The Manipulated

TM cover

The fourth Joe Portugal
mystery - published 6/05

UglyTown hardcover
ISBN 0-9758503-2-6
$24.95

Read Chapter 1

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  Entertaining prose, frequent humor, quirky L.A. scenes, and a lovable protagonist strongly recommend this fourth entry in the Joe Portugal series.
                                                      - Library Journal
  Joe Portugal has a great compassion for filmdom's bottom-feeders, and his wounded, good-guy humanity makes The Manipulated a moving, fulfilling read.
                                                      - Mystery Scene
  Walpow writes one of the most entertaining series being done today. His writing styly feels smooth and casual and instantly absorbs the reader....like a cold beer on a really hot day, cool, refreshing and just what you need to feel good.
                                                      - Crime Spree
  The pace is fast and furious and the dialogue is snappy. Forget [name omitted] and all of those writers with a million dollar marketing program backing them up. Those people are just pretending to be writers anyway. Nathan Walpow is the real thing.
                                                      - Mystery News
  I thought the last Joe Portugal novel - One Last Hit - was unbeatable.
Wrong. The Manipulated is even better. Suddenly this is a must-read series.
                           - Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels
  The Manipulated is one slick read. Nathan Walpow has a keen instinct for balancing humor and suspense, and Joe Portugal is one of the hippest series characters around. Entertaining as hell.
                           - Victor Gischler, author of Gun Monkeys
  Nathan Walpow writes like the slacker love child of Ross MacDonald
and The Big Lebowski. The Manipulated is funny, smart, snide and
rocking, and I'm not just talking air guitar.
                           - Denise Hamilton, author of the Eve Diamond novels
  Both Walpow and his fictional sleuth, Joe Portugal, just keep getting better and better. Slogging through life’s latest travails, Joe P. is both genius and doofus, completely human and utterly likeable. With a great cast of supporting characters, The Manipulated is a smart, funny, compulsive read.
                           - Taylor Smith, author of Liar's Market & Slim and Zero

What This Mystery Is About ...
Sleeping with a surrogate daughter ... a Golden Globe ... hockey at Staples Center ...
the Velour Overground ... black, green, and oolong tea ... Mao's Kitchen ...
alternate realities ... Zoloft ... chicken marsala ... James Bond ...
Johnny Depp ... Pink Pearls ... the use of light and shadow ... fatherhood ...
stalking a former lover ... a head shop ... a time-traveling ninja master ...
Iraq, because everything's about Iraq ... Beyoncé ... the Felonious Monks ...
a little Taoism ... the Venice Riots ... a spate of epiphanies ... tentacles ...

People This Mystery Is About ...

Joe Portugal
TV commercial actor and perpetual
stumbler over dead bodies

Gina Vela
Joe's wife, an interior
designer by trade

Harold "The Horse" Portugal
Joe's father, a man feeling his oats

Ronnie McKenzie
She made it in Hollywood,
but did she make it with Joe?

Mike Lennox
His troubles would kill a lesser man

Donna Lennox
His wife, a tea shop magnate,
the subject of a fruitless search

Dennis Lennox
Their son, a Hollywood wunderkind
and all-around bad guy

Carrie Fitzpatrick
Young enough to be
everyone's daughter

Samantha Szydlo
She had paint on her nose, but
did she have blood on her hands?

Alberta Burns
She's off the force now, and she
has a script to show you

 

John Santini
An import-export baron
... and a whole lot more

Alma Rodriguez
Santini's right arm, a woman
who brooks no nonsense

Trixie Trenton
She tried to be a bimbo
and almost succeeded

Claudia Acuna
A television news reporter
at a crossroads

Eric Stahl
One of Dennis Lennox's minions,
a great father, but ...

Sean McKay
A young man with a way with
words and with a bowling ball

Vikki Rodman
One of those people who's
always looking for something

Ike Sunemori
L. Ron Hubbard wannabee,
or true benefactor?

Emilio and His Uncle
One's fat, the other's a fathead


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Last Updated: September 19, 2005