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Hard Freeze: A Joe Kurtz Novel
 
 
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Hard Freeze: A Joe Kurtz Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

by Dan Simmons (Author) "Joe Kurtz knew that someday he would lose focus, that his attention would wander at a crucial minute, that instincts honed in almost twelve years..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 9.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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Hard Freeze: A Joe Kurtz Novel + Hardcase: Sometimes Revenge is Best Paid in Cold Steel + Drood: A Novel
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Product Description

From Amazon.com

Having proven he can write hard-nosed noir with 2001's Hardcase, prolific genre-crossing author Dan Simmons reintroduces his gritty protagonist Joe Kurtz and promptly pitches him into the icy waters of Hard Freeze. Two pages into the book, the ex-private investigator is just minding his business on the frozen streets of Buffalo and already he's got a contract on his head. As Kurtz says, "It was shaping up to be an especially tough winter." When he finds out who the money behind the hit is, Joe's already outgunned and outmanned but never outsmarted. This wily warrior is always one step ahead of whoever is chasing him, be they crooked cops, calculating serial killers, corpulent mob bosses, or not-so-distressed damsels.

Simmons has crafted a perfectly ruthless crime novel with a relentless pace that doesn't let up until the final page. The single-minded Joe Kurtz is a wonderfully flawed and deliciously soiled noir icon. He's smart, salty, literate, smushy in all the right places, and not somebody to cross. In all, Hard Freeze is a fast-paced thriller that successfully interweaves amazingly disparate plot threads in an explosive--really explosive--climax. --Jeremy Pugh --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



From Publishers Weekly

Hannibal Lecter meets the Godfather in multitalented Simmons's hard, brutal crime thriller, set in Buffalo, N.Y., and second in the series after Hardcase (2001). Ex-private eye Kurtz, recently released from prison after serving 11 years for killing the murderers of his beautiful partner, Samantha Fielding, finds himself stalked by the Attica Three Stooges Moe, Larry and Curly. After a bloody shootout that leaves one Stooge dead, Kurtz takes Curly for a ride in a speeding car and says: "You can take one in the head.... Then I dump you. You can take one in the belly, maybe we crash. Or you can take a chance and tuck and roll. Plus, there's some snow out there. Probably as soft as a goosedown pillow." Exit Curly. Kurtz soon learns that he's been marked for death by a local Mafia don and that the man actually responsible for Samantha's death is alive and well. And that's just for starters. Meanwhile, Kurtz is approached by John Wellington Frears, a world-famous violinist dying of colon cancer, to find his daughter's murderer a serial child-killer so adept at changing identities he could give lessons to Ferdinand Demara, the Great Impostor. Violent, fast-paced, with a high body count and plenty of sanguinary and pyrotechnic detail, this high-octane thriller should please both hard-boiled addicts and Simmons devotees. Whatever qualms one may have about Kurtz surely one of the darkest, most amoral protagonists of recent crime fiction it's Simmons at his hard-driving best.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Joe Kurtz knew that someday he would lose focus, that his attention would wander at a crucial minute, that instincts honed in almost twelve years of cell-block survival would fail him, and on that day he would die a violent death. Read the first page
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Hard Freeze: A Joe Kurtz Novel
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Customer Reviews

16 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (16 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting...but please get the details right, Dec 17 2003
By Robert G. Anderson "Robert Anderson" (Baghdad, Iraq) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I enjoy Mr. Simmons' character. He is vaguely sympathetic and the plot seems to work out very cleverly, without resorting to the deuz ex machina. But...PLEASE get a technical consultant to get the guns and cars right. You can't "thumb back the hammer" on a "Glock 9", however dramatic it might seem.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Good start - bad finish, Dec 6 2003
I feel both Kurtz novels have the same problem. They start off great, set up a ton of enemies for Joe Kurtz to deal with, each nastier than the next, the reader is looking forward to a bloodbath of John Woo-like proportions for the finale...
... And then it all goes to pieces. Too many bad guys take each other out, the invincible Kurtz suddenly becomes extremely vulnerable and only triumphs because Simmons resorts to some Deus Ex Machina-type plotting.
The books are very gritty (almost up to Andrew Vacchs-level), Kurtz is a unlikeable yet fascinating thug-hero, the writing is effective (though not great), the reader is never bored - but the end result is not really fulfilling. Strange, because I've always liked the plotting in Simmons' science fiction novels.
Anyway, the deserved if mean-spirited attack on the Spenser novels (which I used to love - a looooong time ago) is probably the highlight of this book!
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4.0 out of 5 stars Parker lite, Dec 5 2003
For the past thirty-something years, Donald Westlake (writing under the name Richard Stark) has written stories of a ruthless thief named Parker, who is tough, smart and coldly stoic in his approach to life. These stories have had an influence on many writers, including Dan Simmons, who with his Kurtz books, is trying his own version of the Parker series. While reasonably entertaining, Simmons's work in this field is definitely below Westlake/Stark in caliber.

