HARD COLD WINTER :: Glen Erik Hamilton

Glen Erik Hamilton's first Van Shaw novel, Past Crimes (my review is here), was a refreshing entry into the arena of mystery series, so I was looking forward to digging into the new installment, Hard Cold Winter.

Van is now an ex-Army Ranger, having finished his service and returned to Seattle, his hometown and the setting of Past Crimes. He's looking for work and continuing his relationship with bar-owner girlfriend Luce, when one of his late grandfather Dono's old cronies asks for his help.

Seems Willard's niece, Elana, didn't show up for work (at his underground gambling arena; Willard is still a crime crony) after taking off on a last-minute trip to a cabin with her boyfriend, Kend. Van agrees to check on Elana, and what he finds when he gets to the cabin is less than pleasant news for Willard.

Van knew Elana growing up, both of families with less than above-board talents and each having their own brushes with the law. He's driven to find out what happened, and Luce questions whether this is due to a sense of duty to Elana or a symptom of Van's inability to put away his military mindset.

After ten years of taking orders on where to go and what to do, the bigger changes to my life were obvious, and welcome. But the small things scratched at me. Choosing the shirt I was wearing had taken half an hour. The streets smelled unfamiliar late at night, after Luce's bar had closed, all damp and charged with electricity. Even the buildings seemed to lean toward me. I used to be a city kid.

As Van becomes mired in the mystery of what might have happened to Elana and Kend, he's forced to deal with some complex factions: a serious crime family, the well-to-do (but perhaps equally shady) family of Kend, Kend's unique inner-circle of friends, and, last but not least, former fellow Ranger Specialist Leonard Pak, who shows up on Luce's doorstep suffering some post-service stress himself.

I enjoyed Hard Cold Winter. Hamilton is an engaging writer who tells a compelling story and can turn a nifty phrase:

He was massive. Like a granite block from a quarry, cut to man-shape and set loose. "Get in here," he said. His voice had come from the same pit, pieces smashed to gravel and turned over and over in a concrete mixer.

My breath made dragon plumes in the air.

The story moves along at a good clip and there is plenty of action. Almost too much action in the final act. Which is a strange thing to say, but long-action sequences are often difficult (for this reader) to keep locked into, especially when you're unfamiliar with some of the elements and weapons involved.

I keep finding myself wanting a caper story with Van and all of Dono's old buddies and that's just not what Hamilton has set out to do, at least not in the first two novels. Rather, this is a hard-hitting series dealing with serious issues like post-traumatic stress and the long reach of history.

Indeed, history plays a large part in the series, and in this installment in particular. Van's background, and Dono's teaching and influence, bears greatly on who Van is and is trying to be in the present. I find that element the most fascinating part of the character and the flashback sequences with Van, Dono, and Elana were some of my favorites in Hard Cold Winter.

STREET SENSE:  If you're looking for a series with a protagonist who has a flawed past but is trying to do right, a guy who is a bit messed up and a bit action hero, Van Shaw may be up your alley. With a great cast of secondary characters I want more of, I'm going to stick with it to see if that pans out.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  Trudy Dobbs was a pretty girl. All the pictures I had seen of her online verified that. Even in the lousy snapshots, she was clearly better-looking than average. She was tall and attractive and brown-haired, and the more photos I looked at, the more I disliked her face. Because I couldn't get a solid handle on it. Some people had a face that immediately stuck in your mind, because they were beautiful or ugly or just damned unusual. My face fell solidly in the last category, if not the second. But Trudy's was elusive.

COVER NERD SAYS:  This cover goes really well with the cover of Past Crimes, a theme I hope the publisher keeps up, because they both evoke a great mood for the series. They're not flashy, but they get the job done in fine form and I would definitely pick them up off a bookstore table on first sight.

PAST CRIMES :: Glen Erik Hamilton

Army Ranger Van Shaw has been on desk duty in Germany for two months recovering from a shrapnel wound when he receives a letter from his estranged grandfather, Donovan. Dono's message is short, written in Irish Gaelic translating as "Come home, if you can." Interpreting his grandfather's letter as an out-of-character plea rather than a command, Van becomes concerned:

"If you can" scared me a little, coming from that immovable son of a bitch. 

Van requests leave and goes "home" to Seattle after ten years away, not having returned or spoken to his grandfather since enlisting in the Army at eighteen. Arriving in the early morning to find the door to the house wide open and Dono on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head, Van is determined to figure out who shot his grandfather and why, all before his leave is up in ten days. 

Complicating matters, and perhaps widening the suspect pool, is the fact that Dono Shaw is a thief with a considerable record and a bevy of old cohorts around town. Van is also at a disadvantage having been out of touch with Dono for so long, with no idea what he's been up to. Raised by Dono from a young age, Van was Dono's ward and his student, learning the crime trade and ultimately becoming an accomplice to the old man until their ultimate falling out. 

Dono Shaw was a thief. He'd been a career criminal since his teens. Robberies mostly, wild cowboy shit. After that approach had earned him the sorry record that Guerin had shared with me, Dono smartened up and changed his methods. And he had taught me. About stealing cars and forgery and security alarms. And money. How to find it, how to take it, how to hide it. At twelve I could use a thermite mini-lance well enough to beat the relocking safety on most commercial safes. By fifteen I probably knew more about police interrogation tricks than Kanellis did now. I had been hot shit. I doubted that Dono had changed in the ten years I'd been gone. Either my grandfather had made a score recently or he was planning one soon.  He didn't take vacations.

What Van does know is that Dono was careful to the point of paranoia, especially after a stint in prison left Van in foster care for over a year. It's almost unfathomable to Van that Dono has ended up in grave condition in the hospital, and he leaves Dono's bedside determined to find out what Dono was up to and what went wrong.  

Past Crimes is Glen Erik Hamilton's debut novel and I was quite impressed, there's a lot to like here. Van is a smart protagonist who is easy to root for, particularly since he takes chances during his investigation but isn't foolhardy. I wasn't left rolling my eyes at his decisions, which can easily be the result when a non-professional (or sometimes even a professional) takes up an investigation. 

Hamilton did take advantage of the talents Van learned from Dono, but not to the extent Van came off as a criminal mastermind. This element of Van's character was used sparingly and smartly, since Van has been out of the crime trade for almost two decades. I was truly impressed with how Hamilton drew Van's character and the restraint that made him all the more real and relatable. 

The plot was both interesting and realistic, with Van coming to conclusions and finding clues in ways that didn't strain credibility or take me out of the story. I also appreciated the hell out of Hamilton outright rejecting a trope that drives me crazy: stupid or inept law enforcement personnel. Early on, Van points out that the cops and crime scene folks know what they're doing, and his relationship with the investigating detectives feels genuine rather than a plot tool. 

My one minor disappointment with the novel may turn out to be a positive in a continuing series. Past Crimes is chock full of supporting characters who are pure gold just waiting to be mined. There's Addy Proctor, Dono's knitting and baking neighbor, his attorney, Ephraim Ganz, and his partners in previous crimes - smuggler Hollis Brent, tech genius Jimmy Corcoran, and sometime-driver, full-time muscle (but not dumb muscle, thank you) Willard. I anticipated a full-on caper involving Van teaming up with the old guard.

I didn't get exactly that, although each character has a role to play in Past Crimes. Hamilton did a great job of letting me know enough about the secondary characters that I'm anxious to meet them again and will definitely pick up the next in the series to see if their roles expand. I certainly hope they do, this gang has the makings of a great series with plenty of background material and talents to lend the plot.

STREET SENSE: I was impressed with this debut and many of the decisions made by the author. Van Shaw is a multi-faceted protagonist I'll be interested to revisit in the hopes that the supporting cast is even more involved in his life.

A FAVORITE PASSAGE:  I'd call you lucky, Dono. But that luck just kicked trouble down the road a little way.

COVER NERD SAYS:  I'm a sucker for the San Juan Islands and surrounding area, so this picture spoke to my innards in a strong way. The color also spoke to my blue mind, so I was attracted to the book right away. My only quibble is the title font sitting over the island image, which leaves a bright yellow color hanging on the lower portions of the "RIME" in "CRIMES." I found this a little distracting, as that overlap changes the color of the image and that yellow isn't to be found anywhere else. As I said, a very small quibble. Overall, this cover would definitely get me to pick up the book if I saw it on a shelf or bookstore display table.