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August Snow #3
Dead of Winter
A shadowy Detroit real estate billionaire. A ruthless fixer. A successful Mexicantown family business in their crosshairs. Gentrification has never been bloodier.
Authentico Foods Inc. has been a part of Detroit’s Mexicantown for over thirty years, grown from the small home kitchen to a city-block-long facility where sixty people produce Mexican foodstuffs for restaurants and stores throughout the Midwest.
Detroit ex-cop and Mexicantown native August Snow has been invited for a business meeting at Authentico Foods. Its owner, Ronaldo Ortega, is dying, and is being blackmailed into selling the company to an anonymous entity. Ortega is worried about his employees and wants August to step in. August has no interest in running a tortilla empire, but he does want to know who’s threatening his neighborhood. His investigation immediately takes a shocking turn. Now August and his loved ones are caught up in a heinous net of billionaire developers who place no value on human life, and August Snow must go to war for the soul of Mexicantown.
Authentico Foods Inc. has been a part of Detroit’s Mexicantown for over thirty years, grown from the small home kitchen to a city-block-long facility where sixty people produce Mexican foodstuffs for restaurants and stores throughout the Midwest.
Detroit ex-cop and Mexicantown native August Snow has been invited for a business meeting at Authentico Foods. Its owner, Ronaldo Ortega, is dying, and is being blackmailed into selling the company to an anonymous entity. Ortega is worried about his employees and wants August to step in. August has no interest in running a tortilla empire, but he does want to know who’s threatening his neighborhood. His investigation immediately takes a shocking turn. Now August and his loved ones are caught up in a heinous net of billionaire developers who place no value on human life, and August Snow must go to war for the soul of Mexicantown.
294 pages, Hardcover
First published May 4, 2021
140 people are currently reading
746 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Mack Jones
6 books280 followersStephen Mack Jones is a published poet, award-winning playwright, and recipient of the prestigious Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellowship. He survived a number of years in advertising and marketing communications. Mr. Jones was born in Lansing, Michigan, and currently lives in Farmington Hills, outside of Detroit. August Snow is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
May 31, 2021
I have listened to the audiobook version of Dead of Winter, the third installment in the series about August Snow, In this book Snow is asked to save a Mexican food manufacturer. What follows is a spiral of sketchy real estate dealings, amoral billionaires, and corrupt city employees. This is gritty crime fiction with dry humor, interesting characters and lots of action.
The book was narrated by Luis Moreno and I really liked his clear and distinct voice. The audio quality was very good so I can really recommend this audiobook. I'll definitely go back and listen to the first two books in the series, also narrated by Luis Moreno.
Thanks to the author, RB Media and NetGalley for this copy.
The book was narrated by Luis Moreno and I really liked his clear and distinct voice. The audio quality was very good so I can really recommend this audiobook. I'll definitely go back and listen to the first two books in the series, also narrated by Luis Moreno.
Thanks to the author, RB Media and NetGalley for this copy.
March 18, 2021
Here I am again, coming in late to a series. This is book 3 – and it’s my first book in the series. It works as a standalone and it absolutely won’t be my last time reading this series!
Dead of Winter is a tense and riveting crime novel. Our main character is Black and Mexican (Blaxican) and he’s dealing with a situation that is dangerously impacting his community – and his loved ones.
I loved our characters and our bits of culture. The author demonstrates a love of both Black and Mexican culture and I was all in.
As for our crime? Edgy, intense, and mixed with edge-of-your-seat action!
Thoroughly loved this book and I can’t wait for the next one!
*ARC Provided via Net Galley
Dead of Winter is a tense and riveting crime novel. Our main character is Black and Mexican (Blaxican) and he’s dealing with a situation that is dangerously impacting his community – and his loved ones.
I loved our characters and our bits of culture. The author demonstrates a love of both Black and Mexican culture and I was all in.
As for our crime? Edgy, intense, and mixed with edge-of-your-seat action!
Thoroughly loved this book and I can’t wait for the next one!
*ARC Provided via Net Galley
March 8, 2021
A thrilling novel that stalks along with a blend of power and poetry you might see in a middle-weight boxer. Flowing in a balletic way between, even during, the brutal moments ... Stephen Mack Jones crafts a superb tale that bobs, weaves, and hits hard as August’s sleuthing puts himself and those he loves into grave danger. There’s action aplenty, but also rich characterization, wonderful writing, and a strong sense of place. August’s investigation entwines with the whims and wishes of ruthless billionaire developers, and there’s plenty to chew on for readers when it comes to thought-provoking issues around gentrification, race relations, and inequality to go along with the moreish descriptions of culinary delights. Overall, Dead of Winter is a superb crime novel from an author with a distinctive voice and something to say, in among the crime and carnage.
