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Brandon Blake Mystery #1
Port City Shakedown
This first book in a new series is set in and around the Portland, Maine, waterfront. It introduces Brandon Blake, a loner who lives on his old wooden cruiser. Raised by his alcoholic grandmother after his mother was lost at sea, Blake learned to depend on himself. During an assignment for a law-enforcement class, Blake gets involved in a fight and is marked for payback by a soon-to-be-released convict. Meanwhile, questions surface about his mother's disappearance.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published June 16, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 26, 2020
Port City Shakedown by Gerry Boyle A Brandon Blake Mystery the first of many I’m looking forward to reading. There are several plots interwoven throughout the story. I found the descriptions of the area and characters built the story well.
February 27, 2010
First Sentence: It was a little after five on a cold afternoon in May.
Brandon Blake never knew his father, his mother died when he was four, he has been taking care of his alcoholic grandmother and himself since he was 10. He lives on an old wooden Chris Craft in Portland Harbour, is putting himself through college one class at a time paying cash, wants to be a cop and rides along as an intern. One ride along results in Brandon becoming the target of a violent ex-con. His grandmother sees a man who was on the boat that disappeared with Brandon’s mother. The more Brandon gets to know him, the more questions are raised.
I’ve been a fan of Boyle’s McMorrow series since the first book so I was a bit uncertain when I saw this was the beginning of a new series. I should have known better. I started this book at 10 p.m. thinking I would just read the first few pages and closed the book at 2 a.m. having finished it. Some authors write an excellent opening sentence or paragraph. With Boyle, it was the first chapter, and then the second chapter, and on.
I love Maine. Part of the reason I started reading Boyle is that his books are set there. From them, it’s clear that Boyle, who does live there, loves Maine as well as he provides a strong sense of the state. I appreciated that he included a bit of Portland’s history and, in Blake, a sense of the people.
Boyle has created terrific new characters. Blake is in his 20s, but has virtually raised and educated himself since he was ten and has set a future for himself. In spite of his grandmother’s alcoholism, he loves her and takes care of her. This is a character which has tremendous potential and for which I can see a long life. Mia, his girlfriend, had a comfortable childhood yet, in her own way, is as much on her own and fits well with Blake. I do hope the author doesn’t get trite and kill her off at some point. But Boyle doesn’t stop with his primary characters, as his secondary characters are full-developed as well.
It is always a bit jarring going from reading English/French authors to reading American authors. The European style of mystery, even when police procedurals or suspense, tends to be more in your head, where the American style is more in your face. The plot was not subtle, but it was exciting and suspenseful with very good twists and a very well-done ending.
The book lost a point from me for a bit too much foreshadowing, and there was one small scene at the grandmothers I felt was unnecessary as the suspense was already there this particular inclusion was unnecessary, but that was minor.
I look forward to many more books with Brandon Blake. For those of us who loved, and will miss, the writing of Robert Parker, I’m glad we have Gerry Boyle.
PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN (Sus-Brandon Blake-Portland, ME, Cont) – VG+
Boyle, Gerry – 1st in series
Down East, ©2009, US Hardcover – ISBN; 9780892727957
Brandon Blake never knew his father, his mother died when he was four, he has been taking care of his alcoholic grandmother and himself since he was 10. He lives on an old wooden Chris Craft in Portland Harbour, is putting himself through college one class at a time paying cash, wants to be a cop and rides along as an intern. One ride along results in Brandon becoming the target of a violent ex-con. His grandmother sees a man who was on the boat that disappeared with Brandon’s mother. The more Brandon gets to know him, the more questions are raised.
I’ve been a fan of Boyle’s McMorrow series since the first book so I was a bit uncertain when I saw this was the beginning of a new series. I should have known better. I started this book at 10 p.m. thinking I would just read the first few pages and closed the book at 2 a.m. having finished it. Some authors write an excellent opening sentence or paragraph. With Boyle, it was the first chapter, and then the second chapter, and on.
I love Maine. Part of the reason I started reading Boyle is that his books are set there. From them, it’s clear that Boyle, who does live there, loves Maine as well as he provides a strong sense of the state. I appreciated that he included a bit of Portland’s history and, in Blake, a sense of the people.
Boyle has created terrific new characters. Blake is in his 20s, but has virtually raised and educated himself since he was ten and has set a future for himself. In spite of his grandmother’s alcoholism, he loves her and takes care of her. This is a character which has tremendous potential and for which I can see a long life. Mia, his girlfriend, had a comfortable childhood yet, in her own way, is as much on her own and fits well with Blake. I do hope the author doesn’t get trite and kill her off at some point. But Boyle doesn’t stop with his primary characters, as his secondary characters are full-developed as well.
It is always a bit jarring going from reading English/French authors to reading American authors. The European style of mystery, even when police procedurals or suspense, tends to be more in your head, where the American style is more in your face. The plot was not subtle, but it was exciting and suspenseful with very good twists and a very well-done ending.
The book lost a point from me for a bit too much foreshadowing, and there was one small scene at the grandmothers I felt was unnecessary as the suspense was already there this particular inclusion was unnecessary, but that was minor.
I look forward to many more books with Brandon Blake. For those of us who loved, and will miss, the writing of Robert Parker, I’m glad we have Gerry Boyle.
PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN (Sus-Brandon Blake-Portland, ME, Cont) – VG+
Boyle, Gerry – 1st in series
Down East, ©2009, US Hardcover – ISBN; 9780892727957
July 18, 2009
The start of a new series (with a new publisher, Down East Books) for Boyle, Port City Shakedown is not up to the standard of Boyle's Jack McMorrow series. Though entertaining and possessed of good local color (Portland, ME waterfront and the Greater Portland area), the first Brandon Blake novel lacks the depth of characterization and resonant plotting of the author's earlier books. Perhaps the series will mature and develop more in future volumes. Boyle still has a gift for dialogue and pacing, which makes this waterfront mystery readable and diverting, if not as memorable as this reader had hoped.
