Thu 11 Aug 2011
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: TIMOTHY HALLINAN – The Man with No Time.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[7] Comments
TIMOTHY HALLINAN – The Man with No Time. Simeon Grist #5. Morrow, hardcover, 1993. Avon, paperback, May 1995.
I have enjoyed previous tales of over-educated LA private detective Simeon Grist considerably. I enjoyed this one much less. Much less.
Grist finds himself in the middle of the LA Asian gang scene, as the twin children if his Asian ladylove are kidnapped; seemingly by an old friend of the family from mainland China, who aided them in escaping from there many years ago.
It quickly becomes apparent that the old “friend” is being pursued by an LA ganglord, and Grist is quickly up to his neck in gangsters of various Asian persuasions, all suitably villainous.
This isn’t a poorly written book. It also isn’t a private detective book. It’s a well-done kick-ass type fairy tale of the Parker/Crais variety, though Hallinan isn’t quite in their league as prose stylist. Grist is assisted by a black semi-legal, and six black brothers who are his friends, and by a youthful Vietnamese gang member who he has co-opted; all entertaining characters.
The storytelling is fine. It’s a bloody action-packed heroes-against-bad-guys tale with in-depth characterization not a major concern. But it isn’t the book I wanted to read, nor one I expected him to write. I’d have bought an “Executioner” if I wanted to read one.
Pfui. Color me disappointed.
The Simeon Grist series —
1. The Four Last Things (1989)
2. Everything but the Squeal (1990)
3. Skin Deep (1991)
4. Incinerator (1992)
5. The Man with No Time (1993)
6. The Bone Polisher (1995)
The Poke Rafferty series —
1. A Nail Through the Heart (2007)
2. The Fourth Watcher (2008)
3. Breathing Water (2009)
4. The Queen of Patpong (2010)
Poke Rafferty is an ex-pat travel writer and sometime adventurer trying to settle down in Bangkok with his fiancee and their adopted daughter.
August 11th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
I have all the Simeon Grist novels, and have even read two or three of them. Good but not great, is how I remember them. THE MAN WITH NO TIME is not one I’ve read.
But somehow the Poke Rafferty books have managed to escape my attention altogether. I thought that Hallinan was one of those PI writers like Stephen Greenleaf that had his day in the sun and then exited stage left.
It’s good to know that he’s still around.
August 12th, 2011 at 9:40 am
After reading this, I think it’s too bad I only have this one of the series, unread, but I’ll not seek out the others.
August 12th, 2011 at 10:19 am
The way I read his review, this was only this one that Barry was disappointed with. If you see another that’s cheap enough, you might take a chance on it.
That’s assuming you like PI novels to begin with. If you don’t, I don’t think Hallinan broke a lot of new ground, mostly playing around with the usual themes and motifs.
August 12th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Just bought Timothy Hallinan’s comic crime ebook (only) CRASHED with a new series character Junior Bender.
Critics do seem to like his Poke Rafferty thrillers. The last got a nomination for the Edgar.
August 12th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
G.K.Chesterton titled one of his essay collections ALL IS GRIST.
Somehow, guess he was not talking about Simeon Grist.
August 12th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
Nope. Grist of another color (and flavor) altogether.
But as a verb, isn’t Grost the past tense of Grist?
August 12th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Steve,
I never thought of it that way!
Grost rhymes with Frost.
It could well be a different form of something.
Sometimes think of my web site as “Paradise Grost”.