May 27, 2021
Stephen Mack Jones does it again! If you love crime novels with characters you care about, this is the series for you. August Snow is funny, intelligent, tough as nails and endearing. I look forward to where book 4 in the series takes August. Hope I don't have to wait too long! I do recommend starting with book 1 and reading in order.
June 16, 2021
Wow, this series is only getting better with every book. Dead of Winter is the third and hopefully not the last book about my new hero August Snow by new favorite author Stephen Mack Jones. This one begins with the suggestion of a real estate deal that doesn't sound kosher and it then turns to murder and mayhem in high speed. I really love the grit and humor in these books and the characters are wonderful. The setting of a partially bleak and rundown Detroit is also helping. Please Stephen write faster...
May 14, 2021
Same great setting—makes me want to visit Michigan again. But August Snow seems more angry to me—stuff has happened. I don’t blame him, I’ve been angry since November 2016 but am recovering and by the end I thought he was softening a little too. This is gritty crime fiction with unexpected dry humor. For the record, I agree about the “tragicomic ritual observed by households across America”! I love the character development and feel like I can see these people. I hope there is more August Snow to come, there is so much more to know.
May 10, 2021
DEAD OF WINTER, Stephen Mack Jones’ third August Snow novel, is at heart a long, violent love letter to the city of Detroit, warts and roses and all. Jones may currently live in a suburb of Detroit, but this latest installment displays an insider’s familiarity with a once-promising city gleaned from traversing streets where the busses don’t run and one is bound to rub elbows (and possibly more) with folks who many would wisely cross the street to avoid.
August Snow is an ex-Detroit cop who came out the winner of a wrongful termination lawsuit and uses his well-earned gain to play Robin Hood of sorts. He finds himself invited to a meeting at Authentico Foods, a Detroit institution known for manufacturing top-grade Mexican food items. Ronaldo Ochoa, the founder and owner, knew August’s deceased father and was his benefactor as a child. In the here and now, Ochoa is near death and is being pressured to sell his business to a shadowy entity with an old gambling debt leveraged against him. Ochoa wants August to buy Authentico Foods, knowing that he will keep the current employees working. Running a food manufacturing company is way outside of August’s considerable wheelhouse, but he’s concerned about its loss and the effect it will have on his neighborhood and city.
Ochoa’s daughter and a shady attorney do not share Ochoa’s plans to keep his business afloat after his death. They are more inclined to take outside money and let the chips fall where they may, so to speak. Thus they oppose any deal that would involve August. Things become personal for August when Ochoa dies, but not of natural causes, and his godfather is seriously injured in the mix. August does what he does best --- kicking down doors and getting information from both sides of the street. He learns soon enough that there are layers to the planned acquisition of Ochoa’s property that go as high as the Detroit city government, and well beyond the boundaries of the United States.
August has a deep bench of friends whose loyalty matches his, and some of them can bring a level of violence to a party that will paint the walls red. He is not bulletproof, but he will not hesitate to wade deeply into a situation to protect his own or go literally to the ends of the earth --- or a hemisphere, anyway --- to enact vengeance if he must, even at the risk of his own life.
DEAD OF WINTER is not just explosions and fisticuffs. Jones takes August on a culinary tour of Detroit, which will have some readers (including this one) checking their Waze app to see if a drive of a few hours to the city for lunch or dinner is feasible. If there is a downer to the book, it is the somewhat ham-handed “woke” sledgehammering that permeates it from beginning to end. Most of it comes from August, whose net worth of eight figures somewhat offsets any injustices that he might have endured. That said, one should come to this story for the action and stay for the scenery and the characters.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
August Snow is an ex-Detroit cop who came out the winner of a wrongful termination lawsuit and uses his well-earned gain to play Robin Hood of sorts. He finds himself invited to a meeting at Authentico Foods, a Detroit institution known for manufacturing top-grade Mexican food items. Ronaldo Ochoa, the founder and owner, knew August’s deceased father and was his benefactor as a child. In the here and now, Ochoa is near death and is being pressured to sell his business to a shadowy entity with an old gambling debt leveraged against him. Ochoa wants August to buy Authentico Foods, knowing that he will keep the current employees working. Running a food manufacturing company is way outside of August’s considerable wheelhouse, but he’s concerned about its loss and the effect it will have on his neighborhood and city.
Ochoa’s daughter and a shady attorney do not share Ochoa’s plans to keep his business afloat after his death. They are more inclined to take outside money and let the chips fall where they may, so to speak. Thus they oppose any deal that would involve August. Things become personal for August when Ochoa dies, but not of natural causes, and his godfather is seriously injured in the mix. August does what he does best --- kicking down doors and getting information from both sides of the street. He learns soon enough that there are layers to the planned acquisition of Ochoa’s property that go as high as the Detroit city government, and well beyond the boundaries of the United States.