February 13, 2018
The Maine background is convincing and Brandon is appealing, but the McMorrow series is grittier and drew me in more. I'm disappointed in the number of copyediting errors in the book. Downeast touts itself as a quality publisher; to me this carelessness is unacceptable and does the writer a huge disservice.
February 15, 2023
Fun and well-written mystery romp. It was due back at the library and I have three other books I want to read more so I returned it without finishing it. He has a ton of books and I knew him at Colby so I’ll pick him back up again this summer.
November 4, 2020
Tried this new series, I like Portland ME, so thought it would be fun. It appears the same deadbeats hang out here as in Boyle's other series. I will continue the series, but not my favorite.
July 30, 2012
A pleasurable surprise how good a read this mystery/thriller was for me. As a Maine resident, I have well appreciated Boyle's series featuring Maine reporter Jack McMorrow, whose empathy for ordinary people in trouble pits him against a nice array of criminals with a rural Maine backdrop. Here he introduces a new protagonist, 20-something Brandon Blake, who lives on a cabin cruiser while working in a boatyard on Portland's harbor and studies criminology part time at college. The typical Yankee self-reliance of his character gets amplified from the early death of his father and disappearance of his mother on a sailing excursion. But his independence is threatened when he finds himself falling in love with a young writer at the same time as he makes a serious enemy with an ex-con during an outing as a ride-along intern with the Portland Police. The plot dealing with with the vendetta of this well-drawn ambitious low-life intersects nicely with another narrative involving an old friend of Brandon's mother, Lucky, who shows up in town to rent a yacht with his eastern European girlfriend. Brandon's growing detective instincts leads him to work on finding out what Lucky is up to, what he might be hiding about how his mother died, and why his reappearance seems to provoke his grandmother into heavy drinking. Excellent dialogue, deft characterization, and good narrative tension.
November 25, 2014
Port City Shakedown: A Brandon Blake Crime Novel is the newest book by Gerry Boyle and in it he casts a new character, Brandon Blake, a young college student in the primary role. The novel is set in Main where Brandon lives on a boat, and old wooden Chris Craft, which brings in a wealth of experiences that enliven the story line and the setting.
Brandon wants to be a cop and during his quest finds himself he becomes the focus of a violent ex-con. He has been raised by his grandmother, who had problems of her own, since his mother disappeared when he was young and they knew nothing of his absent father. Brandon wants to make a good like for himself despite a rough upbringing and goes on a ride along as part of his training for the police force.
The book is full of action, casual language and vivid pictures and snapshots of a seedy world that is part of this lovely and rural harbor town. I enjoyed the mystery and relationships that develop and look forward to more books with Brandon as the central character. I give it a 4 star raring
Brandon wants to be a cop and during his quest finds himself he becomes the focus of a violent ex-con. He has been raised by his grandmother, who had problems of her own, since his mother disappeared when he was young and they knew nothing of his absent father. Brandon wants to make a good like for himself despite a rough upbringing and goes on a ride along as part of his training for the police force.
The book is full of action, casual language and vivid pictures and snapshots of a seedy world that is part of this lovely and rural harbor town. I enjoyed the mystery and relationships that develop and look forward to more books with Brandon as the central character. I give it a 4 star raring
November 17, 2014
Gerry Boyle leads you through a series of events that makes this an intriguing interesting novel. It starts slowly when he brings together a local street punk that was just released from the Portland, Maine jail and a group of overseas sailors that left town with Brandon Blake's mother, Nikki, seventeen years prior. Brandon is presently a Portland Police Officer and these past events lead them on a collision course leaving the reader with mind altering conclusions on what's around the next bend.
March 24, 2011
A solid effort. Good not great. Brandon Blake is a likable character and one that shows potential. This book was a little roundabout and with a lot of stuff going on so at times if really felt bogged down. I'm not sure I found the premise very believable but the writing is good and all of the sailing and boating off the coast of Maine made me homesick. I'll be looking for the next book in this series soon.
April 10, 2010
Interesting character development at the start of the book. I don't usually read crime fiction so this was a departure for me. I did have a hard time with the author's use of clipped, half sentences but that is a stylistic element some may like. I liked the local Portland setting.
November 15, 2011
A solid mystery steeped in the damp salt of Portland, Maine. Suitably salty without overpowering the story, Boyle creates a layered plot and rich, compelling characters, especially protagonist Brandon Blake. It's fresh and interesting and artfully dodges clichés.
March 15, 2012
This is the first is the new series of Gerry Boyle books. It was pretty good but I have not warmed up to the main charater like I did with the Jack McMorrow series. Who knows, maybe I will in time.
May 14, 2012
Fun book to read for anyone living in southern New England, or anyone who likes a quick mystery. Not the most densely plotted or trickiest mystery, but one with a great sense of place and a main character you can take an interest in.
November 18, 2014
This is my first Gerry Boyle book but not my last. I loved this book. It was fast paced, likable characters and a good story. I am ready for the next Brandon Blake installment. I received this from LibraryThing Early Reviewer for an honest review.
April 12, 2010
Interesting. Well Done.
March 3, 2012
Gerry Boyle's first use of Brandon Blake and he's great. Enjoyed the Portland ,Maine vernacular and the sites around the city. Good fast moving plot, too!
January 15, 2014
A solid read. Not as good of some of the McMorrow books but a good effort nonetheless.
wish-list-possibles
January 27, 2015Recommended by Bill January 2015. There's a second book too. Looks like he had another series going currently.
April 18, 2015
Didn't expect the outcome of events.I would recommend.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews