THE DEPUTY by Victor Gischler

THE DEPUTY by Victor Gischler Tyrus Books, 9781935562009 (pb) / 9781935562016 (hb)
Victor Gischler’s THE DEPUTY is one of those hick-town hardboiled books that always draw me in. Set in one of those small US towns with a population where everyone knows damn near everyone else and where the police are as local as they come, it’s the story of a newly minted Deputy who gets in over his head when he stumbles over a local conspiracy.

The Deputy in question is Toby Sawyer. He’s a directionless kind of guy who’s fallen into this line of work after his dreams of becoming a musician fell apart and he got stuck in his home town. Now he’s stuck doing shit work as the new deputy and running between the mother of his child and his younger, wilder lover. He’s not a bad guy as such, but he’s not the hero type.

And he’s certainly not a natural law enforcement. Left to guard the dead body of a local kid, he gets distracted and winds up losing the body. This is is just the start of a nightmare for Toby who soons finds himself in real trouble, struggling to keep his head above water.

Gischler’s previous novels run the gamut starting with Leonardesque novels of criminals and hit men (GUN MONKEY, SHOTGUN OPERA) before moving to apocalyptic SF (GO GO GIRLS OF THE APOCALYPSE) and frequent comic book work for Marvel Comics. So its nice to see him return to the genre where he started. If anything, as good notice as Gun Monkey and Shotgun Opera had on their release, The Deputy blows them right out of the water.

Gischler’s voice feels more confident and his evocation of small town life is wonderful, as he evokes both the boredom of being stuck in the place where everyone knows everyone else and the fear that something dark is hiding just beneath the surface of the community.

Sawyer is a perfect protagonist; an ordinary guy who finds himself in over his head. He’s no hero, per-se, although he may be forced to act like one, and its telling that when the book starts off he’s wearing his tin badge over a t-shirt. This guy is no law enforcement officer, Gischler’s telling us, he’s just some guy who found himself in this place with no plan and no idea. By the end of the book, of course, he’s something else entirely, and Gischler shows this evolution of character in a kind of subtle way, so that its only by the end of the book we realise what’s been happening and how Sawyer has been changed. It’s a great arc and like the best arcs you don’t realise what’s happening until the very last page; its organically handled.

But this is a Gischler novel, which means that while there my subtlety in craft, on the surface there’s some rip-roaring violence (in one particular case that made me wince, the word rip is horrifically appropriate) some damn fine jokes and a momentum that pulls the reader through until the last page.

Perhaps some of the elements of the plot – the small town corruption that Sawyer uncovers along with its major players are perhaps of little surprise to anyone familiar with the genre – are nothing new, but Gischler’s confident prose, gripping set-pieces and well-drawn characters more than make up for this.

The Deputy is a fast-paced, gripping small town hardboiled novel with a well-crafted protagonist and compelling action. Perfect for fans of Elmore Leonard, Patrick Quinlan or anyone who just loves a damn good crime novel.

Russel D McLean for crimescenescotlandreviews, 31/01/11

DR YES by Bateman

DR. YES By Bateman

Headline, £14.99, 9780755378609

MYSTERY MAN was one of those books that grabbed me from the opening page. Bateman’s Bookseller With No Name is a neurotic, paranoid, hypochondriac mess of a man who barely understands people and treats his customers with a barely restrained loathing for their obvious idiocy. He is every retailer on a bad day taken to extremes. And yet somehow, he is immensely empathetic in a very unsettling way. His rambling narration is frequently laugh out loud funny and peppered with the kind of geeky references that will add another dimension to fans of the genre (one could create a kind of drinking game out of it, but it might be a rather solo exercise unless there is an audio version available). But that first book seemed like a one off exercise, a beautifully executed and somewhat ludicrious joke that couldn’t possibly form the basis for a series.

Right?

Okay. Wrong.

DAY OF THE JACK RUSSELL followed swiftly and now we have the quite magnificent DR. YES, which continues in much the same vein as the first two novels with our bookselling hero trying to live out the life of his fictional heroes while steadfastly refusing to actually place himself in any real danger unless someone first shove him in the way of it. His relationship – “she’s not my girlfriend!” – with the now pregnant jewellery seller Alison is absolutely wonderful, although there is a suspicion that she is every bit as unhinged as he given that she seems to let him hang around her.

And the word unhinged could apply to almost every cast member with the possible exception of the long suffering DI Robinson who plays the straight man throughout the novels with a kind of weariness one suspects would come quickly dealing with the Mystery Man and his cohorts.

