The Next Time You Die

by Harry Hunsicker

Book Overview

Hired by an alcohol-loving Baptist preacher to recover a stolen file, tough Dallas detective Lee Henry Oswald finds himself matching wits with a psychopathic assassin out to retrieve the same file.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312348509
• ISBN13: 9780312348502
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 291 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

the next time you die

"... like a viagra snortin' used car salesman in front of the playboy mansion..." (excerpted from the next time you die.) This type of humor is literally to die for, or, die laughing. Snap up all of Hunsicker's books today!

A Spellbinding Read

This was my first Hunsicker book and I guarantee it won't be my last. I have discovered a great new series built around Lee Henry "Hank" Oswald, a PI as tough and hard boiled yet as conflicted as any in current literature. Hank carries the baggage of having turned in his life long friend, Billy Barringer (who twice saved Hank's life), on a matter of principle...and subsequently, Billy was killed in prison. Hunsicker masterfully develops his characters and paints magnificent word pictures of Dallas and its environs. Having never been to Dallas or East Texas, I felt I had after reading this book. The plot revolves around two cases Hank and his partner, Nolan O'Connor (a woman with love/commitment problems), take on almost simultaneously. Initially, Lucas Linville, a fiery and heavy drinking preacher beseeches Hank to find a missing file of information that may injure a prominent family. Soon, a state senator, Vernon Black, asks Hank to protect Tess McPherson, the daughter of a close friend who is being threatened. The two cases soon begin to interrelate as Hank is threatened by gunmen who also want the file, gunmen who want revenge for Billy Barringer, and an uber-killer who seems unstoppable. Thankfully, Hank again has Olson, his deadly giant of a friend and Olson's homosexual partner (and stone-cold killer) Delmar, in his corner. These two deadly characters provide occasional humor as well as trigger quick malevolence to the narrative. Nothing is as it seems and no one is to be totally trusted in this high speed, violence prone, narrative that truly does not telegraph its intentions or its outcomes. I appreciate writers who do not tip the mystery's solution in the first 50 pages and "The Next time You Die" definitely kept me guessing for much of the book. Perhaps the most engaging feature for me was the complexity of Hank's character as well as those around him. Few stereotypes could be found in the main characters; indeed, each significant character carried baggage and made mistakes that he/she paid for...either physically or emotionally. Few of the characters are black or white, totally good or evil (with the exception of Jesus Rundell)...most live in a world of gray...a world where shadows and ghosts can be seen in daylight as well as in dark rooms. I felt the style and characters in "The Next Time You Die" to be reminiscent of the Dave Robicheaux novels by James Lee Burke. While not the master craftsman that Burke is, Hunsicker has created a series that provides fans of this genre with another choice while awaiting their next Robicheaux novel.

Hunsicker A Noir Champ

The Next Time You Die is worth reading, if only for the wry, exact description of Dallas and its neighborhoods. Hunsicker's masterful characters twist and turn through a dark, suspenseful plot. A book for every noir fan.

Hot dang y'all, I swear...

Hunsicker is a find. What is it about the books of Robert B. Parker, Tony Hillerman, Tom Corcoran, and a very few others - that brings you in the door to a world that's so natural and real, you suspend belief willingly, not holding your breath or tensing your tummy for fear of disappointment. I suspect it's in part the author's ability to get himself out of the way. Hunsicker's Dallas lives; so do his characters. Nothing deep here, but nothing trivially shallow, either; in short, a really classy entertainment. Hunsicker has clearly worked hard to make the most of his talents. He's now one of the writers on my personal "writer's writer" list.

exhilarating action-packed mystery

In a Dallas bar, Baptist Minister Lucas Linville hires private investigator Lee Henry "Hank" Oswald, no relationship and don't ask him why - ask his dad, to recover a stolen file that contained information on a former assistant Reese Cunningham. Between Lucas' drinks he informs Hank that Reese's prominent parents would not like employment information to include their son was a druggie to get out when two thugs arrive with guns mentioning his best friend Billy Barringer, who he sent to prison and is now dead. While working what he assumes is a simple retrieval case and eluding Billy's avenging family, Hank agrees to keep the daughter of a friend of a senator safe. He will soon learn the hard way like Billy did minutes after a prison break that all roads lead to and from psychopath Jesus Rundel; anyone in this brilliant maniac's way gets killed; Hank hopes he proves the exception to the rule as he does not want to learn first hand how the inferno that snuffed out Billy feels. As with STILL RIVER, NEXT TIME YOU DIE is an exhilarating action-packed mystery starring a tough hero who reminds this reviewer of A Boy named Sue; with a name like Lee Oswald especially in Dallas you better be prepared to fight. Fight he does as he is Noir throwback to an earlier age where political correctness had not softened PIs. His latest escapades are battling with foes, sleeping with clients, and staying alive in a fun thriller. Harriet Klausner