Thicker Than Water (A Leo Waterman Mystery)

This could have been one of the best of the Leo Waterman series. If the reader has invested any time at all with Leo, any plot line dealing with danger to Rebecca would result in a page-turner. Clearly, this book had a great, complex plot, lots of action, good dialogue and easily visualized scenes.However, there were three aspects of the book that kept it from being a 5-star. First, Leo mentions to Ortega that he hasn't carried a gun in his PI capacity during his entire career. Bravo Sierra. This is a continuity problem with the other Waterman novels and made me wonder whether Mr. Ford was distracted at the time he wrote this. Second, you don't carry 3 100-round drums of 5.45 x 39 ammo "in your pocket". Gun tech has always been a weakness in the Waterman novels and this description of AX9 magazines was another case in point. There are 80 million gun owners in America and 50,000 dealers. I think it's time to ASK one of them whether the gun tech in the novels is comports with reality. It hasn't, it doesn't and it should.Lastly, the humor tended toward the cliche' in this novel. Wry humor is appreciated, but some of the lines were time-worn. The last bit with Rachel at the Zoo was old when Captain Vancouver discovered Puget Sound.Despite these difficulties, "Thicker Than Water" is one of the better Waterman mysteries. Gun tech writing failures notwithstanding, a highly recommended read.

Author G. M. Ford has a stable of entertaining characters (I began reading his books several years ago) and mixes them with a few surprises in this scenic action tour of territory from Puget Sound and Hood Canal to marine areas of British Columbia. Even if you're not a former long-term area resident (the geography is accurate and worth a visit) as a reader you'll get a description of some of the features that make Puget Sound so appealing along with an attention-holding plot.This novel involves the search for a missing lady medical examiner and traipses through recession-impoverished waters and action adventures (credibility is stretched but not completely shredded) with wisecracks generating reluctant grins in almost every chapter. I thought of the original and re-made Tugboat Annie movies with Waterman in the Wallace Beery/Edgar Kennedy role from time to time, as the atmosphere is a black and white sea-salty emulation of noir detective stories of that era.Plenty of action, plenty of wisecracks, Justice is Done and a great part of the country highlighted -- maybe not a Drop Everything Run Out and Order It Now book but one I would not have missed and that held my attention in a fun read so I was reluctant to set it down. On a 50-point scale this earned a strong 45, a fun read I'm glad I bought. One question for the author: Is it true that your daughter, Beatrice Marissa Waterman, is engaged to a scion of the Chrysler family so she can become . . . . ?

Leo is older, and technology has advanced, but the heart of Leo Waterman is still the same. He doesn't have the ambitions of a hero, but situations just place him in that role. And once he sees what needs to be done, he can't help but do his best to make it happen. Doggedly, and with a little help from his drunken Baker Street boys.G.M. Ford has been cited by Kirkus Reviews as "well on his way to becoming the Raymond Chandler of Seattle", and that is an apt description of his style."When I got in the cab, I had every intention of going home, of taking a hot shower and maybe even a short siesta. In the front parlor of my brain, the lace curtains were drawn, and I was turning out the lights. Apparently, however, my brain also had a steamy back room, where they were having a meeting and hadn't bothered to invite me.We were rolling down the steep part of Denny when a voice told the driver, "Get on the freeway. Go north."I looked around to see who said it, but found myself alone."After having written several darker (and excellent) Frank Corso novels, Ford returns to Leo Waterman, and while the last Waterman novel "The Deader The Better" demonstrated a harder edge than the previous Waterman novels, Thicker Than Water, retains that hard edge, but also reintroduces the comic relief the ramshackle posse Waterman relies in when the going gets desperate.I wait impatiently for Ford's next novel.

I hope GM Ford goes on to write more Waterman mysteries. His writing has benefitted from what I hope was just a detour/ or maybe an alternate in the Frank Corso mystery/thrillers but still, I'll miss Seattle and the "boys" if this is the end of Leo. (I loved the description of Rachel Thoms as a large woman that made a man want to climb up on the furniture and dive in) In any case,the ending of the "end" of "Thicker than Water" is priceless, and this is a mystery series to savor from beginning to end (preferable in that order!)It's nice to see Mr Ford's writing (which was better than most to start) mature along with the series. I'm going to try out another one of the Corso mysteries but those seem a bit too hard edged and sensationalized, (too many bones stacked up in one book, maybe?) maybe a little too much written in hopes of a thriller/movie deal?? But then writers also have to make a living so what am I complaining about? Looks like GM Ford will make a profit on this Leo package(just much,much smaller!). So let me know when Thicker than Water becomes a movie. I'll even take the risk that my "image" of Leo may be messed with a little by their choice of lead actor. But what will movies do about "showing" Ford's final punch line? Fun.

I decided to re-read the whole Leo Waterman series before going on to the one I only just bought, Salvation Lake. This is an excellent entry in the series, but the passage of time between Mr Ford writing this book & the previous one - 12 years - does show in the inconsistencies some other reviewers have noted, such as Leo claiming to never use firearms. If you don't read the books one immediately after another, perhaps this won't be so noticeable. Still a great read and all the *major* background points, such as the stuff about Leo's father are kept straight; perhaps I have just got used to authors of series like these maintaining a consistent back-story for their characters even in the small things.

Another excellent novel would highly recommend just as good as his previous novels and will be purchasing he next in the series.

I love the previous books I've read in this series, and this one was excellent too. Leo Waterman is an interesting central character. Very readable and gripping plot.

This is the first book by G.M. Ford I have read but it will not be the last. It was the best laugh I have had for a long time.

Great story line and told with just the right amount of humour,wit and cynicism.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will read more by G M Ford.