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Title: The Four Last Things

Subtitle: The Simeon Grist Mysteries, Book 2

Author: Timothy Hallinan

Narrator: Keith Szarabajka

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs

Language: English

Release date: 04-17-15

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Edgar Award finalist Timothy Hallinan continues his six-book Simeon Grist series with this white-knuckle mystery - a must-listen for fans of Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels.

Simeon Grist knows LA inside and out - the sex for sale, the chic seductions, every rip-off from City Hall to Venice. So when he's hired by a Hollywood recording company to shadow one Sally Oldfield, suspected of embezzlement, Grist discovers she's entangled in the Church of the Eternal Moment - a million-dollar religious scam built around a 12-year-old channeler and the voice of a man who has been dead for a millennium. When Sally turns up dead, Simeon knows he's become the next target of a very flesh-and-blood entity waiting in the back alleys of sin and salvation. Grist may get a brutal look at the four last things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell - revelations he could definitely live without.

Members Reviews:

This was a great story!

For awhile, this book seemed almost timeless -- the main character seemed so 1950's "hard-boiled" detective and a lot of the general descriptions seemed to be post WW-II Los Angeles. Only later is there mention of more recent (1970-1980) dates, which may have been unnecessary. The timelessness could have served well.

A church organization as the antagonist gave opportunity for discussions among the characters about the nature of religion. This was mostly not too heavy-handed (I only skipped forward once). I kept thinking that maybe there was supposed to be a parallel to Scientology.

The sadistic descriptions were held to a minimum and there weren't too many deaths, though there were lots of well-described fights. D. Smif was a great comic relief.

I really liked this book and look forward to another book by this author!

Not bad, but not as good as Junior Bender

I like Mr. Hallinan's books, having read all of his Junior Bender series. There are a lot of similarities between Simeon Grist and Junior: both operate in LA; both are detectives of sorts; both are smartasses; and both are funny. For some reason, however, I found this book less satisfying than the Junior Bender ones, and, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure exactly why. it seemed to bog down in the middle for me, and I'm not sure if that was me or the book. Be that as it may, either I or the book snapped out of it, and the first part of the book and the last make up for the middle in my opinion, although I can't give it a top rating. I'll give Simeon Grist #2 a try and see what I think, but I can recommend this one. although not whole-heartedly.

Hallinan aims high as he provides his own take on L.A. noir

The first book in the Simeon Grist series to be published, the Four Last Things shows author Hallinan's potential and is a worthy resident in the neighborhood of L.A. mysteries. Let's face it -- there are countless L.A. crime and mystery novels out there. However, the author gives us a sufficiently offbeat protagonist who is intelligent, caring and armed with witty observations -- about life in general and in Los Angeles, in particular, even in the face of daunting and sometimes grim situations.

Crazy & Fraudulent Religion

I enjoyed this book and learned some interesting things from it.