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Simeon Grist Mystery #5
The Man With No Time
Raging underneath the high-profile headline crimes that throw a community into uproar are the back-alley wars that really control the pulse of a city. In his latest adventure, Simeon Grist, with his hard edge and sharp wit, takes up his own battle with a set of criminals who are the scourge of the Los Angeles streets: the powerful Asian underground. When a good friend's two young children become the targets of a Chinatown kidnapping, Simeon is drawn into a culture that is almost impenetrable - and incomprehensible - to outsiders. Fearing a crueler reprisal by the forces that took their little girl and boy, even the parents refuse to inform the police. This is a world that defies the criminal justice system and offers only one way to strike back - through vigilante revenge. An unidentified dead body left at the scene convinces Simeon that he has even more on his hands than a kidnapping, especially when faced with the unwanted attention of two Vietnamese guns-for-hire. To get to the bottom of this seedy criminal network that's leaving its mark all over town, Simeon plunges himself into the bloody nightmare that is everyday business in the grisly streets of L.A. But the usual savagery takes an even gorier turn when he discovers a new item in the Chinese black market - the sale of recent immigrants into slavery - bringing Simeon face to face with an inhuman brute who will stop at nothing to silence his enemies. Racing against time to prevent this murderous thug from victimizing more immigrants and killing anyone who gets in his way, Simeon takes on the Asian underground by stabbing at their one Achilles heel - by using their own people against them.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
26 people are currently reading
156 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Hallinan
44 books454 followersI'm a thriller and mystery novelist with 22 published books in three series, all with major imprints. I divides my time between Los Angeles and Southeast Asia, primarily Thailand, where I've lived off and on for more than twenty years. As of now, My primary home is in Santa Monica, California.
I currently write two series, The Poke Rafferty Bangkok Thrillers, most recently FOOLS' RIVER, and the Junior Bender Mysteries, set in Los Angeles, Coming up this November is NIGHTTOWN. The main character of those books is a burglar who works as a private eye for crooks.
The first series I ever wrote featured an overeducated private eye named Simeon Grist. in 2017 I wrote PULPED, the first book in the series to be self-published, which was actually a lot of fun. I might do more of it.
I've been nominated for the Edgar, the Macavity, the Shamus, and the Left, and won the Lefty in 2015 (?) for the Junior Bender book HERBIE'S GAME. My work has frequently been included in Best Books of the Year roundups by major publications.
I currently write two series, The Poke Rafferty Bangkok Thrillers, most recently FOOLS' RIVER, and the Junior Bender Mysteries, set in Los Angeles, Coming up this November is NIGHTTOWN. The main character of those books is a burglar who works as a private eye for crooks.
The first series I ever wrote featured an overeducated private eye named Simeon Grist. in 2017 I wrote PULPED, the first book in the series to be self-published, which was actually a lot of fun. I might do more of it.
I've been nominated for the Edgar, the Macavity, the Shamus, and the Left, and won the Lefty in 2015 (?) for the Junior Bender book HERBIE'S GAME. My work has frequently been included in Best Books of the Year roundups by major publications.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
December 2, 2015
Timothy Hallinan wrote six books about Simeon Grist, an LA-based p.i., between 1989 and 1995. The six books represent one of the best mystery series by an American writer. Ever. "A Man with No Time" is the fifth of them.
The series reminds me of Alan Furst's three books about p.i. Roger Levin that appeared in the 1980s or Doug Swanson's books about Jack Flippo in that they are both funny and suspenseful. Hallinan is even funnier that Furst or Swanson. He doesn't write a line or paragraph that doesn't have a comic impact. At the same time, the world that Simeon Grist lives in is both highly dangerous and redeemed by the strength of Grist's involvement with Eleanor Chang, his (ex) girlfriend, her family, his semi-criminal friend (Dexter Smif, who is very funny but also dangerous), and his longtime cop friend. People are threatened by very bad people. People die. The humor doesn't make those facts go away. But it gives Grist a certain mindset that helps him get through what he does for a living.
The Chang family, Eleanor's family, was once aided in their escape from China by a family friend. Almost thirty years later, that friend appears in search of something that isn't immediately specified. Whatever it is, its enough to make him kidnap Horace (Eleanor's brother) and Pansy (her sister-in-law) Chang's children, and to leave a large dead man in their home. His discovery by the Changs and Simeon is followed by the arrival of a couple of young Vietnamese thugs who work for a Chinese triad as enforcers, bagmen, and gofers. (Apparently, the Chinese criminals use the Vietnamese criminals to do things that they would be dishonored doing.) And then things get both more complicated and more dangerous. The Changs initially resist Simeon's help. "It's a Chinese thing," they tell him but they are clearly in over their heads. Acting to protect the Changs, Simeon takes on a truly nasty triad leader called Charlie Wah. How he does it and manages to stay alive makes for an interesting book in a series that I miss.
