What do You think about Fletch Won (2002)?
As a huge fan of the first Fletch movie I was excited to read this novel that is the Fletch prequel/ origin story. I had read the first Fletch novel, that is somewhat like the movie. MacDonald is the master of Sarcasm and hilarious dialogue. It is what his books do best. I think that is the best aspect I can suggest from this book.Unfortunately there was a lot I didn't like about this book. For one thing I didn't find myself interested in the mystery at all. I found the story confusing, and at times I wondered if the book was missing pages. You'll almost never see me complain about this but it was under-written. As in sometimes the style was so minimalist I really wanting more. I hate over writing, so for me to complain about under writing you know it has to be serious.I laughed a lot reading the dialogue , but by the time I got to end of the short book I was over and glad it was short. First fletch novel was far better.
—David Agranoff
Hang on a second. I gotta start listening to Harold Faltermeyer's soundtrack while I write this review. Fletch Won is the eighth book in the series, but it’s a prequel to the original Fletch. Young Irwin M. Fletcher is a Vietnam veteran trying to become a sports reporter, but he’s been stuck writing obituaries and headlines for his newspaper. His irreverent attitude angers his editor and gets him assigned to a fluff story about a wealthy criminal lawyer donating $5 million to an art museum, but the attorney is killed in the newspaper’s parking garage before Fletch even meets him.Despite Fletch insisting that he should get to cover it, the murder is given to the paper’s bullying crime reporter, and Fletch is given the task of infiltrating a whore house masquerading as a gym instead. However, Fletch keeps digging into the attorney’s life which annoys his fiancé who thinks he’ll get fired right before their wedding. I noted in my review of Fletch that there’s a curious thing about the print and movie versions of the character. While Chevy Chase’s portrayal captured the smug smart-ass nature of Fletch, the film one was also more of a goofball with funny disguises and pratfalls. There’s sometimes an edgier meanness to Fletch in the books. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and there’s certainly no shortage of smart ass protagonists in crime fiction, but Fletch’s tone frequently makes him seem like kind of a asshole and puts him far down the list of my favorite fictional sleuths.
—Kemper
I really admire Gregory McDonald's writing. So much that this must be the fifth time I've read this book. Being a sucker for characters, I find none greater in fiction than Irwin Maurice Fletcher. Again, my admiration stems from the fact that McDonald wrote these out of order. I was shocked to learn that Cariocca Fletch did not follow Fletch in releases, the way they do in the Fletch canon. McDonald claims at the time he couldn't afford to travel to Rio to research the book and came back to the story years later. In that vain Fletch won (the earliest tale of the character) was written in the 80's where as we first met I.M. Fletcher in the 70's. Fletch is new to the News-Tribune Newspaper and is being flopped betweenthe obituaries and the society pages. When the subject of his interview famous criminal lawyer Donald Habeck flops down in the parking lot of the Tribune-courtesy of a bullet, Fletch thinks he can do better than write an obituary for a society person, he can catch a killer. Dodging the bullying of crime-reporter Biff Wilson, the pestering of crooked police Lieutenant Gomez, and the pressure of his pending nuptials, young Fletch is going to prove he can excell at investigative journalism.
—Marco Conelli
