What do you think?
Rate this book
Hickey Family Mystery #4
The Loud Adios
The Loud Adios is set on the home front during World War II. Tom Hickey is in the army, an M.P. working the Tijuana-San Diego border, when a farm boy draftee about to ship overseas begs for help rescuing his sister from a gang of German and Mexican Nazis.
- GenresMystery
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
2 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Ken Kuhlken
29 books43 followersKen Kuhlken's stories have appeared in ESQUIRE and numerous other magazines, been honorably mentioned in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, and earned a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
His novels include MIDHEAVEN, finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Award for best first fiction book, and the Hickey family mysteries: THE BIGGEST LIAR IN LOS ANGELES; THE GOOD KNOW NOTHING; THE VENUS DEAL; THE LOUD ADIOS, Private Eye Writers of America Press Best First PI Novel; THE ANGEL GANG; THE DO-RE-MI, finalist for the Shamus Best Novel Award; THE VAGABOND VIRGINS; THE VERY LEAST; and THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING.
Hisfive-book saga FOR AMERICA, is together a long, long novel and an incantation, a work of magic created to postpone the end of the world for at least a thousand years.
His work in progress is a YA mystery.
His WRITING AND THE SPIRIT advises artists seeking inspiration. He guides readers on a trip to the Kingdom of Heaven in READING BROTHER LAWRENCE.
Also, he reads a lot, plays golf, watches and coaches baseball and softball, teaches at Perelandra College, and hangs out with his daughter when she comes home from her excellent college back east.
His novels include MIDHEAVEN, finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Award for best first fiction book, and the Hickey family mysteries: THE BIGGEST LIAR IN LOS ANGELES; THE GOOD KNOW NOTHING; THE VENUS DEAL; THE LOUD ADIOS, Private Eye Writers of America Press Best First PI Novel; THE ANGEL GANG; THE DO-RE-MI, finalist for the Shamus Best Novel Award; THE VAGABOND VIRGINS; THE VERY LEAST; and THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING.
Hisfive-book saga FOR AMERICA, is together a long, long novel and an incantation, a work of magic created to postpone the end of the world for at least a thousand years.
His work in progress is a YA mystery.
His WRITING AND THE SPIRIT advises artists seeking inspiration. He guides readers on a trip to the Kingdom of Heaven in READING BROTHER LAWRENCE.
Also, he reads a lot, plays golf, watches and coaches baseball and softball, teaches at Perelandra College, and hangs out with his daughter when she comes home from her excellent college back east.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 24, 2013
OK. This was my second go at reading this book, and this time I made it through to the end.
THE LOUD ADIOS is too well-written to be considered "bad." Besides, it won a very prestigious award, so there are obviously people who appreciate it more than I do. It's just that, compared to later books in the series, THE LOUD ADIOS simply doesn't measure up. All the elements are there, but Kuhlken hasn't quite hit upon the right formula yet, which is easily forgivable considering this is the very first book in the series. The problems with the book are fairly subtle: the characters are not likeable enough (for example, the "hero"--in addition to being borderline suicidal--annoyed me by always pointlessly breaking stuff whenever he got angry), the romance comes across as awkward to the point of being downright inappropriate, people's motivations often feel sketchy, and the tone of the book is too dark compared to that of the rest of the series.
As a debut, THE LOUD ADIOS succeeds by hinting to readers of better things to come once the author really hits his stride. On the other hand, I would definitely recommend beginning the series somewhere else, such as with THE BIGGEST LIAR IN CALIFORNIA, which, in addition to being a much better read, takes place first in the series chronologically.
THE LOUD ADIOS is too well-written to be considered "bad." Besides, it won a very prestigious award, so there are obviously people who appreciate it more than I do. It's just that, compared to later books in the series, THE LOUD ADIOS simply doesn't measure up. All the elements are there, but Kuhlken hasn't quite hit upon the right formula yet, which is easily forgivable considering this is the very first book in the series. The problems with the book are fairly subtle: the characters are not likeable enough (for example, the "hero"--in addition to being borderline suicidal--annoyed me by always pointlessly breaking stuff whenever he got angry), the romance comes across as awkward to the point of being downright inappropriate, people's motivations often feel sketchy, and the tone of the book is too dark compared to that of the rest of the series.
As a debut, THE LOUD ADIOS succeeds by hinting to readers of better things to come once the author really hits his stride. On the other hand, I would definitely recommend beginning the series somewhere else, such as with THE BIGGEST LIAR IN CALIFORNIA, which, in addition to being a much better read, takes place first in the series chronologically.
