Best in the Milan Jacovich series?
Reviewed by Kelly Ferjutz
The mark of a true professional is that he (or she) makes whatever they do look so easy in the doing, that absolutely everyone listening or reading thinks they can do the same thing! No problem!
Except, of course, they can’t. Or they would have been doing it. Les Roberts is a ‘writer’s writer’. He does make it look easy – every time. But his new book WHISKEY ISLAND goes so far beyond anything he’s done up until now that in comparison, those others only look like the work of a good writer. This book establishes him as a ‘pro’s pro’. No quibbles possible.
In a radical departure from his usual style for the wonderful Milan Jacovich series – about a private investigator based in Cleveland, Ohio – all of them written in first person, this new one has alternating chapters. In different viewpoints and voices. Of course the aging Milan is still in first person, getting more gruntled every day. But in his last book, (The Cleveland Creep) Milan introduced a new ‘assistant’ – Kevin O’Bannion or K.O. who is working toward his own PI license.
K.O.’s chapters are in omniscient viewpoint (the observer narrates rather than the character) which allows the youngster’s (he’s 24, he says) snarky insecurity to come through, big-time. K.O.’s background is a troubled one, but he wants to be accepted, and is mostly willing to work at improving himself, although he’d deny it if he was asked. Quite literally—this is fiction, remember!—K.O. saved Milan’s life in that previous book, but he also suffered a horrendous beating in the process. He still carries the marks, although they are fading.
Echoing the political scandals and criminal happenings of the past few years in Cleveland, this one features a City Councilman on the take – Bert Loftus. Everything anyone wants done in this city goes through him, and he’s very grateful for the largesse thrown his way in the process. Until he irritates someone enough to take a pot-shot at him in his Lincoln Town Car after a few hours with a local hooker.
This brings in a new character for the series (and hopefully a long-lived one) — Detective Sergeant Tobe (Toby) Blaine, a recent import from Cincinnati. She’s a 40-ish Black woman who takes no nonsense from anyone. She works for Florence McHargue, another Black woman who’s in charge of Homicide and clashes violently with Milan. Some of the banter between these three and K.O. is absolutely priceless!
Goodness knows, one needs the occasional humor to soften the bleak dishonesty and greedy outrageousness of the politicians and others on the take. When all paths seem to lead away from city officials to someone bigger, Milan and K.O. dig a bit deeper and find the big kahuna – the County’s Prosecutor, Jim Hundley.
In the end, Loftus is the only one still physically intact, although he’s on the way to a Federal prison. Hundley and his hit-men are in the hospital awaiting trial, K.O. is still mending from his fight to get away from those same hit-men who’d kidnapped him, and Milan has his right arm in a sling.
There’s never a dull moment in WHISKEY ISLAND, a fast-paced intelligent book, that is quite possibly my favorite of all the Milan Jacovich books. I hope there are sixteen more of them in our future.
You can find more information about Whiskey Island recently published by Gray & Company at:
http://GrayCo.com. Upcoming events where you can meet Les Roberts are listed here.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in regular print, plus large print and as a Kindle.
By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a freelance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.
And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.