Bill Cameron (1)Besprekingen

This is two books in one. The one I enjoyed the most is the taut, bare-knuckled adventure of 'Skin' Kadash as he searches Portland, San Francisco, and a small Ohio town for the woman he has decided he loves. While he was recuperating from another adventure, she has taken off for parts unknown, for reasons unknown, and has not returned as quickly as she led her friends to believe. He knows he has to track her down. Along the way, there are murders, attempted murders, brawls, and scant clues.

Compressed between the two halves of this thriller is another story. This one about the confused teenage version of Ruby Jane-the woman Kadash loves. She's in and out of trouble. Fighting to make her way through life against the odds. In a way, this backstory is what drives the rest, but I found it mostly a distraction. The style is different. The tone is different. And I wasn't invested enough in her to stick with it. I skimmed through and got the gist of it.

The writing was pretty good. The characters and settings well presented. The mystery was OK. What knocked this book down from 4 to 3 stars was the weak center section.

Another book that is not in my normal reading type but I couldn't pass up the price (free). Good story though it turns out it's the 3rd or 4th book in a series.

Surprisingly good for a debut novel. It's not really a mystery, since you know from the beginning who the killer is, but it's a good, quick read that moves right along and keeps pulling you with it. The "average Joe" that gets caught up in the murder investigation is totally believable as a random guy in a boring life that just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I read it right after Educated by Tara Westover and was ready for something lighter (so obviously a murder mystery, right?!) and this fit the bill as a good change of pace. Recommended for a quick mystery-like story - I didn't realize till I finished it that it's the first in a series of one of the cops.....I would definitely read the next one.

I wanted to like this one, since it's set in Oregon, by an Oregon author. I couldn't get into it and found it hard to follow. I've heard that his other books, County Line in particular, are much better and might give them a try.

i don't know, this isn't bad, but didn't entirely work for me. i like the way cameron writes, but i guess i just had problems with the story a bit, and how kadash handled things. i thought it was an interesting premise and liked that aspect of the story, but didn't find kadash believable enough to carry it. that said, there were some great lines in here, and the title is perfect for the mystery and the personal part of what kadash is going through. i don't think this is as strong as lost dog, which starts this series.

at the very beginning of this i wasn't sure about part of the writing - it seemed to me like bill cameron couldn't quite get in the head of a disturbed killer. either this improved as he went along, or i got caught up enough in the story not to notice anymore. otherwise the writing was tight and the characters and story interesting. i don't know that it was always believable, but i often find that true in these thrillers (from dialogue to the decisions they make. i don't think that skin would have done some of the things he did here, like at the very end wiping peter's prints off the gun; i don't think that ruby jane and peter made sense to get together when they met; and i'm not sure the relationship between abby and peter made much sense in how it was written.). it's a very portland book, and that was fun. except that the murder scene in the beginning takes place in the park that my 4 year old son plays in 5 days most weeks. it was easy to visualize all of it; he got the landmarks right. i think this is a solid first book and look forward to seeing what comes next.

I read this book as slowly as I could to savor it and it's quirky cast of characters. I have always thought that Stephen King wrote female characters really well. I never thought any other male writer came close until now. I loved all of these characters, good and bad. None of them were flat or cliche. I loved the use of jumping back and forth in time. Never too far back and always conscious of the present. I even loved simple things like the perfect chapter lengths for reading in chunks and the interesting graphical use of drops of liquid at the start of each chapter. A wonderful book I would highly recommend.

Chasing Smoke was not a disappointment, both in terms of the writing style I was hoping for and a good, hard-boiled mystery. The story was told in the first person of Det. Kadash, who is near the end of his career. He is also not working as a result of a temporary disability; bladder cancer. While convalescing, his partner asks him to help take a look at a death she is investigating, the latest in a series of deaths of cancer patients all seen by the same doctor as Det. Kadash. The deaths all appear to be suicides, but the daughter of one of the victims thinks they are murder. As Det. Kadash looks into it, he doesn't find much other than a few coincidences. In the process, he ruffles feathers that a lot of people would have preferred have been left undisturbed.
Like every good hard-boiled mystery, the protagonist has a difficult time following the rules, has an adversarial relationship with his supervisor, and is better at antagonizing the people he interviews than getting valuable information from them. He has sharp wit, razor tongue, and a gift for sarcasm. But he is also very introspective, although often seems ambivalent, about his career, love life, and cancer. Kadash seems likable to those who really know him, but sadly, that is a small group of people. And he doesn't seem to have a problem making the group smaller.
I enjoyed Chasing Smoke, especially the second half. My first impression about Bill Cameron was right: he is fun to read. A smartass of the first order!

