by Daniel Friedman
This is the first in a one-of-a-kind, spectacularly well-written mystery series featuring Buck Schatz, an eighty-seven-year-old retired Memphis cop with a know-it-all plugged-in grandson as his sidekick. When Buck learns that an old adversary may have escaped Germany with a fortune in stolen gold, Buck decides to hunt down the fugitive and claim the loot. But lots of people want a piece of the stolen treasure, and Buck's investigation quickly attracts unfriendly attention from a Mississippi loan shark, a seven-foot tall Hasidic Jew and a bloodthirsty maniac hell-bent on rubbing out everybody who knows anything about the stolen gold. This is sure to be a big hit with readers who love Elmore Leonard, Walter Mosley, early Jonathan Lethem and superlative detective fiction in general.
BookBrowse Review
"Sadly, I was disappointed by Don't Ever Get Old, particularly from the humor standpoint. Most of it relies on the reader finding the main character's irascibility funny, but I found him to be somewhat mean-spirited and, in some respects, too close-to-home to be funny. But humor is very subjective, so if you find curmudgeons funny this might be the book for you. The plot is rather silly and improbable with a great many flaws. On the plus side, there were several poignant passages that did endear the character to me." - Kim Kovacs
Others Say
"Starred Review. A sardonically appealing debut for a detective who assures his long-suffering grandson, 'I care about people. I just don't like them.'" - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. Friedman's excellent debut introduces a highly unusual hero, 87-year-old, politically incorrect Buck Schatz, a former member of the Memphis PD, who's become a living legend... Friedman makes his limited lead plausible, and bolsters the story line with wickedly funny dialogue." - Publisher's Weekly
"Daniel Friedman is the Jewish Elmore Leonard. Friedman is a master storyteller who can speed your heart up and stop it on a dime." - Andrew Shaffer, EvilReads.com
"Laugh-out-loud funny as well as surprisingly poignant. Kudos to Daniel Friedman for giving us a nearly ninety-year-old hero who's not going gently into that good night - he's going out with guns blazing, F-bombs flying and a pack of Lucky Strikes." - Lisa Brackmann, author of Rock Paper Tiger
This information about Don't Ever Get Old was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Daniel Friedman is a graduate of the University of Maryland and NYU School of Law. He lives in New York City.
He who opens a door, closes a prison
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