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Summary: Payton's debut novel scores a TD in the East Village
Review: After testifying in a child custody case in Syracuse for the last nine days, private investigator Payton Sherwood buses home to New York City. When he reaches his office-home in the East Village, he feels life is good because no one broke into his house. Without changing form his suit, Payton goes to the nearest convenience store to buy some milk and cereal. On the way back, he intercedes when three thugs accost a teenage girl. For being a Good Samaritan, the three punks kick him from head to toe. When he regains consciousness, Payton realizes that his $3500 gold Rolex watch was stolen during the incident. Besides the principle of the thing, Payton wants just about his only thing of value returned. He traces the girl, who turns out to be a homeless runaway named Gloria Manlow. Though he catches up to her by journeying through the bowels of the city, he soon finds himself working a much bigger case that places his life in jeopardy. EAST OF A is well written urban Noir that brings alive the eats Village and surrounding neighborhoods of Manhattan. Payton is a great new entry in the sleuthing world (he has previously appeared in a short story). The story line is quirky and different. Fans will want more works from Russell Atwood, starring Payton in the city. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Classic detective fiction, but no action from the hero.
Review: As a huge fan of detective fiction, I had to read this novel. It had an interesting plot but the climax was weak. If the story's hero would have been a tougher guy, I would have liked it a lot more. A book doesn't have to be realistic. In fact, it shouldn't be. An example: Payton shouldn't get pounded by the thugs. Make him be a really cool guy and kick rear himself. Atwood also should have had the main character raise more violence by dishing out his 9mm Luger and settling the score with his nemesis. A good story though.
Rating:
Summary: Solid Urban Noir
Review: As a mystery author with a recently published debut mystery, I am greatly impressed with Russell Atwood's debut novel. His protagonist, Payton Sherwood, is a fresh creation--a contemporary heir to the noir tradition. Atwood captures his story's urban environment accurately, and his plot is well-paced. EAST OF A is a solid urban noir work and a terrific beginning for what I hope will be a long career writing crime fiction for Mr. Atwood.
Rating:
Summary: Solid Urban Noir
Review: As a mystery author with a recently published debut mystery, I am greatly impressed with Russell Atwood's debut novel. His protagonist, Payton Sherwood, is a fresh creation--a contemporary heir to the noir tradition. Atwood captures his story's urban environment accurately, and his plot is well-paced. EAST OF A is a solid urban noir work and a terrific beginning for what I hope will be a long career writing crime fiction for Mr. Atwood.
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Summary: Excellent modern noir (in spite of some self-indulgence)
Review: Atwood's first novel is delicious, if occasionally overripe: he allows himself too many deliberately purple passages, as well as gimmicks such as text laid out vertically to reflect a character's fall out of a window and random words spelled in dialect (i.e., "wire" for "why are"). But the patches of questionable prose will improve with age -- what Atwood already has going for him is a fabulous sense of place (you can see and smell the Village as you read) and a knack for suspense. A scene with Payton trapped in a subway tunnel as a train approaches is a fabulous nail-biter, even if it's not entirely clear to the reader just how Payton manages to survive. On the whole, a good read and an auspicious debut.
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Summary: A great suspense-filled detective story!
Review: Being snowed in at a motel for a day, I was very glad to have this book with me. It is the dark kind of book that was perfect to read in an afternoon, looking out at the wind and snow. The descriptions of New York City were so clear that at times I felt I was there. Once in a while I wondered if what Payton did really could be acomplished, like running all over town after having been beaten silly be 3 thugs, but none of this destracted from the good story being told. I will think of this book every time I visit New York City!
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Summary: It's about time ...
Review: East of A is the perfect modern mystery: Smart, fun, and exciting. And it's about time somebody gave that lower east side culture a proper write up. Atwood's good--I look forward to his second book.
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Summary: God
Review: ee
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I am a film noir fan and this book harkens back to the best of those stories. I love the language which is comtemporary yet paints pictures of the gritty underbelly that the great Hammett and Chanlder were able to capture so well. It rocks with vivid and all to real descritpions of the not too pretty reality of death and the streets of New York. Great fun and Peyton is a guy that I want to know better.
Rating:
Summary: A fast-paced page turner
Review: In EAST OF A, Russell Atwood serves up a thriller that's witty, funny and rich with atmosphere, as New York City's lower East side becomes a character in this urban thriller, and its protagonist Payton Sherwood takes his place among fiction's best-loved hard-boiled PI's. Fast-paced, and never boring, Mr. Atwood's debut novel is a slim, but satisfying page turner.
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