The series reminds me of Alan Furst's three books about p.i. Roger Levin that appeared in the 1980s or Doug Swanson's books about Jack Flippo in that they are both funny and suspenseful. Hallinan is even funnier that Furst or Swanson. He doesn't write a line or paragraph that doesn't have a comic impact. At the same time, the world that Simeon Grist lives in is both highly dangerous and redeemed by the strength of Grist's involvement with Eleanor Chang, his (ex) girlfriend, her family, his semi-criminal friend (Dexter Smif, who is very funny but also dangerous), and his longtime cop friend. People are threatened by very bad people. People die. The humor doesn't make those facts go away. But it gives Grist a certain mindset that helps him get through what he does for a living.
The Chang family, Eleanor's family, was once aided in their escape from China by a family friend. Almost thirty years later, that friend appears in search of something that isn't immediately specified. Whatever it is, its enough to make him kidnap Horace (Eleanor's brother) and Pansy (her sister-in-law) Chang's children, and to leave a large dead man in their home. His discovery by the Changs and Simeon is followed by the arrival of a couple of young Vietnamese thugs who work for a Chinese triad as enforcers, bagmen, and gofers. (Apparently, the Chinese criminals use the Vietnamese criminals to do things that they would be dishonored doing.) And then things get both more complicated and more dangerous. The Changs initially resist Simeon's help. "It's a Chinese thing," they tell him but they are clearly in over their heads. Acting to protect the Changs, Simeon takes on a truly nasty triad leader called Charlie Wah. How he does it and manages to stay alive makes for an interesting book in a series that I miss.
October 22, 2017
"The Man With No Time" is Timothy Hallinan's fifth Simeon Grist mystery. As I progress in the reading of this series, I find I am not enjoying them as much as the first few Grist novels. I think what I found most engaging about the protagonist of the earlier novels was the fact that Grist had multiple advanced degrees in humanities, and Hallinan could and would make reference to them whether it was apropos to the situation or not. Sometimes for comic relief, some times to move the plot along. In the last two Grist novels I have read, the author follows a much more conventional plot and the series suffers for it. The books are still well written and I still enjoy them, especially the characters that Hallinan creates, but the uniqueness of the protagonist is not there. A good read.
May 13, 2024
Decent prose, characterization, world building, story, but no theme.
The principal villain is a narcissist with a penchant for talking. So, less of a need for Grist as a detective. With less detecting Hallinan indulges his penchant for capers (think Ocean's 11). So, more of a caper novel. He's been doing this for a while in this series, but it seems to have grown with each entry. Hallinan also continues his penchant for inserting largely irrelevant topics. Probably no worse than usual.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems there is much less sparkling banter which makes the series worthwhile despite its flaws.
The principal villain is a narcissist with a penchant for talking. So, less of a need for Grist as a detective. With less detecting Hallinan indulges his penchant for capers (think Ocean's 11). So, more of a caper novel. He's been doing this for a while in this series, but it seems to have grown with each entry. Hallinan also continues his penchant for inserting largely irrelevant topics. Probably no worse than usual.
Maybe it's just me, but it seems there is much less sparkling banter which makes the series worthwhile despite its flaws.
July 27, 2023
Simeon Grist #5, OK to read as a stand-alone. Simeon's good friends get caught up in the deadly L.A. Asian criminal underworld and Simeon has to help. Very fine thriller with Hallinan's copyrighted snarky comments emerging from Simeon's mouth. I must say I'm a big fan of all 3 of Tim Hallinan's series and I don't think he can write a boring book. 4 stars, highly recommended.
July 17, 2017
This one didn't speak to me like all Mr. Hallinan's other books but I can't really pinpoint why. I just never engrossed myself in it.
November 25, 2018
Hard to believe this was written 23 years ago!
But yet another excellent book by Hallinan. Now I can go on to read Pulped (trying to read in order)
But yet another excellent book by Hallinan. Now I can go on to read Pulped (trying to read in order)
January 20, 2019
Interesting insight to the Asian family dynamics in LA. The details about the underground Chinese labor situation in LA and elsewhere were especially interesting.
