The Fury
Review
The Fury
I recently had a conversation with an author --- a gentleman
full to the brim with wit, intelligence and talent --- who put
forth the proposition that the most wonderful thing in the world is
the mass market paperback book. I agreed; these paperbacks cost but
a few dollars, is available just about anywhere, provides several
hours of entertainment, is quiet, does not require a power source,
and can be taken literally anywhere.
It is the latter element --- portability --- that I found to be
a blessing when reading THE FURY, which is the latest and, by far,
the best of Jason Pinter’s paperback series involving New
York Gazette reporter Henry Parker. I picked up the book at a
time when I was bopping around a bit. Once I started, I did not
want to stop reading it. And, thankfully, I did not have to. I just
brought it with me while waiting for appointments, standing in
line, suffering through elevator music, and the like.
Pinter hits it out of the park with THE FURY. While the three
previous Parker books have been great reads, this one takes it a
step further as Pinter really gets into the soul of Henry Parker.
It begins interestingly enough with Parker being accosted on his
way home from work by an individual who he takes to be a common
homeless person. Although a total stranger, the man seems to know
Parker, who manages to extricate himself from the situation. Those
of us who live and/or work in larger cities have experienced
variations on this theme, have we not? But the change up from
normal, everyday happenstance in THE FURY occurs a few hours later
when Parker learns that the stranger, Stephen Gaines, has been
found executed. The major surprise for Parker, however, is that
Gaines was the brother whom Parker never knew he had, the result of
a long-ago liaison between Parker’s estranged father and a
woman who was in the picture before Parker was born.
Naturally, Parker wants answers. He returns to his hometown of
Bend, Oregon, accompanied by Amanda Davies, his wonderful and
true-to-life significant other, for the purpose of confronting his
father. James is a belligerent, hostile man whose ambition (or lack
thereof) is in inverse proportion to his anger at the world. The
reunion between father and son is awkward enough, but is made more
so when James is inexplicably arrested by the Bend Police
Department on a warrant from New York for the murder of Gaines.
Don’t worry; there is an explanation here --- THE FURY is
not a variation on THE COLORADO KID, a book littered with dead-ends
and unanswered questions --- but I won’t spoil the revelation
for you. Suffice to say that Parker, in spite of their strained
relationship, attempts to prove his father’s innocence,
demonstrating, as Davies notes, that he is not his father. In order
to prove that James did not kill Stephen, however, Parker must
solve the murder of the brother he never knew he had. Using his
reporter’s instincts and tenacity, he begins working
backwards, picking up the trail of Gaines’s life. While doing
so, he uncovers an ingenious (and dangerous) criminal organization
operating in plain sight in the heart of Manhattan, an organization
that will remove anyone who might get in their way.
There is much to love in THE FURY. Pinter has been slowly but
steadily building a supporting cast around Parker that manages not
to overshadow the main character and yet remains memorable in their
own individual ways. Pinter is also quite adept at sprinkling
surprises throughout his narratives, and THE FURY is no exception:
it is like unwrapping a Christmas present from beginning to
end.
Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on January 22, 2011