Dream of a Falling Eagle

Mongo #14

by George C. Chesbro

Part sci-fi thriller and part fantasy, this roller-coaster of a story introduces Mongo, one of the greatest new characters of recent mystery fiction.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Adventure, Mystery Thriller

212 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

George C. Chesbro was an American author of detective fiction. His most notable works feature Dr. Robert "Mongo the Magnificent" Fredrickson, a private detective with dwarfism. He also wrote the novelization of The Golden Child, a movie of the same name starring Eddie Murphy.

Chesbro was born in Washington, D.C. He worked as a special education teacher at Pearl River and later at rockland Psychiatric Center, where he worked with trouble teens. Chebro was married and had one daughter and two step-daughters.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

The last of the Mongo mysteries (not counting the one published only in French), and sadly by far the worst.
A pair of interesting premises - an investigation of US dabbling in Haiti and a side story of poetic plagarism - are both quickly derailed by page after page of vitriolic hatred for anything associated with conservative politics.
Thinly veiled and completely insulting caricatures of mid-1990's political figures are introduced - a trip into semi-reality that Chesbro has never made before.
If you like Mongo and haven't read this one yet - don't. It tarnishes the series in a way that cannot be forgotten, or forgiven.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun Mongo the Magnificent story. I had to keep checking the publication date - these characters, events and motivations are almost 30 years old but this short novel reads like today’s news headlines.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series. Great characters
Two down twelve more to go

[Barbara Cryer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will definitely read more in this series. Mongo is a fun protagonist and I enjoy the banter with his brother.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mongo series is one of my favorites, but I missed this one when it came out - I only realized it existed after I read that Chesbro had died. I bought it immediately, but never read it. I liked knowing that I still had one more visit with Garth and Mongo ahead, even if it was the last one.*

And while I love the series and characters, not all the books are of consistent quality. What if the last one wasn't very good?

Today I finally decided to find out how things end.

I pleased to report that Dream is one of the strongest books in the series, an extraordinarily fun (if completely implausible) romp that I devoured as quickly as possible. One of the best things about Chesbro (after his offbeat characters) is his ability to combine action and violence with a strongly left-leaning sensibility. Seriously, it usually takes a lesbian to write a thriller this far left.

My last Mongo re-read, '79's An Affair of Sorcerers, left a bad taste in my mouth because of its casual homophobia. I'm pleased to report that after this installment, all of Chesbro's previous unfortunate remarks on the subject are forgiven.

I had a blast. Thanks, George. I'll always miss you, but I'll keep re-reading these.

*And there is maybe one more. Lord of Ice and Loneliness was published in a French translation, but never found an American publisher. It seem inevitable that it will eventually turn up as an ebook, but so far none of his novels are available in that format.

[Judi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd forgotten all about MONGO MYSTERIES, until I came across this one at the Barnes & Noble clearance table! Dr. Robert Frederickson, a.k.a. Mongo the Magnificent is "a dwarf, private detective, martial arts expert, ex-circus headliner and world renown criminologist." He works cases with his brother Garth, a former NYPD lieutenant and now a private eye who is as good as a "human lie detector." Mongo mysteries follow the classic private eye format of retelling events in the first person but this series blends science fiction, the supernatural, paranoia and a good vocabulary together (sort of like the TV series X-Files).

In DREAM OF A FALLING EAGLE, Mongo and Garth have been working intensely on a case involving the CIA, Haiti and lots of bad voodoo and they have been hired by a Presidential commission to look into this alleged illegal activity. Meanwhile, Moby Dickens, a large, black, ex-convict, sanitation worker asks Mongo to find the person plagiarizing his poems and to tell him or her to stop. Mongo doesn't want to take the case, but Garth points out that someone is "stealing his soul" which is even more wrong than everything that the CIA has done. This second case, of course, ends up tying very nicely into the first case and although they don't really get the bad guys this time, they do end up with an interesting twist.

(1999)

[Aric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Dr. Robert 'Mongo' Frederickson are few. Admittedly, it is a little hard to picture a dwarf private investigator who is a former circus performer turned college criminologist turned private investigator and then when the plot of some of the books are discussed like this one (involving voodoo and rogue splinter of the CIA) it only leads to further disbelief.
Still, I'd recommend the Mongo books to anyone (if you can find them; they're not available as an ebook as far as I know for instance). They're a good pulpy read and best summarized by the review blurb on some of the covers as "Raymond Chandler meets Stephen King".
There was some talk a while back of adapting one of the earlier Mongo books ("An Affair of Sorcerers") starring Peter Dinklage and I would really still like to see that happen.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mongo mysteries are a lot of fun. They are pretty well written. Mongo the Magnificent is a former circus acrobat, a black belt in Karate, a PhD professor of criminology and a dwarf. He and his brother, Garth usually get involved with mysteries involving the supernatural, the CIA, and politics. This one revolves around Voodoo, the CIA, and conservative politicians. Always a good read, if not great literature.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mongo, Garth and zombies. As usual the brothers battle extreme right wing conspiracies with plenty of cliff hanging