sympathie für den Protagonisten ebenfalls nicht so schnell wiederfinden. Erst nach und nach wurden auch die wenigen positiven Eigenschaften dieses unangenehmen, rohen, gewaltbereiten Ex-Cops wieder deutlich. Die Themen dieses Buches sind uralt und hochaktuell, Rassismus, Polizeigewalt, Antisemitismus, Umgang mit Senioren, etc. und werden schonungslos angegangen. Ein Roman mit einigen intelligenten Gedanken, der meine Begeisterung für den ersten Teil aber leider nicht aufrecht erhalten konnte .
February 13, 2018
Don't know what to write here. I guess I just tired of Buck. He gets a pass on being a dirty cop by a hairsbreadth - maybe - but no such luck when it comes to police brutality.
The villain Elijah robs banks and involves Buck in an unnecessarily convoluted way. So years later the two men Buck and Elijah have a history that must needs be resolved before death. Really? If you can't buy into that, then there goes the premise of the book.
Anyway, I've read better and I've read worse. I don't dislike the book but neither would I recommend it.
(The first book Don't Ever Grow Old throws in some humor and a vague hint of warmth from Buck. You sort of question whether he falls out of the curmudgeonly slot into the mean-spirited one. In this book, mean-spirited almost seems too nice an adjective for the man.)
The villain Elijah robs banks and involves Buck in an unnecessarily convoluted way. So years later the two men Buck and Elijah have a history that must needs be resolved before death. Really? If you can't buy into that, then there goes the premise of the book.
Anyway, I've read better and I've read worse. I don't dislike the book but neither would I recommend it.
(The first book Don't Ever Grow Old throws in some humor and a vague hint of warmth from Buck. You sort of question whether he falls out of the curmudgeonly slot into the mean-spirited one. In this book, mean-spirited almost seems too nice an adjective for the man.)
October 13, 2014
The second Buck Schatz's story is preditably tamer and a little more stern, because now that Daniel Friedman established his tremendous character, he actually passes some pretty heavy messages about the perception of senior citizens in our society. It's nonetheless still an extremely enjoyable tale about identity and living through the desegratation of the United States. Not only I think that Daniel Friedman is the best author with a senior protagonist, but I believe he redefined the paradigm. He's the only author writing about seniors the way it should be done.
Funny, moving, everything the first one was, except that it's more invested in themes over plot, which I don't necessarily dislike.
Funny, moving, everything the first one was, except that it's more invested in themes over plot, which I don't necessarily dislike.
May 15, 2014
All of the things I loved about Don't Ever Get Old were noticeably absent from this one. The humor and irreverence of the first book's characterization of Buck were replaced by blatant police brutality made all the more reprehensible by the fact that the reader was expected to agree with Buck's actions, or at least sympathize enough to still root for him; the clever dialogue was replaced by long winded sermonizing; and the mystery itself didn't have much driving force behind it. I really wanted to like this book, given how much I enjoyed its predecessor, but instead found it frustrating and disappointing. Skip this one and read Don't Ever Get Old instead.
July 26, 2014
Buck Schatz is 90 years old. He spent his life as a hard man, a Jewish man working as police detective in the less-than-open-minded Memphis police department of the 1960's. Now he has dementia, requires a walker to get around, and doesn't understand the appeal of iPhones, any television excepting FoxNews, and Brazilian steakhouses. That doesn't keep him from occasionally shooting a criminal or getting involved in solving decades old bank robberies.
"Don't Ever Look Back" is a wonderful look into the mind who is too old to give much of a flying @#$%. It's equally profane and pitiable, and deep down there is a character genuinely trying to do right in the world.
"Don't Ever Look Back" is a wonderful look into the mind who is too old to give much of a flying @#$%. It's equally profane and pitiable, and deep down there is a character genuinely trying to do right in the world.
March 24, 2014
It was so funny! I like mysteries to begin with, but having the main character be 88 years old and a retired cop made it hilarious with his memory lapses and physical limitations.It was fun to see him as a functioning policeman in Memphis and to contrast that persona with his aged, still thinks he can do everything, attitude. And the Jewish element was also interesting, in that the main character tried, in a way over the years, to protect others who were also Jewish, even if they were dirty cops or perps. I would recommend this book to other goodreads.com mystery lovers.