In Hard Freeze - the second Kurtz novel - the ex-con/private eye has once again run afoul of the Buffalo mob. Hit men are pursuing him as a bounty has been put on his life. Meanwhile, Kurtz is also helping a man find the serial killer who murdered his daughter. There are also subplots involving cops with a vendetta and the drunken stepfather of Kurtz's daughter. While Simmons is good enough to tie all these strings together, he is not good enough to make this a great novel. It is definitely good and easily merits a four star rating, but there are problems that prevent it from getting the full five stars In particular, the serial killer is a weak character; as the main villain, he should be interesting, but he is so utterly routine that any habitual mystery reader will find absolutely nothing original about him. There are also coincidences and implausibilities (such as the killer's ability to become a police captain) that are a bit irksome.

It is apparent that Simmons, a very good writer capable of writing quality novels, is writing these Kurtz novels as sort of a writing vacation. They seem as if they are written quickly and without the sophisitication that most of his books have. The end result is a fun, quick read that most will enjoy, but for Simmons's most dedicated fans, this will seem a bit beneath his abilities.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Blood and bullets
Joe Kurtz, ex-PI, has been out of Attica only four months, after serving a twelve year sentence for manslaughter, when he finds himself bombarded by hit men hired by the Farinos,... Read more
Published on Feb 20 2003 by Anna Klein

5.0 out of 5 stars HardCore
Joe Kurtz, the anti-anti-hero of Dan Simmons' latest crime novel, "Hard Freeze," is one tough ..... If you've read "Hard Case," Simmons' first foray into the hard-boiled world of... Read more
Published on Jan 20 2003 by C. Fletcher

4.0 out of 5 stars Harder than hardboiled? Yep, in spades!
...HARD FREEZE finds our hero(?) Joe Kurtz, picking up where he left off in HARD CASE...In true sequel style, HARD FREEZE picks up with Kurtz risking all to find and destroy... Read more
Published on Oct 25 2002 by R. Shaff

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Hard Boiled Gritty Thriller
I used to be a big fan of all Dan Simmons books but for years now his "horror" and science fiction have become dull, unimaginative, and unsatisfying... Read more
Published on Oct 4 2002 by Carl Granados

4.0 out of 5 stars Buffalo crime wave
Hard Freeze is an amazingly fast moving account of the exploits of hard boiled ex-private investigator Joe Kurtz in the frozen tundra of wintertime Buffalo. Read more
Published on Sep 27 2002 by Cory D. Slipman

4.0 out of 5 stars Harder Than Hard Hardboiled
This is the sequel to Hardcase and picks up the story of Joe Kurtz from where it left off. Kurtz is a former P.I. and ex-con who has multiple contracts out on his life. Read more
Published on Sep 26 2002 by Untouchable

4.0 out of 5 stars Whew! Talk About Gritty!
This is NOT a book for readers who like their detectives to be women with pet cats. ... Kurtz tears it up. Read more
Published on Sep 15 2002 by John G. Gleeson Sr.

5.0 out of 5 stars The best in snowy Buffalo
He's eating hot dogs again and killing the three stooges before the first chapter is over.
This is a freight train of a read. Read more
Published on Sep 4 2002 by John Bowes

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate thriller
See storyline above.

Every time I see Dan Simmons name on a book, I'm going to read it. Joe Kurtz returns as the somewhat noirish hero. Read more

Published on Sep 3 2002 by Konrad Kern

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate thriller
See storyline above.

Every time I see Dan Simmons name on a book, I'm going to read it. Joe Kurtz returns as the somewhat noirish hero. Read more

Published on Sep 3 2002 by Konrad Kern

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