Ross Thomas – The Backup Men – ***
The Backup Men by Ross Thomas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m still enjoying the characters but I didn’t enjoy this one’s mystery as much. Maybe I should move to some other Ross Thomas’ books for a spell. This one did have some great passages that I enjoyed and highlighted.
I’m not giving anything away – but in the book the finale takes place in San Francisco. And it’s hard work for the characters to get there. One of the main characters was born in SF and mentions it in the book (In the series he’s ex-army and lives in Germany and DC, I don’t remember him talking about SF before). Anyway, here are the passages I thought were interesting:
I decided that over the years both the city and I have changed, perhaps neither of us for the better. San Francisco reminds me of nothing so much as a middle-aged hooker relying solely on technique now that her looks have gone. But I suspect that my real antagonism stems from being taken for a tourist in my own home town. There’s nothing much worse than that.
And
“I used to come up here from L.A. on weekends sometimes,” Padillo said. “I knew a girl who lived on Russian Hill. She got mad when I called it Frisco.” “The natives have a lot of civic pride,” I said. “She was from New Orleans.”