No Colder Place

Rating:
Summary: Great-will appeal to hard boiled fans of the mystey genre
Review: . Chuck DiMathis asks fellow New York City private detective Bill Smith to take on a case that he was hired to solve, but has no time to work on. Crowell Construction is losing a vast load of supplies and equipment at an alarming rate for pilferage. Even a front loader has been stolen. A twenty-two years old construction worker has also vanished without a trace. Bill accepts the job and goes undercover, working as a brick mason at the company's current construction site. His sometimes partner Lydia Chin works in the front office as a secretary trying to learn what she can from an management/administration level.

The investigation turns ugly when the murdered corpse of the missing worker is found inside an elevator shaft. Soon after that the lead suspect takes a swan dive off the building during a contrived, well designed "rio t". Lydia and Bill realize that someone has set them up as pawns in a chess game. Knowing that they are being maneuvered by a grandmaster does not stop the duo from trying to insure that justice occurs even though their actions take them to places that put Bill and Lydia in grave danger.

NO COLDER PLACE is a hard boiled crime novel in the tradition of McBain and McDermid. The term Black Noir was coined with a story like this in mind. The tone of the novel is gritty and bleak as it reflects the dark s ide of human nature. The only hope for Bill's redemption lies with Lydia, a fact that the intrepid private investigator realizes but is unable to act upon because he cannot shake his social lethargy. This novel would make a great movie in the tradition of Marlow (THE BIG SLEEP or FAREWELL, MY LOVELY).

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Great picture of city life
Review: A Bill Smith (as opposed to Lydia Chin) book. I just loved the insider's view of the construction world. The characters were complete and believeable, as Rozan's people always are. A good, complicated plot. Dark and very urban.

Rating:
Summary: Rubbish (zero stars)
Review: I bought this book based on some favourable on-line reviews but I didn't get past the first chapter. I suspect those other reviews were written either by the author or her friends and relatives. Apart from being badly written this book is written in the first person perspective and that character is supposed to be a rough and tough rigger working on a construction site. However it reads like a book written by a woman who is imagining what goes through the mind of such a guy rather than actually by a guy who can actually relate to these experiences. And that is in fact the case, the author is a woman named S.J.Rozan. However, I suspect that if she wrote a novel on a subject that she actually had some empathy for, it would still be terrible, as she can't write.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry I waited!
Review: I didn't bother with this book, although it won the Anthony for Best Novel, because I'm not a construction worker or a New Yorker. Finally a friend demanded that I read it, and am I sorry I waited. Though set on a construction site, this book is about people, motives, and a good complex plot. Don't make my mistake -- read this book now!

Rating:
Summary: Thanks to the customer reviews, I'm now a fan!
Review: I had never heard of Rozan before and had chosen this one based on the customer reviews...I was certainly not disappointed! Easy to read and easy into the characters, it was a fun and entertaining book.

Thanks Amazon for the customer reviews... I'm buying other Rozan books!

Rating:
Summary: Great book with an interesting setting
Review: I loved this book and found the setting of the construction site very interesting. This author obviously has knowledge of these areas, and puts them together to make a wonderful mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you, Dennis Lehane!
Review: I picked up this book because I heard Dennis Lehane raving about Rozan's writing in an interview. He was right! Atmospheric, almost poetic images -- of a construction site! Convincing characters, too, and good gritty dialogue. And five other books in the series! Can't wait.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: I read a lot of detective and action/adventure novels, and I bought this one based on Amazon's recommendation. I felt that it was mediocre at best, unimaginative plot, poorly developed characters, and in all, not worth my time to read.

Rating:
Summary: Great Novel....
Review: I want to preface my review of "No Colder Place" by stating that this is the FIRST book I've read in the series, and that I quite enjoyed it, even though, at times, I felt.... That the book had some flaws.

Bill Smith (yes, this is his real name), is a Private Investigator, hired to help a friend with a problem at a construction site with employee theft. Bill and his Chinese-American Partner Lydia (no readers we cannot forget that Lydia is Chinese, this is mentioned at least a half a dozen times), go on the job to investigate.

Employee theft, is just the tip of the iceberg, and as Bill and Lydia investigate, they uncover a sinister web of corruption and betrayal.

I really enjoyed the writing style of Ms. Rozan. Her female characters are especially well done. Bill on the other hand, seemed a bit.... Stereotypical. He has no love life, drinks, and smokes (his smoking is described again and again to the point of tedium), (PLEASE get this guy the patch), and just seems like every other tough-guy detective I've ever read... With one exception. Even though he's tough, he seems a tad.... Feminized. This isn't a bad thing, it just seems strange. Also, I couldn't understand why Bill was so reticent to admit his feelings for Lydia. It just seemed odd.

Overall, a great story. Well worth the read. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more Rozan books.

Rating:
Summary: Another Gratifying Read
Review: I've finally looped back and read No Colder Place, the only one of S J Rozan's books that I had managed to miss. I was not disappointed . I think what I enjoy so much about this author's work is the perspective that a major female author is once again bringing to the Mystery/Detective genre. Rozan brings a woman's interest in the nuances of interpersonal dynamics, and in No Colder Place, she combines that with her knowledge as an actual working architect. Not every author could get me thoroughly engaged in a murder mystery surrounding a construction site. But this one can - in fact, she actually put me in the gratifying position of feeling knowledgeable about what was happening in and around the construction site. And as always, Bill and Lydia are a wonderfully unique and complex pair of sleuths. I can't help myself - I LIKE these guys!