Nothing Burns in Hell

Rating:
Summary: Very funny, witty, and well-written
Review: Hopefully Farmer will write more books about the dark side of Peoria. This is a hillarious, action-packed, witty book, filled with the bizarre Farmerian characters that his readers have come to expect. It's apparent that Farmer has created an ingenious Peoria geneaology just as complex as his intriguing Wold Newton family (the latter including Tarzan, Doc Savage, Sherlock Holmes, and Captain Nemo, amongst many others), which I would love to see developed in future books. Buy this book!

Rating:
Summary: Very, Very good book
Review: I liked this book a lot. I thought it was really funny. I also liked the semi-complex plot.

Rating:
Summary: This may be the authors best effort to have himself commited
Review: I love books, I read almost any story, not all are good. However most are interesting or informative. This one is something else? In the first few pages your introduced to 8 different characters with nonsensical names: Mister Katzinwinter, Mimi Rootwell, Glinna Heithbarn, Simon Grettison Alliger, Sheridan Mutts, Selinda Tuneball, Cindi Wickling and our hero whose name is given as he answers the telephone....Alexander Bell. Now this is the high point of the adventure. Our 80 year old author quickly drops the story to looking up at the bottom side of confusion. If your an incurable insomniac, purchase this book. Miracles do happen and it should put you to sleep. In all other cases try last weeks newspaper. If I could grade with less then a star, I certainly would.

Rating:
Summary: 2 1/2 stars
Review: On the inside of the dust jacket, the publishers say this book should be a good read for fans of Quentin Tarantino. It is a BIG lie. The publishers must have owed this author a favor. This book is just not good.

However, having said that, I am not upset I spent my time reading it. If you like crime-noir, read Ellroy. But, if you have this book, and have to spend a few hours on a plane or waiting to be picked for jury duty, then give it a try.

Rating:
Summary: NOTHING BURNS IN HELL- a luscious piece of pulp fiction
Review: Phillip Farmer's "Nothing Burns in Hell" is a fresh, quickly paced mystery/suspence thriller that has the feel of an old fashioned film noir. This is one part "Pulp Fiction," One part "Deliverance", and one part "Sherlock Holmes." Filled with imagination and colorful characters. A classic!

Rating:
Summary: Fast, Fun and very violent
Review: PJF's foray into the realms of pulp fiction is a blast. Away from his normal genre Phil proves he is a very talented writer. Loads of weirdly named characters and some great funny lines fill this book. The plot is labyrinthine but somehow very simple. Phil manages to insert a few ideas which are normally present in his science fiction and fantasy novels... a wiccan, a femme fatale and some deformed humans. Be warned though the book is very light hearted and tongue in cheek it still has one of the most violent scenes ever in a book Buy it. read it and enjoy it

Rating:
Summary: Quirky blend of humor, violence and noir
Review: There's shooting, there's cutting, there's treachery, there's a snapping turtle used as a defensive weapon. And then, the violence begins.

Tom Corbie is a private investigator plying his trade on the mean streets of (ahem) Peoria, Illinois. When a simple assignment to backup another operative on a payoff at a cemetery results in gunplay, Corbie finds himself drawn into a circle of escalating mayhem, violence, intrigue and murder.

Corbie's character is unique in the genre. He's married to a practicing Wiccan and carries enough literary references in his head to earn a doctorate degree. While he shoots well, he prefers to talk his way out of most bad situations.

Farmer loves his hometown of Peoria and gleefully presents it and its history to us, warts and all. He also flits in unique philosophical and metaphysical observations while detailing how to arm oneself when slipping into a marshy area to do battle with in-bred hooligans.

NOTHING BURNS IN HELL is a fine example of a dying genre -- hard-boiled pulp fiction. Recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, mixed up tale
Review: Tom Corbie is a private investigator, desperate to make it, picks up a simple assignment to backup another operative on a payoff at a cemetery results in gunplay.

Corbie finds himself drawn into a circle of escalating mayhem, violence, intrigue and murder. The snapping turtle, and his way of talking his way out of things rather than shooting it out.

Laugh your way through this book at times feeling sympathetic for our hero. Enjoyable book to get out of a hectic day at the office.

Rating:
Summary: A successful blend of humor and mystery
Review: What Farmer has done is to stage a complex mystery along the lines of Raymond Chandler's BIG SLEEP in the pocket universe of Peoria, Illinois, where he has lived most of his 80-odd years. There is a lot of deliberate humor, and it seems clear that a number of the characters are real denizens of Peoria, depicted with their permission. As for plot, a private detective gets mixed up with one of the wealthiest families of Peoria, and finds himself matched against a ruthless murderer who will stop at nothing to exterminate the whole family. Farmer has deliberately and successfully striven for a level of continuous action matching the pulp detective fiction of the 1930s. About the novel's only failing is a final summing up that (as in THE BIG SLEEP) makes little sense and leaves more loose ends than a mop, and I suspect this is Farmer's deliberate choice.

Rating:
Summary: A successful blend of humor and mystery
Review: What Farmer has done is to stage a complex mystery along the lines of Raymond Chandler's BIG SLEEP in the pocket universe of Peoria, Illinois, where he has lived most of his 80-odd years. There is a lot of deliberate humor, and it seems clear that a number of the characters are real denizens of Peoria, depicted with their permission. As for plot, a private detective gets mixed up with one of the wealthiest families of Peoria, and finds himself matched against a ruthless murderer who will stop at nothing to exterminate the whole family. Farmer has deliberately and successfully striven for a level of continuous action matching the pulp detective fiction of the 1930s. About the novel's only failing is a final summing up that (as in THE BIG SLEEP) makes little sense and leaves more loose ends than a mop, and I suspect this is Farmer's deliberate choice.