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Summary: another journey to the past with Nathan Heller
Review: I love the Nathan Heller Series. I find the blend of fiction with actual events to be great reading. The research into the past that Collins does makes the books totally credible. He is an author on my buy in hardcover list. In this book we are taken to Roswell, and we follow Nate while he investigates the UFO rumors. As usual, we get to meet some real people from the past, and it's great fun. Nate is a man's man, and a stereotypical PI of the times. And reading it is a real joy. And the beauty of this series is that you can read it out of order. So don't wait, dive in!!! Jon
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Summary: A quality writer
Review: Max Allan Collins latest, "MAJIC MAN" is a great read. Mr. Collins' ability to weave his detective hero, Nate Heller, into the fabric of what happened at Roswell is impressive.
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Summary: Another fine entry in the Heller saga
Review: Nate Heller may have been at his best in the gangster era Chicago, but he's aging well and still coming up with imaginative "solutions" to the great historical mysteries he gets involved with. I just hope Nate has reason to be in Dallas in November 1963, he should be able to come up with a good story on that conspiracy.
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Summary: Majic Man
Review: Surprisingly, my first in-depth exposure to what went on in Roswell in 1947 comes with reading this snappy crime novel. Oh, I know enough not to take a novel as gospel on realworld history, even bizarre history; author Collins does help a Roswell newbie like me by enclosing an "afterword" that separates fact from fiction, as well as listing secondary sources. This was, incidentally, my introduction to PI Nathan Heller, who apparently has a habit of taking any case that relates to oddball historical events of mid 20th Century USA...an interesting angle for a mystery series, and one that no doubt requires endless and diverse research from the author. Heller does what most PIs do in these "hard-boiled" novels (even recent ones like this): he visits nervous suspect after nervous suspect, he clicks with at least one sexy dame, he gets forced into the back of a car and pressured by at least one person, or group, or organization, that wishes him to Drop The Case, he is helped as much by hunches as by clues, and he spends time either feeling disgust over the low morals of the most ferrety members of society he talks to during a case, or feeling guilty over some of his decisions while solving a case, especially when he discovers that he has unknowingly assisted a criminal in his endeavors ("you played me for a sap, and I let you, but I'm onto you now...", etc.). All of that is in this book, and I should say that I don't usually enjoy a mystery this much which relies heavily on the age-old formula. But Majic Man has a somewhat off-kilter approach to the routine, which helps it immeasurably. First, the murder is quite late in the book...which relates to Heller's feelings of guilt in the late innings; he's originally hired to protect a supposedly paranoid, disgraced politico, and it's questionable how great a job he ends up doing. And secondly, the whole Roswell connection makes everything just a bit eerie, and thus extra-entertaining. The touches of humour are appreciated too: I love the scene where Heller trips over, uh, the unexpected, while trying to escape from a military base with a sinister secret. A three-star mystery with some solid four-star content throughout ...
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Summary: Snooping around in cover ups
Review: What I like about the book is that the author researched his subject, the Roswell incident. His writing style is captivating, but the main character, private eye Heller, comes across as a lame duck lacking in the finesse one expects from a detective. The characters in the story are historically authentic, except for fictional Dr. Bernstein, made out as evil as a Nazi must be betrayed; vae victis! With all the snooping going on, Mr. Collins doesn't bring his spy to a conclusion, and the story ends in a frazzle, which I found unsatisfying. The book is mildly entertaining. However, I will give this author another try, since this is my first read on him.
Rating:
Summary: Snooping around in cover ups
Review: What I like about the book is that the author researched his subject, the Roswell incident. His writing style is captivating, but the main character, private eye Heller, comes across as a lame duck lacking in the finesse one expects from a detective. The characters in the story are historically authentic, except for fictional Dr. Bernstein, made out as evil as a Nazi must be betrayed; vae victis! With all the snooping going on, Mr. Collins doesn't bring his spy to a conclusion, and the story ends in a frazzle, which I found unsatisfying. The book is mildly entertaining. However, I will give this author another try, since this is my first read on him.
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