Joe Gores (1931–2011)

The description of Paula’s rape is brutal. And devastating.

“He was going to find the boys who had raped Paula. Find them, break them, physically and spiritually. Make them crawl and grovel, mew with terror and pain. If the law couldn’t touch them, he would be his own predator.”

“And I’m saying that if a bunch of guys push another guy off a window ledge, they can’t blame him for whatever he does on the way down.”

Definitely a revenge tale, but a little more tempered and humane show more than the kind that I like. And definitely better than those four animals deserved. show less

“Interface: the common boundary between two systems.”

“In this underbelly San Francisco they get rolled, or get ripped off, or get a dose of, or maybe even get unlucky and so get dead.”
“Therefore, this alternate San Francisco to the city where the little cable cars reach halfway to the stars is also the cops’ San Francisco.”

I loved Docker! He was like a dark, dark version of Jack Reacher, and an even crazier Anton Chigurh! The story itself, set in San Francisco as it is, feels show more like a dark version of a Dashiell Hammett novel, and the city itself reads like a dark version of The City! All positives for me! I really enjoyed this book, and I loved the twist at the end! Bravo! show less

Full disclosure: 1. I’m a Dashiell Hammett fan. 2. I’m a Joe Gores fan. 3. I live in Marin County and worked in San Francisco for 30 years. Bearing all of these predispositions in mind, it would be pretty remarkable if I was anything but enthusiastic about Gores’ Spade & Archer; the Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon. I loved it. Gores writes like a reincarnated Hammett. He’s had practice, having penned the novel Hammett 35 years ago. A good, convoluted plot involving show more many of the characters we meet in The Maltese Falcon – Effie Perine, Miles and Iva Archer, Dundy and Polhaus for a start – presents a very plausible backstory for Sam Spade in the years 1921-1928.

For a Bay Area resident, what makes this book even more delicious is the local color, the glimpse of San Francisco and environs as they were nearly a century ago. Nothing seemed out of place or time to me. Spade & Archer wraps you in a foggy cocoon and transports you to San Francisco in the Twenties. I wanted to stay so much that I’ve put The Maltese Falcon and Hammett in my “to be read” pile. show less

Very enjoyable work in the DKA series. When I'm looking for a dose of reality - detective fiction that doesn't completely outstrip the bounds of the real world, I turn to Gores. His set of methodical investigators and the detail with which he describes their searches, in this case for a few ex-employees needed to testify in a hearing that could cost the detective agency its license, is fascinating. The courtroom scenes are particularly good. I'm not sure that every plot twist and explanation show more at the end really holds up under close examination, however. show less