I am reading through this series by Les Roberts. When I read book #13, there was a one page introduction to this book written by Roberts that revealed he had planned that book #13 would be the end of the series--until this idea came to him unbidden. That might be why some other reviewers mention that there was a long gap between books in the series. Since I am reading these years after Roberts wrote them, I did not have this experience.

I will say it was at first difficult to realize how much time had passed in Milan's life since the last book--apparently years? In book #13, I believe Mrs. Sordetto was still alive to take care of Don Giancarlo D'Alessandro; but in this book she's passed away. Both Milan's children are now adults. The oldest has apparently moved to Chicago in the non-recorded time between books #13 & #14--though we aren't told this until the last third or so of the book.

I didn't necessarily mind that this was different that Roberts's typical Jackovich novel. I do feel bad that Milan seems to have lost so many friends from his high school days as a result of his investigations on behalf of Wiggins. Perhaps we could argue that some weren't really friends anyway, but at least one or two were people he counted as friends and then learned some unsettling things about that either changed his view of them or they changed their view of him.

I felt bad for Booker--apparently mostly forgotten at a VA hospital. I'm sure there are some people like him even now at care facilities.

Jinny's admonition to "make new friends" isn't always so easy when you're an adult. It seems like it's easier to make friends in school or college--perhaps because of shared experiences or clubs or interests. It doesn't seem as easy as we get older.

I do wonder if Roberts is laying the groundwork for another romantic break up for Milan or if Milan will finally have a woman in his life who's not threatened by his way of life.

I also wonder if the Milan Jacovich/Victor Gaimari friendship will continue now that the Don is not part of it. I hope that it does, since the Don seemed to value both men. ( )

Class reunions are often far from classy.. well, mostly the alumni. Seems no matter how well planned, something always ruins the event. In this case, it happens to be a murder. Milan Jacovich, our main PI character, is hired to investigate his own reunion's classmate demise. Tethering in TMI from those he last saw 40 years prior gets to be unnerving (and rather surprising) as he questions attendees, one on one, to find who did it and avail who did not.
Milan gets himself knocked into a precarious situation, as he invariably does in his line of work, and ruffles more feathers than he soothes, but he comes out on top in the end.
Roberts is a gifted writer, managing to insert LOL moments in tense situations and engaging the reader so much that his books are often a one night read, albeit a very, very long night. ( )

http://ffedor.blogspot.com/2008/08/planning-to-watch-my-back.html ( )

http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2008/07/king-of-holly-hop.html ( )