Wow.  It's been a really long time since I was this disappointed in a book!  North of Nowhere is Steve Hamilton's fourth Alex McKnight book.  I haven't read any of the others, and after this one, I'm not sure I will.

Alex McKnight, ex-policeman, ex-private investigator, is going through a bit of a mid-life crisis.  He's about to turn 49 and thinks his life is going pretty much nowhere.  Thus he turns into a recluse, leaving his friends behind.  But not tonight!  Tonight his pal Jackie is going to drag Alex out of the house if it's the last thing he does.  Jackie twists Alex's arm, and forces him to be the sixth hand in a game of poker at some bigwig's house.

But mid-game, three masked gunmen break into the house.  The players are held at gunpoint while the owner's secret safe is robbed, and his precious collection of antiques is destroyed.

As if this isn't traumatic enough, the next day, Alex finds himself a suspect in the doings, as if he set it all up!  So Alex sets out on a quest, to find out who was really behind the robbery, and discovers a plot that's supposed to be sinister and evil beyond belief.  I say 'supposed to be' because, frankly, I found the plot to be unbelievably lame and mundane.

The part of the book where Alex is following the clues to piece the puzzle together was fine.  It was interesting enough, and certainly held my interest. I did want to know who was behind the robbery.  And, of course, I didn't want any innocent people to be held responsible for something they didn't do.

But when all is revealed, I was completely disappointed.  The motivations behind the robbery were ridiculous.  And the way the perpetrators justified their actions were completely crazy.  As if someone - anyone - actually deserves to be held at gunpoint and robbed!  Not to mention all of the unintended consequences that ensued.  By the time all was said and done people were seriously hurt, some were killed, and others will probably be traumatized for the rest of their lives.  Yet the robbers still feel their actions were justified, that it was all worth it.  I never heard one ounce of remorse from anyone about what they did.

And - finally - the ending.  I'm not talking about the final action scene - that was pretty cool, actually.  I'm talking about the final outcome of the whole story. It was one of the worst I've read.  No, I'm not going to tell you why it was so bad.  Just in case for some reason you actually still want to read this book.  But trust me, you'll walk away scratching your head and wondering if you can possibly get back those hours you spent on this McKnight disaster.

Recommended: No