Chasing Smoke was not a disappointment, both in terms of the writing style I was hoping for and a good, hard-boiled mystery. The story was told in the first person of Det. Kadash, who is near the end of his career. He is also not working as a result of a temporary disability; bladder cancer. While convalescing, his partner asks him to help take a look at a death she is investigating, the latest in a series of deaths of cancer patients all seen by the same doctor as Det. Kadash. The deaths all appear to be suicides, but the daughter of one of the victims thinks they are murder. As Det. Kadash looks into it, he doesn't find much other than a few coincidences. In the process, he ruffles feathers that a lot of people would have preferred have been left undisturbed.
Like every good hard-boiled mystery, the protagonist has a difficult time following the rules, has an adversarial relationship with his supervisor, and is better at antagonizing the people he interviews than getting valuable information from them. He has sharp wit, razor tongue, and a gift for sarcasm. But he is also very introspective, although often seems ambivalent, about his career, love life, and cancer. Kadash seems likable to those who really know him, but sadly, that is a small group of people. And he doesn't seem to have a problem making the group smaller.
I enjoyed Chasing Smoke, especially the second half. My first impression about Bill Cameron was right: he is fun to read. A smartass of the first order!

When Skin returns home to find Ruby Jane missing he sets off on search that seems to be dangerous to everyone, including himself.½

Recently I have had the pleasure of reading some very good books. Some have been okay, but others have been mind-blowing. County Line by Bill Cameron was right smack in the middle of okay and mind-blowing at a steady awesome. From the beginning I was wondering how it was all going to wrap up and then right between section one and two there was a wallop when the entire style of the book changed pace as we switched voices. That’s when it started to get exciting.

Part One: Skin. This was my first introduction so Skin Kadash and I can say that it was a pleasant one. Skin is a retired cop with a little bit of an authority problem. He has just wrapped up a winter retreat at a nice bed and breakfast to get his head set straight and he’s been starting to worry about his friend Ruby Jane. It’s possible she just disappeared because she was tired of Skin, but what if that wasn’t it? Skin begins to investigate and discovers a dead man in Ruby Jane’s bathtub. Okay – that’s a little tricky to blow off, now isn’t it? Skin starts tracking Ruby Jane down through her various relatives and friends and connections (and not via Facebook might I add) when he starts to realize he’s stumbled on something big. Ruby Jane’s not quite as innocent as she seems, but Skin has to figure out where she is and just how deep into it she is.

Part Two: Roo. Ruby Jane’s section passes quickly as your mind starts to piece together all the information that is being thrown at you haphazardly. I’m the type of person that loves to read with a pencil and a piece of paper right next to me (Sorry Prof. Slinkard – I still can’t write in my books). I jot down clues, I jot down dates, I jot down names. I needed that skill in this section as Ruby Jane’s story flips and flops back and forth through time. It’s normally pretty easy to follow along, but occasionally I had to stop and backtrack or think. This was the highlight of this book.

Part Three: Biddy. I won’t give away the conclusion, since I’m not into spoilers, but I will say that while this book could be called formulaic (as most books are – even really great books), I still found the conclusion satisfying and somewhat surprising.

I did have to send a tweet to Mr. Cameron at one point, asking him for clarification on one of the passages in the book, and wouldn’t you know it – he replied back! Props to Mr. Cameron. Overall, I found this book to be engaging and fast paced (after you got past Skin’s section) and I really love the characters. Since this is part of a series, I’m going to have to make time to go back and read some of the other bits and pieces of Skin’s story.

Thank you Mr. Cameron.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received County Line by Bill Cameron free from Tyrus Books through the FSB Media review program. I was not required to write a positive review and did not receive any other compensation. The opinions I have expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I downloaded this book as a freebie from Barnes and Noble. IT was ok as a free book, mainly it intrigued me because of the location that the story takes place, (familiar territory). BUT with that being said, I was anxious to finish the book, and I wasn't overly impressed with the typical fairy tale ending.

Ruby Jane Whittaker has gone missing, and it is left to her abandoned love, ex-cop Skin Kadash to find out why. As he travels back through her life, finding skeletons and loves hidden away in her closet, he must also travel across the country to see if he, she, or any involved in her life have a chance at a future.

Day One by Bill Cameron is a fascinating read both for the well-crafted story and the style in which it’s written. It’s a complex tale, rich with dark characters that, thankfully, most of us don’t meet in our daily lives. It’s literary without pretension, well-paced and never formulaic.

