Fotografía de autor

Ed Kovacs

Autor de Storm Damage

4 Obras 62 Miembros 4 Reseñas

Series

Obras de Ed Kovacs

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Miembros

Reseñas

2.5**

Cliff St James is on his last shift as a New Orleans police officer just as Hurricane Katrina is about to hit the Crescent City hard. He goes on one last call to a well- known bar, where the owner has apparently been shot and robbed. There’s no time to call the medical examiner or the CSI team; all first-responders are ordered back to headquarters in an effort to keep them as safe as possible in the face of the storm’s wrath. Months later, a now-retired Cliff is asked by the dead man’s daughter to investigate. She wants answers and her father had always told her that St James was a good guy, the only trustworthy cop he knew.

There is a kernel of a great story here. But Kovacs who, according to the book jacket, has a background in intelligence that sounds suspiciously like a former CIA agent, seems intent on bringing in every possible conspiracy, counter-conspiracy, subterfuge and secret relationship that ever graced the pages of a crime or espionage novel. The plot gets so convoluted that Cliff (and the reader) completely forgets the purpose of his investigation and instead goes after numerous drug dealers, gang-bangers, corrupt public servants, and highly-connected “businessmen” (i.e. crime bosses). Only in the last twenty pages does he go back to the main purpose of his investigation and manages to conveniently solve the case with nary a clue or foreshadowing anywhere in the rest of the book.

Kovacs does have some skill in writing a page turner. The plot moves quickly, and there are enough scenes where the hero is in a dangerous situation to add drama and suspense. But he also tends to be repetitive. More than once he described the Mardi Gras revelers as celebrating “countless cocktail parties, brunches, high teas, coffee klatches with ubiquitous king cakes, rehearsals, banquets and dinners” using almost the exact same litany of events.

It was a fast read, but not a particularly good one.
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Denunciada
BookConcierge | 3 reseñas más. | Jan 13, 2016 |
"Fresh Meat" by Jordan Foster for Criminal Element

For Cliff St. James, the hard-hitting PI (literally: he dabbles in mixed martial arts on the side) in Kovacs’s debut, life has a dividing line. There’s before the Storm and after. Since he lives in New Orleans (“Nu-whohr-lins” for those of us who use books to brush up on our regional accents), it almost seems like an insult call said Storm “Hurricane Katrina.” The “K” word is barely uttered. That’s what outsiders say, people who watched the disaster unfold on TV, not the ones who still live without electricity, some in FEMA trailers, some in patched-together houses that were, only five months before we meet Cliff, submerged in water tainted with sewage and enough bacteria to leave swatches of mold in its wake. But all of this, coupled with the police department’s barely 20% solve rate for homicides, is part of the New Normal. And just as the perpetually damp buildings are prime breeding grounds for mold and decay, the struggling city is ripe for crime.

(Read the rest at http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2011/12/fresh-meat-storm-damage-by-ed-kovac... )
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Denunciada
CrimeHQ | 3 reseñas más. | Apr 11, 2013 |
This book is very hard to put down! It was a good, solid mystery from page one and unlike so many books in this genre, it keeps you guessing until the very end. I found the setting and context to be fascinating. The descriptions of the cultures and sub cultures for New Orleans, gangs, and the Asians were fascinating and believable. The character development was wonderful. As a reader you get to know and understand the characters, flaws and good parts alike.

Overall, a great read or someone who enjoys a good mystery.

Reader received a complimentary copy from Good Reads First Reads. This in no way affected the review of this book.
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Denunciada
dgmlrhodes | 3 reseñas más. | Jan 23, 2012 |
Fascinating reading about New Orleans before and after hurricane Karina and to top it off a disappearing crime scene and body because of the hurricane. Liked the character Cliff St. James and the semi noir tone to the book which covers the political corruption and violence pf the city. Well done by someone who knows or seems to know every inch of the city.
½
 
Denunciada
Beamis12 | 3 reseñas más. | Dec 29, 2011 |

Estadísticas

Obras
4
Miembros
62
Popularidad
#271,094
Valoración
3.0
Reseñas
4
ISBNs
11
Idiomas
1

Tablas y Gráficos