An Image to Die For, by Mike Phillips

Retrieved from: LPLY
0312151470, 1997
Suggested by: ...he's a Favorite Author
My Ratings: 9 Merit, 9 Interest, 5 Fun

This seems somewhat disconnected, since the previous book took place in New York (primarily) and that trip isn't even mentioned here.

Still, how can you not read a book with a first sentence like this:

"When I walked past the girl in the white sweater she had less than half an hour to live, but judging by the way she smiled at me, the last thing on her mind was the thought of sudden death."

Brilliant!

OK, I knew who was setting up all the problems here about 50 pages before Sam did, but I couldn't quite figure out why. And I couldn't quite put the book down, since every single character is fully pictured. Even that girl on the first page...the reader can see her, and that's her full contribution to the story. Oh, well, and her death, of course. There's a taxi driver in the story, too, who is magnificent, and yet he only appears on 3-4 pages. Amazing little character studies.

Sam once again finds himself on the outs with his original employer, hired by someone else working with his original employer, pushed out by them, sleeping with yet another potential employer, and bringing death, destruction, arson, and car accidents with him wherever he goes, this time working on the backstory for a true-crime documentary TV series. Very cynical, very noir.