Bleeders (Nameless Detective Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: Acting on Epiphanies
Review: Although Bleeders is a standalone story, you will enjoy the book more if you have also read Hoodwink, Shackles, Hardcase and Crazybone. Few will rate this as more than a three-star book unless they have read at least Crazybone. Bleeders can be considered to be the second book in a new section of the Nameless Detective series. If you enjoy Bleeders, be sure to also read Spook which is the next book.

The title is one of Mr. Pronzini's best. He refers to literal bleeders, those who have been injured or killed in violent ways. He also means to refer to people who drain others in illegal ways such as blackmailers. Finally, he sees bleeders as those whose hearts are open to the troubles of others and empathize with them. The Nameless Detective falls in the last category. He has a hard time turning down those in need . . . even if he is not being paid.

One of the book's more ingenious references is in the dedication:
"For Bill Pronzini
Without whom this series would never have been written."

This series is clearly autobiographical in many ways as a note in Casefile indicates. That symmetry reaches an apex in Bleeders as both Mr. Pronzini and Nameless reach 60.

Each book in the series hooks up with a different type of social problem and a different part of northern California. It was inevitable that one book would address illegal drugs and the harm that they do. Bleeders is that book.

More than anything else, though, Bleeders is a study in psychology. Nameless has been reluctant to change anything about his life. Even after marrying, he retained his old apartment and sometimes stays there alone when he's on a case. Long after other detectives were using electronic surveillance equipment and on-line searches, Nameless was pounding the pavement to get his answers. In recent stories, he's been accommodating those areas more and more by asking others to help him. That leaves the tough guy parts of detection for him. But how much tough guy work can a man of 60 expect to do?

Early in the book, Nameless has the kind of epiphany that few people have except those who have survived a long illness. How will it change his life? At first, he looks into doing what he always has done . . . tracking down the bad guys. Later, he realizes that more fundamental changes are called for.

Although Nameless has married now and adopted a child, Emily, he hasn't really settled into family life. Can you imagine Sam Spade with a wife and child? He would have been much different. Mr. Pronzini is venturing into uncharted territory as he adopts noir mystery fiction to modern day family life. I find the work to be interesting and rewarding to consider, and look forward to the series continuing for many years to come.

The mystery in this one isn't very mysterious. Nameless is being asked to drop off a blackmail payment for a client. Where a sophisticated detective would have dropped a tracking bug into the cash, Nameless stakes himself out and plans to trail whoever picks up the money. It's a great reference back to the first book in the series, The Snatch, in which Nameless is to make a kidnapping payoff. Nameless suspects that the reasons for blackmail relate back to drugs, and thinks he has it all scoped out. Soon, though, he realizes he has miscalculated when he puts both Emily and himself in the gravest danger.

The action in the mystery goes downhill from there. As Nameless struggles with his experiences, his critical epiphany is late in coming. In the meantime, he takes you into the mean streets of San Francisco where you meet the scum of the earth.

Most people will be disappointed with the ending to this story. That's why I graded it down one star.

As I finished the book, I began to think about how dedicated professionals in whatever line of work can make more room for their families and those they love. Where can we all get the help we need?

Rating:
Summary: This is it!
Review: Dear fellow Pronzini fans - yes, Bleeders is the last Nameless story. I had the good fortune to meet Pronzini at a book-signing event last summer, and he told us this book would be the end of the series. He said he felt he had taken Nameless as far as he could. I too am unhappy about this but I'm grateful for the exciting ride he's given us in all the books he's written. Bleeders is exceptional and a fitting end to the series. I dearly hope Pronzini will keep writing other novels. I can't imagine what I'd do if he didn't.

Rating:
Summary: Nameless Earns His Name
Review: From the moment one reads the dedication of this Nameless mystery, one realizes what a special book BLEEDERS is. Bill Pronzini dedicates BLEEDERS to himself "without whom this series would never have been written."

As in the recent Nameless mysteries, Nameless is showing his age and his maturity. He is realizing that, while his work is important to him, there is more to life than merely running his PI agency. He is married now, of course, and he has an adopted daughter he acquired in the previous novel. His family responsibilities are becoming more and more important to him.

The plotline of this story involves a grifting scheme that leads to murders. It nearly costs Nameless his life, too. As with all Pronzini works, the book moves far beyond the mystery genre and addresses serious moral themes. As always, Pronzini is a moralistic writer in the best senses of the term.

The plot works fabulously, and the characters seem realistic. The interaction between everyone on stage couldn't work better. In the end, Nameless realizes his name is Daddy. It is bestowed on him by his adopted daughter, and he decides to make certain major life changes.

While it is suggested throughout the work that BLEEDERS may mark the end of this long-running series, I hope the series continues. Bill Pronzini, in my opinion, is the finest mystery writer of his generation. The influence of this series will long be felt in the mystery genre. His Nameless character may now be Daddy to a little girl, yet he has always been the father of the private detectives created by those of us who have begun our writing careers in recent years.

Rating:
Summary: Something Special
Review: Pronzini is always strong, but this one is special. It starts as a good, solid read, with the nameless detective outsmarting some lowlifes who fully deserve their fate, but then takes a darker, more emotional turn that is pitch-perfect and completely convincing. Too often in this genre such changes are overdone, turning the story into something sentimental and self-indulgent -- but Pronzini gets it right. He has a very subtle touch everywhere, from the hero's interactions with his child to his own night terrors. And the suprising ending that one of the other reviewers hated (probably because it does not provide a spasm of cleansing violence) succeeds fully.

Isn't it time that Pronzini is "rediscovered"?

Rating:
Summary: Pronzini is a master!
Review: Whether you're a veteran reader of P.I. novels or a neophyte who doesn't know his Hammett from his Chandler, you'll love the latest in Pronzini's "Nameless" series. This writer is a master, a benchmark against whom all the others compare themselves. A craftsman of both plot and language, Pronzini delivers each and every time. And in this way, he's that rarest of things: the sure bet. He knows how to deliver. He doesn't waste a detail or sling an extra word. "Bleeders" shows him at the pinnacle of his powers. Not only is it a fine mystery, thoroughly entertaining and beautifully paced, but his protagonist is entirely real. Nameless has aged and in this outing, he's feeling the weight of his cumulative history, the burden of all the pain and tragedy he's participated in over the course of 20+ books. Why fool with the latest flash-in-the-pan, when the king is still writing stories this engrossing and rewarding?