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Cayuga: A Max Dean Adventure
Career-challenged writer and semi-retired LA private detective, Max Dean, living his worst life, takes on an investigation of a thirteen-year old unsolved murder in upstate New York. At the request of a rich, elderly lady from his past, he lands in the Finger Lakes whose lakes, gorges and falls hide secrets from when the land was a bloody Revolutionary War battleground. While following clues to the identity of the murderer, Max is catapulted into a search for the long-lost, Eye of Shiva, an ancient Hindu weapon of mass destruction. He's helped along a perilous path by an anthropologist cousin who is not really a cousin, an aging hippie, ticket scalper, a loser thief with winner dreams, and a Native American jewelry-maker slash wise man. Max finds himself in a battle of wits with death cultists from India, masquerading as Ivy League academics; born to fulfill the catastrophic prophecy of the Third Cleansing.
251 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 5, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 21, 2022
More time+space travel adventures from Max Dean, so immersive and detailed you actually get sucked into every page of the book. Personally, I always like to read the dialogue bits out loud since it allows me to enjoy Larry Mollin's awesome writing better, so that's something I'd definitely advise you to try!
January 10, 2022
Max Dean, a drifting, former Hollywood writer/songwriter/poet/semi-retired PI, has returned for another zany, great adventure in Larry Mollin's second work in the Max Dean trilogy, "Cayuga."
As with his previous Max Dean novel, Mollin's tale spans time and space (from late 18th century India and North America to a late 1960s commune to the near present), but the main story takes in Obama era Ithaca, NY (about a decade after the events in "St. Malo" ended). A now widowed Max is weary and tired as he takes a new assignment requested by a person from his "St. Malo" past and winds up on a raucous, raunchy, page turning adventure with a funny, interesting set of characters in his quest to solve a murder and prevent a Hindu death cult from obtaining an ancient relic with apocalyptic properties.
I won't spoil too much with plot details but here are the elements that I really enjoyed about the work:
1.) As befits Mollin's background as a television writer (Beverly Hills 90210, Knight Rider), the style and pacing are cinematic which works exceptionally well with this kind of adventure novel. Despite the shifts in perspective, time and space, the narrative keeps pushing forward in a dynamic way. And it allows Mollin to bring in a diverse, interesting set of characters with ease.
2.) Max Dean's character development from "St. Malo" to "Cayuga" was rich and fulfilling. Mollin could have just kept the lovable Max from the first novel intact but instead and quite realistically, we encounter a Max who is in a darker, more autumnal stage of life. He's widowed, he's tired, he's drifting and while I described him in my review of "St. Malo," as part Indiana Jones/part Leisure Suit Larry/part aging hippie Troubadour, he's still all of these things and, yet, more than sum of all of the parts here. It was cool to see this evolution and even more delightful to see glimmers of the old, less harried Max return as he falls in love with Janey.
3.) Janey is a terrific female counterpoint to Max. A (literal) child of the counterculture who grew up to become an Ivy League anthropologist, the cousin-but not quite cousin of Max turned his lover, the zaftig, sexy Janey is a delightful creation and as sad as I was that Mei didn't live to make a reappearance in this book, Mollin is exceptionally good at developing women characters who are sexy, fun, smart and have agency. It's a real strength of his writing.
4.) The bad guys were fun. And really, really bad.
In short, I had a lot of fun reading this. It's definitely a darker, more soulfully complex work than "St. Malo," but it works well: an autumnal book after summer breeziness of "St. Malo." And I'm looking forward to meeting up with Max and Janey again in a month or two.
Highly recommended.
As with his previous Max Dean novel, Mollin's tale spans time and space (from late 18th century India and North America to a late 1960s commune to the near present), but the main story takes in Obama era Ithaca, NY (about a decade after the events in "St. Malo" ended). A now widowed Max is weary and tired as he takes a new assignment requested by a person from his "St. Malo" past and winds up on a raucous, raunchy, page turning adventure with a funny, interesting set of characters in his quest to solve a murder and prevent a Hindu death cult from obtaining an ancient relic with apocalyptic properties.
I won't spoil too much with plot details but here are the elements that I really enjoyed about the work:
1.) As befits Mollin's background as a television writer (Beverly Hills 90210, Knight Rider), the style and pacing are cinematic which works exceptionally well with this kind of adventure novel. Despite the shifts in perspective, time and space, the narrative keeps pushing forward in a dynamic way. And it allows Mollin to bring in a diverse, interesting set of characters with ease.
2.) Max Dean's character development from "St. Malo" to "Cayuga" was rich and fulfilling. Mollin could have just kept the lovable Max from the first novel intact but instead and quite realistically, we encounter a Max who is in a darker, more autumnal stage of life. He's widowed, he's tired, he's drifting and while I described him in my review of "St. Malo," as part Indiana Jones/part Leisure Suit Larry/part aging hippie Troubadour, he's still all of these things and, yet, more than sum of all of the parts here. It was cool to see this evolution and even more delightful to see glimmers of the old, less harried Max return as he falls in love with Janey.
3.) Janey is a terrific female counterpoint to Max. A (literal) child of the counterculture who grew up to become an Ivy League anthropologist, the cousin-but not quite cousin of Max turned his lover, the zaftig, sexy Janey is a delightful creation and as sad as I was that Mei didn't live to make a reappearance in this book, Mollin is exceptionally good at developing women characters who are sexy, fun, smart and have agency. It's a real strength of his writing.
4.) The bad guys were fun. And really, really bad.
In short, I had a lot of fun reading this. It's definitely a darker, more soulfully complex work than "St. Malo," but it works well: an autumnal book after summer breeziness of "St. Malo." And I'm looking forward to meeting up with Max and Janey again in a month or two.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews