Dylan Schaffer

Every self-revelatory, parent-implicating, pain-revealing story touches and perhaps even alters hordes of people who've kept their own similar experiences in the dark. I love this sort of memoir, but I wonder if for the general audience the genre gets old? After how many of these books does the reader get bored...and then resentful...and finally contemptuous?

I'm not sure, but when the author's voice is as gentle and humorous as Dylan's, the story seems simply brave and addictive. I just show more wanted to know what old Flip would do next, and even when he was at his worst I couldn't help liking the old fart a bit, and when he was at his best I couldn't shake the disappointment of all his failings.

Reader identification can be a tricky thing. Readers can find it hard to understand how the author avoided the shame and self-loathing that keeps their own story buried. At its best the reader realizes s/he is not loathesome, as feared; at worst, s/he feels suspicious of misrepresentation, fictionalizing, etc. a la frey et al.

Concerning Dylan's dad Flip: it seems clear he is a product of shame himself; see the very strong passage near the end of the book about how Flip tries to run away from everyone, mostly himself. But Dylan? He does/has done so many positive, fearless things...taking on careers, women, friendships. He's strong enough that I don't want so much to take care of him as, I don't know, have him cook in my kitchen.

Issues - minor:
Interesting tangents into Dylan's mother's story are always yanked back; it felt like DS kept reminding himself that this was his *father's* story, that the universe outside that story must not overly intrude. But I felt that this and other things (Wendy's story, the brothers, etc.) could have been including without damaging the book as a whole.

2. The baking focus seemed a bit heavy-handed to me. Could have been cut by half and I, for one, wouldn't miss it. Also the baking doesn't ever really respresent a *theme* - what does it represent to Dylan, to Flip? - seemed clear that it's a response to their control-freak-ness which is in turn a response to their own chaos. show less

The hero of this book is so engaging that I'll eagerly read the next, and possibly pick up the first in the series (Misdemeanor Man - clever, right?) Who can resist a stubbornly loyal Manilow fan? The ensemble too is delightful...Preet, Meave and Terry are fresh as can be, if a little Rainbow-coalition-ish, but this *is* SanFrancisco, so that can be forgiven.

HOWEVER - the mystery itself got steamrolled by poor Gordy's life. I do love the Dad/Grampa/brother storyline. It's the most innovative show more series-detective backstory I've seen in a long time, and can easily sustain a series. I do NOT love Gordy's relentless mooning over his ex. Cut her loose, DS! She really drags the story down, especially since there was no moving forward over the course of this book. It's okay to have multi-book character arcs, but it's NOT okay for them to be static.

Besides, it's a criminal waste not to have Gordy's character in new relationships.

The flip side of this is that the entire stew of secondary storylines must be subservient to the mystery. And this mystery just wasn't interesting enough to keep everything glued together. Perhaps if there was more tension - no one is in peril, and with all the action behind us, the reader goes into ho-hum mode.

And there are simply waaaaay too many characters! I'm especially inept at keeping track of large casts, but still, cutting it to a few - or even tossing the reader a few bones in the form of stronger identifying keys - would help. show less

At one point I thought I wouldn't finish this novel, because things about the story irritated me. But in the end I found that the characters were interesting enough to keep me coming back.

Schaffer's characters are an odd lot. I usually like odd, and I have no objection to a good dose of humor in my suspense/crime novels. In this case I'm not sure that the oddness always works. The main character is Gordon Seegerman, a public defender and a rather sad sack. Gordon is happy to be relegated to show more defend misdemeanor types because that is easy to do and doesn't demand too much of his energy or time. His real love is as the lead singer of a Barry Manilow cover band, Barry X and the Mandys.

Have I lost you? I wouldn't be surprised. I think I was able to finally accept this premise and move ahead because Gordon is actually likeable, and he's got some tough stuff to deal with. He's also a better guy than he intends to be, and that's compelling.

There's a complex set of mysteries here that start when a reformed alcoholic who works as an accountant for a big-name charitable organization is arrested for flashing a young girl. That misdemeanor then spirals out of control into something very different, and bodies begin to appear. Gordon gets pulled out of his sedate approach to his career and sucked into the big time.

The best I can say about this is that it makes me interested in reading more of Schaffer. I'm glad I stuck it out with Gordon, but my opinion about Barry Manilow hasn't changed, not one iota.

Oh and by the way: great cover art. show less

A must for any Fanilow. This story follows a detective/lawyer who balances working his day job along with being the lead man of a Barry Manilow cover band that is set to play a gig that Barry may attend himself. You wonder constantly what could possibly happen to keep him from meeting the man himself and the conflicts just keep arising.