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Snowball
Bound in the publisher's original black paper covered boards, spine stamped in gilt.
277 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1986
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 18, 2019
”It was wedged against another of the pilings ten feet from where he was sitting. He stared at it for a long moment, without moving. ‘Shit!’ he said finally. If there was one thing guaranteed to screw up the day, it was finding a corpse under his house. He knew something about dead bodies, and this one was a long time dead.”
If you asked James Reed if he were contented with his life, he could give you two answers. If he was talking about his writing, which was on life support with a twitchy hand on the outlet cord, he might say that his life was a steamy pile of fish guts, decomposing in the sun, surrounded by a beautiful beach. If you asked about his life in general, after quitting Scotland Yard and divorcing the actress Katherine Long, he might surprise you by saying, with a musing hand on his chin, that his life, in general, was pretty good.
James Reed doesn’t really do...anything.
In the divorce, his wife left him the beach house and the guest cottage. He rented out the beach house for an enormous sum and lived quite well in the cottage. With this stable source of income, he really didn’t have to do anything, and most of the time, he was quite happy with that state of affairs. Others looked at his life and thought he was unfulfilled or wasting the days of his life, but really, they were just judging him by Puritan work ethic standards that should have been strangled in the crib.
The body washing up on his beach was just a precursor to a much larger, looming crisis. His ex-wife called and asked to meet with him because she was having problems with his ex-step-daughter, who, when she wasn’t trying to seduce Reed, was exhibiting a churning hatred for him. Interacting with her was like trying to put a pissed off cat in a gunny sack. It seemed that darling Caroline had become mixed up with drugs, and Katherine wanted Reed to extract her from these nefarious entanglements.
I liked this piece of dialogue. ”She looked at James a moment. ‘You still have a quaint way with words,’ she said. ‘Quaint and dirty.’” One of those hardboiled interactions that could have come from the golden age of 1940s Hollywood Noir.
Did I mention that Reed has a passing resemblance to Michael Caine? Of course Katherine always assures him she could have bedding the real thing.
Reed soon discovered that Caroline was in much more trouble than he could have even imagined. Katherine’s new fiance, the rich and powerful Peter Manheim, tried to control Reed’s investigation into the murder and drugs. He was more worried about headlines than finding out the truth. The problem he had came back to was that contented man issue. How did one bribe, corrupt, or threaten a man who was so satisfied with his circumstances? There were no angles to exploit. Reed was turning out to be more dangerous than Manheim could possibly think.
The thugs were thuggier than what Reed expected. The stakes were much higher and more convoluted than he could have imagined. The parties involved in Caroline’s debacle were more extensive than he could have anticipated. If not for his lingering affection for Katherine, he would be smart to unplug his phone from the wall (this was the 1980s, after all) and take long runs along the beach until he forgot about any obligations he might have had to pursue this case to the bitter end.
It was really fun running around in the 1980s again, especially the LA area. I first visited LA back in the late 1980s, and it was the West Coast epicenter of living beyond one’s means and the parties always started long before the weekend. Everything still seemed possible in the 198os. People weren’t as jaded as they are today. They enjoyed more things. Life seemed larger. This was before technology strangled our life down to the size of an iPhone. I think I’ll just keep my rose colored glasses on and queue up James Reed’s next adventure…Blackball. Maybe I’ll even act like I’m a man of leisure, a man of contentment, while I read it.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
If you asked James Reed if he were contented with his life, he could give you two answers. If he was talking about his writing, which was on life support with a twitchy hand on the outlet cord, he might say that his life was a steamy pile of fish guts, decomposing in the sun, surrounded by a beautiful beach. If you asked about his life in general, after quitting Scotland Yard and divorcing the actress Katherine Long, he might surprise you by saying, with a musing hand on his chin, that his life, in general, was pretty good.
James Reed doesn’t really do...anything.
In the divorce, his wife left him the beach house and the guest cottage. He rented out the beach house for an enormous sum and lived quite well in the cottage. With this stable source of income, he really didn’t have to do anything, and most of the time, he was quite happy with that state of affairs. Others looked at his life and thought he was unfulfilled or wasting the days of his life, but really, they were just judging him by Puritan work ethic standards that should have been strangled in the crib.
The body washing up on his beach was just a precursor to a much larger, looming crisis. His ex-wife called and asked to meet with him because she was having problems with his ex-step-daughter, who, when she wasn’t trying to seduce Reed, was exhibiting a churning hatred for him. Interacting with her was like trying to put a pissed off cat in a gunny sack. It seemed that darling Caroline had become mixed up with drugs, and Katherine wanted Reed to extract her from these nefarious entanglements.
I liked this piece of dialogue. ”She looked at James a moment. ‘You still have a quaint way with words,’ she said. ‘Quaint and dirty.’” One of those hardboiled interactions that could have come from the golden age of 1940s Hollywood Noir.
Did I mention that Reed has a passing resemblance to Michael Caine? Of course Katherine always assures him she could have bedding the real thing.
Reed soon discovered that Caroline was in much more trouble than he could have even imagined. Katherine’s new fiance, the rich and powerful Peter Manheim, tried to control Reed’s investigation into the murder and drugs. He was more worried about headlines than finding out the truth. The problem he had came back to was that contented man issue. How did one bribe, corrupt, or threaten a man who was so satisfied with his circumstances? There were no angles to exploit. Reed was turning out to be more dangerous than Manheim could possibly think.
The thugs were thuggier than what Reed expected. The stakes were much higher and more convoluted than he could have imagined. The parties involved in Caroline’s debacle were more extensive than he could have anticipated. If not for his lingering affection for Katherine, he would be smart to unplug his phone from the wall (this was the 1980s, after all) and take long runs along the beach until he forgot about any obligations he might have had to pursue this case to the bitter end.
It was really fun running around in the 1980s again, especially the LA area. I first visited LA back in the late 1980s, and it was the West Coast epicenter of living beyond one’s means and the parties always started long before the weekend. Everything still seemed possible in the 198os. People weren’t as jaded as they are today. They enjoyed more things. Life seemed larger. This was before technology strangled our life down to the size of an iPhone. I think I’ll just keep my rose colored glasses on and queue up James Reed’s next adventure…Blackball. Maybe I’ll even act like I’m a man of leisure, a man of contentment, while I read it.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
May 28, 2020
I do not know where Brash Books is finding its authors but in my book they are batting a 1.000 pct. I have read three of there authors, Ralph Dennis, Mark Rogers and Jimmy Sangster and have throughly enjoyed all the books.
I really enjoyed Snowball. I had ready Touchfeather previously and really liked it too. I am still having a difficult time adding up all of Sangster's writing efforts. He wrote many of the top films produced by Hammer. His fiction tends to be more action, mystery based and damn good. Again not sure why he did not write more but this stuff is top notch.
I enjoyed the character James reed. I liked the case. He does a good job writing about the world of the 80's. I could easily have pictured this as a film. Great read and Good stuff. Brash Books keep releasing these diamonds in the rough.
I really enjoyed Snowball. I had ready Touchfeather previously and really liked it too. I am still having a difficult time adding up all of Sangster's writing efforts. He wrote many of the top films produced by Hammer. His fiction tends to be more action, mystery based and damn good. Again not sure why he did not write more but this stuff is top notch.
I enjoyed the character James reed. I liked the case. He does a good job writing about the world of the 80's. I could easily have pictured this as a film. Great read and Good stuff. Brash Books keep releasing these diamonds in the rough.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews