D. E. Johnson (1)

Will Adams is hunting crime boss Vito Adamo when Adamo's driver is killed and Will is set up for the crime. Will eventually ends up involved in a war between the Gianollas and Adamo and with the teamsters trying to take over his fathers electric car company. This is the second book in a series and I haven't read the first. There is a lot of mention of events in the first book so I think this series would be better read in order. I did like the history of Detroit. I found the writing to be somewhat stilted.… (mais)

This book is the first publication of a promising author. There are elements in place for a suspenseful mystery set in Detroit at the beginning of the Automotive Age. The setting is well defined, as if the conflict. Unfortunately, the protagonist is selfish and makes decisions that can best be described as stupid. The support he receives from other characters makes no sense given their relationships and the way he treats them. The ending is satisfying and logical but the path to get there is loopy and prolonged. The setting, Detroit during its glory days, is intriguing and the author clearly has done his research. I think his next step is to learn how to integrate historical facts into his fiction so that they don't read like footnotes and are seamlessly integrated into the narrative and dialog.… (mais)

I learned of D.E. Johnson's books when a couple of them made the Michigan Notable Books lists over the past few years. I do not normally read mysteries, but this one, DETROIT BREAKDOWN, sounded kind of interesting because it was set largely in Detroit's now defunct Eloise Mental Hospital, a combination asylum for the insane, a tuberculosis sanatorium and a home for indigents - an institution that was once home to over 10,000 inmates and staff. I had first learned of Eloise when I read Steve Luxenburg's eloquent family memoir, ANNIE'S GHOSTS, a book I enjoyed immensely.

Unfortunately I can't say the same about DETROIT BREAKDOWN. While the writing is workmanlike and Johnson does convey a pretty good sense of what Detroit was like in 1912, the story itself simply did not engage my attention. The characters, even the dual narrators, Will and Elizabeth, seemed paper thin and not very authentic or interesting. I was struck immediately by Elizabeth's seeming lack of concern at finding her boyfriend Will was suddenly mysteriously missing. She went on about her business, not seeming terribly distressed. So I didn't particularly like her. Will's character was equally bland and not very likeable. And then there was the Phantom of the Opera angle. Ah well, I probably shouldn't have been reading the book. I mean, it's a mystery, a genre I'm not overly fond of, although I am a longtime fan of James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux books and Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder series. Those characters are fully-developed, real-seeming sorts of people. Not so with Will Anderson and his girl friend, I'm afraid.

Full disclosure, I didn't finish the book - quit about halfway through, despairing that it would get any better, so I don't really know how the Phantom thing panned out or connected. I just couldn't make myself care whether Will solved the murder(s?) or even if Elizabeth ever found him - or even if he ever got out of the hospital he'd snuck into as an amnesiac patient. The whole thing simply did not work for me.… (mais)