Hard Freeze

Solid and satisfying - it is what it is......well written noire by a gifted author

Hard Freeze book 2 in the Kurtz series by Dan Simmons doesn’t mess around, Kurtz goes straight ahead, and it’s a blizzard that follows.

The Problem. “Kurtz ate his hot dogs and considered the problem. First, he had to find out who had ordered the contract on him. No, scratch that. First he had to deal with the Three Stooges, but in a way that allowed him to find out who had put the contract out. He ate slowly and looked at the logistics of the matter. They weren’t promising.” … “in Attica with them, everyone had known them only as the Three Stooges. White men, in their thirties, not related except via some sexual ménage à trois that Kurtz didn’t want to think about, the Stooges were dirt stupid but crafty in their mean and lethal way. The Stooges had made a career of exercise-yard shank jobs, taking orders from those who couldn’t get at their targets for whatever reason and contracting their hits out for pay as low as a few dozen cartons of cigarettes”

The Place. “KURTZ LIKED BUFFALO winters because the Buffalonians knew how to deal with winter. A few inches of snow—snow that would paralyze some wussy city such as Washington or Nashville—went all but unnoticed by Buffalo residents. Plows plowed, sidewalks got shoveled early, and people went on about their business. A foot of snow got people’s attention in Buffalo, but only for as long as it took to push and plow it into the ten-foot-high heap of earlier-plowed snow.” …Some get used to it. “Kurtz had no idea how Pruno and some of the other winos who refused to stay in shelters more than a few of the worst nights managed to survive such winters. But surviving the winter was Pruno’s problem. Surviving the next few days and weeks was Kurtz’s problem.”

A Hotel is not a home. “The hotel had been going downhill for the past ninety years and seemed to have reached a balance point somewhere between total decay and imminent collapse. Over the preceding decades, the hotel part of the building, the lower five floors, had gone from a workingman’s hotel to flophouse to low-income housing center, and then back to residential flophouse. Most of the residents were on welfare, lithium, and/or Thorazine.” Visitors “ plainclothes cops were like snakes or nuns and always traveled in pairs. Kurtz could see the two sets of footprints in the plaster dust he’d left covering the center of the stairs. Brubaker, who had the larger feet—Kurtz had noticed before—had a hole in his sole. That sounded about right to Kurtz.” Roused. “Kurtz could finally stand, he staggered a few steps, opened the window, and vomited out into the alley. No reason to get his bathroom all messy. He’d cleaned it just a week or two before.”

Family. “tacit control of the Farino family was currently in the hands of their traditional enemies. When Angelina thought of the fat, fish-faced, blubbery-lipped, sweating pig-hemorrhoid that was Emilio Gonzaga determining the Farinos’ destiny, she wanted to rip both his and her brother’s heads off and piss down their necks.” … “this power-sharing thing, this idea of the three of us running things—” Emilio’s veneer of education slipped as he pronounced the word tings “—it’s what the old guys, the Romans, our ancestors, used to call a troika.” … “The point is that you benefit, I benefit, and Little Ska…Stephen…he benefits the most. Like old times, only without the rancor.” Gonzaga pronounced the last word rain-core.”

And Psychopath. “His plan had been to kill as many people as possible—including his coughing, wheezing, useless mother—and then, like Huck Finn, light out for the territory. But a combination of his genius-level IQ and the fact that first period had been gym—Hansen did not want to go on his killing rampage wearing silly gym trunks—made him think twice.” … “ time to settle scores later, he knew, when it would not require going on the run for the rest of his life, with the cops chasing what he already thought of as his “larval identity.”

Private Investigator. “Pruno had given Kurtz a reading list before he left for prison, and the first book Kurtz had read was Madame Bovary. He was reminded now of how Emma Bovary’s corpse had looked after the arsenic had killed her. Johnny Norse’s eyes were flicking back and forth like cornered rodents. He shook his head and Kurtz kinked the oxygen lines again, holding them kinked this time until Norse’s gasps were as loud as Cheyne-Stokes death rattles. “Some…cunt…of a P.I.…found the connection…between Falco and Levine…and us snatching the kid. Emilio—” He stopped and looked up at Kurtz, his corpse mouth twitching in what might have been an attempt at an ingratiating Johnny Norse smile. “I didn’t have…nothing to do with it. I didn’t even know who they were talking about. I didn’t— Kurtz reached for the oxygen hose. “Jesus…fuck…all right. Emilio put the word out. I…delivered it…to the drug dealers…Falco and…Levine. You got what you ...”

