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A Cold Day In Paradise (Alex McKnight Novels) |  | Author: Steve Hamilton
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 61191
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: First Thus
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0312969198
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780312969196
ASIN: 0312969198
Publication Date: February 15, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Doing their best to ensure the future of the genre, St. Martin's Press and the Private Eye Writers of America give out an award every year for the Best First Private Eye Novel. The 1997 winner was this splendidly evocative work by IBM employee Steve Hamilton, which takes just about every cliché in the field and turns it inside out. Yes, Alex McKnight was an athlete in his youth--but a minor league baseball player, not a top pro forced out by injury. And yes, he was a cop in Detroit before he moved up to the town of Paradise on the shores of Lake Superior--but even this overused genre icon is made believable by the details of a particularly bloody shootout. In Paradise, Alex runs a hunting camp built by his late father and only drifts into private investigations because of two friends, a persuasive lawyer and a local millionaire with a gambling problem who needs his help. When two bookmakers are murdered and the millionaire disappears, all the signs point to the psychopath who killed McKnight's partner and left a slug near Alex's heart 14 years before. The only problem is that this man has definitely, positively been in prison ever since. You might figure out the plot twists a page or two before McKnight does, but don't bet the farm on it. And the deep layer of details that Hamilton provides about life in this bleak part of the world add to the book's many pleasures. --Dick Adler
Product Description
Other than the bullet lodged less than a centimeter from his heart, former Detroit police officer Alex McKnight thought he had put the nightmare of his partner's death and his own near-fatal injury behind him-after all, Maximillian Rose, convicted of the crimes, has been locked in the state penitentiary for thirteen years.But in the small town of Paradise, Michigan, where McKnight has traded his badge for a cozy cabin in the woods, a murderer with the unmistakable trademark of Maximillian Rose appears to be back to his killing ways. With Rose locked away, McKnight can't understand who else would know the intimate details of the old murders, described in the threatening notes and phone calls he receives-not to mention the signature blood-red rose left on his doorstep.And it seems like it'll be a frozen day in hell before McKnight can unravel the cold truth from a deadly deception in a town that's anything but Paradise.AUTHORBIO: STEVE HAMILTON, born and raised in Michigan, now works for IBM is upstate New York, where he lives with his wife and son.A COLD DAY IN PARADISE is the winner of the 1997 St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America Best First P.I. Novel contest.Hamilton is now at work on his next Alex McKnight mystery.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 75
 More Cold Than Paradise... July 1, 2010
M. ONEILL (Yorkville, IL)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A COLD DAY IN PARADISE is a book that I've wanted to read for a few years now. Some other book always seemed to jump ahead of it in my reading stack over time. Finally, I decided now was the time since I've heard alot of good reviews about his new release, THE LOCK ARTIST. I typically read an author in order of publication so getting to current will take some time.
Alex McKnight, a cop turned private detective, investigates a string of killings in the upper peninsula of Michigan and soon finds himself the prey. The case leads Alex back to his past but his past is locked up in prison. Deceit and desire steer Alex along the way...
I listened to the audiobook and was not overly impressed. I believe the reader can influence my rating of a book to some degree but I felt the plot and characters were just average. I was never on the edge of my seat and the ending was not a super shocker. The closure of the book was actually the hook to give me an interest to read the next book in the series. I usually give an author two books (especially for a series).
The setting of this book was near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Looking at a map of Lake Superior, you will find SSM at the eastern point of Lake Superior. The western point of Lake Superior is Duluth, Minnesota. What do mystery readers need to know about Duluth, Minnesota? Brian Freeman and the Jonathan Stride series. It is my favorite series and I highly recommend it. This might be another reason why this book didn't click for me...across the lake is where the real action is!
We'll see if the Alex McKnight series improves in book #2.
A gripping, suspenseful thriller. March 20, 2010
J. Lesley (Midsouth, United States)
I can certainly understand why author Steve Hamilton won the Edgar Award for this debut novel when it was published in 1997. This is a very good example of how an author can make the tension build within a story to such an extent that the reader is hesitant to put the book down. Every time I had to put it aside I couldn't help but wonder what in the world was going to happen next.
