Never Street

Rating:
Summary: Walker, Back from Beyond
Review: After a seven year absence, tough guy Detroit private detective Amos Walker returned in 1997 with "Never Street." I'm a huge fan of P.I. fiction, and Walker is one of the best around. He doesn't work the streets of Detroit so much as he INHABITS them. "Never Street" is longer and more complex than any Walker story up until that time as Amos tries to find a missing video producer and noir film buff who appears to be acting out his fantasy of sisappearing into one of his movies. For any fan of classic film noir, this is a MUST read. As a mystery, it reads reasonably well, although is not nearly as good as the best of the Walker series (novels such as "Sugartown" and "The Glass Highway"). Walker novels suffer a bit from too little reliance on supporting characters. Reappearing cops John Alderdyce and Mary Ann Thaler make a brief turn here, but only in the background of the story. Walker does have a rare romance this time out, and that helps give the story a bit of a lift.

Overall, fans of Amos Walker should enjoy this entry in the series. His is a welcome return.

Rating:
Summary: A Must If You Must
Review: If, for some reason, you must read books that are well written, with tough talking, wise-cracking, good intentioned, interesting, likeable private eyes who live in the atmospheric pages of a master crime writer, then you must read this book. Great fun for lovers of the hard-boiled genre. Read all of Estelman's Amos Walker series and you'll be have something to measure all the rest by.

Rating:
Summary: Good, Not as good as previous novels...
Review: Never Street is an excellent addition to the Amos Walker series. After a client turns missing, Amos must investigate, leading him into the seamy underworld of blackmail and betrayal and one man's obsession with noir film.

While I liked Never Street, I am not a big fan of 'old movies,' which I felt was an underlying theme in this installment. Film Noir is a genre, I think that is much better 'viewed' than read about. Overall, another light, entertaining read with plenty of puns and snappy comebacks, sure to delight fans of the rest of the series.