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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780425169315
ISBN: 0425169316
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 320
Publication Date: 1999-06-01
Publisher: Berkley
Studio: Berkley

Detective Wil Hardesty returns in this brilliantly acclaimed new novel of a past forgotten--and a murder remembered...

"Barre's language strikes eloquent chords of pain and regret...a steamy, evocative stew." --Publishers Weekly

"History, nostalgia, and gritty human realities hooked me so deeply into the world of Wil Hardesty... The plot grabs, the characters seduce, and the pace never lets up."

--Nevada Barr

"Excellent...a tribute to an honorable man's refusal to succumb to his past even if he can't shed it."

--Booklist

* The San Francisco Chronicle calls Barre "one of the best hard-boiled detective novelists of the '90s."

"Steamy, evocative..."--Publishers Weekly

"Wild and exhilirating..."--Nevada Barr

"Excellent..."--Booklist

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Please welcome warmly, a new entry, Wil Hardesty
Review: Listen to this. "[H]e let his eyes drift out onto green grass meticulously trimmed and maintained, an island of order in a sea of chaos." Or, "[H]e took the bridge over to the old Van Zant house, structurally unchanged . . . living room and dining room facing the water. But the color scheme was different. Either that or . . . "

Get it? Richard Barre paints a canvas, sometime very detailed, sometimes impressionistic, and only when he's finished with it does he introduce you to his characters.

Others do that as well. James Lee Burke comes to mind. They are poets who tell stories. Reread James Dickey's "Deliverance" and you'll see what I mean.

Another point I enjoy about Barre is his respect for the Vietnam vet. I served in Vietnam so I am sometimes drawn to that genre. It's never as heroic or slash and dash as many authors make it; but Barry and a few others (Eisler, DeMille, Crais, Burke) speak to the fear, the lonlieness and the inability, ever, to distance oneself from it. Read Dick Winters' "Beyond Band of Brothers" to get a picture of the vets of Easy Company at Normandy, now in their 80's, able to recollect painful events in 'living color.'

Here Wil Hardesty is asked after an 8 year hiatus of his best friend's funeral, to see if he can find Denny Van Zant. Van Zant was killed in Vietnam, possibly murdered, and his body decomposed over a decade. What was returned wasn't much. Now Maeve Van Zant was contacted by someone who claims to know where Van Zant is. Hardesty strongly urges her to forget it, and then relents and embarks on a mission of double cross, revenge, conspiracy, unexpected twists and retribution. Well written, highly recommended. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: GOOD CHARACTER---NOT SO GOOD BOOK!!!!!!
Review: I have read three books about Wil Hardesty. I really like the character. That is the only reason I gave it a three. Did not really like this book. Not as good as the others I have read. A lot of this was totally unbelieveable. Also, I do not like flashbacks but am sure a lot of people do. Wil is someone I can relate to. He is not superman, he does make mistakes, he does get hurt. There are really two things Hardesty is trying to find out. Is Denny Van Zant still alive and who killed Carmen Marquez. Are they tied together??? Trina Van Zant, name is different after three marriages, leds Wil a merry chase. It all does finally get drawn to a close but I have read better by Barre.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: I'm in Mourning
Review: After reading the reviews here on Amazon I decided to buy this book. It was extremely difficult to read the writing is blunt and has no flow to it whatsoever. The characters are shallow (although this is probably because of the writing style) and the language is bad making the characters seem unintelligent.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Fast And Furious
Review: I wouldn't compare Richard Barre to Ross Macdonald or for that matter Raymond Chandler. Macdonald's writing was more subdued and touching, Chandler more witty and crackling, while Barre's is more 'wham bam'..'lets go'.

The Ghosts Of Morning is like that, fast, and twisting, it reminded me of a good action flick. Around page seventy the story really kicks into gear. I didn't find the plot confusing, Barre held it together nicely, injecting little tidbits of information to keep the reader guessing.

The flashbacks scenes are written very well as our hero Will Hardesty, attempts to find some meaning from his past as well as how it connects to his future.

Hardesty is a part-time P.I. hired by his best friends mother to find her son, who everyone has presumed dead for years. Hardesty takes the job as a favor, not realising the depth of the secret's his former friends family has buried.

I agree with some of the other reviews that, some of the charecter's are sketcy and typical, BUT the story moves along so nicely that i just ignored these shortcomings.

A very nice read...enjoy.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Unrealistic characters, incomprehensible plot...
Review: Sorry, all you Barre fans, but I just don't get it. This Hardesty character seems like a cartoon to me, and the complicated plot became downright tedious after awhile. I think this author is incredibly overrated.

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