Trick Shot

Kay Farrow #2

by David Hunt

The world of Kay Farrow is one of shades of white and black; she is a photographer, entirely colour-blind, and she has developed a taste for crusading. As in The Magician's Tale someone has killed one of her friends and they are not going to get away with it. Her mentor Maddy is killed by a hit-and-run motorcyclist in the Mission District of San Francisco. Maddy had retired from war photography after years in the front line, and it is unclear what she was doing. Rapidly the point becomes not who killed her--Kay sorts that out with remarkable execution--but why?

Where the first book took us on a tour of San Francisco's hustlers and pimps, this takes us to rich men with time on their hands and a gun club about which there are distinctly unsavoury rumours. Hunt's command of gun culture, of Wild West shows, of Chinese gangland and of photography and martial arts is impressive--we believe in his heroine partly because of the authority with which he describes the worlds she kicks around like anthills. And the raw emotion with which he infuses her makes us care. kdnai322 --Roz Kaveney

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Pseudonym of William Bayer

Reviews

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Kay Farrow, photographer
SETTING: San Francisco
SERIES: #2
RATING: 3.5
WHY: Kay Farrow is a color blind photojournalist whose mentor, aging Maddy Kamada, was murdered while she was on a mysterious mission. Kay finds Maddy’s lair, which is full of photo equipment that is obviously being used for clandestine surveillance on an apartment across the way. Her loss has left Kay reeling, and she is determined to figure out what her ailing friend was doing. It has to do with sex and guns and power, and it’s ugly and complicated. The plot was slow moving and repetitious. David Hunt showed himself to be an excellent writer in the first book of the series, The Magician’s Tale, but his talent was not well served in this book. Maddy used people. The man who loved her served basically as an Uber driver. There were 2 characters who only performed an explicatory function, one detailing Maddy’s entire life and the other ready to be a mad avenger.

[David Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second (and sadly final) Kay Farrow mystery. There are a lot of elements to the story - erotically engraved guns - photography - Aikido - journalism, illegal immigration - crooked cops. Trick of Light, much like the previous book in the series, The Magician's Tale," unfolds slowly, revealing depths in the characters while setting a very realistic backdrop of authentic "San Francisco" flavor.

Investigating the death of her mentor, Kay Farrow becomes enmeshed in a number of mysterious and dangerous situations, handling each with style and aplomb, growing even as you share the pages with her, and culminating in a very satisfying ending. There a lot of plot threads and you may believe, at times, that there is no way they can be knit back into a whole story - you will be pleasantly surprised.

Highly recommend this book, series, and author.

[Mcf1nder_sk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story revolves around Kay, a photojournalist whose mentor dies under mysterious circumstances. It is a well-paced thriller, with decent writing and a good storyline. Hunt does a good job of fleshing out his characters, making them into people we can recognize as real, if not likeable.
My greatest compliment to David Hunt would have to be his handling of his subject matter. In this case, photography and guns. It would be very easy for a knowledgeable author to use technical terms, thus losing his audience. Hunt made sure to use layman's terms, or when necessary, explain the technical terms he did use.
The story was easy to follow, and a good book to read. I'm looking forward to finding more of his works.

[Kirsty Darbyshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the first book featuring Kay Farrow. It's taken me a long time to get around to reading it. I'm like that sometimes when it comes to sequels to books I've liked a lot. It's by no means a bad book it just didn't capture my imagination like The Magician's Tale did. In this one Kay gets caught up following up on what her elderly photography mentor Maddy was up to before her untimely death.

[Adrienne Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. A bit outside of my normal genre but very interesting plot, characters, and settings. A photographer who lives in a world filled with shades of gray (she cannot see color at all) and yet has a keen eye for seeing the truth beyond the ordinary.
Mysterious, dramatic, with a story that unfolds gracefully, and yet has plenty of twists, turns, and surprises.
I'd never read David Hunt before but I will again!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The achromat photographer is a gimmick, but I'm a sucker for a good gimmick. This is the second Kay Farrow book I've read, and I quite like them. The writing style reminds me a bit of Dean Koontz, only without the supernatural stuff and the "aw shucks" attitude. There were about five places in the book where I had philosophical or technical quibbles, but I'll let 'em go.

[Wilma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a different but for sure a very good read. A photographer's teacher and heroine dies when run down by a motorcyclist in a very bad neighborhood. The photographer, Kay, begins an investigation on her own, since the police wouldn't get involved.

A lot of information about cameras and guns.

There was a lot of violence and porn but it was a really good read. Kept me guessing

[Idyllwilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this Kay Farrow novel a lot, but not as much as 'Magician's Tale'. Something about her cold, detached manner had thawed. It took the eeriness out of it somewhat. Still, good writing, good plot.

[Nicolas Chinardet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having greatly enjoyed the first instalment of Kay Farrow's adventures, The Magician's Tale, I find myself greatly disappointed by this second book. Hunt's writing is still possessed with a strength and flow that make it the novel's saving grace, together with Hunt's use of San Fransisco itself, something he had already achieved nicely in the first book.

The story itself, however, is convoluted, slow, and failed to properly grip my interest, in the midst of a large collection of loosely related themes that don't quite gel together. I didn't really care for Kay's quest, either, the motivation for which felt artificial.

