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Hardcase: Sometimes Revenge is Best Paid in Cold Steel
 
 
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Hardcase: Sometimes Revenge is Best Paid in Cold Steel (Mass Market Paperback)

by Dan Simmons (Author) "Late one Tuesday afternoon, Joe Kurtz rapped on Eddie Falco's apartment door ..." (more)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 8.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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Hardcase: Sometimes Revenge is Best Paid in Cold Steel + Hard Freeze: A Joe Kurtz Novel + Drood: A Novel
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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Penzler Pick, July 2001: Dan Simmons is not an author who writes the same book twice. He doesn't even come close. Since switching from fantasy/horror to mystery, Simmons has written Crook Factory, set in Cuba and starring Ernest Hemingway, and Darwin's Blade, featuring a genius insurance claims investigator who only has to look at a demolished vehicle to be able to know exactly what led up to the crash.

With Hardcase, Simmons both pays homage to over-the-top pulp fiction and writes a remarkably good example of it. Joe Kurtz has no intention of giving up his chosen profession of private investigator, even though he's just spent 12 years in jail. He believes it's only a matter of finding the right case. But that case will never come to him, so he pays a call on Byron Tatick Farino, mob boss, and suggests that for $400 a day plus expenses, he'll try to find the Family's missing accountant and also figure out who's hijacking the Family's trucks. Farino is inclined to let him do this since he has nothing to lose, and Joe did save his son from a fate worse than death in Cell Block D.

So Joe is off and running, and after picking up his ex-assistant, Arlene, he opens an office in the basement of a porn store and begins looking into the Mob's business. He no sooner interviews the accountant's wife than she is found dead and horribly mutilated.

The list of those who want Joe to butt out is long, and they are evidently very serious about preventing Joe from finding out too much. There's the person who is hijacking the trucks, and wants to continue. There's also a couple of sociopaths (if not psychopaths) named Malcolm and Cutter who work for the Mob's lawyer. Unsurprisingly, they are not exactly loyal and know that there's a $10,000 reward for the guy who wasted Ali, one of the Death Mosque brothers in Cell Block D. Finally, there are the Levine brothers, Manny and Sammy. Joe hasn't heard of either of them, but word is that Manny blames Joe for Sammy's death.

These numerous and varied storylines remain remarkably lucid as Simmons treats us to a fast-paced thriller with excitement on every page. --Otto Penzler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Publishers Weekly

In books such as Darwin's Blade, Carrion Comfort and Hyperion, Simmons has shown a chameleon talent for mastering the colors and shadings of the horror, suspense and science-fiction genres. He adds one more tone to his palette with this terse hardboiled crime thriller, set in an upstate New York town bathed in Conradian darkness. When ex-PI Joe Kurtz emerges from Attica after an 11-year-stretch, he is still being sought by the brother of a man he iced for murdering his partner, as well as by disciples of a Black Muslim group whose leader he killed in stir. Not the most obedient parolee, Joe clandestinely resumes detective work, tracing a vanished mob accountant for aging don Byron Farino much to the aggravation of the don's family and associates, who are secretly double-crossing one another and jockeying for power. Simmons sets up the paths of crossfire necessary for the story's few surprising twists, then simply lets the bodies start falling once the bullets start flying. His narrative is all sinew and bloody gristle, stripped of the deep reflection and lively character-development that usually give his books a plusher texture. His plot depends on coincidence, exploitation of the raging Niagara Falls backdrop and Joe's superhuman capacity for taking and dishing out physical abuse, but his rapid pacing keeps the reader from dwelling too much on its improbability. This tale is unlikely to advance modern crime-fiction's literary ambitions, but it will be hard to beat for a pulp-fiction beach-read.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Late one Tuesday afternoon, Joe Kurtz rapped on Eddie Falco's apartment door. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

36 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (3)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
4.0 out of 5 stars From the chameleon writer of many genres, a good detective novel, Mar 30 2007
By Larry Ketchersid "author of Dusk Before the Dawn" (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Hardcase: A Thriller (Hardcover)
Dan Simmons writes Science Fiction (he won the Hugo award for Hyperion in 1989). Dan Simmons writes Horror (Bram Stoker Award, Carrion Comfort). Dan Simmons writes Fantast (World Fantasy Award, Song of Kali). And Mr. Simmons writes detective fiction.

These different genres mostly have different writing styles. Instead of trying to force one type of writing into another genre, Mr. Simmons changes his colors, adjusts his pacing, wording and style for the hard-core nasty world of private investigation.

