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ogreart's review against another edition
4.0
Junior just keeps getting into trouble. This time he needs to figure out why a mob-owned mall is experiencing a spree of shoplifting. Or else. The characters are continuing to grow. New characters are coming in and I love them. I deeply enjoy this series. I am only sorry the next two are not currently part of Audible's Plus catalog. Maybe one day...
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Jo, who named it as one of her favorite novels of 2016. Read her review at Cook Library's blog, Shelf Life: https://shelflife.cooklib.org/2016/11/29/pick-of-the-week-fields-where-they-lay-by-timothy-hallinan/
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sin%20fields%20where%20they%20lay%20hallinan__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sin%20fields%20where%20they%20lay%20hallinan__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold
cmorris2022's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book - wasn't sure what to expect. The format is dazzling. I was a bit lost in the middle regarding the flowing story line (I got visions of Slaughterhouse Five for some reason). Loved the WWII story!
vkemp's review
5.0
Junior Bender is coerced into finding out why a mall is experiencing an enormous increase in shoplifting in the weeks before Christmas. A Russion mafioso, improbably named Tip Poindexter, has made it clear Junior will face serious consequences if the thefts are not stopped. It takes a thief to catch a thief. As Junior sits in the security office, watching the mall traffic on the monitors and wanders around through the mall, we listen to his inner musings on his life and Christmas, in particular. Junior does not appreciate the Christmas feeling and with good reason. He meets a woman to whom he is attracted just at the moment in time when his relationship with Ronnie is taking a big hit. He is such a mensch. Then one of the shop owners in the mall is murdered and Junior is determined to figure out who would want to kill Bonnie, the most positive and up-beat women Junior knows. Junior meets Schlomo Stempel, who makes him believe in Santa Claus again. Another charming entry in a series that just keeps getting better; Junior's life becomes more transparent and his life with Ronnie becomes stronger.
samhouston's review
5.0
Tim Hallinan’s Junior Bender books have something in common with both the bestselling crime fiction series of today and the classic series from the past: a main character who continues to evolve from book to book. Junior is a burglar’s burglar and he has been on a winning streak for more than two decades, but please don’t mistake Junior for Robin Hood just because he’s a nice guy. That’s not to say, however, that Junior gets to profit from everything he steals. Certain very powerful (and nasty) people know all about Junior’s skills, and they sometimes manage to find a way to compel Junior to do a little work for them on the side. Junior has not yet failed to get one of their jobs done – but he always makes sure that it happens under his own terms.
As Fields Where They Lay opens, Christmas is just days away and Junior’s worst nightmare has come true. He is spending all of his normal waking hours – and many others he would much prefer to be asleep – inside the Shopping Mall from Hell. The mall has already lost all its anchor stores, much of its third floor is locked up tight, and most of the businesses still able to keep the doors open are just hoping to hang on long enough to bank a few Christmas sales dollars before calling it quits in January. Even worse, Junior has been forced to listen to the same recording of a “The Little Drummer Boy” so many times that he has to look in a mirror every so often to see if his ears are bleeding.
Junior knows, however, that if he doesn’t figure out soon why the mall is suddenly suffering such a huge increase in shoplifting losses, he won’t be alive to hear the little drummer boy banging away on his drums on Christmas morning. The Russian crime boss who owns a controlling interest in the mall wants an answer by Christmas Eve, and has warned Junior that if he doesn’t have one ready he may as well not bother with this year’s Christmas shopping. A little to his surprise, Junior finds that he admires many of the hardworking shop-owners he meets and genuinely likes them. And after he stumbles upon the bloody body of one of his mall favorites, it all becomes very personal for Junior.
Fans of earlier Junior Bender books will be pleased to see appearances by series regulars such as Junior’s best friend, Louie the Lost, but it is one of the new characters, a skinny mall Santa Clause named Shlomo Stempel, who comes close to stealing the whole show. Not only does this Jewish Santa provide wise counsel to Junior throughout his investigation, he provides exactly the Christmas miracle needed to put a proper seasonal topper to Fields Where They Lay.
Bottom Line: Despite the odds against it happening, Tim Hallinan has managed to raise the bar on his Junior Bender books yet again. Do your friends a favor this Christmas - turn them on to Junior Bender.
As Fields Where They Lay opens, Christmas is just days away and Junior’s worst nightmare has come true. He is spending all of his normal waking hours – and many others he would much prefer to be asleep – inside the Shopping Mall from Hell. The mall has already lost all its anchor stores, much of its third floor is locked up tight, and most of the businesses still able to keep the doors open are just hoping to hang on long enough to bank a few Christmas sales dollars before calling it quits in January. Even worse, Junior has been forced to listen to the same recording of a “The Little Drummer Boy” so many times that he has to look in a mirror every so often to see if his ears are bleeding.
Junior knows, however, that if he doesn’t figure out soon why the mall is suddenly suffering such a huge increase in shoplifting losses, he won’t be alive to hear the little drummer boy banging away on his drums on Christmas morning. The Russian crime boss who owns a controlling interest in the mall wants an answer by Christmas Eve, and has warned Junior that if he doesn’t have one ready he may as well not bother with this year’s Christmas shopping. A little to his surprise, Junior finds that he admires many of the hardworking shop-owners he meets and genuinely likes them. And after he stumbles upon the bloody body of one of his mall favorites, it all becomes very personal for Junior.
Fans of earlier Junior Bender books will be pleased to see appearances by series regulars such as Junior’s best friend, Louie the Lost, but it is one of the new characters, a skinny mall Santa Clause named Shlomo Stempel, who comes close to stealing the whole show. Not only does this Jewish Santa provide wise counsel to Junior throughout his investigation, he provides exactly the Christmas miracle needed to put a proper seasonal topper to Fields Where They Lay.
Bottom Line: Despite the odds against it happening, Tim Hallinan has managed to raise the bar on his Junior Bender books yet again. Do your friends a favor this Christmas - turn them on to Junior Bender.
cindyp's review
5.0
For Junior Bender, thief and “fixer” for crooks and other unsavory types, the days leading up to Christmas aren’t exactly filled with tidings of comfort and joy. He’s reminded more than usual of his conflicted relationship with his girlfriend and daughter. And, more urgently, he’s been “recruited” by a Russian thug and mall owner to find out who’s behind the shoplifting epidemic at the mall- with failure not an option. Just as he begins investigating, a murder in the mall adds a puzzling new facet to an already convoluted case. Junior needs to figure out the shoplifting scheme, solve the murder, and get in the holiday mood by Christmas Eve. Hallinan’s cast of less-than-upright and highly entertaining characters make for a delightful and off-beat holiday read.
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