Reviews

Nighttown by Timothy Hallinan

jmclincoln's review

4.0

My first Junior Bender as well as my first novel by Timothy Hallinan. I will definitely read more. If you are a fan of Donald E. Westlake, then you’ll really enjoy the Junior Bender tales. If you don’t know Mr. Westlake’s novels, then I’m envious of your pending discovery.

I’m not going to summarize Night Town as you can find that elsewhere. If you can admire a criminal with standards, then you’re in for a great, fun read.

3no7's review against another edition

4.0

“Burglars tend to prefer the dark because, while some of us are pretty dumb, there aren’t many of us stupid enough to begin a job by turning on the lights.”

“Nighttown” by Timothy Hallinan is the first person narrative by Junior Bender, a person on the “edge” of society, a burglar, actually, but not one of the bad guys. This is book seven in the series, but new and returning readers easily follow Junior’s descriptions and interpretations of what he sees, and eavesdrop on his thoughts as he plans his next move. Junior and his girl-friend Ronnie are desperate for money because they plan to kidnap her two-year-old son from his father, a New Jersey mob doctor, and it will be an expensive proposition.

Junior is in Horton House; it is old, dark, and vacant. Its demolition is scheduled in just a few days. He is being well paid to retrieve an item left inside the almost empty house, and he has the key to get in. What could go wrong? Well, quite a lot, actually.

Junior’s thorough details and reflections every step of the way make readers active participants in the exploits. Junior and readers are looking everywhere and finding nothing. Hallinan establishes Horton House as an essential character right from the start.

“The hallway’s white ceiling was arched, like the doorways and the openings to the other rooms. The effect was beautiful in a slightly churchy manner. Builders used to care about the houses they built. Dangling above me was a delicately angular wrought iron chandelier."

Of course, no old house would be complete without old books, and Horton house has plenty of those, even classic first editions.

“Then I sat, turning the little book over in my hands. It was at least fifty, maybe even sixty, years old. The paper was brittle enough to have broken, so cleanly it might have been cut, along several diagonals where a corner had been dog-eared.”

The distinctive cast of characters has unique names as well including Ting Ting, Stinky, Eaglet, Anime, and Lumia. There are moments of hilarity amongst the trauma with rainbow toenail polish, orange wigs, Minnie’s Mouse House, and hiccups.

“The scariest part of the movie is always when the killer gets hiccups. Makes my hair stand on end every time…Death and hiccups. They’ve gone together for centuries. That’s why the deadliest man in the old West was called Wild Bill Hiccup.”

The action takes place over just a few days, so readers are eager to find out what Horton House will reveal next. I received a review copy of “Nighttown” from Timothy Hallinan, Soho Crime, and Edelweiss. I have read previous Junior Bender books, and found this as funny and enjoyable as the others. It is an easy, quick, book to read, and readers can follow the intense search and laugh at the same time.

nsfinch's review against another edition

4.0

A good, satisfying mystery with a likeable sleuth. It had a lot of the "process" and "gumshoe" parts of a mystery that I personally enjoy, along with some really clever dialogue that didn't overpower the story. I picked it up because it was advertised as being funny, and it delivered in a way I needed right now. (But it had serious parts too; this isn't a cozy.) An interesting twist about this series is that the sleuth is a burglar (with a heart of gold, natch), so I really enjoy that perspective. I learned a great tip from this book about how to climb over a chainmail fence, if I should want to do such a thing, such as perhaps to commit a burglary. Hypothetically. There is also a connection to Arthur Conan Doyle in this story, which mystery fans will enjoy. I appreciated the afterword discussing the history of spiritualism and why people were so eager to believe such hoaxes at the time. This is the first book I’ve read in the series, but it made me want to go back and get to know the characters better.

betty's review

funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

vkemp's review

4.0

Stinky Tetweiler is Junior Bender's middle-man; Stinky sets up the heists and Junior completes the job. When Junior is offered $50,000 to find a doll in an abandoned house, slated for demolition, his antenna go on high alert...nobody pays that kind of money to steal a doll. When Junior arrives at Horton House, he discovers he is not the only person looking for the doll. And when Lumia is killed by someone, after she finds the doll, Junior wants revenge. As Junior works to figure out what is going on behind the scenes, the reader gets a ring-side seat to how burglars work and it is fascinating stuff. Once again, Hallinan hits it out of the park with a humorous and well-plotted book. Definitely recommended.

clambook's review

4.0

Delightful. Haven't read a Junior Bender in quite a while, partly because I tried an audiobook that was butchered by the narrator. So it's nice to rediscover the series' virtues -- humor, intricacy and the usual ensemble of winning characters.