Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1247959 in Books
• Published on: 1995-08-01
• Released on: 1995-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Wambaugh ( Fugitive Nights ) is at the top of his form here and probably destined for another visit to the bestseller lists. His cop characters are marvelous as usual, deftly characterized in dialogue, attitude (much of it political this time, as the setting is last year's presidential election) and behavior. Even tertiary characters, whether good guys or bad, are skillfully drawn. The villain of the piece is Jules Temple, the son of a wealthy lawyer who takes up the toxic waste business after being disinherited. In Mexico, two of Temple's truck drivers dump a shipment of a lethal pesticide and then decide to rob the Navy base where they were supposed to make a pickup. This brings matters to the attention of an unlikely threesome: Nell Salter, a DA Investigator into environmental crimes; Bobbie Ann Doggett, a young Navy command investigator; and Finbar Finnegan, a San Diego police detective who'd rather be an actor. The women, each in her own way, almost make Fin forget the thrice-married misery of his past. It's a raunchy and often hilarious tale as Fin, Nell and Bobbie Ann try to sort things out until justice is finally served up in a most fitting manner. 300,000 first printing; major ad/promo; BOMC alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
After a so-so show in Fugitive Nights (1991), Wambaugh returns nearly in top form with a very funny suspenser about toxic waste. Finbar Finnegan, a San Diego police detective and sometime actor, has a midlife crisis at 45, his existence having been dominated by three sisters while growing up and by three ex-wives as an adult. His theme song is ``Someone to Watch Over Me''--he needs a mommy/wife, has sworn off marriage, but finds himself tied ticklingly to two female detectives at once, both of whom see him as romantically interesting despite immense shortcomings: happy, cheerful, pistol-packing Petty Officer ``Ba-a-d Dog'' Bobbie Ann Doggett, 28, an investigator for the Navy who's looking for 2,000 boots hijacked from a warehouse; and District Attorney's Investigator Nell Salter, 43, once divorced, and looking for a stolen truck filled with supertoxic waste. The truck actually was ``stolen'' by its tow drivers--porky meth-head Shelby Pate and his Mexican sidekick, Abel Durazo, who lifted the boots while picking up drums of toxic waste at a naval station, took them to a fence in Tijuana, then pretended their truck was stolen while they ate lunch. The truck, however, gets sold to a Mexican pottery maker, who repaints uses it to deliver pots to San Diego. During all this, the waste drums still on the truck spill horrible Guthion over two kids, killing one of them. In their investigation, the three San Diego law folk wind up in weirdest Tijuana for some surreal surveillance duty--and have a punchy pair of drunk scenes that show Wambaugh at his cleverest in the sexy, gin-soaked Nick & Nora Department. Smart, crunchy dialogue--too topical, yes, but for now quite witty enough. (First printing of 300,000) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ingram
Seeking two truckers hauling a drum of lethal chemicals, San Diego detective Finbar Finnegan joins forces with two strong-willed female cops to investigate a deadly toxic waste scam. 300,000 first printing. $250,000 ad/promo. BOMC Feat Alt. Tour.

Customer Reviews

Reads more like Elmore Leonard than the old Wambaugh.
Much, much more fun than previous work. My wife and I both laughed out loud while reading Finnegan's Week. It's larger than life, but believable all the way. In our opinion, this is Wambaugh's best novel.

Well done
Wambaugh has a flair for scriptwriting equal to Quinton Tarantino at his best. He's brutal, sly, topical, sharp, intense and outrageous all at the same time. This novel can be a bit silly at times, but never does it become stale. "Finnegan's Week" should appeal to readers of a wide variety of tastes, and I'm surprised that Wambaugh doesn't have a larger following than he has. His plots weave in and out, and he always finds a unique way to bring it all together at the end. His razor-sharp wit sets him apart from the rest of the thriller writers out there. A great, fun read with a superior style.

One of Wambaugh's best, Fin is a winner.
Wambaugh delivers as usual in this funny, exciting tale of an cop who�s an aspiring actor (and who�s facing midlife crises as only an actor wannabe can) while in the middle of investigating a truck theft that turns out to also involve a theft from a Naval warehouse as well as a load of missing toxic waste. His case brings him into contact with two tough and sexy Policewomen, each with her own private and professional agenda. Will Fin Finnegan (the cop-actor-hopeful) get the part he�s trying out for? Will he survive a week filled with too much booze, a murderous sociopath business owner, a druggy biker turned trucker, and two beautiful women who both seem as interested in him as they are in the case at hand? This is typical Wambaugh in that the horrors and sadness of the crimes and victims are not treated lightly, yet (like the good cops who frequent his novels) our only salvation from evil is to laugh at his sometimes mordant humor and wit. One of Wambaugh�s strengths is his ability to gradually make his characters sympathetic and likeable, sometimes even when they�re not the good guys. I rate this as one of Wambaugh�s best novels, and that�s saying something, since in my opinion he�s never written a bad one. I wish he would recover his muse and write some more fiction in the vein of this novel and FUGITIVE NIGHTS. It�s been a while since he�s come out with any novels. A shame, because no one else writes about police life in quite the same way.

A five star rating for the humor, characters, and the suspense.