April 9, 2020
Good but not as good as the other books in the series
February 27, 2022
interesting but unrealistic some times
January 15, 2023
Quite a let down compared to other books in the series. Not up to scratch.
October 4, 2010
Simeon Grist is a man with so many degrees from institutes of higher learning that he can’t decide on a career path. So he becomes a private investigator. Simeon is in love with Eleanor Chan and that means Simeon has to love her family, all of them, including Uncle Lo. Uncle Lo saved the family, carrying Eleanor out of China when she was two years-old. Uncle Lo’s position in the family is fixed: whatever Lo wants the Chan family will jump to do. They are delighted when, unexpectedly, Lo arrives in Los Angeles. They don’t ask the reason for his sudden trip. It has been a long time since they have seen him and it would be rude to question him about anything.
The family gathers at a restaurant for a meal in Lo’s honor but at the last minute Lo decides not to come. Instead, he volunteers to stay at home with the four year-old twins, the children of Eleanor’s brother, Horace, and his wife, Pansy. Pansy is happy and grateful to Uncle Lo that she has sometime without the children, at least until they arrive home and discover that Uncle Lo and the twins have disappeared. The apartment has been ransacked. On the door to the twins’ room is a note: THEYRE OKAY. DON’T DO NOTHING. The hall closet door has been damaged: “I opened it and saw a surprisingly large and very dead Chinese man. He had a small mustache and wide empty eyes. He was no one I knew.” Simeon closes the door fast.
The family and Simeon haven’t absorbed this disaster when two new elements attack from the kitchen. Two young Asian men, little more than children, push their way into the apartment, each holding a gun that doesn’t belong in the hands of kids. They are looking for Uncle Lo. Simeon manages to tie them up but they claim they are following orders and don’t know who wants him. Did they accept Uncle Lo too quickly?
Then the story takes off. There are crooked lawyers, members of a Chinese gang, the leader of which wears custom-made silk suits in the colors of “Lifesavers”, a woman missionary, a female boat captain, Dexter Smif, a friend of Simeon’s, and his friends, the Doody brothers, all of whom are very large and very willing to help Simeon get back at the people who took, and then returned, the twins. There is some money laundering, and there is a great deal of money, and there is human trafficking in people who will be slaves when they get to the United States.
There is also a lot of brutality. Parts of the book are very dark because so many people have so little care for other human beings.
And there is laugh out-loud funny dialogue and scene descriptions. In the Poke Rafferty series, I have found that Tim Hallinan writes prose like poetry. In THE MAN WITH NO TIME, Hallinan writes prose as if it were dialogue and scene directions from a Marx Brothers movie.
I don’t know what it says about my sense of humor, but I laughed every time I came across, “Hello, Lo”, written into the dialogue. I won’t spoil anyone’s enjoyment by giving any hints about Horton Doody’s appearance.
I read THE MAN WITH NO TIME when it was published in 1993. I remembered that it was funny; I had forgotten just how funny. If a reader thinks SHOOTERS AND CHASERS is funny, they’ll think the same of THE MAN WITH NO TIME.
August 22, 2014
I’ve followed Tim Hallinan and his protagonist Poke Rafferty all over Bangkok with enthusiasm, but this is my first time with him and Simeon GristThe Man With No Time in L.A. Though Grist is, like Rafferty, kind of a well-meaning klutz of an investigator, he is not just a Rafferty clone set down in a different habitat.
For one thing, he has no pretensions about being a writer, so his world view is never cluttered up by some of the authorial sensibilities and professional concerns that Rafferty has. Second, though he has an Asian wife, she is Chinese-American, with emphasis on the “American,” was never a stripper, and the two don’t have a household together—at least not in this novel. And there's no street kid semi-daughter.
Like other of Hallinan’s books, though, there’s a social conflict at the center of the thrills and chase. In this instance it’s human slavery. Specifically, Taiwan to L.A. with Vietnamese acting often as patsies and intermediaries. Lots of fun following Garound making mistakes that get him and others beat up and sliced up. There’s even a missionary involved who’s crucial in saving his bacon.
Well-crafted, exciting, and a bit of a message on top of it. What more do you want from an airplane book?
For one thing, he has no pretensions about being a writer, so his world view is never cluttered up by some of the authorial sensibilities and professional concerns that Rafferty has. Second, though he has an Asian wife, she is Chinese-American, with emphasis on the “American,” was never a stripper, and the two don’t have a household together—at least not in this novel. And there's no street kid semi-daughter.