Moral Education. “Frears had gone to Princeton as an undergraduate but had transferred to Juilliard for his junior year. Then something truly strange: John Wellington Frears had volunteered for the U.S. Army and had gone to Vietnam in 1967. The note said that he had been with the Army Engineers, a sergeant in charge of demolition and disarming booby traps. He’d served two tours in Vietnam and one year in the States before returning to civilian life and beginning his professional music career.”… “It is folly,” said Pruno, “to form policy based on assumptions of the enemy’s intentions…judge his capabilities and prepare accordingly.” … six stages of moral development. Level One was simple avoidance of punishment. Moral boundaries are set only to avoid pain. “Level Two was a crude form of moral judgment motivated by the need to satisfy one’s own desires,” said Frears. “Level Three was sometimes called the ‘Good Boy/Good Girl’ orientation—a need to avoid rejection or the disapproval of others.” “Stage Four was the Law and Order level,” said Frears. “People had evolved to the moral degree that they had an absolute imperative not to be criticized by a duly recognized authority figure.” “ Nazi Germany,” said Kurtz. “Stage Five individuals seem motivated by an overwhelming need to respect the social order and to uphold legally determined laws. The law becomes a touchstone, a moral imperative ” “A Level Six individual makes his moral decisions based on his own conscience in attempts to resonate with certain universal ethical considerations…even when those decisions fly in the face of existing laws. United States was founded by Level Six minds,” said Frears, “protected and preserved by Level Fives, and populated by Level Fours and below.” Kohlberg’s dream was to find a Level Seven personality.” “Jesus Christ?” “Precisely,” Frears said with no hint of irony. “Or Gandhi. Or Socrates. Or Buddha. Someone who can only respond to universal ethical imperatives. They have no choice in the matter. Usually the rest of us respond by putting them to death.” … “testing showed that there were many people walking the street who can only be classified as Level Zeroes. Their moral development has not even evolved to the point where they will avoid pain and punishment if their whim dictates otherwise. Other human beings’ suffering means absolutely nothing to them. The clinical term is ‘sociopath,’ but the real word is ‘monster.’”

Action story ensues, Monster, Wise Guys and Cops … Kurtz? “Arlene set the big pistol on her curio cabinet and opened the door. “How’re they hanging, Joe?” “Still low, wrinkled, and to the left.” She batted ashes out onto the stoop. “You came all the way over from whatever Dumpster you’ve been sleeping in to tell me that?”

Not to leave you hanging, but you can read the book…

The second of three Joe Kurtz novels, comtinues from the first. Kurtz, trying to get even after his twelve year stay in Attica,(being set up) for the hit on his partner/lover, by the mafia in Buffalo. This series really shows Simmons versatality of story telling, from horror, sci-fi, to this hard boiled PI, then ex-con, ex-PI Kurtz, who you always are rooting for. A great series for the fans of this type of story.

Absolutely riveting- but note: don’t come griping to me about cozy mysteries or Georges Simenon or Chandler or even Hammett.

This is a pure, senseless, murderously violent, action packed classic Pulp detective dickaround nonsense set on 11.
Or maybe 12.

It’s out of the Richard Starkish school but the over-the-top violence recalls classic, early (1st 3 novels) Mike Hammer/Mickey Spillane. Hammer on one of his vengeance trips.

The plot? Give me a frickin’ break! The plot’s all over the place.
Lucky I didn’t have a stroke on this high-octane stuff.
Christ on crutches!

This is the 2nd entry in the -as far as you know- three entry series by an expert in the field of crime/detective hardboiled genre: Dan Simmons & the Joe Kurtz series.

Its pulp-like hero can’t be killed. Beat him half to death, leave him in the Buffalo, New York snow to freeze to death or break one of his legs, arms or 3 of his ribs to bleed out from his wounds - he’s like a Universal Pictures’ Frankenstein… he’ll come back around with revenge on his mind.

Start at the top.
Read the 1st entry in the “Joe Kurtz” series by Dan Simmons (Hardcase) and move on from there.

These are available in e-book or Kindle format last I checked.
If you like this kind of brouhaha whatta ya got to lose?

Read it or don’t. You think I care?

Dan Simmons is a gift to fans of hardboiled fiction in the 21st century.

3.5 stars

Having introduced his "PI" and his background in the first Joe Kurtz novel Dam Simmons launches directly into the action in this one.

The pace is fast, the tone dark, the violence bloody and swift.

The only thing that nags at me is that the coincidence of the two plot threads felt a bit "too convenient"; straining my suspension of disbelief just a little.

Still a great read though - can't wait for my copy of the final book to arrive.

Der zweite Band der Joe Kurtz-Trilogie von Dan Simmons hat es in vielerlei Hinsicht in sich. Hier wird getreu dem Motto „Nicht gucken, machen“ gehandelt und was so alles passierte, hat mein Herz so manches Mal vor Spannung und Nervenkitzel höher schlagen lassen. Man muss sich wirklich auf die Geschichte konzentrieren, da man sonst schnell den Anschluss verliert. Ich musste (leider) eine Lesepause von ein paar Tagen einlegen und fand den erneuten Einstieg zwischendrin schon relativ mühselig, da man nicht mehr alles auf dem Schirm hat. Also am Besten in einer Tour verschlingen!

Für mich war der Schreibstil unheimlich fesselnd. Abwechselnd wurde aus der Sicht von Joe Kurtz und dem Feind Hansen, die Ich-Form wurde hierbei vermieden. Die Protagonisten sind alle ziemlich eigen. Vor allem bei Joe wird es einem anfangs recht schwer fallen eine Verbindung aufzubauen. Doch wer erstmal hinter seine Fassade geblickt hat, wird merken, dass er trotz radikaler Vorgehensweise eigentlich ein Typ ist, dem man vertrauen kann… sofern er einen mag!

Zum Inhalt der Geschichte möchte ich nichts weiter sagen, da ich die Befürchtung habe, ein Detail auszuplaudern, welches das Lesen uninteressant macht. Der dritte (und letzte) Band der Joe Kurtz-Reihe „Kalt wie Stahl“ ist bereits erschienen.

Joe Kurtz is in big trouble with 'Little Skag' and Skag's sister Angelina Farino Ferrara for the way Joe resolved the situation. Joe survives the attempts to snuff him, but others are getting killed. Along the way Joe meets a concert violinist who hires Joe to find his the man who was his daughters' killer. Everything comes together in one big shootout.