North of Nowhere (Alex McKnight Series #4)

by Steve Hamilton

Overview

Summer has finally arrived in Paradise, Michigan, but Alex McKnight doesn't seem to notice the change in the weather. He's been retreating into own his private world the past few months and now he barely leaves his cabin except to go have his meals in the nearby Glasgow Inn. The Inn's proprietor, Jackie, is more and more concerned with Alex's state, and the last straw comes as he watches Alex morosely counting up his "failures" on the eve of his 49th birthday-- his marriage, his baseball career, his stint in the Detroit police. He offers his friend an ultimatum: "Either I take you to the airport and put your ass on a plane to Moosehide or you play poker with me tonight."

The other poker players are men Alex hardly knows, in a posh house near the water. In the middle of the game, masked robbers invade the premises, hold the players at gunpoint and proceed to rob the homeowner. Alex is roused to action and so is his former detective partner, Leon Prudell. Working first against one another and later together, they discover that the crime is far more complex than a simple robbery. There is murder and greed and revenge involved, and a wild chase on the waters of Lake Superior before Alex is forced to realize that there is no retreat from life. And that maybe this is a good thing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429905107
Publisher:	St. Martin''s Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2010
Series:	Alex McKnight Series , #4
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	21,838
File size:	340 KB

About the Author

Steve Hamilton was born and raised in the Detroit area. He now lives in upstate New York with his wife and children. His first novel, A Cold Day in Paradise won the 1997 SMP/ PWA Award for Best First Private Eye Novel, the 1999 Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award.

Steve Hamilton was born and raised in Detroit, and graduated from the University of Michigan where he won the prestigious Hopwood Award for fiction. In 2006, he won the Michigan Author Award for his outstanding body of work. His novels have won numerous awards and media acclaim beginning with the very first in the Alex McKnight series, A Cold Day in Paradise, which won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press Award for Best First Mystery by an Unpublished Writer. Once published, it went on to win the MWA Edgar and the PWA Shamus Awards for Best First Novel, and was short-listed for the Anthony and Barry Awards. His book The Lock Artist is the winner of the 2011 Edgar Award for Best Novel. Hamilton currently works for IBM in upstate New York where he lives with his wife Julia and their two children.

Editorial Reviews

No longer a cop, inactive as a private eye, classic loner Alex McKnight has retreated to his lakeside cabin in this superb yarn, Edgar-winner Hamilton's fourth after 2001's The Hunting Wind. In fact, Alex has become so much a recluse in the little town of Paradise in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that his few friends are worried about him. That leads Jackie Connery, the Scottish-raised proprietor of the bar where Alex sometimes hangs out, to badger him into joining a friendly power game at the home of Win Vargas. Before Alex can even work up a good dislike of the blustery, wealth-flaunting Vargas, three armed men interrupt the poker game. While Alex, Jackie and the other players are held at gunpoint, their host is led off to open a safe and his treasured collection of artifacts in trashed or stolen. From that quick beginning, events move swiftly and strangely. Alex finds Vargas's suspicions centering on him; the police, let my old enemy Chief Roy Maven, think Jack and the other players were in on the robbery. And Alex's ex-partner, PI Leon Prudell, turns out to have yet another take on who's behind the robbery. Hamilton keeps the action fast and furious and manages to keep the read off balance almost as much as his hero. As usual, Alex takes more than his share of lumps as he rediscovers the importance of friendship, loyalty and courage. While Alex McKnight would probably hate the idea, mysteries this good may make him extremely popular. Agent, Jane Chelius. (May 13) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Alex McKnight owns a small group of rustic cottages on the north edge of Michigan near Lake Superior. His retreat from society is interrupted by well-meaning friend Jackie, who forces him out of his hideaway for an evening of poker. When the game is interrupted by a well-planned burglary and Jackie is arrested for it, Alex is determined to clear him. The tangle proves more complex and dangerous than Alex had expected, but he stubbornly looks for answers. Nick Sullivan has narrated all four of Hamilton's mysteries featuring Alex, and he is clearly in sync with the material. He reads with an intensity that portrays Alex's single-minded concentration on whatever task confronts him, yet he can slow his pace to allow the listener to enjoy the wry humor laced throughout much of the story. Sullivan's deep voice is suited to the hard-boiled detective genre; his interpretation of the disillusioned ex-cop and his colorful acquaintances includes gruff voices; Midwestern, Canadian and Scottish accents; and attentive pacing. Recommended for mystery collections.-Juleigh Muirhead Clark, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Lib., Colonial Williamsburg Fdn., VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Though all Michigan's Upper Peninsula is basking in rare balmy sunlight, it's the summer of Alex McKnight's discontent. Now that he's about to turn 50 without much to show for his half-century, the ex–minor-league catcher, ex-cop, ex–private cop, ex-husband, and current owner of six unprepossessing hunting and fishing cabins has turned hermit. And that worries his best friend Jackie Connery, proprietor of the Glasgow Inn, where Alex has not been dropping in for his customary tipple. Invading Alex's lair, Jackie all but kidnaps him for a friendly poker game at fat cat Win Vargas's swanky home. It turns out, however, that there's a lot more in the cards for all concerned than straights, flushes, and male bonding. Three gun-toting hard guys crash the party and break open the bedroom safe, departing with $700,000 of Vargas's money. A bad night is followed by a nightmarish day when Jackie and two other players, all Alex's close friends, are arrested by lunkheaded Chief of Police Roy Maven. The robbery was a conspiracy, the chief asserts; Alex's pals were in on it; and stuff stolen from Vargas has turned up in possession of all three. Certain his friends have been framed, Alex goes into overdrive trying to keep them out of jail. But then slowly, unsettlingly, he realizes that there's a definite hangdog look about them he doesn't associate with innocent men. Hamilton (The Hunting Wind, 2001, etc.) spins a brisk, well-plotted tale brightened by his usual deft way with local color.

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Steve Hamilton:

“A proven master of suspense.” —Lee Child

“Already one of our best writers.” —Laura Lippman

"Hamilton writes tough, passionate novels. . . . This is crime writing at its very best.” —George Pelecanos

“I'm often asked to recommend a detective series readers might have missed. This is it.” —Harlan Coben

 

“[Hamilton’s] . . . tensile prose . . . reflects the dramatic, often violent contradictions of people who live on the edge of the world.” —The New York Times Book Review

 

“Hamilton keeps the action fast and furious and manages to keep the reader off balance almost as much as his hero. . . . While Alex McKnight may hate the idea, mysteries this good may make him extremely popular.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

From the Publisher