March 30, 2014
I won this book from Firstreads
I read the first 3 chapters but for me it was painful. It's possible that cops use a lot of profanity, So that's why there is lot of profanity in this book but it just didn't appeal to me. I'm not a prude or anything but I like a book to grab me at the very first. This one did not. It was boring to me.
I won't go so far as to say the book isn't any good it just isn't something that appeals to my personal taste.
It's going in my pass along bag.
I read the first 3 chapters but for me it was painful. It's possible that cops use a lot of profanity, So that's why there is lot of profanity in this book but it just didn't appeal to me. I'm not a prude or anything but I like a book to grab me at the very first. This one did not. It was boring to me.
I won't go so far as to say the book isn't any good it just isn't something that appeals to my personal taste.
It's going in my pass along bag.
July 15, 2014
88 year old Buck is funnier in this one than in the last. His physical therapy and other rehab descriptions of recovering from the last novel's bullet wound-those pages, are truly fun copy. Aging is not for sissies.
These mysteries and their perceptions are probably more appreciated the older you get. Good plot, and this time there is more revealed history as characters return from the 1960's. 3.5 star, better than the starter novel of this series.
These mysteries and their perceptions are probably more appreciated the older you get. Good plot, and this time there is more revealed history as characters return from the 1960's. 3.5 star, better than the starter novel of this series.
September 26, 2016
After thoroughly enjoying the first book, this one was the opposite. Almost no humor and a story line that went well past the believable. If the author's intent was to have you dislike Buck Schatz then he succeeded. It is hard to enjoy a book when you dislike the main character. Add to that the preaching done by the author and I was totally turned off. This will be my last Daniel Friedman book.
May 12, 2014
I missed the humor of the first book. 88 year old Buck Schatz is still an awe inspiring ex cop who gets the job done despite his decaying body and there are moments of humor but not nearly as many as Don't Ever Get Old. I still think Friedman is a great writer and I will stick with the series but I hope Buck recovers physically and his sense of humor.
October 28, 2015
Didn't care for this one. About an almost 80-year-old ex-cop, who lives in a nursing home, and tries to hobble around with a walker. Yet, he's out chasing bad guys. It's made up of his remembering his career, which seems to have been very violent, with him doing what he wanted with/to suspects, and the now where an old nemesis comes back for his help (or to use him).
March 19, 2017
I disliked the character although I did find many of his asides funny. I thought it was a stupid story line and difficult to track in the back-and-forth of eras (though that may have been because it was an audio book I listened to in heavy traffic). I most especially disliked that his wife didn't leave him--why stay with a man so unable to meet you at least halfway in the relationship?
March 12, 2014
Boring. Don't waste your time.
January 6, 2015
It can be interesting writing, but a lot of disturbing moral and racial issues.
March 1, 2017
Got through book 1 and found it somewhat entertaining. Book 2 not so much. Abandoned.
September 27, 2022
I listened to this audiobook. This is the second installment in the Buck Shatz series. Buck is 88 and is now living with his wife in an assisted living center. At the end of the first book Buck was shot and otherwise injured. At his age it has rendered him unable to care for himself. He and Rose have had to give up their house and he is either in a wheelchair or using a walker. He also is suffering from dementia in its earlier stages. Buck is an angry, angry man. He has lost so much. He was a homicide cop in Memphis and still has a gun and an attitude. One day a mysterious man who calls himself Elijah comes to see Buck. Their history go back 44 years to 1965 when Buck was a cop and Elijah was a notorious bank robber. They have unfinished business. In 1965 Elijah robbed a bank and Buck couldn't stop him even though he knew it was going to happen. Then, like a ghost, Elijah disappeared. Now they are both old men. Elijah tells Buck he will surrender to authorities only with Buck's intervention. But, nothing is straightforward with Elijah. Buck knows he is too old and frail, but his desire to finish this decades long unsolved crime overrides his common sense (if he even has any common sense at this stage of his life). Elijah is still devious and cunning. Buck is still angry and impulsive. Elijah has stolen money from drug dealers and they are after him. Buck hobbles in to try to figure out not only what is happening today, but what happened all those years ago. Memories of tumultuous race unrest in 1965 Memphis, memories of Buck's now dead son studying for his Bar Mitzvah, memories of Elijah, memories of WWII and what it meant to Jewish people - all this layers the story. I don't enjoy Buck's rudeness and disregard for others, but the author's note about growing old at the end of the book gave me pause.