August has a deep bench of friends whose loyalty matches his, and some of them can bring a level of violence to a party that will paint the walls red. He is not bulletproof, but he will not hesitate to wade deeply into a situation to protect his own or go literally to the ends of the earth --- or a hemisphere, anyway --- to enact vengeance if he must, even at the risk of his own life.
DEAD OF WINTER is not just explosions and fisticuffs. Jones takes August on a culinary tour of Detroit, which will have some readers (including this one) checking their Waze app to see if a drive of a few hours to the city for lunch or dinner is feasible. If there is a downer to the book, it is the somewhat ham-handed “woke” sledgehammering that permeates it from beginning to end. Most of it comes from August, whose net worth of eight figures somewhat offsets any injustices that he might have endured. That said, one should come to this story for the action and stay for the scenery and the characters.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
March 2, 2023
This third book in the August Snow thriller series is a great addition, filled with action, suspense, and humor just like the first two novels. August is a flawed but likable character you can't help rooting for, and here, he is once again fighting corruption and violence in his hometown of Detroit.
November 24, 2021
This has a high rating on Goodreads, but i just don't see it. Had a hard time finishing it.
June 13, 2021
The first line of “Dead of Winter” says it all. “My house is quietly becoming Frankenstein’s monster.”
Will redevelopment kill Detroit, August Snow or both?
August Octavio Snow is a true Detroit native; he loves Motown music and is obsessed with cars, big US made muscle cars. (He strongly objects to making an exit in what? A Prius?) He is a marine, once and always, having been in Afghanistan, a.k.a., “the sand,” and at least for a minute, was a cop. He won a $12 million wrongful dismissal suit against the Detroit Police Department, but struggles with the dark pressures of life.
The story unfolds in Snow’s first-person narrative filled with both philosophy and humor. (He readily answers the doorbell, confident that he will not be mugged, beaten or eaten, since thieves, killers and zombies rarely use the doorbell.) Conversations reflect both the troubling and the hilariously inappropriate things that people say to each other. The vocabulary and cadence of the narrative set the tone of the story more than the events themselves; the strength of the story is in the telling.
Snow and his friends flip houses in the southwest Detroit neighborhood of Mexicantown. Rampant development is threatening local businesses as the neighborhood evolves into a hipster, urban-chic place to be. Mr. Ochoa, the owner of local landmark Authentico Foods, has already had a big cash offer. He wants Snow to buy everything both to keep it out of the hands of a big developer, and to allow him a life somewhere that is not a “frozen wasteland three-quarters of the year.” Of course nothing is simple, and what evolves is a detailed and difficult journey. Snow is accustomed to guns, knives, and revenge, however problematic personal issues must be resolved, and the past is waiting for revenge.
“Remind me again who the good guys are and who the bad guys are?”
Snow is on a long and violent journey, but he shows personal growth, changes his attitude, and makes a commitment to himself and others.
I received a review copy of “Dead of Winter” from Stephen Mack Jones and Soho Crime. “Dead of Winter” is book three in the “August Snow” series, but it is not necessary to have read the previous books. Everything a new reader needs to know is included in this narrative. However, once finished, new readers will certainly want to go back to read the two previous books.
Will redevelopment kill Detroit, August Snow or both?
August Octavio Snow is a true Detroit native; he loves Motown music and is obsessed with cars, big US made muscle cars. (He strongly objects to making an exit in what? A Prius?) He is a marine, once and always, having been in Afghanistan, a.k.a., “the sand,” and at least for a minute, was a cop. He won a $12 million wrongful dismissal suit against the Detroit Police Department, but struggles with the dark pressures of life.
The story unfolds in Snow’s first-person narrative filled with both philosophy and humor. (He readily answers the doorbell, confident that he will not be mugged, beaten or eaten, since thieves, killers and zombies rarely use the doorbell.) Conversations reflect both the troubling and the hilariously inappropriate things that people say to each other. The vocabulary and cadence of the narrative set the tone of the story more than the events themselves; the strength of the story is in the telling.
Snow and his friends flip houses in the southwest Detroit neighborhood of Mexicantown. Rampant development is threatening local businesses as the neighborhood evolves into a hipster, urban-chic place to be. Mr. Ochoa, the owner of local landmark Authentico Foods, has already had a big cash offer. He wants Snow to buy everything both to keep it out of the hands of a big developer, and to allow him a life somewhere that is not a “frozen wasteland three-quarters of the year.” Of course nothing is simple, and what evolves is a detailed and difficult journey. Snow is accustomed to guns, knives, and revenge, however problematic personal issues must be resolved, and the past is waiting for revenge.
“Remind me again who the good guys are and who the bad guys are?”
Snow is on a long and violent journey, but he shows personal growth, changes his attitude, and makes a commitment to himself and others.
