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No Regrets, Coyote (2013)

by John Dufresne(Favorite Author)

3.45 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

039334892X (ISBN13: 9780393348927)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

review 1: A Florida comedic mystery with Wylie (Coyote) Melville, a psychologist who gets involved in an apparent family murder-suicide on Christmas, by his police officer friend (not) Carlos, who needs help periodically from the psychologist to 'read people.' His own family and friends are typically quirky and charming - the vagrant who moves in step by step, the cat who bites almost everyone but makes Wylie's home 'a home,' his Dad who most likely caused his son to go into psychology and is now fading into old age dementia, and Bay, his magician friend and rescuer, to mention a few. He lives in an Everglades community but other than one alligator, headless body and airboat adventure the location could be anywhere. The story takes him and his Dad to an adventure in Alaska where he ... moregets to share the aurora borealis with his father before his father dies, and he gets to re unite with Carlos for a shoot out and snow chase. I like the writing style; the every day products and descriptions. It's a fun read.
review 2: John Dufresne is a wonderful writer, and there are many scenes in this mystery/noir/literary fiction novel that capture the comedy, weirdness, and, yes, beauty of south Florida. In those, he is as funny as a Hiaasen or Barry but with more depth and texture. Where the book falls down for me is its attempts to be a standard mystery or a Hiaasen nut-fest. There are too many characters and twists for me to keep track of the whodunnit part of the story, or even really care when the big reveal comes. Without giving anything away, I did not spend enough time with any of the characters who end up betraying or not betraying the protagonist, Wylie “Coyote” Melville, a therapist and forensic consultant to the police, to feel surprise when they reveal their true colors. Also, I had a hard time getting a grasp on Coyote. He seems like a terrible therapist (maybe that is the point) with only a passing interest in his clients' problems and usually only when they throw light on his own. At some points, he is hard-nosed (enough to casually risk or view violent death), at others, ridiculously soft (Hallmark-like descriptions of his new kitten? Save it for YouTube), at still others callous (Red, and those of you who have read this will know what I am talking about). Coyote's friend Bay is my favorite character (though I don't see the point of his girlfriend) and the first scene of the book (about him) is an example of the sort of great writing that makes this a four star work of literary fiction rather than a three or two star mystery/thriller. less

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