Friday 13 February 2015

JOCHEM VANDERSTEEN - SCOUNDREL (2012)


Synopsis/blurb……

FOR FANS OF ROBERT B. PARKER AND ROBERT CRAIS

A pregnant woman hires ex-mob fixer and security specialist Noah Milano to track down the man who got her pregnant. When it turns out this man is quite the scoundrel Noah gets involved with Russian gangsters and a murder case.

Praise by other authors:

''The writing is fresh and vivid and lively, paying homage to the past while standing squarely in the present." -James W. Hall, author of Silencer.

''Great pop sensibility with a nod to the classic L.A. PIs.'' - David Levien, author 13 Million Dollar Pop

'Noah Milano walks in the footsteps of the great P.I,.'s, but leaves his own tracks." - Robert J. Randisi, founder of PWA and The Shamus Award

"J. Vandersteen takes us back to the glory days of pulp fiction. And I mean the genre, NOT the movie. His Noah Milano character rings completely true as a tough, lone-wolf private." - Jeremiah Healy, author of TURNABOUT and THE ONLY GOOD LAWYER

A 50 page long short story or short novella to finish off January’s reading with and get the numbers up to a round total of 10.

Interesting tale, well told - Noah Milano – PI or security specialist – take your pick, is hired to locate the guy who has gotten his client pregnant. With abortion not an option, financial recompense is sought to enable the lady to support her child.

Milano starts digging and soon establishes that he’s not the only guy in town hunting down the vanished lothario. Having tracked down Robert Reynolds, ahead of the Russian mob, Milano agrees to allow Reynolds some time to collate the pay-off or he’ll alert the Russians as to his whereabouts.

Before Milano has time to congratulate himself on his speedy resolution, he’s arrested for Reynolds murder by a cop with a hard-on for him and his estranged criminal father. Released after the intervention of his father’s lawyer, Milano at risk to himself soon secures his client’s recompense from the only likely source of the funds before handing the cop’s Reynolds murderer.

I liked how Vandersteen started us off in one direction, before the story morphed into something else. 

Entertaining throughout and definitely a PI I wouldn’t mind reading more about in the future.

Jochem Vandersteen is a Dutch crime writer. His website/blog is here.

4 from 5


Bought a couple of years ago on Amazon UK for Kindle.          

11 comments:

  1. Sounds like an interesting story, Col. And I can see why you might like to read more about Milano in the future.

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    1. Margot cheers - definitely I'll want to read more if time allows.which is the big imponderable!

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  2. OK, I am not a fan of Robert Parker or Robert Crais, and I don't know why the cover needs to look like an advertisement for tights- but 50 page length is in its favour!

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    1. Not too sure how the cover connects with the story apart from having a couple of females in the tale.....I probably guess sex sort of sells,

      I loved Parker 25 years ago, but stopped reading him maybe 22 years ago - I ought to re-read one soon as I did enjoy them before getting jaded. Crais - I do like though haven't read him since 2014

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    2. 2013 that should read....doh

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  3. Not too sure about this but... I see that he has a lot of novellas out there with the same protagonist so I will look around more at what is available.

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    1. I haven't really yet looked at his other Milano novellas - I ought to but don't really need to, if that makes any sense.

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  4. Col, quite an unusual plot, I'd say. The novella format is an incentive to read this story. I was amused by Moira's comment on the cover.

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    1. Moira nails it again. I ought to check the covers on his other novellas to see if there is a common theme - ladies legs!

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  5. Thanks for the review, Col. In fact it seems sex does sell because this book has the best sales ;-). I hope you all visit Amazon.com to check my other novelettes and novellas.

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    1. Jochem, my pleasure. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm looking forward to trying more of Noah's cases in the future!

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