Chinaman's Chance

Lately I’ve been going back and picking up writers I’d dropped during a period when I only had enough free time to read my very favorites. This is Thomas’ first outing with Artie Wu and Quincy Durant, who seem to be his favorite reoccurring characters (The fans’ favorites are McCorkle and Padillo, although if most had known he’d also written the Phillip St. Ives series as Oliver Bleek, that may be a contender). Always readable, Thomas sometimes lost his way when winding things down to the conclusion. At his best, he sets a range of characters in motion and the audience is along for an entertaining ride. With the exception of maybe one too many twists at the end, Chinaman’s Chance is one of his best rides.

I liked this a lot. The dialog was quick and witty, the plot was complex and hard to figure out, the characters were great, mostly likable. Even the villains were almost likable. The style is a little like the old-fashioned detective novels like Dashiell Hammett or Philip Marlowe, although I can't really recall either of them.

I'm still not 100% sure exactly what happened, perhaps because I had the audiobook version, and may have missed parts of it. I did have to go back a few times, and I think I got most of it. I wouldn't mind rereading it one day, but there's more in the series of the main character, Arthur Case Wu, the Chinaman who is unlike any Chinaman I've ever met. A pretty interesting guy.

It's hard for me to review this novel without mentioning Elmore Leonard, with whom most readers are probably more familiar. I think it was a reviewer in the Village Voice who said "what Leonard does for the streets, Thomas does for the suites."

Which, I think gives you an idea: good, character-driven mystery/thriller with the usual holes in the plot. One thing it doesn't have is what some people call "good dialog" (very ostentatious: not the way people speak, but the way people wish they had spoken half an hour later after a couple drinks). Thomas's dialog is snappy and witty, but doesn't beggar credulity.

Have to confess that I can never follow complicated con games (I still haven't figured out what happened in Oceans 11, and I've watched it several times), but I enjoyed the pace and the characters in this one, not to mention the retro-LA setting.

Well, I've finally hit a Ross Thomas that I'm NOT wild about. It's good but not great. Artie Wu and Quincy Durant are con men who carry this story. It's a little bit spy novel and a little bit mystery and sometimes kind of hard to follow but it won't stop me from picking up my next Ross Thomas.

Very clever and entertaining. Just read for 2nd time, 3/25/11. It is first book in the Artie Wu and Quincy Durant series. Followed by Out on the Rim and Voodoo Ltd, both also extremely good.

This was a quick fun read of the 70's type.