- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Sep 24 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743200195
- ISBN-13: 978-0743200196
- Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 15.5 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 490 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,175,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Hautman's 10th novel (after 2001's Rag Man) is an amiable thriller infused with the author's characteristic wit, equipped with a Rube Goldbergian plot, and featuring a roster of eccentric (to virtually outrageous) characters who keep readers entertained when the story's pace slackens. Nicholas Fashon and his pal Vince Love own a fashionable leather goods store in Tucson, Ariz. Nick's roguish granddad dies, leaving him a inheritance of useless inventions. Useless, that is, with one exception: a doohickey called the HandyMate, which performs numerous kitchen functions most efficiently. Yola Fuentes, a TV chef, is interested in the HandyMate and wants to use it on her TV show. Nick is grateful, especially since the building housing his store and the apartment upstairs containing all his worldly goods has just burned down. The fire department says the cause was electrical, but the insurance company says it's arson and won't pay. In addition, his partner Vince owes money to a scary man called Robo who, after cracking several of Vince's ribs, threatens to kill him for an encore. Nick isn't sure whom to trust. Why would anyone deliberately burn down his store? Nick is a likable and intelligent hero, Robo a suitably menacing villain, and the plot's clever resolution satisfies. This unremarkable novel may not linger long in readers' memories, but it delivers a few hours of enjoyable reading.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
When his clothing store and apartment go up in flames, Nick Fashon loses everything. The insurance company refuses to pay, so Nick is forced to move in with his archaeologist girlfriend, Gretchen, and must consider a new line of work. Then he gets a call from the executor of his grandfather's estate, which consists of a shack in the desert and a raft of screwy inventions, including a kitchen gadget dubbed the Handy Mate. Nick sees this doohickey as his ticket to big money, especially after cooking maven Yola Fuentes agrees to plug it on her TV show. Gretchen, however, is convinced that the seductive Yola is after more than a business deal. When Nick begins attending late-night meetings and coming home half-sloshed, she gives him the boot. Now he must contend with both money trouble and heartbreak as he tries to salvage his pride. Hautman (Rag Man [BKL S 1 01]) delivers another entertaining comic mystery that benefits greatly from deadpan humor; likable, eccentric characters; and a moral cleverly cloaked by the twisting plot. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging, funny, light-hearted, good local color,
By
This review is from: Doohickey: A Novel (Hardcover)
Nick Fashon, the young, handsome and charmingly vain co-owner of a clothing store called Love & Fashion, with his partner, Vince Love, finds himself sole heir to the estate of his barely-known grandfather, a desert rat whose invention, the doohickey of the title, may possibly be a money-maker. This drives a plot with wacky, funny, wise-cracking characters like an ambitious Latina TV cooking show hostess, an archaeologist girl-friend, a hick lawyer who is a wannabe dude, all in a mildly twisted mystery plot. There is an awful lot of talk about mouth-watering food in the book and you'll find yourself inexplicably hungry throughout, hankering for menudo or huevos rancheros washed down with margaritas grandes. And you'll enjoy the well-described Tucson scene. Not in the same league as mysterydom's big-hitters, but worth an evening's read nonetheless. Scott Morrison
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gaggle of Zany Characters,
By
This review is from: Doohickey: A Novel (Hardcover)
Pete Hautman is able to create distinctive, often loony, characters who drive an engaging plot that wraps up all of the loose ends by its conclusion. Nicholas Fashon, around which the plot revolves, has inherited the rights to his grandfather's all-purpose kitchen gadget the Handy Mate (one of many doohickey inventions the old man fiddled around with). Getting the Handy Mate manufactured and marketed is Fashon's goal to make it big, but there are many roadblocks in his way, including a violent loanshark, a sexy female chef, and the police who suspect Fashon of torching his apparel store for insurance money. The book's humor is derived from twists in the plot and nonsensical situations between Fashon and a number of secondary characters, in a similar vein to earlier Hautman books. It is highly enjoyable, and good for a laugh or two every few pages.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Entertaining Read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Doohickey: A Novel (Hardcover)
Pete Hautman has a real knack for creating off-the-wall characters and great plots. Nick Fashon must deal sexy gals, a shady lawyer (of course!), a barrio thug, and friends who desert him in his time of need. The twists and turns of this novel will keep you reading (and chuckling) with every page. It has a similar comedic punch as Hautman's other fun read, Mrs. Million. Highly recommended!
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