What do you think?
Rate this book
Alessandra Al Martillo Mystery #2
Sick Like That: A Novel
This follow-up to The Last Gig features a tough and edgy, one-of-a-kind heroine—an entirely fresh take on the hardboiled women private investigators who dominate so many crime fiction classics.
PI Marty Stiles was shot and paralyzed and is now in rehab, trying to decide whether to fight to recover. Meanwhile, his agency is being run by two women: the street-smart and savvy Alessandra Martillo, who’s the muscle, and Sarah Waters, a naïve, single mom, new to the job but who quickly becomes the brains. Though the two women grew up only a few miles from each other in Brooklyn, it might as well have been worlds apart. Now they’re partners, and for all their differences, are committed to their joint venture. When Sarah’s deadbeat ex-husband gets into trouble, Al would rather let him suffer, but she agrees to help Sarah figure out where he is and why another man has ended up dead.
Gritty and unputdownable, this is perfect for fans of James Lee Burke and Robert Crais.
PI Marty Stiles was shot and paralyzed and is now in rehab, trying to decide whether to fight to recover. Meanwhile, his agency is being run by two women: the street-smart and savvy Alessandra Martillo, who’s the muscle, and Sarah Waters, a naïve, single mom, new to the job but who quickly becomes the brains. Though the two women grew up only a few miles from each other in Brooklyn, it might as well have been worlds apart. Now they’re partners, and for all their differences, are committed to their joint venture. When Sarah’s deadbeat ex-husband gets into trouble, Al would rather let him suffer, but she agrees to help Sarah figure out where he is and why another man has ended up dead.
Gritty and unputdownable, this is perfect for fans of James Lee Burke and Robert Crais.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Norman Green
26 books16 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Norman Green reports this about himself: "I have always been careful, as Mark Twain advised, not to let schooling interfere with my education. Too careful, maybe. I have been, at various times, a truck driver, a construction worker, a project engineer, a factory rep, and a plant engineer, but never, until now, a writer." He lives in Emerson, New Jersey, with his wife.
Series:
* Alessandra Al Martillo Mystery
Norman Green reports this about himself: "I have always been careful, as Mark Twain advised, not to let schooling interfere with my education. Too careful, maybe. I have been, at various times, a truck driver, a construction worker, a project engineer, a factory rep, and a plant engineer, but never, until now, a writer." He lives in Emerson, New Jersey, with his wife.
Series:
* Alessandra Al Martillo Mystery
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 18, 2012
I've been talking up Norman Green ever since I discovered him; this street-smart Brooklyn writer is doing great work. This one brings back his tough-as-nails female P.I. Al (for Alessandra) Martillo, star of The Last Gig. The title comes from Al's anger at her fellow women for putting up with the crap men deal out to them day after day. "[Women] can't do what they need to do, always making up excuses. We're sick like that". Not to worry-- Al Martillo doesn't put up with crap from anyone.
March 21, 2011
I just finished reading Sick Like That by Norman Green. This was one of my random picks off the new release shelf at the library and, although my response at first was not positive, I actually came out enjoying the story.
The story revolves mainly around Alessandra Martillo and Sarah Waters, two very different women who take over some sort of investigation agency after the PI Marty Stiles is shot and paralyzed during a job. Alessandra (Al) is, in the nicest way possible, a bitch from Brooklyn. She is the epitome of what you picture when you describe a street-smart broad who grew up in Brooklyn. She's tough and she doesn't take shit from anyone. Sarah Waters is a single-mom who was also raised on the tough streets of Brooklyn, but she is quite a bit more naive than Al. They become partners in the agency, while Marty is stuck in rehab and deciding whether he thinks his life is worth fighting through recovery. Al and Sarah are really the focus of the story, with Marty given seemingly random scenes at various points in the plot.
My first instinct with Mr. Green's writing was kind of negative. I felt that he didn't write in the female perspective very well, relying mainly on stereotypes than letting his characters speak for themselves. However, Al and Sarah are two separate individuals and, through the motion of the story, finally develop their own identities. They aren't just Brooklyn-Italian broads seen time and again in various books and movies. They become human, and very relatable.
Frankie, the ex-husband of Sarah, was an interesting character to me, if only because I read him as speaking in the same voice as Frankie Buglione from "Jerseylicious" (which I totally don't watch because I am way too elite for something so trashy....). I could picture his big and bulky stature, towering over Sarah in confrontation, but also a little soft in manner and sad in the eyes. He's just a kid grown up on the streets of Brooklyn, waiting for his big break to get out of the gutter.
There are two main plot-lines happening throughout Sick Like That. First, the women are hired by a dying widow to locate her stepson so she can, presumably, pass on her fortune to him. Sarah takes on the bulk of this case, even though previously she had only been stuck at a desk doing administrative work before Marty got shot. The second case, isn't really a case at all. Instead, Sarah's ex-husband (Frankie) gets involved in something she thinks might be pretty shady, and Al decides to investigate. Both plot-lines prove to be entertaining and well-thought out.