I received a review copy of “Dead of Winter” from Stephen Mack Jones and Soho Crime. “Dead of Winter” is book three in the “August Snow” series, but it is not necessary to have read the previous books. Everything a new reader needs to know is included in this narrative. However, once finished, new readers will certainly want to go back to read the two previous books.
August 11, 2025
A beefy Olds 442 is maybe not the car you want for chasing bad guys in the streets of Detroit in winter, but August Snow is the guy.
Authentico Foods' owner is dying and Snow is called to Ochoa's office to counteroffer a slick developer, his skinny suit attorney and Ochoa's scumptuously dangerous daughter Jackie. When Snow declines, bullets, people and cars start their motors revving.
There's plenty of villains I'd like to run over, surprise allies, and once more the author gifts us with downright excellent women in both categories. Joining us again are the neighbors Carmela and Sylvia and their new boarder Lucy Three Rivers. Tatina, Miss Jesse, Elena, Lady B - nobody writes women like Mack Jones.
The bad guys are uber bad this time - who doesn't hate developers with money laundering issues? - and the folks we can root for are their whooping best. I still have a crush on Wayne County Coroner Bobby Falconi and I got enough of a glimpse to tide me over until the next book.
Best book in this series so far, and I am crazy about the other two. As always, come for the adventure, stay for the food and clothes.
Somewhere in the world is a developing TV series starring (and exec produced by) Detroit's own Keegan-Michael Key. The final scenes in Dead of Winter are going to be epic.
I got my eager eyeballs on an advance uncopyedited edition (the book is officially out in May this year). Lucky me. Soon to be lucky you.
Personal aside: Once upon a long ago time, I had a rumbling behemoth of a car in Detroit in winter. By February, the trick was to back it out of the driveway at speed, and turn the wheel at precisely the right degree and time to land all four wheels in the ice ruts in the street. Miss and you're hung up on your undercarriage in the ice tower center. Last fail was when I called the local high school and asked if auto shop needed a sheet metal cadaver. They came, they flat-bedded it away.
Authentico Foods' owner is dying and Snow is called to Ochoa's office to counteroffer a slick developer, his skinny suit attorney and Ochoa's scumptuously dangerous daughter Jackie. When Snow declines, bullets, people and cars start their motors revving.
There's plenty of villains I'd like to run over, surprise allies, and once more the author gifts us with downright excellent women in both categories. Joining us again are the neighbors Carmela and Sylvia and their new boarder Lucy Three Rivers. Tatina, Miss Jesse, Elena, Lady B - nobody writes women like Mack Jones.
The bad guys are uber bad this time - who doesn't hate developers with money laundering issues? - and the folks we can root for are their whooping best. I still have a crush on Wayne County Coroner Bobby Falconi and I got enough of a glimpse to tide me over until the next book.
Best book in this series so far, and I am crazy about the other two. As always, come for the adventure, stay for the food and clothes.
Somewhere in the world is a developing TV series starring (and exec produced by) Detroit's own Keegan-Michael Key. The final scenes in Dead of Winter are going to be epic.
I got my eager eyeballs on an advance uncopyedited edition (the book is officially out in May this year). Lucky me. Soon to be lucky you.
Personal aside: Once upon a long ago time, I had a rumbling behemoth of a car in Detroit in winter. By February, the trick was to back it out of the driveway at speed, and turn the wheel at precisely the right degree and time to land all four wheels in the ice ruts in the street. Miss and you're hung up on your undercarriage in the ice tower center. Last fail was when I called the local high school and asked if auto shop needed a sheet metal cadaver. They came, they flat-bedded it away.
June 23, 2021
August Snow is back in this excellent third installment in the series. Here the sleuth is in a world of change. The Detroit Renaissance is on the verge of eliminating his one man home renovation project as the city is awash with new money looking to buy real estate. He makes a commitment to his girlfriend Tatina. Finally, the tiny boxes laid away in a dark corner of his psyche threaten to seize control of him.
It is the nature of some of the new money targeted at his beloved Mexicantown that draws Snow into his latest bout with murder and mayhem. Snow's usual array of sidekicks are there to help and the story and pages move right along. I really enjoy the Snow character, his thoughts and struggles in a changing and unchanging America. He is a masterful character and the plots deliver a great read.
If I have a complaint about the book, it is the author is out to get me fat with the wonderful descriptions of food interspersed throughout the book. If I get to Detroit again to see a ball game, I am hoping the restaurants he mentions are real for I will surely look them up.
It is the nature of some of the new money targeted at his beloved Mexicantown that draws Snow into his latest bout with murder and mayhem. Snow's usual array of sidekicks are there to help and the story and pages move right along. I really enjoy the Snow character, his thoughts and struggles in a changing and unchanging America. He is a masterful character and the plots deliver a great read.
If I have a complaint about the book, it is the author is out to get me fat with the wonderful descriptions of food interspersed throughout the book. If I get to Detroit again to see a ball game, I am hoping the restaurants he mentions are real for I will surely look them up.
June 8, 2021
Thanks to SOHO and Edelweiss I received an early copy of Stephen Mack Jones' newest August Snow. I should be shaking my head with all the trouble August Snow happens into. This time the intrigue becomes international. It is full of violence, food, and love from the people who call August "family".
I do wonder if there should be an August Snow tour of Detroit eateries. Is there really a Schmear Cafe?
Now I have to wait twice as long for the next edition. : > (
I do wonder if there should be an August Snow tour of Detroit eateries. Is there really a Schmear Cafe?
Now I have to wait twice as long for the next edition. : > (
June 28, 2021
Stephen Mack Jones continues the August Snow story with an even more intense and edge of your seat telling. The character development is so rich and vivid. I could not put this down. I, as with the previous August Snow stories. laughed out loud and got a bit teary as well. I'm hoping we see more of the August Snow story!!!
June 15, 2021
I'm a huge fan of the August Snow series (August Snow, Lives Laid Away, and now Dead of Winter).
In Dead of Winter, Detroit ex-cop and Mexicantown native August Snow fights not only for his own life, but for the soul of the neighborhood he loves. It’s a thriller with strong elements of a whodunnit (and why). Old friends, flames and enemies converge with violent, genuinely inspired and deadly results.
This third book featuring August Snow raises the tension—and the stakes—on Jones’s major themes of redemption, forgiveness and belonging. Snow carries scars from his time with the military in Afghanistan and can’t forgive himself for something that happened there; the Detroit police department where he used to work can’t forgive him for crossing the thin blue line. He finds joy in the everyday details of his neighborhood and its people. And its food. The sense of place, of history and of belonging is vivid and runs deeply in the August Snow series. That sense of place, of belonging, adds to the stakes if Snow fails to find out who or what is behind this latest threat.
An action-packed thriller, Dead of Winter delivers high-stakes drama with twists and surprises (one of which you will never see coming!); and a solid, compelling hero for these confusing times.
Readers who enjoy a cracking mystery-thriller, with surprising (and alarming!) twists will love Dead of Winter. Readers of the Jack Reacher novels will be rewarded, too, with action, tension and intrigue. But where Reacher carries his ethics from place to place, August Snow deals justice in his own hometown.
“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are,” is the well-known quote from the epicure and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. And author Stephen Mack Jones wastes no time letting us know exactly who and what August Snow is, even as those behind the blackmail and murder remain in shadow. Though the novel keeps a furious page-turning pace, there's time to eat. Food in August Snow's world is a vital ingredient. Its function in the story is almost like another character in the drama. Its creation, its consumption—and what it means—wafts through these pages like “a warm and seductively spicy aroma.”
The other characters are compelling and seductively spicy in their own way. His on-again-off-again love Tatina, his confessor and friend Father Grabowski, his godmother and godfather are all compelling and fully realized. Their dialogue crackles with terse interchanges that brim with snark and subtext. It’s hard to say which character intrigued me the most, and all I can say without giving too much away is that the assassin is someone I’d like to know more about.
An action-packed thriller, Dead of Winter delivers high-stakes drama with twists and surprises (one of which you will never see coming!); and a solid, compelling hero for these confusing times…A tale, I might add, with enough meat on its bones to be thoroughly satisfying. Highly recommended.
In Dead of Winter, Detroit ex-cop and Mexicantown native August Snow fights not only for his own life, but for the soul of the neighborhood he loves. It’s a thriller with strong elements of a whodunnit (and why). Old friends, flames and enemies converge with violent, genuinely inspired and deadly results.
This third book featuring August Snow raises the tension—and the stakes—on Jones’s major themes of redemption, forgiveness and belonging. Snow carries scars from his time with the military in Afghanistan and can’t forgive himself for something that happened there; the Detroit police department where he used to work can’t forgive him for crossing the thin blue line. He finds joy in the everyday details of his neighborhood and its people. And its food. The sense of place, of history and of belonging is vivid and runs deeply in the August Snow series. That sense of place, of belonging, adds to the stakes if Snow fails to find out who or what is behind this latest threat.
An action-packed thriller, Dead of Winter delivers high-stakes drama with twists and surprises (one of which you will never see coming!); and a solid, compelling hero for these confusing times.
Readers who enjoy a cracking mystery-thriller, with surprising (and alarming!) twists will love Dead of Winter. Readers of the Jack Reacher novels will be rewarded, too, with action, tension and intrigue. But where Reacher carries his ethics from place to place, August Snow deals justice in his own hometown.
“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are,” is the well-known quote from the epicure and gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. And author Stephen Mack Jones wastes no time letting us know exactly who and what August Snow is, even as those behind the blackmail and murder remain in shadow. Though the novel keeps a furious page-turning pace, there's time to eat. Food in August Snow's world is a vital ingredient. Its function in the story is almost like another character in the drama. Its creation, its consumption—and what it means—wafts through these pages like “a warm and seductively spicy aroma.”
The other characters are compelling and seductively spicy in their own way. His on-again-off-again love Tatina, his confessor and friend Father Grabowski, his godmother and godfather are all compelling and fully realized. Their dialogue crackles with terse interchanges that brim with snark and subtext. It’s hard to say which character intrigued me the most, and all I can say without giving too much away is that the assassin is someone I’d like to know more about.
An action-packed thriller, Dead of Winter delivers high-stakes drama with twists and surprises (one of which you will never see coming!); and a solid, compelling hero for these confusing times…A tale, I might add, with enough meat on its bones to be thoroughly satisfying. Highly recommended.
June 14, 2022
U sklopu industrijske špijunaže pročitao sam roman DEAD OF WINTER Stephena Mack Jonesa, a privukla me je najava da će Paul Ecksterin praviti seriju po ovom serijalu za ABC sa Keegan Michael Keyem u glavnoj ulozi.
August Snow je protagonista serije Jonesovih romana, i DEAD OF WINTER je jedan od njih, nije inicijalni komad kojim sve počinje.
Nažalost sam prilično razočaran onim što sam zatekao. Naime, August Snow ima osvežavajuće old school postavku kao lik. Oko njega nema ništa prenaglašeno što bi ga izdvojilo i to mi se dopalo. Međutim, nažalost ono što postoji je bledo i neupečatljivo. To što je "običan" lik, ratni veteran i bivši policajac koji je postao private dick je moralo biti ispraćeno barem nekakvom karakterizacijom, ali u ovoj knjizi on je manje čak i od opšteg mesta. Njegov lik čini serija podrazumevanja, sa jednom generic dozom cinizma u kojoj nema ništa naročito pametno ili duhovito, deduktivnim mogućnostima koje su ispod minimalnih za snalaženje u gradu kakav je Detroit i uopšte glavni junak je jedno veliko ništa.
Sporedni likovi su isti takvi samo sa jednim krupnim nedostatkom - oni jesu pravljeni da budu tobože atipični i uvrnuti i to opet odlazi u jednu neinventivnu persiflažu.
Misterija koju junak rešava je napisana puno puta, jedino zanimljivo u njoj je relativno inovativna krajnja namera negativaca sa nekretninama koje žele da nabave po svaku cenu, ali to na kraju ne uspeva da razradi u nešto zanimljivo.
Možda su neki raniji romani o Augustu Snowu bolji, ne znam, i stoga se neću izjašnjavati o serijalu u celini. Ali, ovaj konkretan roman je svakako ispod nivoa koji bi se očekivao od američke kriminalističke proze.
Verujem da bi ovakav roman možda na nekom drugom jeziku, recimo kod nas, mogao da prođe, ali u Americi, i to kao rad nagrađivanog pisca krimića, baš i ne.
August Snow je protagonista serije Jonesovih romana, i DEAD OF WINTER je jedan od njih, nije inicijalni komad kojim sve počinje.
Nažalost sam prilično razočaran onim što sam zatekao. Naime, August Snow ima osvežavajuće old school postavku kao lik. Oko njega nema ništa prenaglašeno što bi ga izdvojilo i to mi se dopalo. Međutim, nažalost ono što postoji je bledo i neupečatljivo. To što je "običan" lik, ratni veteran i bivši policajac koji je postao private dick je moralo biti ispraćeno barem nekakvom karakterizacijom, ali u ovoj knjizi on je manje čak i od opšteg mesta. Njegov lik čini serija podrazumevanja, sa jednom generic dozom cinizma u kojoj nema ništa naročito pametno ili duhovito, deduktivnim mogućnostima koje su ispod minimalnih za snalaženje u gradu kakav je Detroit i uopšte glavni junak je jedno veliko ništa.
Sporedni likovi su isti takvi samo sa jednim krupnim nedostatkom - oni jesu pravljeni da budu tobože atipični i uvrnuti i to opet odlazi u jednu neinventivnu persiflažu.
Misterija koju junak rešava je napisana puno puta, jedino zanimljivo u njoj je relativno inovativna krajnja namera negativaca sa nekretninama koje žele da nabave po svaku cenu, ali to na kraju ne uspeva da razradi u nešto zanimljivo.
Možda su neki raniji romani o Augustu Snowu bolji, ne znam, i stoga se neću izjašnjavati o serijalu u celini. Ali, ovaj konkretan roman je svakako ispod nivoa koji bi se očekivao od američke kriminalističke proze.
Verujem da bi ovakav roman možda na nekom drugom jeziku, recimo kod nas, mogao da prođe, ali u Americi, i to kao rad nagrađivanog pisca krimića, baš i ne.
April 27, 2021
August Snow has become a bit of a hero in his Detroit neighborhood, so when Mr. Ochoa owner of a longtime tortilla business asks to meet him, August does. Ochoa is being pressured to sell his business but the dying man wants August to buy it. Shortly after this meeting Ochoa is murdered and Tomas, Snow's godfather and best friend is shot and nearly killed. August then begins an investigation that again leads to the political leaders and movers of Detroit and beyond. Tatina Stadtmueller arrives form Oslo and readers get a fuller picture of August's long distance lover. There are surprises and a bit more violence than in the first two books, but Stephen Mack Jones is now in my "stay up past my bedtime to finish reading" category with Daniel Silva. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
June 7, 2021
I could not put this book down. Mack Jones's first August Snow was superb; 2nd very good, but his third is an amazing amalgamation of strong CH development, indelible place (Detroit), brisk pacing, trenchant and humorous prose, and a continuous building of tension and release. His food descriptions are equal if not better than Parker's Spenser. The gritty urban streets of Detroit's Mexicantown as remarkable as Joe Ide's LA. His use of winter weather adds to the tone. His pacing and fight scenes reminded me of Hurwitz's Orphan series in that he gives you just enough detail while he forwards the action. Secondary CHs are well-developed--even the bad guys--and August Snow is complex and always on a learning curve. The violence is pervasive and in this book borders on carnage; however, it always serves the narrative even when it feels excessive. Mack Jones balances this violence with an internal and dialogue-driven examination of motivation, faith, and the variables in humanity that allows me to take the leap with him even when I am sometimes feeling that like other suspense authors he is allowing his CHs to get away with (no legal consequence) in the name of practical justice.
Red Flags: Violence and vulgar language.
Red Flags: Violence and vulgar language.
May 5, 2021
August Snow continues his vigilant watch over the encroaching gentrification of his beloved Detroit, this time by an increasing stepladder of shadowy, billionaire investors, each more nefarious than the last. This third in the series by Stephen Mack Jones is as compulsively readable as the prior installments, even more so, with increased depth of character to all involved, not to mention the incredible menus August consumes and creates incorporating recipes attributed to his mixed heritage of an African-American father and Mexican mother. Jones knows his way around a kitchen and a well stocked liquor cabinet as well as around a gun locker. The cinematic action scenes propel the plot, but it is the character of August Snow that makes me impatient for the next installment to drop.
May 17, 2021
Rounded up to 4. This is book 3 in a series but it was set up well and worked as a standalone. I will go back and read books 1 and 2 as I liked the characters and the dilemmas they find themselves in. I lived in a Northern suburb of Detroit for several years. I was familiar with several places in the book.
January 12, 2022
Since his debut novel (August Snow) I have enjoyed the books by Stephen Mack Jones. He writes a fabulous story without any filler paragraphs or unnecessary chit-chit. His writing is so clean and I love the way he sets up the story line right from the beginning of each book. Kept the series going; looking forward to your next great novel.
October 19, 2021
I am and always will be a fan of August Snow, and the same holds for his creator, Stephen Mack Jones. But Book #1 has been the best so far. #2 and now this one, #3, got almost cartoonish in the violence. I had a willing suspension of disbelief because of my love for August Snow, but--it was stretched to the limit. Looking forward, still, to #4.
November 12, 2022
For the third time Jones delivers a good read. The twist of this novel keeps pushing the reader along the journey through Detroit through serious injuries to sequential characters and a love story. The stakes are high for the defender of Mexican-town and so is the pain and devotion between friends.
August 11, 2021
August Snow books just keep getting better and better!!
June 9, 2021
I love August Snow. This one seems a little more gory than previous editions, but I still went along for the bumpy ride.
December 2, 2021
It’s really hard not to love a detective story set in the Motor City. August Snow is half black and half Mexican and lives in Mexican town trying to revitalize the neighborhood, and create a sense of community. He also doesn’t take kindly to bad guys trying to strong arm his friends and doing lots of illegal deals. It is so fun to watch him eat at Lafayette Coney Island, and scope out the bad guys lair on Belle Isle at the Anna Scripps Conservatory. I’m always rooting for August Snow and all his buddies to come out on top. Fun read!
June 2, 2021
Just as good as the first two. Love the local mentions, like Sister Pie. Also love that August’s copine is smart and tough and lives in Oslo, an awesome city.
March 30, 2023
I read the first two August Snow novels, a series I learned about from Ray Walsh’s excellent book review column in the Lansing State Journal. Walsh features Michigan-centric books, and has a fondness for mystery novels. I’ve purchased many at Ray’s East Lansing used book shop, Curious Books, and try to read a sampling of ones he recommends.
