A Cold Day In Paradise

Rating:
Summary: Lost and Found
Review: Steve Hamilton's A Cold Day In Paradise is a quiet mystery novel with the punch of a heavy weight fighter. The story in itself is very simple but so well executed and complemented with such a great protagonist that you will soon find yourself completely lost into Hamilton's brilliant narrative.

Told in the first person, the book has us follow Alex McKnight, an ex-cop who retired when he was nearly killed while on the job. Now, many years later, he's a private investigator for a small-town lawyer. When the lawyer and Alex's best friend, Edwin, find themselves stuck in the middle of a murder investigation, Alex has no other choice but to help his friend and boss. But he soon realizes that the killer might have something else in mind: revenge.

The muderer seems to be a man named Rose, the very same man who nearly killed Alex so many years ago. When Rose begins terrorizing Alex's friends, Alex will have to try to find the murderer before he kills again, and before Alex becomes the only suspect in the investigation.

Suspenseful and brilliantly written, A Cold Day In Paradise in one small novel that never disappoints. In facts, it leaves you craving for more. There are no big shoot-out scenes in this novel, no car chase or chase through the woods. What you do have is a reserved thriller that is all about intelligence. Hamilton isn't going for the visceral. Instead, he takes his time to weave a tale that is all about its characters. It's hard to find a PI novel that isn't just about plot. And the fact that you sympathise and care for Alex, one of the best PI character to come along since Connelly's Harry Bosch, is only icing on the cake.

Although the book does fall victim to the first-novel jitters (too many internal questions and dialog, and at times trying too hard with the similes), all of it is quickly forgotten when you realize how brilliantly crafted this little novel is. At one point, the novel seems to be over, but then it picks up again and veers in a new direction (once more because of its characters). The book is full of small surprises like that.

A Cold Day In Paradise is a very solid first effort by an author that shows a lot of promise. A great, fast read.

Rating:
Summary: Great new author...great P. I.
Review: Steve Hamilton comes at you from several different directions in his first novel, A Cold Day in Paradise. That's Paradise, Michigan on the shores of Lake Superior in the upper peninsula. The setting and local color are terrific. Alex McKnight, ex-minor league baseball player, ex-Detroit cop with a bullet still lodged in his chest and now a private investigator, works his way through two murders, a missing person case and a monster killer from his past that leave you guessing until the very end of the book. Good characters. Tight plot. A real page-turner. This is a book you won't be able to put down. Steve Hamilton's got a real winning combination here.

Rating:
Summary: A Big Disappointment
Review: I wanted to like this novel---I really, really did, because it had apparently received rave reviews and the beginning of the book was promising. But if you're an avid reader like me who is always looking for something new and exciting, you'll be as disappointed in this book as I was. The characters were flat, unimaginative and two-dimensional. The writing was about as exciting as the back of a cereal box. The plot was strange and unbelievable. Sometimes a book with these flaws can be saved by stellar prose, but that wasn't the case with this novel. The writing was blunt, plain and unevocative. Imagine someone without much personality---say an insurance salesman or someone who fixes air conditioners for a living---sitting you down and telling you a story about four or five uninteresting people. That's the level of excitement that this book generated for me. If you want well-developed characters, poetic prose and interesting plots, look elsewhere. This was a halfway decent effort from a first-time writer, but I'm stunned and amazed that so much praise has been heaped upon such an average effort.

Rating:
Summary: Do Yourself a Favor
Review: A COLD DAY IN PARADISE is Steve Hamilton's first novel. In it he introduces us to Alex McKnight, ex-cop, ex-baseball player, current private investigator carrying around a bullet in his chest from a shooting 14 years previous in which his partner and friend was killed. When McKnight is taunted with information supposedly known only to he and the imprisoned killer and is later tormented with intrusive recollections from the past, it begins to appear to McKnight that the man in prison is responsible for two murders in the present. Once the groundwork for the mystery is laid, i.e. how can a man in prison commit two murders out of prison, I was hooked. My guess is you'll be hooked too.

In A COLD DAY IN PARADISE, Hamilton displays his skill to write tense and absorbing scenes driven by realistic dialogue spoken by intiguing characters easily visualized. Having read two previous novels with McKnight as the main character, it was well worth the reading experience to read Hamilton's first book. It was interesting to see the basis for the behaviors and relationships described in the later books.

Whether you've read Hamilton's later books and are interested in McKnight's past, or have never experienced the writing skill of Steve Hamilton, do yourself a favor and read this well-deserved Edgar and Shamus awards winner!

Tim Smith

Rating:
Summary: Hard to believe
Review: I listened to the book on CD, read by Nick Sullivan. I tried to read the book at first, but got caught up in the simple writing style. It was more enjoyable to hear the well-developed characters "speak" and have life. At times, I found my heart thumping and getting carried away in the story. But as the book progressed, I found the plot to be extremely unbelievable. Hamilton's descriptions of the U.P. of Michigan were accurate and allowed me to reminisce of the time I lived there. However, I couldn't imagine such a wild story ever taking place in Paradise. I was disappointed with the ending.

As for the reader, Sullivan, he made the book come alive. I thought that the voices he chose to represent each character were perfect. He did a good job with the U.P. accent. It was a little off, but still made me laugh.

Rating:
Summary: An Incredible First Novel
Review: This book is Steve Hamilton's first novel. The main character is Alex McKnight, a former Detroit police officer. McKnight was a police officer for eight years until he was shot three times and his partner was killed. McKnight is haunted by the shooting and the fact that his partner died and he didn't. One of the bullets is still in his chest and serves as a reminder. The man that did the shooting is now in prison serving a life sentence for the shooting. Or is he?

Now living in a quiet town in northern Michigan called Paradise, the town suddenly becomes not so quiet when a murder occurs. To add to the fear that the murder brings, McKnight is contacted by the killer, who reveals intimate details of his own shooting that only he and the shooter would have known. Is McKnight's shooter out of prison? That is the question that begins to haunt McKnight.

This book is written pretty well. I really enjoyed it. It is suspenseful throughout. At one point it seems like the book is about to end, but then there's a surprising twist. This twist is just one of many that happen throughout the book. The suspense never stops. Hamilton does an excellent job of taking the reader inside the head of Alex McKnight. This book is great, so I'll definitely be picking up another book by Steve Hamilton. I'd highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: A good, solid read
Review: Steve Hamilton's writing reminds me a lot of William Tapply's books. I am now a fan of both! This is a well-written, good solid myserty. My only complaint is that our hero never confronts the real bad guy at the end. I was hoping for a Raymond Chandler-type showdown. Anyway, after reading the second novel in the series, I think that showdown may still be coming!

Rating:
Summary: Great start to a great series
Review: I began this series with vol 2 and although I went out of order it really didn't matter. The books are all very well written in a way that he explains what has happened in previous books without giving away the stories.

I think that "Winter of the Wolf Moon" remains my favorite of the series, but they are all worth a read or two.

Rating:
Summary: Debut in series gets my vote.
Review: Steve Hamilton's "Cold Day in Paradise" won the Edgar as Best First Novel---I can see why. It completely captured me.

It is a tightly written, unpredictable, chilling, quick paced plot. He has a fresh approach to the troubled excop turned detective genre and some witty writing.

Mr. Hamilton has created an intriguing protagonist aided by some good supporting characters.

The noirish plot kept me guessing all the way with plenty of tension. In fact I guessed who was behind the plot early on, only to reject my deduction. Good twists and turns.

All in all a solid, involving debut novel. I will be catching up on this four book series in short order.

Rating:
Summary: A Cold Day in Paradise
Review: Loved it, Loved it, Loved it.