Like other of Hallinan’s books, though, there’s a social conflict at the center of the thrills and chase. In this instance it’s human slavery. Specifically, Taiwan to L.A. with Vietnamese acting often as patsies and intermediaries. Lots of fun following Garound making mistakes that get him and others beat up and sliced up. There’s even a missionary involved who’s crucial in saving his bacon.
Well-crafted, exciting, and a bit of a message on top of it. What more do you want from an airplane book?
September 3, 2012
This is another of the Simeon Grist mystery series. Grist gets into trouble. His best friend Horace who is the brother of his beloved Eleanor Chan, his ex-girlfriend, returns home to find his mysterious Uncle Lo and his twins missing, a corpse in the closet. They are accosted by two gang members who enter the house. Horace leads Grist into jeopardy by first going after his twins and then trying to locate Uncle Lo. Grist has entered the world of Asian-American organized crime in Los Angeles, of Chinese and Vietnamese gangs, of ruthless torture and killing.
I liked it. It was fast-paced, full of action, and funny at times. I would have liked it better if there was a little, just a little more description to some of the characters. I could not picture Eleanor or Horace, for example. Perhaps it is because I read this book before reading the earlier works of this series.
I liked it. It was fast-paced, full of action, and funny at times. I would have liked it better if there was a little, just a little more description to some of the characters. I could not picture Eleanor or Horace, for example. Perhaps it is because I read this book before reading the earlier works of this series.
September 8, 2013
Hallinan's sleuth cracks wise, and sometimes smart, but, for me at least, not smart enough to raise this first sampling of his work to the level of must-read. It's a Chinatown setting without much of a Chinatown left, as areas of contemporary LA populated by Chinese-Americans have been largely dispersed to the San Gabriel Valley. As it happens, our protagonist Simeon Grist is romantically involved with an assimilated first-generation Chinese gal, whose extended family has gotten tied up with a nasty bunch of human smugglers, their vicious thugs and Anglo accomplices. The action is more furious than engaging, but Hallinan is aware at most times the challenge he is up against in creating a compelling private dick yarn on the home turf of the genre's golden ancestry. I kept thinking of Dick Powell all through this thing. Not so bad.
January 16, 2013
I'd only recently become acquainted with Tim's Simeon Grist novels (since he started selling the series at a phenomenal price of $2.99 apiece on Amazon). The first three were great reads, but this is the best of the four that are currently available. Maybe it's just because I was familiar with the characters, maybe it's because Tim was in tune with his inner private detective when he wrote it, who knows? But this one was just SMOOTH. Well written, well paced, absorbing. I loved finally getting to spend some time with Simeon's 'old' flame, Eleanor Chan, and her family, more time with Dexter Smif, and found new friends in the Doody family. Wonderful stuff!!!
July 23, 2012
Just too violent and just too hard to believe. Perhaps if I had read the earlier books in the series, I would have found it more plausible and the characters more believable. But I really didn't care for it, I will not waste my time reading the earlier ones.
August 31, 2012
Timothy Hallinan, $3.99 **** Simeon Grist #5.
PI Simeon Grist is in over his head this time, fighting to keep the Chinese mafia from wiping out his girlfriend's family. Great characters, great action, and funny. I always expect great stuff in a Hallinan book, and so far he's always delivered.
PI Simeon Grist is in over his head this time, fighting to keep the Chinese mafia from wiping out his girlfriend's family. Great characters, great action, and funny. I always expect great stuff in a Hallinan book, and so far he's always delivered.
January 1, 2015
Good, though a bit hard to follow at times. The plot has to do with smuggling Chinese refugees into LA and their subsequent exploitation, which I pretty much kept up with, but I never did figure out what Eleanor's brother was doing!
July 13, 2012
4 1/2 stars for this. Simeon feels much more complete than in Skin Deep, there's plenty of action, lots of suspense, snappy dialogue, and a host of interesting characters.
July 29, 2012
Easy read. enjoyable.
July 13, 2013
another rather involved mystery. a time-passer while lying around....
March 2, 2016
This is the fifth book in the Simeon Grist, detective series. Please NO more Eleanor, terribly bored by that relationship.
August 22, 2016
Better than the average murder mystery thriller, with lots of memorable characters and fascinating locations, but this is not Hallinan's best character for me.
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November 27, 2012$0.0
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews