El cruel asesinato de Kelly Kuhio, una leyenda de las playas y la comunidad de San Diego, hará que Boone Daniels se meta a investigar un caso en apariencia sencillo pero cuyas ramificaciones llegan a lugares insospechados. Pero es que Boone Daniels no es una persona normal, es un hombre extraño, simplista en la superficie, pero sumamente complicado en el fondo. Una vorágine de contradicciones bajo un mar de apariencia plácida. Un surfista con pinta de Tarzán, que lee novelas rusas por la noche. Un glotón que devora comida basura y no tiene ni un gramo de grasa en el cuerpo. Un cernícalo que puede mantener una conversación inteligente sobre arte. Un hombre que saldrá corriendo desesperado ante cualquier cosa que parezca una emoción, pero también un alma profundamente sensible que podría ser el hombre más amable y más gentil que hayas conocido jamás...

Pretty fun. Reminiscent of Robert Crais's early Elvis Cole novels. ( )

Spannend geschrieben, besser als der Vorgänger. Sehr gute Unterhaltung rund um die Surferszene San Diegos. ( )

I may have started this one too soon after reading his previous book because the first third of The Gentleman's Hour seemed to me to be nothing more than a character development rehash of Dawn Patrol.

Things picked up once that was out of the way, and by the time I was halfway through I was interested again. ( )

“The Gentleman’s Hour” is Winslow’s sequel to his excellent novel “The Dawn Patrol.” Set in laid-back San Diego’s Pacific Beach (“PB”), these two novels tell the story of Boone Daniels, itinerant surfer and private detective, former-police officer, and founding member of the Dawn Patrol. As he tells it, the Dawn Patrol is a group of surfers who, naturally, get up at dawn to be the first ones out on the waves. The other members of the Dawn Patrol are Sunny Day, who by this point is now the top professional female surfer over in “Oz,” Dave the Love God, who lifeguards, Johnny Banzai, who surfs before he puts on his Police Detective suit, and Hang Twelve, so nicknamed because he has twelve toes rather than the usual ten. “The Gentleman’s Hour” is the next crew out on the waves. These are retired guys who don’t have to get up before work or the self-employed, who again don’t have to get up before doing anything whatsoever.

While “The Dawn Patrol” offered readers a tremendous amount of background and history of the Southern California surfing world, “The Gentleman’s Hour” takes the reader right into this world and is a detective crime-thriller set against the backdrop of Pacific Beach. This book has a couple of parallel story lines running through it as Boone gets involved investigating on behalf of a kid that beat to death a surfing legend who had been so respected that he brought peace to many gang-infested areas and no one on the beach can respect that Boone has taken the wrong side in this war, including his buddies on the Dawn Patrol. Boone is also investigating a friend’s marital discord. Neither piece of work is guaranteed to bring Boone much in the way of happiness.

Part of the story is that, if you scratch below the surface of the sun and sand, there’s a lot of rotten stuff at the core of our modern society and many of the establishment may just be somehow or other emeshed in the rotting stink.

This is well-written an easy to read. It flows very well. Its unfortunate that Winslow has not chosen to continue this series further as he has created some great characters. ( )