The tone is noir with many shades of composite gray. The writing pulls you in without gimmicks, the dialogue and characters are interesting and compelling. There's a genuine and talented author's voice speaking through these pages. I stopped more than once to reread a sentence for the pure thrill and jealousy of great writing.

This is a complex story about strange crimes with deep origins. The narrative glides through the past and present in a engaging manner as a series of interconnected personal stories and interlocking puzzles unfold and pick up steam until they converge with a resonant bang. The story drives forward with one eye on the rear view mirror until the past and present collide and intersect. Cameron does a great job of keeping the reader's mind engaged trying to piece the story's intriguing puzzles together.

Painstakingly set in rural Oregon and urban Portland, the scenery, smells, and regional quirks are conjured with equal doses of sun, mist, and shadows. The author does an excellent job with the basic forensics and police procedures as well as the inner stories and conflicts that drive his good, bad, and ugly characters forward.

Day One is the third book in Cameron’s series. I've only read this one and found that it stands firmly on its own.

Aside from a brief stint working through the Agatha Christie shelf in my local library when I was in grade school, I've never been much of a mystery fan (fantasy and science fiction are my usual preference). However, I know Bill Cameron from around the interwebs, and was interested to see what he's published. Lost Dog, to which Chasing Smoke is a sequel of sorts, was a fantastic book; thrilling, edge-of-your-seat, and some of the most interesting and real feeling characters I'd read recently (something which is often lacking in fantasy).

I was thus quite excited to pick up Chasing Smoke and give it a try, but Chasing Smoke was a bit more difficult for me to get into. The first half or so of the book was relatively slow, particularly compared to Lost Dog. Where Lost Dog is largely plot driven, Chasing Smoke is much more character driven as we follow in the footsteps of the aging detective Skin Kadash as he simultaneously fights with cancer and estranged members of the police force. About half way through things picked up significantly, though, and I found myself just as involved and interested as in Lost Dog.

Chasing Smoke's greatest strengths are its gritty, realistic characters and Cameron's excellent writing. Its main weakness, and the reason I wasn't able to get as excited about this book as I was for Lost Dog, is the lack of a visceral mystery to drive the plot forward (Kadash spends most of the early book doggedly pursuing enquiries into crimes which, as far as his fellow detectives and the reader can tell, are related merely by coincidence).

I would recommend Chasing Smoke for those who enjoy police mysteries and who are interested in complex characters trying to balance very real, personal problems with the rest of their lives. That it is not the plot-driven thrill ride of Cameron's first book is mainly a testament to the breadth of his writing abilities; that it didn't work for me personally quite so well shouldn't dissuade you from picking up Chasing Smoke from the local library or book store.

Not a bad story for a quick read but in the end I found Skin totally unbelievable. He has rearranged a crime scene to his convenience, simply because our protag would like to go visit his new girlfriend rather than deal with police interviews. The story pushed limits and in the end really went beyond my ability to suspend disbelief.

I think you get extra points for creativity on a first book. Just two of the wow-that's-original elements in this noirish crime story are - our hero is a klepto, and his poison - and everyone else's, for that matter, the setting being portland - is coffee. Not whiskey, not beer...coffee!

BC, who hails from up that way himself, painted his town bleak enough that I'm amply put off. Not so good for tourism maybe but what a great setting: snow past its prime, brackish vegetation, wet chill to the bone, and a neighborhood just seedy enough to layer on the pure unpleasantness. Poor Peter - BC sets him up with just about nothing going for him and then spins out the psycho-killer tale.

As for that: it was a bit visceral and depraved for my taste, but I'm certainly not going to tell anyone else what to read. We're all somewhere on that spectrum. If you like a festering tale of psychosexual ruin then you're all set.

I have only one big issue with this book. (Well, and one little one - the words seemed a little clumsy at times, but I think a spin thru the rock-tumbler of continued slogging will render BC's subsequent books smoother.) It's this: Peter spends the first half of the book being fairly unlikeable. It's not his penchant for stealing, but his inhumanity, his lack of desire for human contact. The guy is just plain depressed and depressed people aren't terribly engaging. I mean I feel bad for him, and I want to believe there's a warm guy somewhere under there, but he's irritable and self-absorbed and his angry outbursts get in the way. He's in stasis and that is NOT a good hero setup unless you yank him off that horse just about on the first page.

(The foregoing also makes it hard to believe Ruby Jane's initial attraction to him.)

The second half of the book hums along better and by the end Peter is a-ok. (