January 4, 2015
Set in the 1940s and supposedly (but not) written in the style of hard-boiled novels of the time, this one starts out manageable, but then takes its Tortured Good Man Struggling With Himself central character way over the top. There are Nazis in Mexico, a cult, and a gorgeous, emotionally and mentally damaged teenage girl who's been sexually abused and yet remains totally innocent. Of course there are.
December 13, 2018
Lurid and clunky with flashes of brilliance. the action scenes are just ridiculous and beg the question what purpose they serve.
April 29, 2015
To start off, this took me awhile to get through. Although, to be honest, most detective novels are like that for me. I have to say, though, by the time I did finish, it was a pretty satisfying ending. ^^
The character development and the plot itself are wonderful, and a little history in there as well. The whole conspiracy thing is always worth reading, in my opinion, as if the author writes it well, you never know quite what's going on until you've read through to the end. And Ken wrote it well.
I personally have this thing where Mexican and Spanish culture don't really click well for me. I don't know why. I have plenty of Spanish friends, my parents have Spanish friends and the culture itself is completely fine (I've even been to Mexico once, and it is a very nice place), but I don't like the food, I don't like the music, and I don't really like the language. It might be because I live in Texas though. That in itself may have been part of the reason it was so hard for me to get through this.
Another reason would be the book's format. There are just certain types of books (depending on how they're made) that I can fly through, and others that take forever. In the case of "The Loud Adios", it has one of the formats that take me a bit longer.
On the other hand, I loved the plot and the character development. It had the type of crazy plot that, while still within the zones of realistic probability, still made for an interesting read. The characters themselves, like I mentioned earlier, had realistic problems (even though Hickey's problems were the ones we dealt with and delved into the most) and were fairly 3D. (In all honesty, Tito was my favorite. I loved the others too, particularly Clifford and Wendy, but damn Tito. That guy was great.)
While this book isn't my favorite, it's definitely something I'd recommend to fans of conflicted, imperfect main characters in suspense novels. A series I look forward to continuing sometime in the future.
The character development and the plot itself are wonderful, and a little history in there as well. The whole conspiracy thing is always worth reading, in my opinion, as if the author writes it well, you never know quite what's going on until you've read through to the end. And Ken wrote it well.
I personally have this thing where Mexican and Spanish culture don't really click well for me. I don't know why. I have plenty of Spanish friends, my parents have Spanish friends and the culture itself is completely fine (I've even been to Mexico once, and it is a very nice place), but I don't like the food, I don't like the music, and I don't really like the language. It might be because I live in Texas though. That in itself may have been part of the reason it was so hard for me to get through this.
Another reason would be the book's format. There are just certain types of books (depending on how they're made) that I can fly through, and others that take forever. In the case of "The Loud Adios", it has one of the formats that take me a bit longer.
On the other hand, I loved the plot and the character development. It had the type of crazy plot that, while still within the zones of realistic probability, still made for an interesting read. The characters themselves, like I mentioned earlier, had realistic problems (even though Hickey's problems were the ones we dealt with and delved into the most) and were fairly 3D. (In all honesty, Tito was my favorite. I loved the others too, particularly Clifford and Wendy, but damn Tito. That guy was great.)
While this book isn't my favorite, it's definitely something I'd recommend to fans of conflicted, imperfect main characters in suspense novels. A series I look forward to continuing sometime in the future.
May 11, 2013
The Loud AdiosKen Kuhlken
The Loud Adios, first of the trilogy, is masterful and timeless. Kuhlken captures with vivid detail Mexico in 1941, and the state of good and evil still present today. He presents an imperfect protagonist who stumbles his way through the mystery of a young woman kidnapped and his own heart. The narrative is gripping from page one, and does not disappoint.
The Loud Adios, first of the trilogy, is masterful and timeless. Kuhlken captures with vivid detail Mexico in 1941, and the state of good and evil still present today. He presents an imperfect protagonist who stumbles his way through the mystery of a young woman kidnapped and his own heart. The narrative is gripping from page one, and does not disappoint.
September 29, 2012
Love the noir. This is a good one. WWII San Diego. Sketchy Politician, drug lords, Nazis, and other denizens. Tom Hickey is even more self loathing than most of the hard scrabble, down on their luck private detectives. Kuhlken has a good voice for describing detail. I'm interested in reading more by this guy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews