- Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (July 1 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0446604941
- ISBN-13: 978-0446604949
- Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 2.1 x 17.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 91 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,292,971 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
This time around Matthew Hope finds himself in southern Florida and in a mess. A woman he's representing is suing a toy manufacturer she says stole her idea. The problem is, the president of the toy company was murdered, and guess who's the prime suspect? The other problem--or problems--is that Hope's primary private investigator winds up on a boat kidnapped by drug runners leaving Hope, who is still smarting from gunshot wounds he collected in other adventures, to contact by himself the subjects for the investigation, all of whom reside on boats. Got that? He does get some help, in the form of an old-school PI named Guthrie Lamb, who throws in his techniques to try to crack this rather nutty case.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Hero/narrator Matthew Hope, recovered from gunshots and a coma (There Was a Little Girl, 1994) and, true to his earlier resolve, practicing only civil law in (fictional) Calusa, Fla., represents the plaintiff in a suit involving the eponymous teddy bear, named after a mis-heard line in a hymn ("Gladly the cross I'd bear"). Young toy designer Lainie Commins is suing her ex-boss, toy manufacturer Brett Toland, for copyright and patent infringement, contending that his cross-eyed bear is a direct steal from hers. When Brett is found shot to death on his yacht, Lainie is arrested and charged with murder. She persuades Hope to represent her even as, we later learn, she commits the first legal sin, lying to her lawyer. From mansions to shacks and yacht club to sleazy venues for lingerie "models," McBain gives us a tour of Gulf Coast Florida that's seldom grand. Unable to reach his usual investigators (the main subplot has PI Warren Chambers urging his colleague Toots Kiley to kick her crack cocaine habit cold turkey), Hope hires 60-something Guthrie Lamb, an old-style PI with major male chauvinist traits. McBain, as he has for more than 40 years, keeps his readers riveted through this entire, satisfying tale.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Carefully Written Than 87th Precinct Books,
By A Customer
This review is from: Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear (Mass Market Paperback)
I enjoyed reading this book. I am pretty sure that McBain takes more time writing his Hope series. There's liitle of the flippant dialogue and other narrative devices that often mar the putative reality of the 87th books. McBain's novel (not McBain necessarily) wants you to examine the complexities of human beings--in this novel: Hope, Laine--both in some depth. But all characters invite consideration and really seem to blend seamlessly into the narrative (e.g. Guthrie, Diaz, and Tootsie). The casual connection between pornography and a unique children's teddy bear merits a second (third) look. Characters in this book are generally not nice, but are a mix of good and bad, right and wrong. Many readers will pooh-pooh the secondary plot with Warren and Tootsie, but it is in this world (the boat out on the open sea is a microcosm of our world) that seems so surreal, but really is "life-lived" and the "thing itself" thatwe glimpse a human being staring intently at evil (crack and/or cocaine) and saying "you aren't going to beat us this time" He stands strong, helps his addicted friend and gave me some hope that good still may triumph, at least aspirationally, in this world, where my 50 plus years on earth has seen a lot of nastiness, betrayal and other unalloyed forms of evil. But a little good along the way. I read Money, Money, Money just before this one. I enjoyed it, but Gladly has legitimate edginess (not too overdone for a novel) and a kind of crunchy soulfulness that makes you applaud what Etta did to her husband. Again right over wrong; good over evil. Money also had its virtues but was too jauntily frivilous about certain things (lion) and maudlin about human relations: Carrella, mother and wife. My first Hope book; hope others are as good. Oh, I almost forgot. McBain's handling of Hope's coma was excellent and was wrapped up beautifully (understated and clever)at the end of the book. I have read 9 McBain books; Gladly (and just a little of Vespers) is the only one where when I finished the book, I said a little prayer and reached for Yeats's poems. WEll Done.
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Disappointment,
By
This review is from: Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear (Paperback)
I am a big fan of Ed McBain / Evan Hunter, expecially his 87th precinct books. They have set the standard for the police procedural framework. I have been luke warm towards his Matthew Hope works, feeling that there are lots of lawyers-as-detectives out there. This particular book I found slow developing and the plot was not that gripping. To be honest, I didn't finish the book, so maybe it picked up towards the end. I hope so.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun read for a night or two,
By
This review is from: Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear (Mass Market Paperback)
Ed Mc Bain prose, teddy bears, boats Florida country-club/marinas, a pretty girl and murderous rogues. The toy industry and copyrights/patent scheme turns on the profits from the "must have toy" of the year. Just the book for a chilly evening, comfy chair and your favorite beverage.
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