Rentner unter (abwägigem) Pädophilieverdacht trifft auf durchgeknallt brutalen Berufsgangster mit Umgangsformen. Töchter im Haus. Auszeit / Burnout für Hoke. Erfolgloses Bemühen um Leben-Umkrempeln (Hausverwaltung für den reichen Vater). Groß wie immer. Fünf Sterne!

I have the Book Club Edition of this book published by St. Martin's Press in 1987. This is my first Hoke Moseley novel. The story started slowly for me, but the author writes with such rich detail and the characters are so quirky that I got hooked. Towards the end I couldn't put the book down for long. Using the contrast between the voices and actions of Troy Louden (a bad guy) and Stanley Sinkiewicz (a not-so-bad guy), the author takes jabs at parts of society. I think the author is a bit of a fatalist. I enjoyed the book and plan on readig anothr Hoke Moseley novel. I didn't enjoy Hoke as much as the other colorful characters; he was more interesting at the beginning of the book when he had all his problems than at the end when he had healed and rested up.

♫ This Was the Dawning of the Age of Shaniquius ♫

My second time through this one and I didn't like it much this time: too much "The Human Side" and "Family Man" backgound-story of the cop. It was like some TV show, maybe that Hill Street thing every jackass was raving about in the 80s.

But it wasn't as bad as Hoke Moseley #2. And Troy is every bit as nasty as Junior from #1.

Still too much Cuban crap. I live here; whole years go by without anyone thinking about Cuban crap -- especially the lame food that only a guilty conscience would gush over. I should go into more detail about this, but it would be wasted on you Seinfeld fans. So no gazpacho for you.

This book was written at the very beginning of the Diversity Craze and Willeford probably thought he was onto something here. He was being nice about it and all Diverse and all; the old look-how-unracist-I-am we see all day long, but nowadays you'd go to jail -- in Canada, for example -- for most of the stuff he says. Here too, soon. For our own good.

He was onto something, it was the Dawning of the Age of Shaniquius.

Quite a build up to the end. Did not see the ending coming.

Parte bene, si arena nel centro e ha un finale troppo accelerato che finisce per togliere pathos al libro.

An enjoyable read. Our detective is burned out and vows never to return to Miami, but he quickly finds that life can never be simplified.

I really liked this book. The understated way he describes the life of Hoke and the life of Stanley, as a matter of fact, that it is natural to behave the way they do. The result is a very unusual crime novel.
Hoke a police detective and Stanley a retired factory worker who unwittingly gets pulled into a life of crime.
Interlaced with all kinds of witty society critical remarks.

Hoke's and Stanley's characters and life is very well fleshed out. We know that this will not end well. The lead up to the final climax takes the majority of the book but I didn't mind at all. In a very entertaining way we get there and then it goes very quick.

Two story lines.

One with Hoke as the central character. It's written with dry wit and humor.
Very intriguing course of events. Good story.
With Hoke Moseley at the centre. An improbable hero. Reluctant detective who is burned out and wants to retitre. But when he takes over his fathers apartment complex as a manager, trouble follows him.
How this played out is superbly described. The colour locale of Singer Island enhances the athmosphere of the story.

In the other story line we follow Troy and Stanley. Experienced from Stanley's point of view.
Great insight and conversation between our main villain (the self proclaimed psychopathic career criminal) Troy Louden and the naive, gullible seventy-one year old Stanley Sinkiewicz. They meet in jail and Troy gives Stanley advice how to handle the inevitable psychological assessment. Stanley being in jail, is based upon a misinderstanding, but Troy is a different story...
Troy also turns out to be a life coach for Stanley. He has his own life philosophy to which he abides.
The reader will sense that this will lead to disaster...

Written: 1987
Charles Willeford: 1919 - 1988

SIDESWIPE - DNF

I did not finish this book. I got to chapter 12, and I just couldn't go on. But I did skim to the end, just to verify I was right about things.

I've been reading all the Hoke Mosley books, some are great, some not so great. This book was terrible.

Sideswipe has many problems. Some people will think it doesn't age well. It has racist jokes from main characters, sexism, stereotypes, etc. None of that crap matters to me. That's not why I hate this book.

This book doesn't hold with the characters that have already been established. I understand, people can change - but not that much. I think if we we're all watching the new Star Wars, and Luke Skywalker was suddenly a drag queen, we'd all say, "Now hold on just a minute." And we'd all be right.

The characters have not changed for the better either. Instead of being a damaged, loveable loser, Hoke is now a selfish, sexist, asshole, with NO redeeming qualities. I love reading about flawed people, that's why I like noir. But if a book has not one person I can stand, there's a problem.

Hoke Mosley in the previous two books was a self made loser. He'd wear the same shirt for three days in a row, he'd refuse to take exams, so he wouldn't get promoted, and he lived in rat trap hotel because it was free. He didn't put pressure on himself - ever. He always did the bare minimum to get by, even when his daughters came to live with him. Hoke is not big on change, so having the responsibility of his daughters took some getting used to. But that's just it, once he got used to it, no problem. He decided to move in with his new partner, Ellita, because she would help him with his girls. With Hoke, it's always the path of least resistance.

If Hoke took pride in anything, it'd be his job. He's good at it, he knows it, and that's enough. He's not a type A, go-getter, so he doesn't have the stress that goes with it. These established facts are why this book doesn't work.

It begins with Hoke having a stress related nervous breakdown. Why? There's no major life stressor. He's got a new house, his girls are almost grown. He lives with his partner Ellita, who does most of the heavy lifting with his daughters, so again, I ask why? I'm thrown out, because this does not fit with the character. He also becomes a consummate asshole, who doesn't care if his daughters, his colleagues, or his family lives or dies. Who is this man? He's not Hoke Mosley.

There's a parallel story about an old man and a psychopath. I won't even bore you with the review of that. It's so far removed from what could actually happen in the real world, it's not worth reviewing.

There's another side plot about a man who's burglarizing condos. It's so telegraphed and trite, I could hardly believe his editor left it in.

I won't go into much of this, but in this book, Hoke's sexist views and remarks are predatory and offensive. In the last two books, you laughed at his ignorance. The joke was on him, he just didn't realize it. But in this book, you cringe at the things he says to the women around him. Also, every single woman in this book is a useless simp. His daughters, his partner, even side characters are all helpless and irritating. This is another change from the previous two books, and not for the better.

Summation: If you liked Miami Blues and New Hope for the Dead DON'T READ THIS BOOK! The characters are not the same as the first two books in this series. They are not likeable or believable. The stories are boring and telegraphed. There's not one well drawn or likable character in this book. Save your precious reading time for something that's worthy of you.

No wonder Elmore Leonard loved Chales Willeford's work.

In at least one respect this book reminded me of what a critic once said of Jane Austen's work, and I paraphrase: nothing much happens for page after page but you keeping wanting to turn them. Mr. Willeford, like his friend, Elmore Leonard, had a gift for storytelling. Leonard is quoted on Sideswipe's dust jacket as saying, "Nobody writes a better crime novel," which is no mean praise, considering the source. But I might use the example of Sideswipe to go a step further. Nobody writes a better story. Sideswipe is another of Willeford's Hoke Mosley yarns but unlike Miami Blues there isn't a lot going on for much of the novel's length, no real crime to speak of. Instead, Willeford engages in character study. On the one hand he has a burn-out cop looking to simplify his life and on the other a self-described criminal psychopath looking to complicate his own. That these two will come into violent contact is as certain as the turning of the earth, but Willeford is not in a hurry and because he has the gift, neither is the reader.

This series is so good another excellent villain, and time period 80’s in south Florida is my jam

Midlife crisis and murder