From Publishers Weekly
Campbell's fast-moving and well-written new Whistler novel, fourth in the series, reunites the crew at Gentry's on Hollywood and Vine and dredges up painful memories for Whistler's friend Isaac Canaan, the cop who is rumored never to sleep. Ten years ago, Canaan's niece was brutally murdered. Now a dying AIDS victim named Kenny Gotch claims to know who killed her-but he passes away before he can tell anybody. When Whistler starts turning over the rocks in Gotch's past, he uncovers enough that's bad to put himself and the revenge-seeking Canaan in danger-especially when it becomes clear that Gotch was murdered. The Whistler novels always offer a Runyonesque journey into the seamier side of modern L.A., and this particular foray features, along with the usual "gazooneys" and "twangy boys," an array of quirky characters ranging from the series regulars to eccentric hospice nurse Mary Bucket, with whom Whistler has a budding romance. Satanism rears its devilish head as well. The basic plot is simple, but Campbell stretches it out nicely with colorful dialogue, a neatly intertwined series of subplots and sharp narration. Campbell's-and Whistler's-many fans won't be disappointed.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Kenny Gotch is a small-time doper and street hustler dying of AIDS in a Los Angeles hospice. Why would anyone bother to slit his throat when the disease would have finished him in a week or so? Vice cop Isaac Canaan hears that it may have been to prevent a possible deathbed confession relating to the torture slaying of Canaan's niece, Sarah, 10 years earlier. Canaan follows what leads he can with the help of his private-eye friend Whistler. Aiding in the case are a petty hustler named Mike Rialto and a one-armed short-order cook named Bosco Silverlake. Each of the quartet is flawed: Whistler is a recovering alcoholic struggling to recoup 10 years lost to the bottle; Canaan has been overwhelmed with guilt since Sarah's death; Bosco lost a love and his arm in a death struggle with pimps; and Rialto is a service vet with a glass eye and a lifetime of roads not taken. Their guided tour through Los Angeles' sexual underbelly will leave readers disturbed but surprisingly empathetic. As in the earlier La-La Land novels, they find far more victims than monsters. Powerful reading.
Wes Lukowsky
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
