Dan Kasdan is a Bay Area private eye going to seed. He's stuck on his ex-wife Priscilla and trying to do right by their son Jeff. Priscilla still sees Dan, but is obviously growing elsewhere, and she urges him to accept some high-paid tasks with Karim, an unctuous operator in a number of shady activities. Dan's only real friend is a black cop named Alfonso. The book seems to have two irreconcilable halves: the first a truly lyrical reminiscence about Dan and Priscilla's courtship, marriage, and drifting apart in the late 60s and early 70s (sort of a chick novel from a guy's point of view); the second about getting tangled up with Karim's activities. But there's no real tension or denouement: The story merely wanders thoughtfully, and offers both some terrific writing and fine portraits of various locales and social strata (particularly the scummier ones) of San Fran.
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The review of this Book prepared by David Loftus