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Jack Wakes Up Jack Palms Crime Mysteries Seth Harwood Books

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Jack Wakes Up Jack Palms Crime Mysteries Seth Harwood Books

Seth Harwood's Jack Wakes Up is a funny, exciting trip through the chaotic life of Jack Palms. Jack is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. He is a washed up one hit wonder movie star famous for a buddy cop movie he made years ago called Shake 'em Down. Now Jack has no money, no prospects and bill collectors knocking down his door. Enter an old friend with a proposition, Jack is offered a job as a middle man to help broker a large coke deal between some Colombians and some former Czech KGB agents. The deal goes south and Jack's friend ends up dead with evidence pointing to Jack's involvement. Jack then has to solve the murder, keep the coke fueled Czechs from tearing up San Francisco, fight off Russian gangsters, and duck the cop who arrested him for a trumped up charge of domestic violence and ruined his movie career. This book is a smooth start for the Jack palms series. It really humanizes Jack and his deeply flawed character trying for a shot at redemption. The action and plot are far fetched, but hey that's why it called FICTION. Jack Wakes Up is fast, furious fun for all involved. I recommend this book to crime fiction fans or hard core action fans.


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Jack Wakes Up Jack Palms Crime Mysteries Seth Harwood Books Reviews

In Jack Wakes up, Harwood gives us a new twist on the old noir heist formula. Jack Palms, out of work actor, is tapped by a friend to play second fiddle on a giant drug dealer. He needs the money. He needs the distraction. He's so amazingly bored that when bullets start flying and people start dying, he finds it exhilarating. In this, his first outing, Harwood combines the classic noir sensibilities of James M Cain with the quck-clipped plot movement that children of the nineties have come to expect from Tarantino films. He also gives Jack Wakes up an unusual but indispensable element A sense of place. Not content to use just the familiar landmarks, Jack moves down in the older, decaying parts of San Francisco and other flavorful parts of the Bay Area.

In short, Jack Wakes Up is an excellent crime noir, and it keeps you on your toes with hundreds of little surprises, such as a trio of Czech gangsters who want nothing more than to tour the USA on Harleys bring a touch of the tragicomic (reminiscent of the gangsters in Ludlum's "Road to Gandolfo" without descending into farce). Add to that the use of present tense narration (the last time the present tense used this well was in Scott Turow's "Presumed Innocent"), and you've got the recipie for a novel that moves fast, keeps you on your toes, and has some delightful and moving twists that leave you sincerely caring about every one of the characters, from the buffoons to the monsters.

With the superb use of language, the far-above-par-writing, and the hopping story, Harwood's debut is the start of a promising career. Highly recommended.
"Jack Wakes Up" is a good noir / crime thriller!

L.A., drugs & betrayal....

The characters are good, the main character Jack Palms isn't quite the tough guy I thought he would be. The Czechs are great characters and have all the usual eastern European stereotypes built in. The bad guys really arent too bad at all unfortunately. Maxine, a stripper turned bartender is really the only female character in the book.

This is not a five star book, but its a great first effort and I think Seth Harwood's writing will only get better!

I enjoyed the book, the writing isn't quite on the level of Charlie Hustons' Hank Thompson trilogy "Caught Stealing", "Six Bad Things" & "A Dangerous Man", but you have to start somewhere. Also, the book doesn't have that raw feel to it, like Josh Bazell's "Beat the Reaper", but it trys hard.

I've heard and read about this series having two more books including Jack Palms, I'm not sure if I'm going to read those, but I'll definitely be checking the reviews.

visit Seth Harwood's website at

[...]
I don't generally read this type of fiction but I really enjoyed it. Jack is a sympathetic character and the Czechs that he gets involved with are entertaining. One of the things I like best about this book is that it's the first book in a series. It's always sad to finish a book you like knowing that it's the end of your relationship with the characters. However, with this book not only can you read more about Jack's adventures but there are a couple of books focused specifically on characters you meet in the first book. I'm looking forward to reading the other books in the series and spending more time in Jack's world.
Harwood gives us a down and out noir hero with a twist--he's already hit rock bottom and mastered clean living to a boring degree. Jack Palms had his moment of fame when he starred in the action thriller, Shake `Em Down, but fell from grace when he developed a drug habit and was falsely accused of spousal abuse. Now he's got bills piling up and he might lose his house, but he refuses to give up his 1966 Mustang Fastback. He drives it over to meet his old drug dealer friend, Ralph, and his Czech friends, in town to buy a large quantity of cocaine. When Ralph is found dead the next day, Jack jumps in with both feet to track down his killer. He knows it has something to do with the gun-toting thugs who shoot one of the Czechs when they meet a Columbian drug dealer at a trendy nightclub, and he stays involved because he hasn't felt so alive in a long time. He finds himself in the middle of a bad situation with ex-KGB agents, South Americans, drug dealers, and a huge ex-NFL player...and let's not forget the femme fatale. He puts all the pieces together between visits to a set of urban nightclubs and subsequent shoot-outs, and the bodies pile up. This is some quality noir on the streets of San Francisco, with a very likeable hero, and a great ending. If Jack Palms has any more adventures, I'll go along for the ride.
Seth Harwood's Jack Wakes Up is a funny, exciting trip through the chaotic life of Jack Palms. Jack is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. He is a washed up one hit wonder movie star famous for a buddy cop movie he made years ago called Shake 'em Down. Now Jack has no money, no prospects and bill collectors knocking down his door. Enter an old friend with a proposition, Jack is offered a job as a middle man to help broker a large coke deal between some Colombians and some former Czech KGB agents. The deal goes south and Jack's friend ends up dead with evidence pointing to Jack's involvement. Jack then has to solve the murder, keep the coke fueled Czechs from tearing up San Francisco, fight off Russian gangsters, and duck the cop who arrested him for a trumped up charge of domestic violence and ruined his movie career. This book is a smooth start for the Jack palms series. It really humanizes Jack and his deeply flawed character trying for a shot at redemption. The action and plot are far fetched, but hey that's why it called FICTION. Jack Wakes Up is fast, furious fun for all involved. I recommend this book to crime fiction fans or hard core action fans.