- Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (April 14 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312986688
- ISBN-13: 978-0312986681
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.7 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 227 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #380,883 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Penzler Pick, January 2002: S.J. Rozan is an author whose reputation and prowess have been growing in tandem. A strong writer in the "newcomers to watch" category back when she published China Trade, her first novel featuring New York sleuths Bill Smith and Lydia Chin, she is now a real player on the scene, poised for bestsellerdom.
The story she tells here takes us out of the gritty five boroughs and onto the New Jersey Turnpike, where Smith's sister Helen lives, in a place called Warrenstown. But did we know Bill even had a sister? Over the course of seven books and several short stories, even Lydia Chin, his partner and best friend, hasn't known this. So what gives?
We learn about Helen Smith Russell through a totally unexpected phone call from a Midtown South police detective, answered by Bill in his Tribeca loft. It seems the cops have his nephew in custody, a 15-year-old runaway who is the son of the sister with whom Bill has not been in touch for 25 years.
Two mysteries are being set up here, but before Rozan is finished, more than even these two will have been followed to their tragic conclusions. Each of the sinister puzzles seems to circle back around to Gary, the frightened nephew, and also to that seemingly straight-arrow suburbia he's fleeing.
Warrenstown, New Jersey, is also where Scott, Gary's dad, grew up. The trouble is that Helen's husband is part of the problem, not the solution. And while Bill, Lydia, and young Gary are trying to expose to fresh air the secrets from the past that keep festering (and killing), the villains (those with a deep interest in preserving reputations, as well as the legendary local football team, at all costs) want nothing more than to stop them.
It may be unusual territory, but S.J. Rozan can now be listed alongside Harlan Coben and Janet Evanovich as writers helping to give New Jersey the right kind of bad name. --Otto Penzler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Despite the hype, this eighth novel featuring New York PIs Lydia Chin and Bill Smith from Shamus- and Anthony-award winner Rozan isn't quite up to her usual high standard. After 2001's Reflecting the Sky (which Chin narrated), it's Smith's turn to tell the story, which here concerns his teenage nephew, Gary Russell, the athlete son of his estranged sister Helen. When Gary is arrested for pick-pocketing in Manhattan, the boy asks for his uncle's help. Gary denies running away from his Warrenstown, N.J., home he was doing something important. Then the boy vanishes, drawing Smith and Chin into a nightmarish case in which a small town's obsession with its high school football team overwhelms standards of justice and morality. When a teenage girl who dated Gary and was selling drugs to her classmates dies mysteriously, the police suspect Gary. He's disappeared during Warrenstown's most important week, when the football team trains at an intensive sports camp culminating in a game that attracts college scouts. Then another teenager, a despised nonathlete, disappears. Two computer whizzes join the detectives in finding the answers to present crimes by solving an old murder. This disturbing, suspenseful, but often shrill and repetitive novel allows the author to reveal Smith's troubled childhood as he, with Chin's encouragement, begins to understand it. In showing how we set priorities that can create monsters, Rozan also points to deep flaws in our society. Agent, Steve Axelrod. (Feb. 25)Forecast: With a national author tour, an excerpt in the paperback edition of Reflecting the Sky (Jan.) and supportive blurbs from the likes of Robert Crais, Dennis Lehane, Linda Fairstein and Greg Rucka, this title should keep Rozan's momentum going.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
When the phone rang I was asleep, and I was dreaming. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
When the phone rang I was asleep, and I was dreaming. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Can't Get Enough of Them!,
By
This review is from: Winter and Night (Mass Market Paperback)
Ok. This woman is my favorite author. Ever. And I can say that in absolute truth. Her distinctive, yet extremely hard to describe writing style, is in a word, incredible. And that's a pretty ambiguous word, but somehow works with every aspect of her novels. Each one reveals more and more the depth and complexeties of Bill and Lydia, and they become real people to us. Especially in "Winter and Night," we are shown that the connection between Bill and Lydia goes way beyond the physical (it's like a Mulder/Scully relationship, as weird as that sounds), and also just how much Bill's experiences are going to change their relationship (ultimately strengthens it, in my opinion).On a lighter note, I think, another reason these novels are great is the extremely witty/clever dialogue. Bill and Lydia have the best lines, and when they play, they play with words, and it's just VERY amusing to read. I'm always thinking to myself, "How does Rozan DO it?" "Winter and Night," like most Bill books, are very psychological (not science-psycho, but more like emotional-psycho), and the fluid, intricate writing style reinforces the depth of Smith's character. There's also a big theme in this story about young adulthood and the pressures of society - and their consequences, good along with bad. Very important and thought-provoking theme, I think, and Rozan manages to bring that out in this book with deft skill. I would recommend reading "China Trade" first, just so you'll get to know the characters and a little about where they're coming from. Otherwise "Winter and Night" will seem too personal (as opposed to VERY personal for those who've read her other novels). "Winter and Night" is my favorite out of her, what is it, eight novels? Second fave is "Reflecting the Sky," written from Lydia's point of view. Third is "Stone Quarry," another one from Bill's POV. Oh by the way, Rozan captures the life and times of FOBs and Chinese-New York Americans perfectly, from their interactions with each other to their interactions with whites. And the fact that Bill is the epitome of Caucasion, and Lydia is a Chinese-American woman, makes for quite a few interesting conversations. But they're perfect for each other, and you can tell. When serious is serious, one's always there for the other, and that's all they need. Loyalty, trust, respect...love? Yeah, was there even a doubt? Love is there, and then some, and that's what holds these books together.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't live up to the hype,
By A Customer
This review is from: Winter and Night (Mass Market Paperback)
Is this what wins Edgars these days? The book isn't bad, but I'm surprised about all the fanfare it's gotten. How interesting can a book that more or less centers on high school footbal be?
5.0 out of 5 stars
Edgar Award Winner,
By
This review is from: Winter and Night (Mass Market Paperback)
Bill Smith, is a PI working in NYC. His partner is Chinese-American, Lydia Chin. Together they are the main protagonists of the highly successful series by S.J. Rozan.Bill Smith receives a late night call that they are holding his nephew, Gary, at the station for attempting to rob a sleeping homeless man. Bill goes to the station and agrees to take Gary home. Gary, however, refuses to tell Bill why he fled from his New Jersey home away from Bill's sister and brother-in-law who has almost a pathologic hatred of Bill. In fact, when Gary is given the opportunity, he escapes from Bill's apartment. Bill takes it upon himself to discover what Gary is up to and where he ran off to. His search takes him to the affluent suburban community and to the root of a possible cover-up of a crime that occurred decades ago the effects of which reverberate even today. S.J. Rozan writes one of the most literate and finest series in crime fiction today. Unique is her ability to keep her series fresh by change in point of view and the locale. Some books are written with Lydia Chin as first person narrator and others, such as this one, with Bill Smith. Her characters are always interesting, yet, some can appear a bit over the edge. The plot has plenty of twists to keep any reader turning the pages late at night. Especially clever with this book is the exposition scenes at the end. She manages to avoid the cliché of the killer holding the gun on the hero just prior to killing him while divulging all for page after page. The exposition is accomplished mostly via a phone call to a news reporter. This is the Edgar Award winning best novel for 2003.
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