Dream Town (Private Investigator Archer Book 3)

Product Information

Whilst visiting her home to collect his fee and have the contract signed, he stumbles across a dead body before being knocked out. His books are published in over forty-five languages and in more than eighty countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide. The 1950s weren't the fabled good old days, but they're fodder for gritty crime stories of high ideals and lowlifes, of longing and disappointment, and all the trouble a PI can handle. Whilst having dinner with the big names in the business, they are approached by Elanor Lamb, a woman who believes she is being stalked and her life is in danger.

When the investigation sends him to Hollywood, Archer is convinced he has a lead that could prove fruitful, all while Eleanor Lamb remains missing. The atmosphere of the novel, set mostly on this wild Greek island, echoes strongly the classical tragedies of Greece. Michaelides seems also to be dipping into the world of Edgar Allan Poe, offering an unreliable narrator who feels more like a literary exercise. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker.When he makes his way to Malibu later that night, he finds a dead man in her home, with no sign of Eleanor, and ends up being coshed and knocked out. In fact, David Baldacci seems to be writing a whole slew of characters of late that I’m finding absolutely compelling, and I’m loving it. Archer’s investigation takes him from the rich, glamorous and glitzy LA to the seedy, dark side of the city, and onward to the gambling mecca of Las Vegas, just now hitting its stride as a hot spot for celebrities and a money-making machine for the mob. Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.

Being a private investigator is a dangerous business and 'even good guys can make bad choices when things get desperate. David published his first novel, Absolute Power, in 1996; the feature film adaptation followed, with Clint Eastwood as its director and star.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. David is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy programs across the United States. The atmosphere of the plot is very LA noir with lots of smoking, shooting, deception and general misbehaving. Although I found it to be not as good as the two first books in this series it still captivates and has lots of fun chapters. Another great story … But it’s the last in the series of Aloysius but the scene is set for his next adventure.

Then she disappears, Archer trips over a corpse, and he is caught up in a wild investigation which includes Hollywood actors, gangsters, drugs, people smuggling and more. The only thing keeping this out of 5 star territory is that Baldacci's similes and metaphors don't quite hit the peaks of Chandler's noir poetry, but then who will ever be able to do that? This is well written and full of action and has Archer mixing with the rich and famous as well as the criminals.

Despite the police being involved, Archer’s investigation sees him dealing with Hollywood stars and film studio executives, as he discovers secrets, more bodies and the seedy underworld at grave personal danger to himself. A visit to Lamb’s Malibu residence leaves Archer knocked unconscious after he stumbles over a dead body in the hallway; and Lamb seems to have vanished. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs. The darkness that all the glitz, glamour and picture perfect seafront and hillside properties manage to mask.

Most of the minor characters are your stereotypical bad guys, but I didn't mind, as it was still fun to read. All roads seem to lead Archer back to one very significant place, and with that comes a true sense of threat and an escalation in pacing and tension that brings Archer as close to a permanent ending as any man might ever wish, or not, to come. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around February 21, 2023. This is another example of that versatility, as he pens a story that is pulled right out of the gumshoe era, which differs greatly from many of his other series. Onward to 1952 Hollywood, this third instalment of the Aloysius Archer adventures in Dream Town is by David Baldacci.He’ll almost die several times, and he’ll discover bodies and secrets from the canyons and beaches of Malibu and the luxurious mansions of Bel Air and Beverly Hills to the narcotics clubs of Chinatown.