Family & Friendship - Fiction, Crimes - Fiction, Police Stories

Ticket to Ride (Sam McCain Series #8)

Name: Ticket to Ride (Sam McCain Series #8)
Author: Ed Gorman
ISBN: 9781605982595

by Ed Gorman

Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

For small-town Iowa lawyer Sam McCain the year 1965 is not a sweet one. His father is gravely ill. His elitist boss is just now coming out of rehab. The brilliant lawyer he'd hoped to start a relationship with has gone back to her husband in Chicago. And first young soldier from Black River Falls returns home from a strange place called Viet Nam. In a coffin.

Against this background McCain tries to enjoy himself during the long Labor Day weekend party the town sponsors every year, reuniting with several old friends who appeared throughout the first six novels. Now that they're all in their late twenties some of the old grudges and rivalries seem silly—until two of them are murdered for what seems to be a motive buried in the past.

With the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan irritating those over thirty—and the boys in long hair and girls wearing blouses without bras irritating people even more—Sam McCain is forced to realize that his old world, along with the entire country's, is about to end forever.

About the Author, Ed Gorman

Ed Gorman is the beloved author of dozens of mystery novels, including the New York Times bestselling Frankenstein,
which he co-wrote with Dean Koontz. He has received the Shamus Award,
the Spur Award, and the International Fiction Writers Award. Ed lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

The Bloomsbury Review

“Ed Gorman is the poet of dark suspense.”

San Francisco Chronicle

“Sam McCain has the rueful wisdom and charm of an exemplary hero is curious not only about whodunit but also about some of the more elusive riddles of human existence.”

Kirkus Reviews

1965. Echoes of the Vietnam War trouble the waters of Black River Falls, Iowa-which, as fans of attorney/investigator Sam McCain know, were never all that peaceful to begin with. Something about Harrison Doran makes certain people want to take a swing at him. Whether it's his larger-than-life good looks, his way with the ladies, his antiwar stance, or the promise that he'll inherit $10 million, even mild-mannered McCain can't abide him. When hawkish Korean veteran Lou Bennett is stabbed to death the night after he decks Doran at an antiwar rally, McCain's alcoholic boss, Judge Esme Anne Whitney, asks him to represent Doran and prepare a defense on his behalf. That means replacing him in jail with someone else, even though Doran, after his initial panic has passed, indicates that he's in no hurry to be found innocent or even to make bail. To the accompaniment of a '60s soundtrack and concomitant cultural markers from Norman Mailer to Candid Camera, McCain makes the rounds of the usual sources (idiot police chief Cliffie Sykes, reporter Sally Weaver, soft-core pornographer Kenny Thibodeau) and fresh new faces auditioning for the role of killer: book-burning preacher H. Dobson Cartwright, Bennett's daughter Linda Raines, ultra-right-wing retired fire chief Ralph DePaul, and William Hughes, who's been Bennett's dogsbody ever since Bennett saved his life in Korea. When finally identified, however, the killer comes out of deep left field. The locals seem to be displaying more dirty laundry more openly than usual (Fools Rush In, 2007, etc.). Blame the Beatles.

The Bloomsbury Review

“Ed Gorman is the poet of dark suspense.”

San Francisco Chronicle

“Sam McCain has the rueful wisdom and charm of an exemplary hero is curious not only about whodunit but also about some of the more elusive riddles of human existence.”