An unfailing quality of Ray’s reviews is that he’s gracious. He certainly was in the review of Stephen Mack Jones’s first August Snow book, and I found that one interesting and reasonably well-written. So I’ve kept up with the series.
In this one, #3, Jones has jumped the shark. The series premise has always required some suspension of disbelief. August Snow, the protagonist, is an Iraq war vet and a former Detroit police officer who sued the city for discrimination, and won $12,000,000. He has quit the force (of course) and now lives as a neighborhood philanthropist, bankrolling the rehabbing of housing on the block where he grew up in Mexicantown, an ethnic neighborhood which is slowly succumbing to gentrification. If you buy the basic premise, it’s quite believable to that point.
So it’s not too much of a stretch to learn that some shady developers are attempting to buy a local factory to raze it and develop condominiums. August takes umbrage because the factory is a tortilla factory employing a substantial number of neighborhood people, and it’s the life work of a Mexican pull-yerself-up entrepreneur who adamantly refuses to sell out to the developer.
Of course, the factory owner is murdered. This begins the mystery. Though August has no official standing for investigation, he looks into it anyway.
I don’t want to click the “spoiler” toggle, so I won’t go any further into what August discovers. Suffice it to say that either I am very naive, or the real identities and purposes of the developers are preposterous, if not totally unbelievable. They’re not colonizing martians, but they’re close.
Equally preposterous are the unlikely comic-book exertions of our hero, a middle-aged guy who was admittedly an Army sharpshooter, but c’mon. He takes on multiple bad guys seriatim with a wham-bam-powie combination of karate kicks and AR-15 shots-from-the-hip. I grew up with this type of superhero, but left them behind at about the time of puberty.
Jones needs a good editor who will tell him to write for adults. One other suggestion I’d make, were I that editor, is to get over the fascination with firearms. August Snow and his Godfather are possessed of about 30 weapons of destruction, each precisely named and described. That’s not color; it’s plot obstruction.
I read somewhere that Stephen Mack Jones intended to stop writing August Snow novels after this one and move on to something else. I applaud that decision.
August Snow could be an interesting character. His circumstances could give Jones a canvas for serious exploration of the real Detroit, rather than the city of popular stereotype. Snow’s surrounding cast of characters is robust enough for character development as well as plot complexity. But I don’t think I’ll read another August Snow novel, should one appear, unless it’s very clear that it’s aimed at an adult audience.
An unfailing quality of Ray’s reviews is that he’s gracious. He certainly was in the review of Stephen Mack Jones’s first August Snow book, and I found that one interesting and reasonably well-written. So I’ve kept up with the series.
In this one, #3, Jones has jumped the shark. The series premise has always required some suspension of disbelief. August Snow, the protagonist, is an Iraq war vet and a former Detroit police officer who sued the city for discrimination, and won $12,000,000. He has quit the force (of course) and now lives as a neighborhood philanthropist, bankrolling the rehabbing of housing on the block where he grew up in Mexicantown, an ethnic neighborhood which is slowly succumbing to gentrification. If you buy the basic premise, it’s quite believable to that point.
So it’s not too much of a stretch to learn that some shady developers are attempting to buy a local factory to raze it and develop condominiums. August takes umbrage because the factory is a tortilla factory employing a substantial number of neighborhood people, and it’s the life work of a Mexican pull-yerself-up entrepreneur who adamantly refuses to sell out to the developer.
Of course, the factory owner is murdered. This begins the mystery. Though August has no official standing for investigation, he looks into it anyway.
I don’t want to click the “spoiler” toggle, so I won’t go any further into what August discovers. Suffice it to say that either I am very naive, or the real identities and purposes of the developers are preposterous, if not totally unbelievable. They’re not colonizing martians, but they’re close.
Equally preposterous are the unlikely comic-book exertions of our hero, a middle-aged guy who was admittedly an Army sharpshooter, but c’mon. He takes on multiple bad guys seriatim with a wham-bam-powie combination of karate kicks and AR-15 shots-from-the-hip. I grew up with this type of superhero, but left them behind at about the time of puberty.
Jones needs a good editor who will tell him to write for adults. One other suggestion I’d make, were I that editor, is to get over the fascination with firearms. August Snow and his Godfather are possessed of about 30 weapons of destruction, each precisely named and described. That’s not color; it’s plot obstruction.
I read somewhere that Stephen Mack Jones intended to stop writing August Snow novels after this one and move on to something else. I applaud that decision.
August Snow could be an interesting character. His circumstances could give Jones a canvas for serious exploration of the real Detroit, rather than the city of popular stereotype. Snow’s surrounding cast of characters is robust enough for character development as well as plot complexity. But I don’t think I’ll read another August Snow novel, should one appear, unless it’s very clear that it’s aimed at an adult audience.
July 16, 2021
Couldn't get past the first 30 pages
June 29, 2023
The Snow series is the high end of young adult fantasy.
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