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manwithanagenda's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I missed these. There has been a delay in the new reprinting of this series so I went a long time between 'Nightwork' and the nail-biting perfection of 'Gravedigger'.
I would say you need to read 'Gravedigger, at least, before you read this one. The mystery stands alone but the characters are so important you need to understand where they are coming from. Some time has passed and wounds are slow to heal. Brandstetter is on another case and trying to keep Cecil healing.
Brandstetter is called in to investigate what looks like a routine trucking accident. A long-haul driver clocking too many hours drives off a high road. Quickly, however, suspicious details add up and it becomes important to determine just what exactly was being hauled and where.
These are amazing books and I can't wait to get my hand on the last five.
Brandstetter
Next: 'The Little Dog Laughed'
Previous: 'Gravedigger'
I would say you need to read 'Gravedigger, at least, before you read this one. The mystery stands alone but the characters are so important you need to understand where they are coming from. Some time has passed and wounds are slow to heal. Brandstetter is on another case and trying to keep Cecil healing.
Brandstetter is called in to investigate what looks like a routine trucking accident. A long-haul driver clocking too many hours drives off a high road. Quickly, however, suspicious details add up and it becomes important to determine just what exactly was being hauled and where.
These are amazing books and I can't wait to get my hand on the last five.
Brandstetter
Next: 'The Little Dog Laughed'
Previous: 'Gravedigger'
octothorpetopus's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
henrismum's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
#7 in series (I started reading this series on 4/26/22 and I have been committed to this series since 8/4/22.)
Comparison to others in series:Not as good About the same Better This was a pretty good entry. Underlying, it dealt with environmental issues and it explored Dave's relationship with [I won't give the name].
The narrator was Keith Szarabajka. Solid as always, but a little annoying with the haggard women and over the top gay male voices.
#7 in series (I started reading this series on 4/26/22 and I have been committed to this series since 8/4/22.)
Comparison to others in series:
The narrator was Keith Szarabajka. Solid as always, but a little annoying with the haggard women and over the top gay male voices.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Blood, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Infidelity and Animal death
claudia_is_reading's review
5.0
In this book, we have yet another issue that seems to have been written today and not more than 35 years ago, and isn't it sad that the world has changed so little in all that time?
Street gang's violence, contamination by toxic waste, greedy corporations and indifference to the consequences of their acts is the background to the investigation that soon proves to be, of course, very dangerous.
And, while trying to untangle this mystery, Dave is trying to nurse Cecil who is still dealing with the consequences (physical and emotional) of his gunshot from the last book.
I liked a lot the interactions between the characters here, between Dave and Cecil (yes, I'm slowly warming to him) and between Dave and Amanda. We get to see more of Dave's compassion and kindness through them.
I'm still enjoying these books a whole lot :D
Street gang's violence, contamination by toxic waste, greedy corporations and indifference to the consequences of their acts is the background to the investigation that soon proves to be, of course, very dangerous.
And, while trying to untangle this mystery, Dave is trying to nurse Cecil who is still dealing with the consequences (physical and emotional) of his gunshot from the last book.
I liked a lot the interactions between the characters here, between Dave and Cecil (yes, I'm slowly warming to him) and between Dave and Amanda. We get to see more of Dave's compassion and kindness through them.
I'm still enjoying these books a whole lot :D
ericwelch's review
3.0
I read two works by Joseph Hansen, [book: Gravedigger] and [book:Skinflick] some years ago, but only recently got around to finishing off his Dave Brandsetter trilogy with Nightwork. The three works came together in a set I purchased several years ago. Brandsetter is an insurance investigator in the hard-boiled mold except that he’s gay. In this one, Cecil, his lover, and he are investigating the bombing death of a trucker who was moonlighting, and certain parties are anxious that Dave not discover what it was that the dead trucker was hauling. Hansen has been described as the successor to Ross MacDonald, and I agree. Brandsetter has much the same toughness, compassion, and perseverance that Lew Archer did in the MacDonald novels.
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