Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Read Weeks Ago: "Revolver" by Duane Swierczynski

Read Weeks Ago: Revolver by Duane Swierczynski, 2016, 9780316403238.

I think this is the best of Swiierczzonshi's novels. And he has written a lot of nice novels.

Swirrichinksi writes a lot of crime and comics and fast paced thrillers. This one has mystery and murder but, I assume, will appeal to more mainstream adult fic readers. But, what do I know?

Set in three different timelines in Philadelphia:1965, 1995, and 2015. Swwirynsskkkiush rotates among the three timelines to tell the story. I assume this was not an easy book to put together by joining three different stories. Especially since the stories lines will dovetail together.

Anyhoo.
1965. Black and white cops team together in the middle of a summer of street protests and riots. The cops - well one of them - are trying to track down the person who tried to drop a couch off a roof onto the cops's heads. On the way they run into a drug trafficking conspiracy. The two Officers are later murdered in a small bar.

1995. The son of one dead 1965 officer hears the man suspected in the '65 murders is out of prison. He starts to shadow the suspect. He also starts investigating the rape and murder of a young woman whose body was left in the City's star neighborhood.

2015. The daughter of 1995 Cop flies back to Philadelphia from Houston for the anniversary and plaque dedication to, her grandfather cop's 1965 murder. She is close to being kicked out of her grad school crime science program and proposes a project to investigate the grandfather's murder with modern science.

Many things happen. We learn Philadelphia history and race relations. We learn about boozing, and sorrow, and dysfunctional families. We follow investigators from three eras. We learn about bad guys doing bad things. We learn about good guys who have drinking problems.

Comments and Spoilers:
1. Other things we learn. We learn that 2015 Daughter's secret son in Houston could have been cut from the story because it feels like filler.
2. We later read how reviewers say the novel is a treatise on race relations over the decades. We say, "OK, but it's really a family novel with shit going on. This is a Philly novel starring a Philly family."
3. We remind ourselves about It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and wonder how truthful that show is.
4. We think, "C'mon there is no way the city is that bad. But, maybe... I mean they do film in Los Angeles, maybe that is for more than reasons of economy and convenience."
5. We then think, "I keep reading this Schweinhuntinski guy's books. Maybe I should learn to spell his name. Nah, screw it."
6.

1 comment:

Mathew Paust said...

I love the occasional family novel with shit going on. But I'll hafta learn to copy and paste if I plan to look for this guy Schwuisslkjhgfchisinski on Amazon.