Alex McKnight has been living a rather aimless life since leaving the Detroit police force. His father had built log cabins in woods near Paradise on the Upper Penninsula of Michigan as rentals for hunting season. Alex was so traumatized because of the incident where his partner was killed and he was wounded that his life has simply floated along for fourteen years. Now, for the past few months he has been working for an attorney who talked him into becoming a private investigator. Beware of phone calls which come in the middle of the night. The first one led Alex to his friend Edwin standing over the very bloody corpse of a very dead man. From then on, each night time phone call took him deeper and deeper into a surreal experience where he even doubted his own sanity. How can a lunatic locked up in a maximum security prison be responsible for stalking Alex and committing these murders?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book because of the ways the author found to take situations which are extremely commonplace within this genre and turn them upside down. At times the tension build-up was so intense that I absolutely did not want to put the book down, I had to know what was going to happen next. This thrilling, suspense filled novel didn't just hold my attention, it grabbed me and wouldn't let go!
A mixed bag thats hard to put down December 10, 2009
J. Shafer
Alex McKnight, a former detective, currently makes a living renting out cabins in the woods to hunters while acting as a PI on a few occations. He gets a call from a friend who comes across the dead body of a bookie he was meeting with that night in order to pay off some debts. The police get called in and everything seems to be like its another typical murder case. When he finally gets home that night, he sees a single red rose on his doorstep, a calling sign for the man that killed his partner years ago and lodged the bullet mere inches away from McKnights heart. The case becomes the impossible because the man that shot him has been in jail for the better part of a decade, but the mystery is personal now.
This book was another impulse buy, something that I should probably stop doing from the disappointments. It got amazing reviews and if it won an Edgar and Shamus award, than it must be good right? Not so much.
The book started off good but too soon did it drastically become "ok" and plateau. It never picked back up until the half-way mark when the conspiracies started to come up with everyone pointing fingers, most of which are at McKnight himself. The real "meat" I guess you could say of the book was the great part and was definately award worthy, but the ending went back to the problems with the beginning of the book. It mellows out, ends abruptly with a sub-par ending and leaves it at that. In other words, it was used to set-up the next book to hopefully give conclusion to this story. Having a story arc that goes across episodes for a TV show might work, but when I read a book, I want the ending to be at the end instead of it being part of an entirely different book. I plan to read the rest of the series, but pulling the bait-and-switch at the end irked me alot.
To sum it up, this book was good, not great. If the beginning chapters werent so slow and if the ending had a true conclusion, than this would definately get a perfect score from me. I reccomend the book but if you give it a chance, the pay off is definately worth it.
fast moving thriller July 6, 2009
N. Brett (Wiltshire, England)
This is a fast moving mystery thriller set in the bleakness of Paradise, Michigan. Actually it is not just the area that is bleak, many of the characters here have problems too, the ex-cop hero of the story has a bullet lodged in his chest and is suffering a degree of PTS, his friend is a gambling addict and the guy who's job he took, is out for revenge.
So while McKnight is trying to settle down after his medical retirement from the Detroit Police, his past comes back to haunt him in the form of someone he put away for wounding him and killing his partner. But that someone is supposed to be in prison with no hope of getting out.....
This book was off my radar so I am grateful to my friend Julia who recommended it as it is rather good and bodes well for the further adventures of McKnight. Not a long book, it has pace and depth and the characters are certainly interesting. The author does mix in elements seen in other books from other authors, but he puts his own spin on it and makes it work very well. I especially like the fact that McKnight is flawed and determined rather then the wise-cracking action guy he could have been written as.
This was upper end of three stars for me, and I think the author will be more comfortable wth the way his character's are growing and I suspect the next book will be even better.
Hard to put down June 26, 2009
Julia Flyte
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Alex McKnight is a former cop turned private detective. He retired from the force after he and his partner were shot by a man called Maximilian Rose. His partner died and Alex moved to Paradise, a small town by the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan.
Now, several years later, a series of killings are taking place and the killer appears to be none other than Maximilian Rose - although he is supposedly locked up in prison. What's more, Rose appears to be targeting McKnight as another victim.
This is a convoluted but highly enjoyable suspense novel that is very hard to put down. The suspense is almost unbearable at times. The book reads very much like a movie and just like a movie it hangs on at the end when you think that everything is wrapped up to give you one more twist in the tale. This is the first of seven novels featuring Alex McKnight and while it's not imperative to start with #1, you would probably enjoy them most if you read them in order. If you enjoy the likes of Harlan Coben and Christopher Reich, I strongly recommend A Cold Day in Paradise.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 75
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