Product Description

When police Lieutenant Charlie Sleet breaks into sudden acts of violence, San Francisco P.I. John Marshall Tanner must unearth the repressed memories that lie at the heart of his friend's corruption and vigilantism--and put an end to his killing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1219901 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com Review
Unlike some series writers who hit their peak early and then coast on past triumphs for the next dozen books, Stephen Greenleaf goes from strength to strength, stretching the boundaries of the genre without giving up its traditional values. His detective, Marsh Tanner, grows and changes with each outing, keeping our interest alive. In his latest, Tanner has to deal with a nasty mixture of sexual abuse and the controversy surrounding recovered memory. Greenleaf brings it all home in a scene where Tanner is playing with his baby daughter. "I was having a wonderful time until it occurred to me that at some point it would become wrong. At some point putting her on my lap, or letting her flop on my belly, or tickling her ribs and itching her nose and playing piggy with her toes will be inappropriate and even harmful, at least in the view of some. How was I supposed to know when that time had come?" Past Tanners available in paperback include Beyond Blame, False Conception and Flesh Wounds.

From Library Journal
The 12th John Marshall Tanner novel lives up to the tradition of excellence found in Greenleaf's recent Flesh Wounds (Scribner, 1996). San Francisco-based investigator Tanner tries to discover why his best friend, Charley Sleet?a police officer who is one of the best men he's ever known?shoots the defendant in a sexual abuse case involving incest, killing him in an open courtroom. As Tanner trails Sleet, trying to understand his shocking and dramatic change of character, he links him to subsequent murders. Living people populate this book. Tanner himself?moody, witty, and appealing?reveals his own dramas, ruminating and extemporizing on life's issues as he seeks out the mysteries of the human heart in a quest to save his friend from himself. Moving and full of valuable insights, this book belongs in all general collections.?Michelle Foyt, Berlin-Peck Memorial Lib., Kensington, Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Charley Sleet is a San Francisco cop with an exemplary record and a reputation for nonviolence. So when he guns down an accused child-molester in court and refuses to explain his motive, private eye Marsh Tanner, Sleet's best friend, swings into action. The court case was a summary civil hearing in which the victim, Leonard Wints, was learning of the charges brought against him by his daughter, Julian. With no obvious links between Sleet and Wints, Tanner pursues first Julian and then her charismatic therapist, a believer in repressed-memory syndrome. Though she won't betray her patient-therapist privilege, she senses Tanner's desire to help his friend, and an unusual relationship develops. When Charley escapes from jail and more killings are attributed to him, Tanner begins to doubt both his friend and his devotion to him. The believable and heartbreaking reason behind Charley's rage is revealed late and forces Tanner to put his own life and values to a severe test. As always, a John Marshall Tanner novel is about so much more than murder. Readers will question their own positions on revenge, the parameters of friendship, isolation in the '90s, and the validity of repressed-memory syndrome. Just when it seems the series can't possibly get better, Greenleaf takes it to a new level. Wes Lukowsky

Customer Reviews

Greenleaf does it again!
I just discovered this P.I. series last month and love it! The writing is all-pro, the action is fast and fun, and the hero is truly likeable. There's no recovering alcoholic (thank God), no coincidences, no sterotypes. I was worried that this might be the last in the series as this, the last one so far, was written in 1997, but I see a new installment is due in July, 2000. Pick this book up! You'll be happy you did, and I bet you'll finish it in one day!

A Fairly Dark P.I. Novel
"Past Tense" was the first book that I have read in Stephen Greenleaf's John Marshall Tanner P.I. series. I read a lot of P.I. novels, and my usual rule is; the darker, the better. And that is why I found "Past Tense" to be a very engaging novel. Greenleaf is not a master of metaphor like Raymond Chandler with Phillip Marlowe or Loren Estleman with Amos Walker. And his Marsh Tanner is not a man battling personal demons like Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder or Andrew Vachss' Burke. But the story here is worthy of any of those other anti-heros. One of Tanner's best friends, an honest cop, has suddenly gone on a revenge killing rampage. In the process, he has cut himself off from everyone who cares about him. Tanner investigates at first to find an answer to his baffling behavior, and then to try and save his life. The plot line is a bit convoluted and Greenleaf ends up relying on the old police corruption cliche, but it all leads to one of the more shocking endings I've seen in a P.I. novel.

Greenleaf may not be a writer whose style is equal to the masters of the genre. But with "Past Tense," he has delivered one quite memorable novel.

Here comes John Tanner again.
Another book from one of my favorite authors, and one of my favorite private detectives, John Marshall Tanner - from my area, San Francisco. Effortless, fast-paced, interesting sidebar on recovered memories.