Contract Null and Void (Dka File Novel)

Rating:
Summary: A Master Near Rock Bottom
Review: I've always been a great fan of Joe Gores, and found this effort really painful because he's let his readers down.

Many authors use the technique of relating, in parallel, stories from the perspective of several people. The fun comes when these stories become intertwined, leading to a combined climax to the action. It seems at first that Gores is plotting this kind of action, but the reader gradually realizes that there is no interconnection between the stories except that they happen at the same time to different DKA operatives. In effect, what we have here is a half dozen short stories of varying quality spliced together. It doesn't hold together, and I was ultimately unsatisfied.

The individual components of the book range from an overly complex death threat, a bloody union scheme, surreal-comic reposessions, and a distasteful DKA op who gets his kicks taking sexual advantage of illegal alien girls.

Enjoy 32 Cadillacs or other earlier Gores works and pass on this one.

Rating:
Summary: A great mystery author with terrific character-smarts
Review: Joe Gores is one of the most entertaining mystery authors around, no argument. He can write really tough, noir stories, but my favorites have always been his "DKA" novels, featuring Daniel Kearny, king of the San Francisco repo men, and his crew of talented and slightly strange operatives: Larry Ballard, good-looking white-bread and black belt in assorted martial arts; Bart Heslip, black ex-boxer and Larry's best friend; Giselle Marc, beauty combined with brains and organizational smarts; O'Bannon, elder statesman of repo artists and inveterate lush; Ken Warren, Vietnam veteran with a serious speech impediment; and numerous others who come and go throughout the series. Gores's specialty is to combine this retinue of fascinating people with complex -- but reasonable and logical -- multiple plots, an eye for telling detail and description, and a droll style of delivery that will have you laughing out loud on the bus. This time, the overlapping plots include Bart going undercover in the Tenderloin District, Giselle talking Dan (who's been thrown out of his house by his wife) into taking on a personal security job for a young computer geek who is about to become a semi-billionaire, Ken becoming the sexual target of the geek's aging society mom, Jacques Daniel trying to uncover union corruption and being run off a Marin cliff on his racing bike, Trin Morales trying to balance his repo load with his desire to become both a Latino godfather and the bane of underage chicas, and Larry getting involved with a gorgeous, feisty Italian labor union official who just may be more than he can handle. And then there's the two cops who have been a team so long they're known as Rozenkrantz and Guildenstern, automatically dressing alike and keeping up an endless stream of off-color jokes and patter. The pace is fast and steady, and ten pages from the end of the book, you'll shake your head and wonder how Gores can ever bring all the threads to a conclusion. But he does, and very tidily, too. This would make a wonderful film!

Rating:
Summary: Too thin
Review: Too disconnected. Gores flits here and there and everywhere never giving enough to string a story. It's like a day in the life of a repo man only it's a day in the life of ALL the repo men and women who work for DKA. Very boring and pointless. There wasn't enough local atmosphere or story to hold my attention.

And another thing that's beginning to grate on me after 20yrs of reading mysteries is ALL THE WOMEN ARE ALL flawless KNOCKOUT PERFECT...blond, blue eyed, boobies & brains and long legs. Ah..the guys are normal. I'm still going to try 32 Cadillacs.