The book is further undermined by a long expository section in part 4, and, throughout, by what I would call "failures of imagination" on Hunt's behalf whereby he repeatedly describes incidents and situation that are not physically possible. Comparably, as a photographer, there were elements of Kay's behaviour I didn't not recognise as verisimilar.

There are better books out there.

[Bhue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found these books by David Hunt (a pseudonym of William Bayer) years ago and loved them. The first, "The Magician's Tale" is followed by "Trick of Light." Sadly there were not anymore written in the series. I was recently delighted to find mint,signed first edition/printings of BOTH books on VJBooks.com (a great place for quality signed first editions).

I cannot write any better synopsis of the stories than have already been outlined in Goodreads and yes, the first was the better of the two.

As to having a "Koontz-like" feel? Let me put it this way. Unlike a book by Dean Koontz, you will not need a lobotomy to enjoy it. And at the end you will not need hospitilization for a diabetic coma or from gagging on golden retreiver fur.

[Omer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barely gets the two stars as the book was filled with cardboard cutout characters some of which had excessively long monologues to reveal information.The plot was also blasé and defies believability. I got this book at the library where they were getting rid of old books they no longer wanted and you just had to make a donation. I will either give it back to them or just throw it away.

[⋆˚°✩*˖ Gohnar23 (•˕ •マ.ᐟ ˚⟡˖ ࣪ · Rating 2 out of 5]

So.........thi was a mess. The plot literally got lost in the sea of pure, guns, sex, more guns, and more sex. i mean it didnt explicitly describes a sex scene actually happening in the book its just. Why are yall focusing on that too much? Additionally, the pacing of this book is tooo sow much like there's not going to be a climax for the story.

[Richard Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice book. Good story but I would not read it again.

[Janvier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember enough of the book tow rite a review except that I was underwhelmed by the story. I remember thinking it wasn't as good as the first book.

[Yona B R · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 sterren
Best leuk verhaal, meestal prima geschreven, maar soms had ik het gevoel dat ik een of ander flut romannetje aan het lezen was qua taal / zinnen.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sequel to The Magician's Tale.

A fast, compelling read. And although it's been several years since I read the first novel, it seems this one is darker and more violent than its predecessor.

Kay Farrow, a color-blind photographer whose turf is San Francisco, learns that her former mentor and photography teacher is killed in a hit and run. It was no accident. As Kay tries to uncover the truth behind her teacher's death, she finds herself pulled into a seamy underworld of gun collecting, erotica, hunt clubs, illegal immigration and a host of other interconnected illegalities. Some graphic sex and violence. A good read, but be prepared to wince once or twice.

[Deanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so looking forward to this book.... but was sadly disappointed. I just couldn't get into the story. I couldn't care about what happened or why. I just didn't care. I got sick and didn't read for 4 days, and didn't care. I picked the book up, read a few pages, still didn't care. I don't know what was missing from this book that the first book had... Maybe it's me that's missing something this time around. I don't know. Finally I decided life is too short to try to finish a bad book, and so nearly half way through, I yanked out my bookmark and moved on!

[Sheila Dane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I picked it off my shelf at random without paying attention to the author and was amazed to discover near the end that the author was male. He did a superb job of getting inside a woman's head and what a woman she is. His description of what it is like to live with such the inability to distinguish colors is riveting and the mystery grabs one from the beginning and won't let go. I highly recommend this book. If you are squeamish about sex, you might want to forgo the experience. To me it added to the depth of the book. None of it was gratuitous.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hunt's second novel involving Kay Farrow who suffers from a vision disorder which causes her to see only in black and white, no colors, as well as being sensitive to bright light. Kay is a photojournalist in San Francisco whose mentor is killed in a hit and run accident. The story involves Kay's efforts to find out what happened and why. There are several story lines involved with Kay and her mentor being in the middle of them.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fabulous second book in the series written by David Hunt, I've been waiting ages for a third (hopefully, one is coming). In this story, Kay Farrow, the colour-blind black and white photographer, gets involved when her teacher and mentor turns up dead.

The tale is always great when Hunt scribes it, but this one is even more together and solid than the first, the sign of a developing skill I hope will continue into a third novel.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I was drawn to it because I love photography but found I was enthralled with the mystery, the setting [San Francisco] and the characters. Especially the unique visions problems the subject has.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the first in this series of only two books, wondered why so few. Now I know. When the plot got lost in a labyrinth of guns, pornography, and violence among the rich and powerful, I lost interest.

[Ryn Saywaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I did take a while to get sucked in, once I did it well worth it. The story is a bit tedious and the writing style bothers me in places but the payoff absolutely makes up for it.
I probably wouldn't reread it but I would recommend it for a rainy day.

[Ali6 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good suspenseful story. Writing was not the best, but the good storyline made it easy for me to keep reading. Really enjoyed it.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn't get into this one. 2 out of 5 stars. sm

[Sharon Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. I actually bought it in Wales, but it takes place in SF. Local locations and fascinating mystery.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sequel to The Magician's Tale, this novel pales in comparison, focusing on an elderly woman's death and the involvement of an erotic gun club. Yeah, 'nuff said.

[MaryAlice · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok. writing is decent...but an erotic gun club? Didn't work for me.

[Sandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Went right along with "The Magician's Tale", continued beautifully with the first one. I would highly recommend both of these books in the series to anyone that is looking for a good read!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself liking this one more than the Magician's Tale. And I'm still amazed on how well the imagery is without the use of any color to describe things!!!