Review: The Fame Thief

The Fame Thief by Timothy Hallinan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This is a four star book brought down, for me, by the addition of supernatural elements that were rather unnecessary to the story. Everything accomplished by the addition of the ghost could have been better done in other ways. I don't even mind that La Marr acted as though there were a ghost in her apartment, but having Junior interacting with, and a whole chapter devoted to the perspective of, the ghost was just... out of place..

Junior continues to please, otherwise, though. It was interesting to see his relationships with characters like Dressler evolving, although it would have been nice to see a little more about how Ronnie handles the madness of Junior's day to day (shootings, explosions, mobsters, assassins, and all she does is make an allusion to a vibrator? And will we find out more about her flexibility with the truth at some point?). I waver back and forth on Junior's relationship with his family. I think that having a family adds an interesting dynamic to the character not typically seen, but, if I'm honest, the sections with Junior dealing with his feelings about his daughter growing up continue to be the least compelling part of the novels.

At any rate, another very fun read from Hallinan, despite my criticism. Looking forward to a fourth book.



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