Rating: 
Summary: A Cold Day in Paradise
Review: I loved this book from the first page. As a life-long resident of the Upper Peninsula, I appreciate that Steve didn't portray the "locals" as idiots.I can't wait to read the rest of the series and hope that he keeps on writing for a long time. I found it to be quite a page turner, just when you think you have it figured out, your wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: mediocre
Review: Steve Hamilton's debut entry in the Alex McKnight won both the Shamus and Edgar awards for best first novel. McKnight is a former Detroit policeman now living in the Upper Penninsula town of Paradise. He was shot three times--one of the bulletts remains lodged near his heart--and his partner killed, by a madman named Maximillian Rose. Now, as McKinight reluctantly investigates the killing of two local bookies, it seems that Rose, who is supposed to be in prison, has entered his life again. Mr. Hamilton offers a mildly unconventional P. I. in McKnight, who is still openly traumatized by his shooting, and the encounter with Rose generally, and who is carrying on an affair with his friend and client's wife. These two facets of the novel are apparently what grabbed folks' attention. Personally, I thought they made McKnight rather off-putting. Detectives like Lew Archer were pretty routinely frightened by the plight of their clients and would routinely fall in love with one or more of the women involved in the case, even if married--Sam Spade was even getting his phreak on with his partner's wife at the beginning of The Maltese Falcon. So, it's hard to see these twists as particularly unusual and once you take away the novelty factor you're left with a competent but somewhat formulaic Thomas Harris copy, right down to the prison confrontation, and a detective who's hard to root for. GRADE : C
Rating:
Summary: A really good page turner!
Review: As a resident of the area Hamilton is using in his novels, I have to say he has done his research very well. And while we may have some colorful and eccentric characters here in the Upper Peninsula, he treats those characters with dignity and affection. Alex McKnight has won my heart. He's all too human and believable. In a genre that is built on formulas and often cliches, Hamilton has managed to create works that entirely appealing. I can't wait for the newest books to come out. I hope Hamilton manages to keep cranking them out for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: You have a fan
Review: What can I say?...I love it...very well written and worded...Steve pump out some more man...
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Beginning
Review: This first of Steve Hamilton's Alex McKnight series is a tight, well-done book. There's great emotional truth to all the characters, and Hamilton exercises restraint in his hero's musings, as well as in the overall portrayal of a man haunted by his perceived failures. Nothing is predictable and all the characters are fully-drawn, particularly the mad and pathetic Rose. In one brief climactic confrontation between McKnight and Rose, the frustration and anger of a rational mind coming up hard against an irrational one has powerful resonance. Anyone who's ever tried to reason with someone unreasonable will sympathize with McKnight's helplessness and outrage at being unable to communicate on any "normal" level. Filled with surprising twists, a lot of tension, and a splendid depiction of life in a cold zone, this is a well-crafted book with a likeable, very human cast. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Shamus and Edgar Award Winner? Very disappointing!
Review: Too much hype for a disappointing novel! Sappy dialogue, virtually no character development, and a hero who can't decide if he's Dirty Harry or Pee Wee Herman characterize this "award winner." The ending is the major let down. After an interesting, but not unforeseeable plot twist, the story just ends -- no resolution, no follow up -- it just leaves you hanging. Steve Hamilton apparently ran out of ideas, reached his word quota, or was saving up for a sequel. You should "save up" your money!
Rating: 
Summary: The Legend lives on ...
Review: Steve Hamilton's debut Alex McKnight mystery novel is a keeper! Has Edwin Fulton III suffered the same fate at the hands of the Witch of November as the Edmund Fitzgerald? Is it mere coincidence that the character's name springs alliterative from the doomed ship? This maiden voyage portends of even better books to come - delivered in the next installment: Winter of the Wolf Moon.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book
Review: Excellent read! Hard to put down. Locale descriptions along with Alex's friends were very good. Alex is not a perfect hero but his heart is in the right place.(right next to his persoanl bullet)! Some of the characters,especially Sylvia, had cloudy backgrounds but maybe Steve will see fit to share more in upcoming books. Will definitely read any of his books.
Rating:
Summary: Award-winning debut of an excellent new series!
Review: Alex McKnight is a former Detroit police officer who now works as a private investigator in upstate Michigan on the frozen banks of Lake Superior. McKnight was forced to retire on disability when he was critically wounded and his partner was murdered by a psychotic killer named Maximilian Rose. That happened many years ago, though, and McKnight is trying to put it behind him. Rose is in prison serving a life sentence without parole and McKnight is getting on with his new existence in the small town of Paradise. Alex McKnight is one of the most likeable and realistic protagonists for a mystery series that I have come across in quite a while. Most authors in the genre are unwilling to allow their heroes to show fear or weakness, to have them appear to be less than superhuman. Hamilton draws McKnight as a much more humble figure, though, showing him with all of his flaws, as well as his doubts and pain. When "A Cold Day in Paradise" was published in 1998, it won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, a justly-deserved accolade. Author Steve Hamilton has done a wonderful job of crafting an intriguing, page-turning mystery that would be the envy of most more seasoned writers. This series is off to a very promising start.
Rating:
Summary: Award Winning Novel is Merely Average
Review: "A Cold Day in Paradise" scored an extremely rare coup in winning bost the Edgar and Shamus Award for best first mystery novel. I am a huge fan of private detective fiction and on that basis alone I gave it a read. Maybe it was the hype, but I was somewhat disappointed. The novel starts out well, former Detroit cop Alex McKnight has retired to the bleak shores of Lake Superior after having received a bullet in the chest. The cold landscape of Northern Michigan in the late fall is a perfect backdrop for a good hard-edged story. Alas, it fails to materialize. The plot is strangely oblique and uses the old device of a killer out of the hero's past. It works well for a while, but ultimately stretches plausibility. The book also doesn't make as good a use of its setting as it could. McKnight never explains why he chose to live where he does (other than a tenuous family tie) and the events of the book have no unique local flavor to them. But the novel's biggest flaw is the presence of two characters. One is the local Chief of Police, who takes an absurd pathological dislike to McKnight for no particular reason that I could discern. The other is the character of a missing man's wife with whom McKnight had an affair. Her nastiness also seems contrived and their relationship, after taking an implausible turn, is left bizarrely unresolved at the end of the book. Overall, author Steve Hamilton has some of the moves to be a great private detective fiction writer. But he's nowhere near there yet, awards not withstanding.
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