Vengeance

By: Stuart M. Kaminsky

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Three years ago Lew Fonseca quit his job as a process server with the State Attorney's Office in Cook County, Illinois, and drove his rattling Toyota south to escape the memories of his beloved late wife. Headed for Key West, the Toyota broke down in a Dairy Queen parking lot in Sarasota, Florida. Buoyed by the friendship of a few trustworthy souls, Lew settled there, making ends meet by doing some investigative work for local attorneys.

Now, Lew is hired by Carl Sebastian, one of Lew's lawyer's clients, to find his missing wife. Following up on a few leads, Lew finds himself being trailed by a mysterious burly man, and saddled with another missing person case, this time a runaway teen. With the help of some friends, Lew seems to be getting closer and closer to Melanie, but will he find her before the unthinkable happens?

©1999 Double Tiger Productions, Inc. (P)2001 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Staked with vivid characters and plenty of local color...Lew has a real future ahead of him." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Kaminsky pulls of climatic suspense for each [mystery]. The biggest news, though, is his depressed little Lancelot in Levi's, who's worth at least a dozen more installments." (Kirkus Reviews)

The melancholy server

The trouble with Lou Fonesca stories is that they end. This is the fourth I've listened to but actually the first in the series.
I love the local colour, personality development and reasonably good story lines.
This is my favorite audible detective series.
My favorite read detective series is still Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer.
I won't cross gendres and read Fonesca or listen to Archer as I wouldn't want to choose.
There are similarities. Warm climates, urban deterioration often in the midst of affluence, islands of decent humanity in sea of human corruption, good guys that can be brave and tough without vulgarity.
For this audible listener Fonesca is the winner

Unexpectional!

Uh-Huh.... That's not a misspelling up there. There's nothing here I expected. Which I should have expected since I'm a fan boy of 5 of 6 of Kaminsky's Abe Lieberman's books (all of the first six except Lieberman's Thief - see my review to understand my pique)... And since there are no more Liebermans here at Audible, well I'm poking into his other stuff with 'Vengeance'.

And it was unexceptional. Which I should have expected since Kaminsky's such a talent. But who could expect Lou Fonesca? And I won't tell you why, since then you will expect what I've told you and well, that'd ruin a very good listen. And you'd expect the pace, tone, and glimmers in the construction of this plot. Or plots.

What was most unexpected for me though was Scott Brick. I did not notice he was the reader when I bought this book, else I'd have passed. Surprisingly Brick didn't impose himself into the book with his signature pomposities. Instead, they're gone leaving behind the man's undeniable talent for creating mood and characterizations. Maybe I'll try another .... but only if it's with an author I trust like Kaminsky.

While not a great book, nor on par with the Lieberman novels, I'll still follow Fonseca's growth in this series. Because Kaminsky's unexceptionally good.

Very Good

this book was written in the 90s which I mentioned for no other reason that it's interesting to know. It does not affect the novel at all.

oddly this book or rather it's plot shouldn't work, but it really does. some very clever twists and turns make it an extremely enjoyable read.

Scott Brick does an excellent job, probably one of his best.

It's most assuredly worth a credit. has a wonderful ending.

love lew

really like all the Lew books. this one is very good. I have read them all.

Meh

Ok. Not in the same league with the Lieberman series. It felt flat sometimes and sort of forced in different places.

not very good

predictable and repetative