It takes good writing to turn a non-believer into a believer. Steve Hamilton's DIE A STRANGER is one of the books in the Alex McKnight series that turned me into a committed reader. I didn't enjoy the first two books in the series, but the third book peaked my interest enough to keep me reading until the second last book in the series (for some reason, the last book as at writing this review, Dead Man Running (2018) is not available in kindle). Overall the Alex McKnight series is good entertainment. The quality of the books is erratic, ranging from the excellence of Blood is the Sky, A Stolen Season and Die a Stranger to the plodding Let it Burn.

Here is a brief review of each book in the series:

A Cold Day in Paradise 1* see my full review for this book

Winter of the Wolf Moon 2,5* see my full review for this book

The Hunting Wind 3* Starting to enjoy this series and to get to know the characters better. Vinnie le Blanc is a favourite; Alex is still somewhat irritating as a bumbling ex-cop who somehow has the luck to solve mysteries that official channels can't.

North of Nowhere 3* Enjoyed this book enough to decide to buy the rest of the series.

Blood is the Sky 4* Goodness! What a tense and exciting story.

Ice Run 3* Enjoyable & entertaining. Alex still exasperates me at times, but now I've grown fond of him.

A Stolen Season 4* Fast-paced story, gripping tension and a story in which Alex shows depth & complexity. Highly enjoyable read.

Beneath the Book Tower 1* Awful.

Misery Bay 3* Entertaining read. Interesting to see the development between Chief Mavern and Alex.

Die a Stranger 4* Brilliant, gripping, fast-paced, with a hard edge that added to the tension. Lou le Blanc was a great secondary character - complex and interesting.

Let It Burn 1* Such a disappointment after the excellence of DIE A STRANGER & others. Formulaic, tired, too much repetitive detail which slowed the story to a yawn-making speed. The back-story flash backs didn't work and contributed to slowing the pace. The killer was obvious from the first appearance. Alex McKnight belongs in Paradise; taking him out of his milieu didn't work - he needs his cast of secondary characters to add depth and interest. ( )

Steve Hamilton is just getting better and better at his craft even as he chooses to go beyond just the "mystery" story and focus and the lives of the main characters in his stories. This book sees Alex McKnight, reluctant private eye, searching high and low for his friend Vinnie LeBlanc, who has disappeared under suspicious circumstances involving his cousin, Buck and a botched drug deal that caused a few deaths. Out of the blue, Vinnie's long lost father Lou appears, and both of the searchers form a bond while traveling across the Great Lakes territory following thin lead after thin lead. On the way, Alex learns a lot about Lou, Vinnie's father and how he came to be estranged from the family, as well as how far a father's love will go to save a son, as well as his own sense of family and loss.

Being from Michigan, these books are even more interesting. I remember visiting some of the places that Steve Hamilton writes about, so could really picture the scenes. Die a Stranger was suspenseful from beginning to end and certainly an enjoyable read.
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AUTHOR: Hamilton, Steve
TITLE: Die a Stranger
DATE READ: 01/25/2016
RATING: 5/A
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS Crime Fiction/ 2012 / St. Martin's / 277 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE: #9 Alex McKnight
CHARACTERS Alex McKnight / private detective
TIME/PLACE: 2012 / UP, MI
FIRST LINES On a clear warm night in June, a small airplane is flying low over Lake Huron.
COMMENTS: Steve Hamilton is another "sure thing" for me -- great book! Alex's best friend Vinnie Le Blanc goes missing along w/ Buck Carrick. Vinnie's mother recently passed and he has been acting strange… A small Canadian plane has delivered weed to small airport and leaves behind several dead… Buck was the only one left alive. Alex is assisted by Lou LeBlanc, Vinnie's father who has been the guest of Nevada's penitentiary system for the last 2 decades. Riveting read. ( )

What seems to be an extended road trip around Michigan explodes into action in the last third of this new Alex McKnight novel. Steve Hamilton does an excellent job . ( )

I won this from the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

It took awhile for me to really get into this book. It was slow for about the first 80 pages and then it started getting pretty interesting. The last 100 pages though really grabbed me and it became very difficult for me to put the book down. I liked the way the story unfolded and even though the ending wasn't totally happy, it was very fitting and left me satisfied. I will have to look for other books in this Alex McKnight series by this author. ( )