City of the Sun: A Novel by David Levien
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Book Reviews of City of the Sun: A Novel
Book Review: Hollywood screenwriter ends up being a pretty good suspense novelist
Summary: 4 Stars
I found CITY OF SUN in my BOMC catalogue. I was a bit leery at first because it was written by a Hollywood screenwriter, but I liked the main character, a big lug of an ex-cop turned private detective.
Paul and Carol Gabriel's son Jamie is kidnapped while out on his paper route. Fourteen months later, the police have essentially given up trying to find him. Frank Behr takes the case because he identifies with Paul Gabriel. He had lost his own son when the boy was only seven.
The author, David Levien, doles out clues very reluctantly. And when the case appears to be going someplace, a source is murdered. Writing gurus suggest that you paint yourself into a corner to make your plot twists more believable and Levien appears to be doing that consistently.
Levien switches back and forth between Behr's point of view and that of the parents. We also get a brief look at the kidnappers. I didn't much care for the parents at first. For one thing, Paul is an insurance agent and Carol is completely defeated. A lot of this sounds a whole lot like a TV movie. But then Paul insists on helping with the case. Of course Behr doesn't like the idea. He could lose his license, for one thing, but he finally relents once again because he would want to do the same thing if it were his son. Surprisingly, they make a good team.
The villains are great. One is a real estate magnate who sells children to pederasts. Another is a muscle builder who "breaks" the kidnapped boys. One of the buyers justifies himself by comparing himself to the Greeks.
As Frank and Paul zero in on the culprits, I could not turn the pages fast enough. I was really worried one or more of these guys were going to get killed. However, the thing comes to a screeching halt. I could have used an epilogue to see these people down the road a pace and maybe digest what had just happened.
Book Review: Pulp Fiction in a Hardcover
Summary: 2 Stars
This book started as a page turner and then quickly became a chore. It is as the author is going through the correct motions only without much skill. Picking a horrific subject is no substitute for good writing or story.
The theme of the book is dark enough, darker than many and has shock value but isn't handled skillfully. Then you need suspension of disbelief to follow the plot as the investigator's breakthroughs are often very far fetched, evil men bodering on sadomasochism break after a 5 minute beating, a very resourceful informant (like the shoe box guy in Police Squad) brings in vital information without proper explanation and when a very evil man and only lead is confronted he chases them of by asking for their buisness card? - this is right after the main character has shown he is not above applying physical pressure. On the whole the plot is watery thin and serves in the later part as a thin line between poor action scenes. It would be a poor film, but it is a worse book.
While this goes on you are pounded with boring testosterone and stereotypical images, the main character Behr is the sterotyped tall, big ex-football player ex-cop turned detective. This may do something for some readers but it does nothing for me, I do not require a big guy fighting for justice to provide any satisfaction. Then you almost get to know how every character minor or major in the book does his work out, whether he runs hills with rock salt in a pack, a grieving mum does her yoga or a young female officer with about a 2 page lifetime in the book keeps in shape. Food of course gets mentioned here and there, this is often used in stories and tv and must be for a good reason, but here it only serves to make the book longer and is about as interesting as reading the weekly menu of a work cafeteria.
All in all you are left with the feeling that you are watching a B quality cop soap or reading a gas station pulp novel. It is possible to read it through but there certainly are better books out there and this book hardly justifies the hardcover package.
Book Review: For the Lost
Summary: 4 Stars
Yet another embittered cop/ex-cop with a dark history I thought as I began to read this tale of a missing boy and the steps his parents take to try to find him: yet another embittered police lieutenant/captain/chief trying to make life as difficult as possible for the `f**k ups' he has to try to lead. Gradually, though, as I progressed I began to realize that the characterization and sharp prose lifted this effort above the average and almost into the rarefied atmosphere currently occupied by crime writers, such as Michael Connelly, who specialize in detective/police procedurals. This is a crowded market but there is always room for writers who are able to invest enough of the `x-factor' into producing not only a genuine page-turner but also a story that draws the reader in so that they, not only need to find out what happens next, but really begin to care about the fate of the characters therein. A stark contrast in these respects is the relatively recent effort, Mr Clarinet, by Nick Stone, a brilliant exercise in how to use almost every entry in the `Crime Writer's book of Clich?s' to predictable effect.
Levien isn't quite there yet; for instance, the ending is somewhat flat. However, if he continues in the same direction I suspect that it won't be too long before he is nudging Michael Connelly et. al. out of the way to make a little room for himself!
Book Review: A gut tightening read!
Summary: 5 Stars
I guess like myself, many UK readers will since this tale involves a child kidnapping and the events a year later inevitably make comparisons in their mind with the widely publicised McCann case, especially in its depiction of the major impact of events on the parents. This is no bad thing in helping understand why this book although fiction is such a powerful tale and reads so true.
The book which is the debut of an ex-cop private investigator Frank Behr, with his own demons from the loss of his own young child and subsequently his job and marriage, reads with great impact from the first page. Written by a successful film screen writer it reads at times like a film script. especially in the many taut meetings the investigator goes through in trying to pick up the long cold trail of the missing boy. The story is mainly set in mid west USA and unfolds at deepening levels of evil and with such spot on handling of the procedures involved in the gum shoeing needed by private investigators, it is clear the writer has done his homework well (the end credits are to three such private investigators including the writer's brother or father). All is conveyed with an economy of style and characters that ring so true, it really did make the book unputdownable.
If this overall standard can be maintained in future stories then David Levien and Behr are going to be worth watching out for!
Book Review: Gritty and moving
Summary: 4 Stars
A gritty and suspenseful story, City of the Sun is not one for the squeamish. Eleven year old Jamie disappears while on his early morning newspaper delivery round, the police seem unable or even unwilling to do very much, so Jamie's' father Paul eventually hires a PI, Frank Behr. Paul manages to persuade the unwilling Behr to take him along on is investigations and stakeouts. An initially uneasy relationship develops into one of mutual respect as they try to unravel the case.
A gripping story, all the more so as very early it hints at unspeakable possible destinies for young Jamie. Well written, Levien takes the time to give life to all his characters, a devise which while lending a sense of reality to the story also at times inevitably gets in the way of the otherwise fast paced momentum. Such is one's involvement with the plot that one is tempted to skim quickly over such passages to get back to the main event. Of the characters Paul and Behr quickly engage the reader, and Jamie although we meet him only briefly immediately appeals as a decent young lad.
City of the Sun is a moving and involving story, all the more so because of its sense of reality, both in the telling and in the fact that such terrible things do happen in this world in which we live. One thing is certain, whatever the outcome might prove to be, the reader will be unable to put the book down until he learns of Jamie's fate.