Crashed – by Timothy Hallinan

Book Review
 

This is the first book I have read by Timothy Hallinan and it definitely won’t be the last.  His writing is very clever and amusing at the same time.

Junior Bender is the main character, a crook, obviously living on the wrong side of the law.  Bender however, is a crook with ethics and a sense of justice who is more on the right side of the law than the law enforcement officials that we meet in the story. He is in fact, in this story at least, a modern day Robin Hood rescuing a damsel in distress and righting some wrongs along the way.

The plot line is well written and will keep most mystery fans enthralled until the end.   Throw in a little blackmail, a dash of mafia, a child tv star whose star is not only faded but fallen from the sky, an ex-wife and a teenage daughter,  and murder – well it all adds up to Junior having a lot on his mind.  Mostly, what he has on his mind is staying alive and getting himself and the has been tv star out from under the thumb of one very scary mob boss.  

Personally, I couldn’t put the book down and had no trouble envisioning a tv series based on this character.