Jimmy Gage is back from 'Flinch' still digging up dirt for SLAP magazine. His boss Nino Napitano, a high powered guy who thrives on life at the fringes of propriety, stages a high profile scavenger hunt where the winning team must return with a major Oscar. Jimmy, his hustling computer geek friend Rollo and the Monelli twins meet the challenge after connecting with Garrett Walsh, a flash in the pan director who won two Oscars seven years before. Walsh now lives in a trailer, just out of prison after serving out his plea bargain deal for the rape / murder of fifteen-year-old Heather Grimm.

A more subtle connection to the title emerges as Ferrigno writes the rest of the story. In his quest to find out what really happened to Garrett Walsh, Jimmy seems to be on a scavenger hunt of his own finding an array of fascinating bit part players, most only in the picture for one chapter. Characters like:

the Monelli twins: bimbos with brains, maybe;
the Butcher: a one-on-one basketball maniac;
Cheri: an aspiring actress who defines the outer limits of self-absorbion;
Trunk: an ex-vice cop dying of cancer who is perfectly out of place on a posh golf course;
the man in a wheelchair and Serena the maid whose lives center around a flea bag motel.

Just as he is a master at providing a pigeon's eye view of the undercarriage of life in Southern California, Ferrigno also creates tension that will jolt his reader to a new level of awareness. Wait until you read the last three words of Chapter 19.

Though I hated the ending, I love the way Ferrigno writes and still give 'Scavenger Hunt' a solid five stars. Everything else more than made up for it.

Robert Ferrigno wrote Horse Latitudes and then followed it with the brilliant Heartbreaker, which stands alone as great mystery noir. Then we didn't hear from him for awhile. That hiatus was followed by Flinch. I did not care for Flinch. I imagine I didn't care for Jimmy Gage. He seemed trite and superficial.

Perhaps another author would start anew but Mr. Ferrigno rewrote Jimmy. And this Jimmy, well let's say that Spenser, Elvis and Dave Robicheaux have nothing on him.

The story opens innocuously enough on a scavenger hunt authored by the bizarre and wealthy editor (and Jimmy's boss) of Slap Magazine, Nino. Read eccentric. Read wierd. But read interesting. All of Ferrigno's characters are interesting. The sexy Holt, the brash and abusive (but with a heart of gold) Katz, Rollo, the murder victim Walsh, all of them.

What's fascinating about Jimmy Gage is that he now has great depth and great range. He's fearless, he's loyal and he's committed.

Walsh is killed; Jimmy blames himself for not listening to all the warning signs. (See Bogart in The Long Goodbye.) He can't let go of the incongruities.

Twists. Turns. False discoveries. Irrelevant Kung Fu masters and Baskeball players. Violent confrontations and searing sex. Ferrigno makes you feel uncomfortable. And then there is Sugar. Whew. Sugar really makes you feel uncomfortable.

Whodunit? Fooled me. A great novel. A keeper.

The last item Jimmy Gage and his team needs to complete their scavenger hunt is an Oscar. No problem. His buddy Rollo knows where to find two... in the possession of Garrett Walsh, a director recently released from seven years in prison for a murder he committed in a drug haze. Or did he?

Walsh knows Jimmy is a writer for SLAP magazine so he tries to convince him to write an article proclaiming Walsh's innocence. He claims to have received a letter that convinced him he was framed. Now he wants to produce a new movie that will not only establish his innocence, but names the high profile murderer. Jimmy doubts the story until Walsh's body is found floating in a koi pond. Now Jimmy's off on his own scavenger hunt, for the truth.

Scavenger Hunt is a tightly written, darkly funny trek across Southern California. It's a pleasure to see many of the characters back from their debut in Flinch as well as to meet the new characters. What makes them so likable (besides Ferrigno's great sense of humor) is that the good guys aren't all good and the bad guys aren't all bad. Just like real life. This book has enough twists and turns to keep you wondering, enough surprises to keep you up a little too late at night reading. The only thing left to wonder when you reach the end is, when's Ferrigno's next book due out.

Robert Ferrigno just keeps getting better. Unfortunately, this means that while "Heartbreaker" is far better than his 1990 debut novel, it is far worse than 2001's 'Flinch.' Ferrigno once again depicts the low-lifes of Orange County, California, and features the usual noirish cast: a protagonist with his own "moral code," a femme fatale, a rich stepmother, a spoiled 'pretty boy' playboy, and a hired thug.

'Heartbreaker' is a more deeply layered story than previous efforts, and he cleverly melds two main subplots centered in drug-obsessed Florida and in glitzy/seamy Orange County. For the most part, the writing is brisk and humorous, and Ferrigno does breezy dialogue and tense situations very well. (There's also the usual graphic violence that may turn some readers off.)

