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James Thane's Reviews > The Expendable Man
The Expendable Man
by
by
Sometime in the late 1950s or early '60s, young Dr. Hugh Densmore is driving his mother's Caddliac from Los Angeles to Phoenix to attend a family wedding. Just outside of Indio, he discovers a young girl along the side of the road, apparently hoping to catch a ride. Anyone with a lick of brains, and certainly anyone who reads crime fiction understands that offering this girl a ride would be a really dumb thing to do.
It is. But Densmore does it anyway and then, of course, must spend the rest of the book struggling against mounting odds, attempting to escape the trouble in which he now finds himself.
It's virtually impossible to say anything about the story because there is no way to avoid revealing a crucial piece of information that might spoil the story for a reader. Suffice it to say that crimes will occur; Densmore will be the principal suspect, and he will find himself in a world of trouble.
The book is set in Phoenix and as a resident of the Valley, it was fun to read Hughes' descriptions of the city in that era. Also, this is a suspenseful story. But it fell short for me because the characters were sometimes hard to take seriously and they often behaved in ways that seemed to make no sense.
I love a good story in which the protagonist, through no fault of his or her own, is caught up in terrible circumstances beyond their control and then must struggle to extricate themselves from these difficulties. In this case, though, Dunsmore sets the whole thing in motion by picking up the hitchhiking girl in the first place, even though he knows it's a very risky thing to do.
It might be argued that he's simply doing the humanitarian thing, but he did have other more sensible options. At a minimum, if the girl had been injured or was somehow in danger, he could have picked her up, driven her fifteen miles back to Indio, and turned her over to the sheriff's office. But to invite her into his car and then cart her all the way to Phoenix is simply asking for trouble, and this made it difficult for me to sympathize with him when that trouble inevitably developed.
It is. But Densmore does it anyway and then, of course, must spend the rest of the book struggling against mounting odds, attempting to escape the trouble in which he now finds himself.
It's virtually impossible to say anything about the story because there is no way to avoid revealing a crucial piece of information that might spoil the story for a reader. Suffice it to say that crimes will occur; Densmore will be the principal suspect, and he will find himself in a world of trouble.
The book is set in Phoenix and as a resident of the Valley, it was fun to read Hughes' descriptions of the city in that era. Also, this is a suspenseful story. But it fell short for me because the characters were sometimes hard to take seriously and they often behaved in ways that seemed to make no sense.
I love a good story in which the protagonist, through no fault of his or her own, is caught up in terrible circumstances beyond their control and then must struggle to extricate themselves from these difficulties. In this case, though, Dunsmore sets the whole thing in motion by picking up the hitchhiking girl in the first place, even though he knows it's a very risky thing to do.
It might be argued that he's simply doing the humanitarian thing, but he did have other more sensible options. At a minimum, if the girl had been injured or was somehow in danger, he could have picked her up, driven her fifteen miles back to Indio, and turned her over to the sheriff's office. But to invite her into his car and then cart her all the way to Phoenix is simply asking for trouble, and this made it difficult for me to sympathize with him when that trouble inevitably developed.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
November 30, 2012
– Shelved
November 30, 2012
– Shelved as:
crime-fiction
November 30, 2012
–
Finished Reading
Nice review and appreciate your being cognizant of spoilers. Recently read a review and in the second paragraph, spoilers! What was she (reviewer) thinking or not thinking.
Cathy