April 19, 2020
After I read Friedman's first Buck Schatz novel, and before reading his second, I wrote this on GoodReads:
"One tiny problem. Memphis. America's Graceland. Where Buck's lethal reputation was made and he has retired to watch the grass grow and the Guatemalans cut it. A Jewish cop for 35 years in the same town where MLK, Jr. was murdered? And none of that rubbed off on a detective whose justified shooting total tied with automobile fatalities? Not even a little jot of anti-Semitism in the buckle of the Bible Belt? Not believable. Friedman never once mentions jazz, BBQ, or Elvis, so I really doubt he ever lived there. No problem really. It's a much better place to visit than to live. "
Well, Friedman got that message long before I wrote it and his second account of Buck Schatz takes each important piece of my critique and put them at the center of Don't Ever Look Back.
I couldn't be more pleased. This is a fine writer who honors us in honoring his history and his heritage. He breaks new trail in Crime Noir fiction with his 80-something hero. He has made this old boomer a fan for everything he cares to write.
And I was right about his grandpa. He was a pip, and I am so glad Daniel shared him with us so brilliantly. I know the old guy is as proud as a peacock his grandson turned out so smart. And Buck Schatz would be too.
And I'll just bet his third Buck Schatz novel is going to have some blues jazz, BBQ, and Elvis, too.
Keep cleaning that Smith and Wesson .357 Buck.
"One tiny problem. Memphis. America's Graceland. Where Buck's lethal reputation was made and he has retired to watch the grass grow and the Guatemalans cut it. A Jewish cop for 35 years in the same town where MLK, Jr. was murdered? And none of that rubbed off on a detective whose justified shooting total tied with automobile fatalities? Not even a little jot of anti-Semitism in the buckle of the Bible Belt? Not believable. Friedman never once mentions jazz, BBQ, or Elvis, so I really doubt he ever lived there. No problem really. It's a much better place to visit than to live. "
Well, Friedman got that message long before I wrote it and his second account of Buck Schatz takes each important piece of my critique and put them at the center of Don't Ever Look Back.
I couldn't be more pleased. This is a fine writer who honors us in honoring his history and his heritage. He breaks new trail in Crime Noir fiction with his 80-something hero. He has made this old boomer a fan for everything he cares to write.
And I was right about his grandpa. He was a pip, and I am so glad Daniel shared him with us so brilliantly. I know the old guy is as proud as a peacock his grandson turned out so smart. And Buck Schatz would be too.
And I'll just bet his third Buck Schatz novel is going to have some blues jazz, BBQ, and Elvis, too.
Keep cleaning that Smith and Wesson .357 Buck.
August 24, 2017
From the Author's Note:
"My grandfather was a strong man, but nobody can be strong forever. He made his living on the road, and always took special pride in his cars. But, as his reflexes slowed, he had to give up his keys for his own safety.
Around the time he turned 90, he was still exercising regularly at the Jewish Community Center, but the last couple of years he was at high risk of falling, and had to use a walker.
Pop-culture depictions of old age never seem to depict the price that people pay for longevity, the psychological burden that comes with burying everybody, the feeling of being imprisoned in a weakening body, the impositions on privacy and dignity that come with failing health, and the knowledge that things are likely to be worse tomorrow than they are today.
Buddy was a proud man who dealt with a difficult set of circumstances that millions of people face, but which popular narratives tend to gloss over with shopworn cliches and cowardly euphemisms. It was because of him that I wrote these books."
"My grandfather was a strong man, but nobody can be strong forever. He made his living on the road, and always took special pride in his cars. But, as his reflexes slowed, he had to give up his keys for his own safety.