I got about halfway through the story, when I almost decided to give up on the whole thing. The beginning is slow to pick up, and I struggled to keep wading through. But I did, and I was duly rewarded. The last third of the book is action-packed, jolting the reader with anti-government conspiracy theories, and Sarah starts adopting a little of Al's street-smarts, which makes her much more likable than the naive "woe-is-me" character she started out as. The last few chapters become so intense, I couldn't put the book down until I knew the ending. And, let me tell you, the ending is pretty shocking.
Sick Like That, although slow to pick up, really is worth a read in the long run. The last third reads like your favorite crime-thriller-action movie, and will have you hooked at the first mention of conspiracy theory.
The story revolves mainly around Alessandra Martillo and Sarah Waters, two very different women who take over some sort of investigation agency after the PI Marty Stiles is shot and paralyzed during a job. Alessandra (Al) is, in the nicest way possible, a bitch from Brooklyn. She is the epitome of what you picture when you describe a street-smart broad who grew up in Brooklyn. She's tough and she doesn't take shit from anyone. Sarah Waters is a single-mom who was also raised on the tough streets of Brooklyn, but she is quite a bit more naive than Al. They become partners in the agency, while Marty is stuck in rehab and deciding whether he thinks his life is worth fighting through recovery. Al and Sarah are really the focus of the story, with Marty given seemingly random scenes at various points in the plot.
My first instinct with Mr. Green's writing was kind of negative. I felt that he didn't write in the female perspective very well, relying mainly on stereotypes than letting his characters speak for themselves. However, Al and Sarah are two separate individuals and, through the motion of the story, finally develop their own identities. They aren't just Brooklyn-Italian broads seen time and again in various books and movies. They become human, and very relatable.
Frankie, the ex-husband of Sarah, was an interesting character to me, if only because I read him as speaking in the same voice as Frankie Buglione from "Jerseylicious" (which I totally don't watch because I am way too elite for something so trashy....). I could picture his big and bulky stature, towering over Sarah in confrontation, but also a little soft in manner and sad in the eyes. He's just a kid grown up on the streets of Brooklyn, waiting for his big break to get out of the gutter.
There are two main plot-lines happening throughout Sick Like That. First, the women are hired by a dying widow to locate her stepson so she can, presumably, pass on her fortune to him. Sarah takes on the bulk of this case, even though previously she had only been stuck at a desk doing administrative work before Marty got shot. The second case, isn't really a case at all. Instead, Sarah's ex-husband (Frankie) gets involved in something she thinks might be pretty shady, and Al decides to investigate. Both plot-lines prove to be entertaining and well-thought out.
I got about halfway through the story, when I almost decided to give up on the whole thing. The beginning is slow to pick up, and I struggled to keep wading through. But I did, and I was duly rewarded. The last third of the book is action-packed, jolting the reader with anti-government conspiracy theories, and Sarah starts adopting a little of Al's street-smarts, which makes her much more likable than the naive "woe-is-me" character she started out as. The last few chapters become so intense, I couldn't put the book down until I knew the ending. And, let me tell you, the ending is pretty shocking.
Sick Like That, although slow to pick up, really is worth a read in the long run. The last third reads like your favorite crime-thriller-action movie, and will have you hooked at the first mention of conspiracy theory.
April 26, 2010
Fasten your seat belts--you're in for quite a ride. Tough Al Martillo and divorced mom Sarah Waters are running a private eye agency while the owner, retired cop Marty, is deciding whether to fight this paralysis. The routine jobs are simple, but when Sarah's ex-husband mysteriously disappears, Al goes after him while Sarah tries to find the missing, estranged, stepson of a wealthy woman who is dying of cancer. Meanwhile, the women are being followed by a couple of guys who look like they come from one of those square states out in the middle, and what's that about? The action never stops. Not really my kind of thing, but a great read anyway.
July 14, 2010
Can't wait to find the first one and read it. Action oriented kick ass females without paranormal features or superpowers? Alright! Next best thing to the anti-heroine in Kim Armstrong's Exit Strategy, Except this woman i snot an assasin.
Read
July 30, 2011Brooklyn hardscrabble Alessandra Martillo and industrious single mom with self esteem issues Sarah Waters take over PI agency and find themselves sucked into the middle of a murder with national security implications by Sarah's loser ex.
July 20, 2013
Learned more about Al, one of the main characters, than I did about the other main character, Sarah. Gave more of a description of Sarah's ex-husband than of Sarah. Not a real in depth story, but an interesting concept.
January 3, 2016
Great book. I loved how the author took my traits and personality and split them between the two female characters. :)
February 14, 2016
This book read like a debut novel. It was somewhat disjointed and erratic. Transitions were rough. I did like the main character - Alessandra Martillo.
Read
June 24, 2017It was a good book but was also a interesting book to read and I enjoyed reading it every much.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews