Customer Reviews: Read 87 more reviews...
 Thoroughly interesting and gripping book. November 20, 2008
I have to be honest when I first started reading this book I was not that sure it was going to interest me. At first glance the writing style did not appeal but within the first few pages all my preconceptions about it were blown away. The phrase never judge a book by its cover should also include first glance impressions. Not only did it enthral me from the beginning as I never expected it would but it actually kept me biting my nails. The characters are believable and engaging, while the story keeps you reading for more. Plausibility does not have much of a place in fiction in my mind (I refer to the Kirkus review here) but City of the Sun does not present anything too far out, look out for Levien in the future. A good read!!
 Tiresome November 20, 2008
Tiresome cliched and formulaic trash from a script writer of average forgettable movies. It's characters are wooden genre cliches that fall dead from the page. Nothing new or even well written, another dull genre novel written for the cash. I got this book for free and I still can't think of anything good to say about the book. It's a really bad lifeless novel by the numbers. It's not his debut novel either, he's written a novel called "Swagbelly".
The blurbs on the back written by fellow potboiler writers all published by Random House and it's subsidiaries, they obviously feel no shame gushing about this trash. Perhaps he should start writing scripts for video games, which would be at his level of talent. Seriously, I just finished Max Payne 2 and even that had better plotting and dialogue! It's almost at the level of fanfiction, with it's risible attempt at being hard-boiled, literally laugh out loud atrocious. At times I thought he was deliberately writing a parody. The Private eye "Behr", the tough ex-cop built like a bear is an assemblage of cliches, like a potatohead character assembled by a dull child. Frankly awful. Dutifully, Levien returns every so often to the mother, to remind us how sad it all is. At one point she breaks down in a yoga class: "The ancient wounds of her pelvis, which had spread wide to birth Jamie, began to open". That's one of the better lines! Even the dark secret pain he carries is a run of the mill cliche (Son plays with Cops gun, BANG, life falls apart, etc).
There's even a Mexican showdown with some more lifeless characters (Instead of using the cliche "Gringos" he uses "Gueros", which is about the best thing I can mention on his 'Mexican characterization').
It's like he read a Charles Willford or an Elmore Leonard novel and thought "that looks easy, I can do that!" Clearly he can't.
Easily the worst book I've read his year, even video games have better writing.
 Modern noir deserving of it's predecessors November 20, 2008
The noir detective thriller is one of those genres of fiction where no matter what you write you're always going to be compared to the past masters who helped define the genre, in this case Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. 'City of the Sun' isn't 'The Big Sleep' but David Levien gets almost worryingly close in his first effort as an author.
The story is a satisfyingly dark affair centred around child abduction that manages to avoid the potential sensationalism of the subject whilst still not shying away from it's nastier aspects. The chief protagonist is a private detective but in a break from tradition the parents of the missing boy are followed and fleshed out fully by the end of the book, this lends a great deal more urgency to the case and gives the reader a much more direct stake in events.
The book is well written in a style that evokes Chandler but is very much it's own thing. You'll find yourself quickly caught up in the flow, the pace and tension increasing gradually till the last thirty pages or so rocket along at a terrific pace. The beginning of the book is admittedly a little slow, but once Behr (the private detective) arrives this problem vanishes. When the violence comes, as it inevitably does, it's gripping and though Levien's film career shows a little in places it's plausible enough and gritty enough to keep you engaged.
All principle characters, in particular Behr and the boy's parents, are impressively well drawn with some nuances that though far from essential to the plot form fully three-dimensional protagonists who are very relatable and, in the case of Behr, could easily become the subject of series that might just give Phillip Marlowe something to worry about.
As detective novels go this is good solid fare and one of the few modern novels in the noir detective genre to be truly worthy of the tradition. Having said that there's a couple of small faults that hold it back from true greatness, the opening is a little slow and some secondary characters are a good bitter flatter then they really should be, but that shouldn't stop you from reading this and loving every minute.
Excellent story, riveting and a good read November 4, 2008
David Levien uses all his screenplay experience and talent to the full on the crime novel about a young boy that simply disappears off the street whilst on his bike.
Levine focuses his book on the crime solving, no bull, take no prisons ex cop now special private invesigator "Frank Behr", called in by the boy's parents to find their son a year and a half after the the police enquiry turned up nothing. Behr who gets close to the grieving family, starts turning over the stones of crime locally that eventually leads to a thrilling finale full of excitement. In the middle is the seedy underworld of child kidnapping and Behr's tough mind to get through it with a result.
Levien takes his time to build the characters very nicely with clinical attention to detail, that puts you right in the book there with the characters watching on, it's excellent. I really enjoyed his writing style and the way he hooks the reader in.
If you like well written detailed thrillers that build into a solid good story that keeps you hooked, the City of the Sun delivers.
 Every Parent's Nightmare Made Readable October 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Straightforward read from a Hollywood screenwriter, so don't be surprised if it ends up a film. Story is basically: boy gets kidnapped in the USA, police fail to find him, distraught parents hire tough ex-cop private investigator, he gets leads, father of boy joins him on trip to Mexico where the final action takes place. The characterization and emotional content is solid enough for this type of book, and the pace and action flow along realistically, I guess. Ultimately, this is written in an undemanding style although the criminal and emotional context might make you wish you were able to exercise some kind of justice on the predators who pray on children.
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