Page 1 of 2
THE MAN WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER Thread
Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 2:27 pm
by Dragonlily
This is the thread for the first of the series, THE MAN WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER. I know arabisha wanted to post about this. Here you go, arabisha, ready for comments from you and your husband.
Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 10:05 pm
by [Syl]
This was a great first book of a series. I don't think I've ever had quite as much fun getting into the characters (mainly Brew, but Ginny too, I suppose) of a new series by a familiar author. It might not be that way for some, but I enjoyed reveling in Brew's pain
. The other books describe recovering from and dealing with addiction very well, but it's amazing how well he describes alcoholism (runs in my family, but luckily it seems to have passed me).
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2004 9:43 pm
by Dragonlily
A nurse I know on-line read this recently. She used to be supervisor of a substance abuse clinic. (Brew was the alcoholic Syl mentioned.) She called it "a page turning thriller" and said Brew was "realistic and believable." She felt like she got extra understanding from seeing through Brew's eyes. She cared so much about him that she was "proud of him" when he kept turning down drinks.
Syl, I'm glad for you that it passed you by. It gave some of my family members some miserable years. I took warning from them.
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 12:00 am
by kastenessen
And I just discovered one of the changes SRD did with this book when publishing it anew. He changed the name Treddus Hangst to Ted Hangst. I have an old UK paperback in my pocket which I bring with me, and the new Forge one at home and was reading them parallell...
kasten
Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2004 4:18 am
by Dragonlily
Gracious! Where did I put my old copy...?
Yep, there it is. I thought it was an issue with the Swedish translator somehow.
Posted: Sun May 16, 2004 6:27 pm
by Chrysalis
I recommended this to a friend who had just finished reading a pile of Dennis Lehane books and was looking for something else to start on. This is what he said:
"I finished The Man Who Killed His Brother yesterday, and I liked it a lot.
It was an interesting change of pace after the blood-and-thunder of Dennis Lehane - although just as dangerous and gruelling, it was somewhat more subdued. I also liked Brew as a flawed hero - I really felt for him in that scene near the end where
El Senor and his goons got him drunk by force.
"
I had to agree with him there-not quie at the same pace but still a good read.
Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 12:17 pm
by Nigels
I have just last week read Brother and Partner and currently half way through Away. Mystery/detective novels have never been my thing and I wasn't quite sure what I'd make of them. I'm still not sure except to say that once started these books are impossible to put down.
I love the way that Brew seems to be on a roller-coaster ride from which there is no getting off. He is on an inevitable path sinking deeper and deeper into its climactic fate. And as the reader you are pulled along with him.
The conclusion when it comes doesn't really seem that clean and no sooner have you closed the last page that you find yourself grappeling for the next book. Fortunately I started Brother with the other three on my bookshelf waiting. Whatever am I going to do when I finish Fought Alone?
That'll be time to get Runes I suppose.
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 4:53 am
by variol son
My copy
finally arrived at Whitcoulls. About bloody time too.
And I love it! Wow, this is so cool.
Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 12:14 pm
by Dragonlily
VS, glad you like it!
I hope you will go through and contribute to some of the dissection threads.
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:48 pm
by variol son
I definately will. Just let me read it again.
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 11:50 pm
by variol son
YAY! I have ordered
The Man who Risked his Partner and it is on it's way. I have also bought
The Man who Tried to get Away, which just leaves
The Man who Faught Alone.
Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 8:46 pm
by Dragonlily
Yay! And whatever you do, don't miss out on THE MAN WHO FOUGHT ALONE!
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:56 pm
by Farm Ur-Ted
I just started this yesterday. Not bad at all, I'm pretty impressed with it, to be honest. And it only took 47 pages for the first rape to occur.
Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 6:55 pm
by Usivius
LOL.
Yah, I like these a lot. And for me they get VERY good. However I felt the 3rd is the weakest, and the fourth the best. But saying that, they are all really good 'pulp-type' books.
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:21 am
by Seppi2112
SRD gets the alcoholism aspect down so well because (he implies in the GI) he himself had issues with it I think. He's made a few comments over time that indicate as such, like the fact that he gave up drinking completely, etc...
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:34 pm
by Farm Ur-Ted
Seppi2112 wrote:SRD gets the alcoholism aspect down so well because (he implies in the GI) he himself had issues with it I think. He's made a few comments over time that indicate as such, like the fact that he gave up drinking completely, etc...
I'd be pretty shocked if he hadn't had some run-ins with the bottle. It's pretty common among writers, and considering how dark his stories are, he must've needed something stronger than buttermilk from time to time.
I'm pretty familiar with the drunken and depraved PI genre
. I've read maybe the first 10 Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke (which I highly recommend, especially the early ones). Mick is a lot like Dave, although his language isn't as colorful. I am amazed that SRD started his series 7 years before JLB. The dude is a visionary.
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:10 pm
by Farm Ur-Ted
Just finished it. That was pretty good.
I was little surprised at the end when Lona told Mick that he hadn't found or saved Alathea. Well, he did save her from a freaking bomb! Give him a little credit.
It was a good mystery, but I thought it was pretty obvious from the start that the girls were being sold in prostitution, and fed heroin to keep them docile. Mick and Ginny should've figured that out themselves. And Kirke's passing "whore" comment was sort of a red flag. I actually thought it was going to turn out to be a red herring when I read it.
I'm surprised it took 166 pages for someone to have their hand blown off. I spent the whole book wondering why SRD named her Fistoulari. D'uh! I should've seen it coming.
The cover of the book is pretty funny, with all of the sky-scrapers pictured. I'm pretty sure that early on Mick said that Ginny's 5-story office building was the tallest building in Puerto del Sol.
Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:03 pm
by Seppi2112
SRD mentioned that he isn't really interested in the Mystery aspect so much as using the Mystery medium to convey the characters. The Man Who Tried To Get Away says as much in its meta-analysis of itself, lol.
Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2012 6:40 pm
by dlbpharmd
Just finished TMWKHB, and although I generally don't like mysteries, this was OK. Axbrewder and Ginny are great characters, although I get a little tired of Mick's internal monologue (just as I do with Linden Avery's.) On to TMWRHP now.
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 12:10 am
by Iolanthe
I just finished this and enjoyed it. A sort of cross between Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler, although it's many years since I read either of those!
Have downloaded the next one (Partner).