Hardcase is the first of three (and we hope more) Joe Kurtz novels. Hard Freeze (A Joe Kurtz Novel) and Hard as Nails (A Joe Kurtz Novel) are the other two. Joe Kurtz isn't mean and nasty, but he also has no compunction about sticking a man's hand in a disposal or running over an unconscious man's legs. Kurtz has his own code. Getting out of jail after following that code, Kurtz throws himself in the middle of a Mafia mess that he learned about in prison, and starts churning up the mob and old acquaintances.

The pacing of this novel is well done, the dialogue believable. The plot integrates several subplots well, although some of the plot twists are tipped off early (ain't this called foreshadowing?).

I also liked how Mr. Simmons slides in a reference to one of his other books, The Crook Factory, about a spyring in Cuba run by Hemingway (see page 221 in the paperback for the reference).

Language and graphic violence make this an unsuitable read for kids. Everyone else will enjoy it.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Hard boiled egg salad, Jan 28 2004
By jeff smith (portland or) - See all my reviews
There isn't much Dan Simmons hasn't done. He's written full blown horror novels, sci-fi sagas, short stories, mainstream thrillers and a few books that fall between the cracks. He effectively hops from genre to genre, expanding their limitations or, as he does in Hardcase, works well within their boundaries. He doesn't want to enlighten or impress us with his prose - he wants to grab us by the collar, put a knee to our groin and kick us down a flight of stairs. Hardcase is just Dan Simmons doodling between larger projects. As a matter of fact I'd be surprised if it took Simmons as much time to write this areodynamic novel as it takes to read it. Try to imagine a master chef at a 5 star restaurant making an egg salad sandwich on his day off. Hardcase is Dan Simmons egg salad recipe.
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1.0 out of 5 stars I don't get it, Oct 22 2003
By L. Nicholas Deane "Nick Deane" (Montuak, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Hardcase: A Thriller (Hardcover)
Everyone here really seems to like this book. As a matter of fact, I read it because of a recommendation here.
I have to admit, I'm a sucker for the hard-boiled school, as this book certainly is. However, I thought the book was complete waste of time. Every character, including the hero, is extremely one-dimensional, and the book was very formulaic. Maybe his other stuff is good, but don't bother with this one.
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't want to mess with this guy!
Hardcase was possibly the best action-filled book I've ever read. Joe Kurtz is an awesome character and pulls the reader into his life in the first line. Read more
Published on Jun 20 2003 by Avid Reader

1.0 out of 5 stars Yikes
I'm a huge fan of both Westlake and Stark so of course I grabbed up this book when I saw the taglines and reviews. Read more
Published on May 2 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Hotter than an Extra Spicy Buffalo Wing
Some authors like to ease you into a story. You know, introduce characters, set the scene, establish the tone...

Dan Simmons is not one of those authors. Read more

Published on Feb 13 2003 by Victor Catano

3.0 out of 5 stars Make my day
This is a Mike Hammer type plot - the story leaves bodies strewn about the landscape as villains often get what they deserve. Read more
Published on Jan 31 2003 by Fred Camfield

3.0 out of 5 stars Warning: Craftsman at work
Simmons will always be an author i respect. first, because he wrote the Hyperion series. and second, because after giving birth to such an amazing body of work, he packed up his... Read more
Published on Nov 19 2002 by Daniel Soler

2.0 out of 5 stars Hardcase
An open letter to Mr. Dan Simmons.
Dear Mr. Simmons: Please stick to horror novels and leave the PI stories to writers who understand the genre. Read more
Published on Nov 12 2002 by D. Hensley

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book
Call it Noir, call it hard-boiled, call it what you want this book is good.
I haven't found may characters in fiction quite like Kurtz. He's as mean and tough as they come. Read more
Published on Oct 21 2002 by Glenn

4.0 out of 5 stars Hardcase? Now there's a supreme understatement....
After reading the reviews from many of Dan Simmons' ardent fans, I'm convinced that I stumbled in the right direction when HARDCASE became my first Simmons read. Read more
Published on Oct 2 2002 by R. Shaff

5.0 out of 5 stars Ever Heard of Dan Simmons?
Ever heard of Dan Simmons?

Simmons' first published story, "The River Styx Runs Upstream," won the Rod Serling Memorial Award. Read more

Published on Sep 29 2002 by Craig Zablo

4.0 out of 5 stars A decent successor to Parker
In Hardcase, Dan Simmons writes his version of a Parker novel. The Parker novels are a series of books by Richard Stark (Donald Westlake) featuring a tough and stoic thief. Read more
Published on Sep 5 2002 by mrliteral

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