Around the time he turned 90, he was still exercising regularly at the Jewish Community Center, but the last couple of years he was at high risk of falling, and had to use a walker.
Pop-culture depictions of old age never seem to depict the price that people pay for longevity, the psychological burden that comes with burying everybody, the feeling of being imprisoned in a weakening body, the impositions on privacy and dignity that come with failing health, and the knowledge that things are likely to be worse tomorrow than they are today.
Buddy was a proud man who dealt with a difficult set of circumstances that millions of people face, but which popular narratives tend to gloss over with shopworn cliches and cowardly euphemisms. It was because of him that I wrote these books."
June 10, 2019
Buck Schatz, Friedman's profane, cranky, 88-year-old ex-policeman, comes back in a sequel. Here he meets an also-ancient nemesis, a bank robber who outsmarted hi in the 1960s. So the book is partially set in the 2000s, where Buck is mad about everything (his failing health, current events, his move to an assisted living center), and partially set in the 1960s, when Buck was strong and not above beating bad guys up in pursuit of what he thought was the greater good.
It's nice to have an elderly hero. Friedman walks a great line between portraying him as the racist old grandpa who drives everyone crazy and making him an honorable and sympathetic character. There's also a lot of Judaism thrown in - the nemesis loves to monologue about his people - and the title is a reference to Lot's wife.
It's nice to have an elderly hero. Friedman walks a great line between portraying him as the racist old grandpa who drives everyone crazy and making him an honorable and sympathetic character. There's also a lot of Judaism thrown in - the nemesis loves to monologue about his people - and the title is a reference to Lot's wife.
November 15, 2018
I really love Buck Schatz and was delighted to find a sequel to the first book. I read them both in one day each and wish I had a third to read tonight. I enjoyed the mystery despite the violence and the one reference to doing obscene things to mothers. I actually hate that word. The description of the Assisted Living facility and the remodeled Schatz home really made me think. We recently moved my mother to Assisted Living and are trying to decide what to do with the home that she lived in for the past 60 years and our childhood home.
September 12, 2022
The fourth star is totally due to the narrator. I listened to the first in the series a few years ago...enjoyable...I think that I have listened/read far too many books lately that focus on the plight of the elderly. I am well on my way to that stage of life and can appreciate that there are going to be pitfalls as a person ages...I am just tired of these pitfalls becoming pratfalls. It is my own fault for choosing several books of similar genres. I just enjoy the narrator of this series so much. I also have to say that the character, Buck Schatz, is also amusing...in small doses.
September 9, 2017
Actually a 3.5.
What started as a ho-hum mystery (and actually the mystery was sorta ho-hum) picked up interest through the aging detective, Baruch Shatz... now 90 years old, on a walker, dealing with his past, his present, his values and of course, his aging. There are also underlying questions of good and evil...which is which?
What started as a ho-hum mystery (and actually the mystery was sorta ho-hum) picked up interest through the aging detective, Baruch Shatz... now 90 years old, on a walker, dealing with his past, his present, his values and of course, his aging. There are also underlying questions of good and evil...which is which?
March 27, 2021
The 88-year-old protagonist is still convalescing in an old folks home after his adventures from the first book. So half the plot here comes in flashback form. There is, sadly, less of the grandson, but Buck's deceased son is seen in the flashbacks. Buck is by no measure perfect, but he grapples with moral questions and aims to honor his heritage and his family.
August 16, 2021
4 stars out of 5 - I read a library hardback over the past couple of evenings. It's for sure the strangest police procedural/whodunit novel I've ever read. A bit stretched at times, but superbly written, and it's impossible not to become interested in the 87 year old storyteller/protagonist. I'll be reading more by this author.
September 11, 2018
The sad part of this book is that there are only two books in the series. Retired Memphis police detective Buck Schatz is confronted by a criminal from fifty years earlier. The story moves back and forth in time, and Buck is the narrator.
December 17, 2023
I didn't enjoy this near as much as Don't Ever Get Old: A Mystery, By the end I didn't really care what happened. I don't know if it was all the jumping back and forth between time periods or the Obama quotes.
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