However, the story's implausible twists and betrayals made this a disappointing read. Why would someone trying to 'lay low' appear on a drug-dealing killer's favorite TV show and taunt him, thus making it easy to track him? There's an unappealing victim who is portrayed as an admirable person, and an appealing person who abruptly changes towards the very end of the story. While these catch you by surprise, they seem contrived, especially in the latter example. 'Flinch' is a much better book, although populated with similar characters and action, you don't feel so manipulated.

Val Duran, our hero, works on the set of several B action movies, not unlike the book itself. It would have (and often reads like) a solid screenplay. There is not a lot of depth to the characters and frankly it is hard to care about them. There are some interesting points to each of them, but they are not explored. The ending was a good solid suprise, but it does not rescue what is a really a fairly interesting story, but no more. There are some laughs... This book was not a waste, but there are so many better thrillers out there...

Eight months ago in Miami, the Jackson brothers, working for Junior, a drugpin, kill undercover cop Steffano. At a Cuban restaurant Steffano's police partner Val Duran shares a meal with the Jacksons. The hired guns take immense pleasure in bragging to Val about the bombing death of Steffano as much as the meal they savor. Fearing for his own life, the next morning Val flees for Los Angeles.

Not wanting to obtain any jobs involving law enforcement, Val quickly accepts work as a stuntman. Val also meets and falls in love with Kyle Abbott. However, he soon finds himself embroiled with a family on the ropes. Kyle's half-brother hires some thugs to kill his wealthy stepmother. Adding to his woes, Junior wants Val dead. As both situations and his passion for Kyle heat up, Val finds himself in the middle of trouble that easily could leave him dead.

No one who enjoys a fast-paced Hollywood mystery will suffer from a broken heart after reading Robert Ferrigno's best novel in about a decade (since THE HORSE LATITUDES). The story line is reminiscent of Elmore Leonard's Shorty tales as the myriad of subplots blends together into an action-packed story line where California dreaming meets Miami vice. Fans of the sub-genre will cherish Val for his quest for love even as thugs threaten his life. Readers will definitely desire his return in a sequel.

Harriet Klausner

Jimmy Gage is a newspaper reporter and movie critic for Slap Magazine, a tabloid on a par with those sold in supermarkets. Amidst his office mail, he receives a letter from the Eggman, a serial killer who has slain six people. The Eggman brags that no law enforcement official has found a link between the homicides. The police conclude that Jimmy wasted their time and made up a story to gain notoriety for himself and his paper. He leaves town under a cloud.

Jimmy returns home a year only later to find his brother married to the woman he loves. He also finds a set of Eggman graphic pictures in Jonathan's beach house. By the time the police arrive, the photos are missing. Jimmy and Jonathan begin a rematch of their cat and mouse game that ran the former out of town once before.

Robert Ferrigno has written another action-packed thriller that sends chills up and down the spines of the audience. Jimmy is an interesting protagonist who remains likeable even as he rushes into trouble without thinking about the consequences. FLINCH is the ultimate cat and mouse game in which a blink may prove a lifetime for the loser.

Harriet Klausner

"Flinch" is a fast-paced mystery detailing a cat and mouse game between a low-rent journalist and his brother, a high priced plastic surgeon who the journalist suspects of being a serial killer. The title refers to the relatively innocent sado-masochistic games of their adolescence, magnified in the present to deadly proportions.

Ferrigno writes in an updated noir style, using crisp dialogue, oversized villains, and the sleazy/glitzy settings in Orange County, California. Although writer Jimmy Gage has the requisite cynicism and a balance of fair play and tough defiance, he's not strictly out of the Sam Spade mode either: His sense of moral outrage is a bit askew, and he doesn't always use the best of judgment. Additionally, the novel contains some very graphic violence, more gruesome than the traditional style.

The novel moves briskly, unimpeded by the several minor characters and related subplots. Other than a romance with Detective Jane Holt that develops a little too quickly, the plot twists are both plausible and genuinely surprising. Ferrigno captures the outrages and pretenses of Southern California without stereotyping. Much better than his more famous "The Horse Latitudes," Ferrigno has written a brisk and believable story that grabs your attention from the first page.

There are hundreds if not thousand of thrillers out there about serial killers. Anyone familiar with the genre has probably seen it all, which makes the challenge greater for the really good authors. Fortunately, Robert Ferrigno lives up to the challenge with Flinch.

Jimmy Gage is a top-notch tabloid reporter back in town after a year abroad. Before he left, he received a letter from the Eggman, who purported to be a serial killer. After investigation, it appears the Eggman is only a hoax, and by the time of Jimmy's return, the crimes remain unsolved. By accident, however, Jimmy stumbles upon evidence that the Eggman might be his brother, a sibling he has had a rather strained relationship over the years (not made any better since the brother married Jimmy's ex-girlfriend).

