Sideswipe

This is the third of Willeford's Hoke Moseley books I've read and my favorite so far. At every turn, this book subverted my expectations, and I'm so glad it did. For most of the book, Hoke is shutting himself away from the world as he suffers burnout. But while he does that, the world outside his bubble continues as it always does with a criminal sociopath collecting an odd "family" around himself to pull off a simole crime tgat has horrifying results. Family is the main theme here, with the book contrasting the families around both the criminal and Hoke. Willeford drives the plot forward relentlessly, but leaves room for oddly touching moments of character development from both families. By the end of the book, Hoke is back on the job, show more but he's not the same character he was at the beginning.

There's one more book featuring Hoke, and I'm looking forward to reading it, but I'll also be sad that his story is over. show less

True noir, gritty and sensational, and yet the funniest crime book I have ever read ... told in a voice so dry and dead-pan that you can miss outrageous lines. And the story is full of the best bad guys ever.

Homicide detective Hoke Moseley suffers a mid-life crisis and shuts down, literally. He won't talk and won't get out of bed, so his family and partner bundle him off to his father's house.
"Hoke Moseley spent the next three days in the back guest bedroom in his father's house. ....
"He didn't know why he couldn't bring himself to answer Ellita, his daughters, Bill Henderson, or old Doc Fairbain ... but he had known somehow, cunningly, that if he didn't say anything to anyone, eventually they would all let him alone and he would show more never have to go down to the Homicide Division and work on those cold fucking cases again. ....
"Hoke did not, after his first night's troubled sleep, take any more of the tiny black Equavils. They hadn't made him feel funny while he was awake (although they must have been responsible for his weird and frightening dreams), but while he WAS awake, they had robbed him of any feelings, and his mind became numb. If he took four of them a day, as the doctor ordered, he would soon become a zombie. Besides, Hoke didn't need any chemicals to maintain the wonderful peace of mind he now enjoyed. The bedroom was cool, and although he wasn't hungry, the little he did eat when Inocencia brought in his trays was delicious. He told himself that he would never have to go back to the police department. All he had to do was lie quietly on the bed, or sit by the glass doors and look out at the blue-green pool or at the occasional boats that passed on the inland waterway ignoring the NO WAKE signs, and everything would be all right. There was no need to think about anything, to worry about anything, because, as long as he kept his mouth closed and refused to react to anybody, he would be let alone. When a man didn't talk back or answer questions, people couldn't stand it for very long.
"When Hoke looked back later, those three days had been the happiest he had ever known, and he often wondered if he would ever have such peace again. But he had also known, or suspected - even at the time - that it was too wonderful to last." pp. 27-28 show less

Imagine this: adding Grape-Nuts to a sieve so you can run hot water to soften them up so you can eat them without putting in your false teeth; then gumming them at the dining room table while reading the sports section. Hoke, a homicide investigator lives with his partner Ellita who has the unbearable habit of letting the egg yolks run through her teeth. Ellita, who is pregnant, helps with the rent and the care of Hoke two teenage daughters.

Shades of Ed McBain, the writing, I mean. Hoke gets fed up with trying to solve an interminable number of cold cases that seem to be forever piling up on his desk. He retreats into a catatonic state, finally decides to chuck it all, and leaves for his father's place on Riviera Beach. He has decided show more he wants the simple life. Right. We all know there is no such thing, and soon his bulimic daughter (recognized as such only by a neighbor) comes to visit (she gets shipped off to his ex,) he's having to deal with the myriad problems as manager of his father's apartment building (he gets free rent in one of the apartments) and Ellita calls for help in dealing with her mother's thoughts on amniocentisis.

A side plot (never fear, the two will intersect) involves a retired Ford employee falsely accused of molesting his neighbor's daughter, a problem that's soon rectified but not before Stanley meets Troy in jail who has a scheme to make lots of money, also involving a painter and a former stripper whose face was mutilated by her boss.

Enough of the plot. You can find that elsewhere. Hoke soon realizes that the simple life is effervescent.

First rate story and writing by a master. Mislabeled as a thriller, though, unless impending disaster provides you with the sense of thrill. An engrossing, very enjoyable story. If you like McBain, Moseley, Leonard, et al, you'll very much like Williford. show less

i started slow on this book, but it grew on me in a big way. #3 of Hoke Mosely- in this one Hoke breaks down at work and stops everything - talking, moving - anything. So, he is taken to his father's house at the beach (Riveira). He slowly comes out of it and is said to have a mid-life crises and Hoke takes steps to "simplify his life" - no daughters, no real job, little food, etc. he manages his dad's condo bldg. The other side of the story (Willeford seems to go with the 2 unrelated stories that converge at the end model) is about Stanley Sinkowicz (a retired auto painter left by his wife after a false child molestation charge) who meets Troy Loudoun, a double talking career criminal. Troy devises and supermarket heist with Stanley, show more his deformed girlfriend and bad artist from Barbados. Suffice it to say, people die and Hoke gets mixed up with the looser gang. Happily Hoke is over his crises and headed back to Miami to take the Detective's exam. show less

Hoke has a nervous breakdown and thinks of quitting the force. A retired man is deserted by his wife after a false accusation of child molestation. While jailed, his cellmate, and admitted sociopath, befriends him and involves him a robbery plot which goes terribly wrong. It is sad watching the elderly man being manipulated by a false friendship because he has no one else in his life.

Fun to read, but not a serious crime/mystery novel .....

I almost think Willeford is poking fun at the genre in his books - still, you gotta' love Hoke!

The third book in the Hoke Mosely series has a couple of crimes wrapped around Hoke's withdrawal from life. Doesn't sound interesting....it might not have been, but in a master writer like Willeford it's as good as any straight crime/mystery novel. I highly recommend this book especially to fans of Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen.