Rating: 
Summary: Shane's back
Review: Stephen J. Cannell brings back Shane Scully from his previous adventure in ‘The Tin Collectors’.Scully lost his best friend and co-worker a couple years ago to an apparent suicide and it hit him pretty hard mentally. He is now suspended from the LAPD. While driving down the freeway, he has no doubt that who he sees is his dead best friend Jody Dean. Scully’s fiancée, Alexa, who happens to also be with the LAPD and is a recent Medal of Valor recipient, thinks Scully has lost his mind. Soon more evidence comes into play and it turns out that Scully was right. There is a group of rogue policemen, some of whom have faked there deaths, that are taking the law into there own hands, as well as making there own laws. Scully infiltrates this group. On the outside, Alexa is handling things. Cannell takes you into the world of money laundering, drugs, and murder, while taking you into the deadly locales of South America. It was an entertaining and easy book to read. It’s not hard to picture a movie out of this story (obviously due to Cannell’s scriptwriting abilities). Good entertainment. Recommended
Rating:
Summary: Shane's back
Review: Stephen J. Cannell brings back Shane Scully from his previous adventure in ‘The Tin Collectors’. Scully lost his best friend and co-worker a couple years ago to an apparent suicide and it hit him pretty hard mentally. He is now suspended from the LAPD. While driving down the freeway, he has no doubt that who he sees is his dead best friend Jody Dean. Scully’s fiancée, Alexa, who happens to also be with the LAPD and is a recent Medal of Valor recipient, thinks Scully has lost his mind. Soon more evidence comes into play and it turns out that Scully was right. There is a group of rogue policemen, some of whom have faked there deaths, that are taking the law into there own hands, as well as making there own laws. Scully infiltrates this group. On the outside, Alexa is handling things. Cannell takes you into the world of money laundering, drugs, and murder, while taking you into the deadly locales of South America. It was an entertaining and easy book to read. It’s not hard to picture a movie out of this story (obviously due to Cannell’s scriptwriting abilities). Good entertainment. Recommended
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre Storyline
Review: The concept of the book is interesting, and the writing is at times compelling. But taken on the whole, the book merits a so-so rating. Read something better if you can find it -- and there are plenty -- read this one if you can't find anything good.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre Storyline
Review: The concept of the book is interesting, and the writing is at times compelling. But taken on the whole, the book merits a so-so rating. Read something better if you can find it -- and there are plenty -- read this one if you can't find anything good.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast-paced, hypercharged thriller.
Review: The creator of such classic television shows as "The Rockford Files," "The A-Team," and "Wiseguy" has returned with another page-turning thriller. LAPD Detective Shane Scully ("The Tin Collectors") has been placed on psychiatric leave for his loose cannon role in uncovering the corruption of the top department brass. His mental state isn't helped any when he spots his best friend--supposedly dead for two years--driving next to him on an LA freeway. Detective Scully starts to dig and finds that his friend, along with five other not-so-dead officers, has gone deep undercover. The exact reason, and whether or not their actions are official, remains to be seen. What is immediately clear, though, is that this group of rogue officers (they call themselves "the Vikings") is going make a lot of trouble for Scully if he tells anyone of their existence. Although some of the plot occasionally strays into silliness, and the prose isn't as polished as one might like, Cannell knows how to keep his audience interested and keep them coming back for more. As you'd expect from all his years writing cop shows, Cannell knows the territory very well and is skillful and knowledgeable about how the game works. The author also does a good job of probing the shady world of money laundering, and the role of legitimate American corporations in that underworld operation. (Cannell explains in the introduction how he found out about this real-life corruption and it definitely makes you think.) "The Viking Funeral" is a book that is meant to be read quickly and then largely forgotten; the literary equivalent of one of Cannell's TV shows. On that basis, it makes for a pleasant read. Reviewed by David Montgomery, Mystery Ink
Rating:
Summary: The tough cop is just a bit too wimpy
Review: The storyline in this book is better than its predecessor ("The Tin Collectors"), the concept is amazing (if a bit complicated), the writing is better than average (although the Spanish was overdone). The only problem I had with this book was that Scully went through the whole plot like he needed a hug (Did Jody or his mother love him, blah, blah?). I don't need an emotionless Robocop as my hero, but by the end of the novel I was wondering if his referral to a psych eval wasn't warranted after all. I just picked up "Hollywood Tough," and although I truly enjoy Mr. Cannell's books, I can only hope that Scully can get through this one without needing a support group.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as others
Review: This is the third 'Cannell' I've read. It has its moments, more good than bad. I think this may have not been my cup of tea. I enjoyed the main plot, a little overloaded with 'street talk' but all in all the story line and tightness seemed pretty good but it lacked something for me. I will read more of his novels, it may be one of those things that throw us all off.
Rating:
Summary: Shane should go away after this one.
Review: Well, this one seems to be a bit messy and farfetched. We should put the whole LAPD and its scandles behind as they are so boringly bothering us daily on the tv and newspapers. I am getting so tired of reading this cliche story with shallow characters and dialogues. I actually have to force myself finishing it with a "couldn't care less" and tasteless reading attitude.
Rating:
Summary: I GIVE UP!
Review: when i accidentally picked up THE TIN COLLECTORS and found myself unable to put it down, i had high hopes for its follower THE VIKING FUNERAL.
i'm a lover of serial thrillers and was excited to suddenly begin to start a new one.
but my serial stops at Book 2.
THE VIKING FUNERAL is filled with so much of the same ol' threats and "who cares?" betrayal that it reads as if desperate to fill pages. The beginning and the previous book's excerpt was enough to hold a reader and encourage him to continue, but somewhere on page 200 i threw my hands in the air and tossed the book across the room.
well, not so dramatically speaking but u get the idea. if u've read TIN COLLECTORS, keep the good impression of the series u have by NOT picking up it's follower.
THE VIKING FUNERAL could be called THE SERIES FUNERAL.
Rating:
Summary: Money Laundering 101
Review: While cruising the freeway Shane Scully sees his former LAPD partner and friend, Jody Dean in the lane next to him. He is shocked; Jody committed suicide two years ago. So the detective sets out to prove that Dean is alive, only to fall in with a crew of undercover cops who've slipped their pasts and are now running a convoluted money-laundering scheme that ties U.S. tobacco shipments to South American drug barons.
Steven J. Cannell, the creator of TV series such as The Rockford Files and Wiseguy, certainly knows how to choreograph an action scene. The tightly constructed tale is occasionally stilted, but never dull. The story is at his best when describing the friendship between the emotionally scarred Scully and the ego-maniacal Dean.
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