This might make for a rather routine novel, but at times, the Eggman story is merely incidental as Jimmy copes with the other characters in his life including a loan shark, her dim-witted bodyguard, a crippled but still deadly fence/drug-dealer and his lethal assistant. Like an Elmore Leonard novel, the characters and how they interact is as important as the plot. And also like Leonard, there is a dark humor that amuses but does not diminish the suspense.

If Ferrigno has a fault as a writer, it is only that he sometimes takes a while to produce a new novel. Other than that, Ferrigno is consistenly great, and this book continues his string of quality work.

After reading the mostly excellent "Flinch," I turned to Robert Ferrigno's heralded debut novel and was very disappointed. Unlike "Flinch," the plot is sometimes unclear, he relies on clumsy stereotypes, and motivation is not always believable.

Ferrigno throws in so many contrived oddball situations that it's almost like he doesn't really believe in the strength of the story itself. While humorous exaggeration is common to mysteries, Ferrigno doesn't balance this with enough realism to make this a credible story, and this lessens our involvement.

There are some good scenes (especially with the jocular but intimidating "Cubanito"), clever dialogue, and genuine suspense (along with his usual graphic violence), but the book does not compare to his later efforts. Recommended only for completists who want to read all of his work.

I'm aware that I'm damning the book with faint praise, but that's the best summary title I can think of. A noir thriller centering around an ex-dealer who wants to do right, his deadly ex-wife, and a straight arrow cop. There's nothing really special about the book, and the noir language is so self-conscious it's occasionally very funny. Read if bored, skip if something better is available.

A powerful debut which portrays the colorful life of a South L.A. retired drug dealer who when accused of the murder of his disappeared ex-wife, sets off to find the truth; a journey through Newport's vile underworld.

Overall, this book is extremely forgettable. The only interesting characters are the killers. Quinn is a moody, unlikeable guy who has screwed up every relationship with EVERYONE in his life, except his daughter. The whole France subplot seems like filler. Quinn's publisher is too bizarre to even mention. "Joe Steps" never grabs you as an especially heroic figure and the climax comes and goes before the reader can even begin to get into it. I also have a problem with an Assistant District Attorney going into a stranger's apartment for a hairstyling session (maybe that's normal in California, but on the East Coast we still call for an appointment). I enjoyed Mr. Ferrigno's use of words and his powers of description. If not for these weapons in the arsenal, this rating would be much lower.

The only thing I liked about this book was Hugo and Rick. the plot was so convoluted not to mention pointless that if it wasn't for his colorful killers I would have passed on it. Why would anyone want to start killing folk after thirty years? Too weak of a plot line for my taste.

This was the first novel of Mr. Ferrigno's I have read. A good story in the basics but I couldn't help to think I'd read/seen this before on countless TV movies, or other police based stories,over the years.

To Say Robert Ferrgino's forth novel "Dead Silent" is disappointing would be a major understatement. "Dead Silent lacks the imagination, grittiness, and sharp dialogue that past Ferrigno novels have. I know Ferrigno tries to show the Los Angeles dark side, however this story is too mundane to keep the reader interested.

The novel is about ex-rock star Nick Carbonne who comes home and finds his best friend and his wife shot to death in the hot tub together. Carbonne is the main suspect, and teams up with the best friend's girlfriend to find the real killer. Their journey takes them deep into the underworld of the music industry, phone sex industry and the mob.

In total this book is a major flop. The characters are all the same cookie cutter charatcers. They are all know it all, pinhead punks. Even the Blue Angel character who held the beginings the book together, dissolved into something unlikable. What happened to characters like Quinn and Jen from "Dead Man's Dance" and "Cheshire Moon". What happened to the great plots like Ferrigno's first novel "The Horse Latitudes". Hopefully Ferrigno can regain his form.

The characters are not developed, not a nail-biting, engulfing novel to say the least. After the first episode in the novel with the hot-tub, there is no excitement, and you are forced to burn through the pages looking for some sort of intriguing turn of events.

I bought this book when I was in Vermont, with little else to do. I hoped for a good story and was disappointed. Robert Ferigno's grade-schoolish prose and unconvincing characters make me wonder if the book was actually written by Lou Ferigno.

Case in point: Early on in the novel we meet the bad guy "Doc" - an annoying, know-it-all pinhead. Some time later we meet a convenience store attendant "Bradley", the annoying, know-it-all pinhead and his brother "Perry" the annoying, know-it-all pinhead. Someone seems to have run out of character types.