Haiti -- Fiction. |
Mystery fiction. |
Ayiti |
Bohio |
Haichi |
Hayti |
Haytian Republic |
Quisqueya |
Repiblik Ayiti |
Repiblik d Ayiti |
Republic of Haiti |
République d'Haïti |
ハイチ |
هايتي |
Гаити |
Gaiti |
Available:
Library | Shelf Number | Shelf Location | Status |
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Searching... Attleboro Public Library | STONE,N | FICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Bridgewater Public Library | FIC STONE, N. | FICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Foxboro - Boyden Library | FIC STONE, N. | FICTION | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Middleborough Public Library | F STO | FICTION | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"A first-class thriller that is equal parts hard-boiled Raymond Chandler mystery and voodoo-powered crime-fiction masterwork. . . . A spellbinding thriller of the highest order." --Chicago Tribune
Max Mingus wanted to turn down the case--15 million bucks or not. Three years had passed since Haitian billionaire Allain Carver's five-year-old son was abducted. Sure, Max had been the best detective in Miami once. But that was before he went to jail. Before his wife died. Plus, he'd heard what had happened to the others who'd gone searching for Charlie Carver before him . . .
With nothing left to lose--and a lot of money to gain--Max heads to Haiti. He knows about the voodoo and black magic. But when the trail to the missing boy leads to a local myth about a spirit child stealer named "Mr. Clarinet," could the truth be even more shocking than the legend? Max's job suddenly isn't just about finding the boy, his killers, or the money--it's about just staying alive.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Stone's adrenaline-packed debut is not for the faint of heart. Max Mingus, an ex-Miami cop and PI, wants to get his life back on track after a seven-year stint in Attica for the execution of three child molesters. Grudgingly agreeing to investigate the disappearance of Charlie Carver, the three-year-old son of a wealthy white Haitian family, Max finds himself thrown headfirst into the violent, corrupt world of Haiti in the mid-1990s. Max's search leads him from the sprawling Carver compound to Cite Soleil, the country's most notorious slum, pitting him against powerful drug baron Vincent Paul and the bloody legacy of the Carvers' rise to power. Stone veers too often into the explicitly graphic, with numerous extended torture scenes, but readers accustomed to the grittiest of pulp fiction won't be deterred. Stone, the son of British historian Norman Stone and a Haitian mother, vividly depicts a country and a man in turmoil. Despite an overabundance of plot elements, this thriller introduces a fresh voice that fans of hardboiled fiction won't want to miss. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Set in Haiti, this debut thriller talks and talks the talk, but forgets the walk. Ex-cop, ex-p.i. Max Mingus is about to become an ex-con. Eight years earlier, he'd been sent up for a triple killing he viewed as justified inasmuch as the law, he felt safe in saying, would not have adequately punished the low-lifes he blew away. As a p.i., Max had been world class, the best there ever was, according to some. Among these, count multimillionaire Allain Carver. "You've performed--miracles," he tells Max fulsomely, who seems disinclined to argue. The Carvers, a powerful, immensely rich Haitian family, lost a child when little Charlie was snatched off the streets by person or persons unknown. Or perhaps not. Soon enough, Max learns that it's a situation abounding in ambiguity. And enemies--earned through the years by unvarnished ruthlessness. The Carver proposition: ten-million dollars if Max finds Charlie alive; five million if he produces Charlie's lifeless body; another five if it's the no-goods that are produced, condition immaterial. At first Max refuses. In part because he's not sure he likes his chances; in part because he has his own reasons for disenchantment with Haiti. And there's a third factor, perhaps the most compelling. Sandra, his beloved wife, has only recently died in an auto accident, leaving Max in an emotionally fragile state. Still, little Charlie proves difficult for Max to ignore. It's the eyes in the photograph-- "calling out to him, imploring him to come to his rescue. Magic eyes." When Sandra appears to Max in a dream, urging him to take the case, the deal is sealed, and off he goes to dark and dreary Carver Country--a land of murder, perversion and thin characters. Endless conversations--some digressive, some banal--too many of them narrative killers. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In this British author's series debut, winner of the UK's Silver Dagger award, a young child has gone missing in Haiti, and his rich family hires the newly widowed ex-cop, ex-PI, ex-con Max Mingus to find out what has left his predecessors missing, dead, or worse. Descending into the blasted nightscape of the homeland of Voudou with a comely local as his Virgil, Mingus learns of Tonton Clarinette, a legendary ghoul said to make children disappear, although the real story may prove to be even more ghastly and incredible. Stone's strong suit is description, and he paints a vivid picture of a deeply spiritual yet grim and lawless land where street justice is carried out by packs of rock-wielding children and a tough-guy vigilante like Max feels right at home, if a little out of his league. At times the plot bogs down with excessive backstory, overwritten exposition, and speechy dialogue, but Stone is just one good editor away from the likes of Greg Iles, John Burdett, and Michael Gruber. --David Wright Copyright 2007 Booklist