This time around, our nameless hero starts the ball rolling by chasing down an elusive and little-published writer who he sees passing the shop. Sensing the opportunity for some cash from first editions, our hero is as ever driven by his own inflated and childish id and winds up involved in a mystery that takes in a missing (presumed dead) wife, a charismatic plastic surgeon with great teeth and a too-sexy-to-be-true femme fatalle by the name of Pearl Knecklasse (cue a great discussion between Mystery Man and Alison over how that can’t possibly be a real name).

As ever with Bateman, the gags are spot on, the laconic narration is perfectly paced and the action is often inspired by its own twisted kind of logic. The Bookseller With No Name series continues to be effortless and sometimes inspired entertainment, even for those who won’t get all the in-jokes about various crime authors and genre clichés. Bateman continues to be one of those talented few who can write comic mysteries with apparent ease, and if you like your crime stories with a (darkly) comic edge, you need to go pick Dr Yes up right now. Preferably from the most neurotic, paranoid and hypochondriac bookseller you can find…

DON'T LOOK BACK by Laura Lippman

DON’T LOOK BACK by Laura Lippman

Avon Books – March, 2010, £6.99 978147560940

Laura Lippman impressed us here at Crime Scene Scotland when we stumbled upon THE POWER OF THREE, Lippman’s powerful novel set around a high school shooting. Since then, we have immersed ourselves in Lippman’s writing; an often gut-wrenching blend of crime fiction, literary stylings and pop fiction that deals with complex emotional issues amidst twisting and gripping plots. While she may be better known her Tess Monahan series, we have always had a weakness for her standalone novels, and so were excited when DON’T LOOK BACK* came through our mailbox.

Don’t Look Back tells two parallel narratives, starting in 1985 when Walter Bowman starts to uncover a darker side to himself, working his way to becoming a notorious serial killer. As we follow Walter’s transformation, the second narrative begins in the modern world as Eliza Benedict – the girl who escaped Bowman’s clutches and ultimately led to his capture – finds herself receiving letters from the man, who is finally facing the death sentence.

Lippman’s narrative is all about memory and recollection. As we follow both narratives, we discover the ways in which people remember events and places and how these can sometimes distort the reality and emotions connected to people. Eliza appears at first to be a very passive character, and as the narrative progresses we suddenly realise how different her appearance is from her internal personality, how there are forces driving her that even she may not be aware of.

The narrative itself is intriguing and provides that perfect mix between literary and thriller. You think you know what to expect, but Lippman pulls the rug out from under you creating a story that feels much more personal than one might expect. As it rolls towards its denoument, you find yourself emotionally conflicted and uncertain as to the truth of any given situation. By letting the modern and 1985 narratives run in tandem, Lippman illuminates the truth in patches until you suddenly realise that what you were looking at was not perhaps what you thought it was.

It should also be noted the Walter Bowman is one of the most believable serial killers to have been written about in modern fiction. Less a bogeyman and more a deeply troubled human being, his humanity is what makes him so terrifying. At his heart, he is a man driven by basic human needs who has gone off track somewhere and watching as he descends into a terrible place, convinced of his own motives, is a deeply chilling experience.

Don’t Look Back is an incredible, literary crime novel, one that should hopefully propel Lippman’s profile here in the UK. If you haven’t discovered Lippman yet, we urge you to pick up this book when its released and discover one of the most intelligent and skilled writers working in the crime genre today.

Russel D McLean for crimescenescotland, 28/01/11

*published in the US as I’D KNOW YOU ANYWHERE

Private Eyes From the Hardboiled Guys

INNOCENT MONSTER by Reed Farrel Coleman Tyrus Books, $24.95, ISBN 9781935562207
A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF by Lawrence Block , Mulholland Books, May 2011, ISBN 9780316127332

The Private Eye is one of those archetypal characters everybody believes they know and understand. We all have this image solidified by decades of cliché and ingrained ideas that tallies our image of the investigator. This makes it tough to come up with anything new to say when writing about such a character, but at least two novels I’ve read in the last few months have proved that the eye is far from washed up.

The first novel was Reed Farrel Coleman’s latest Moe Prager novel, INNOCENT MONSTER (Tyrus Books). Coleman is one of my favourite of the current breed of eye heroes, not least because his stories rob the genre of its melodrama and instead aim for a more realistic, but no less hard-hitting account of the life of the eye. The Prager series focuses on mistakes buried in the past, on how we plant the seeds for our own destruction many years before they take fruit and how we seldom even notice that we’ve done so. This latest novel finds Prager retired from the investigation business, pulled back in by his estranged daughter. It seems that Prager’s past is what pulls him into the investigation business every time, as if by solving another’s problem he can somehow atone for all that he has done wrong.

As Prager finds himself pulled into the search for a missing art prodigy, he finds he must deal with the guilt of others as well as his own lingering self-criticism and guilt over all the anguish he has brought others. The only real reason Moe pursues the case is to try and mend his relationship with his daughter. As the book progresses, Moe is duped, outsmarted and double crossed by nearly everyone, but the fact is that no one can hurt Prager as badly as he can hurt himself. He is a unique and wonderful character – utterly rounded and flawed in a convincingly conflicted way so few crime protagonists are. Moe is neither a crusader nor an agent of chaos. He is simply a human being with all that entails, and Innocent Monster serves to further our insight into the man he is and the man he has been.

But while character may be king, Coleman manages to serve a meaty plot with which to mirror Prager’s own internal drama. The search for Sashi Bluntstone – child art prodigy, now missing – serves as a way into a world where no one can tell the truth, where people wear masks to disguise their own sins and where decades-long pain has started to resurface. Any writer can knock at the art-loving middle/upper class set but Coleman does it in a way that feels strikingly real and utterly plausible. The fact that Coleman – like all good eyes – is an outsider to this world only serves to bring further illuminations to the truths he uncovers within this world.

Coleman only came to Crime Scene Scotland’s attention a few years ago, but he has rapidly become one of our favourite writers here, and Innocent Monster only serves to cement that reputation. This is crime writing at its smartest and it’s most emotionally honest. Innocent Monster is the kind of book that stays with you, and of course will leave you wanting to know what happens next, as it hints at what might be in store for Moe the next time we meet him.

A word of warning, of course. If you are new to Prager, perhaps you might want to start earlier in the series. The emotional impact of the series works at its best as a slow and gradual build up. While we at Crime Scene Scotland often claim that series books do not need to be read in order, the Prager books are of a select few that have maximum emotional impact when read in order. But trust us, you won’t be disappointed.

The second novel is the forthcoming A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF (Mulholland) from Lawrence Block, and it’s the latest in one of my favourite long running eye series featuring ex-alcoholic eye Matt Scudder. What makes A Drop of the Hard Stuff interesting is that it acts as a flashback piece, a look back at a gap in Scudder’s decades long career. Looking at the chronology of the Scudder character, it is clear that there is a long gap between his realisation that he is an Alcoholic and his recovery. During that period we learn little of Scudder’s life, and know only that he returned more sober if not necessarily wiser.

The last couple of Scudder books (the last being 2005’s ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING) had found Scudder in a kind of odd place as a character. With his past behind him and his sins coming to a head in EVERYBODY DIES, it seemed as though there was nowhere new to take Matt. He was still one of the finest written eyes on the block (no pun intended) but the fire seemed to have gone from his belly.

This is what makes A Drop of the Hard Stuff so interesting; it takes place at a time in Scudder’s life when the conflict between his old and new selves was at its height. It was a time when he could tip either way, when his future was uncertain. As a result this makes for an intriguing central conflict within the book and the real possibility that our hero may just slip up. The very personal aspect of Scudder’s investigation – as he investigates the death of a childhood friend who is also in the Twelve Step Program – adds fuel to the emotional fire of Scudder and provides a neat counterpoint to the exploration of Scudder himself.

In contrast to the Moe Prager novels, Scudder’s world is operatic in its intensity. His is a world of melodrama. Grittily convincing melodrama, but melodrama nonetheless. This is not a criticism. Scudder is the last of the original two-fisted PIs left out there. He is one of the last pure eyes left, and he shows us in this novel why they were so effective and why they belonged to a very particular time and place before the genre had to evolve. In the prologue and epilogue, we see Scudder as he is now and New York as it has become. He talks about aging, about change, and we realise how much things have changed even if it feels like we haven’t noticed. Block makes perfect use of the contrast between the world now and the world as it was when Scudder was trying to quit the drink. The New York of A Drop of the Hard Stuff is the New York that used to be, that was associated with sin, where every corner was a temptation to a man trying to stop drinking, to pull himself out of the sleaze. It stands in sharp relief to the newly gentrified Manhattan and reminds us just how much things have changed in the space of a few decades.

A Drop of the Hard Stuff is one of the best Scudder’s in a long time and it’s a reminder of the power the character has, why he has become part of the pantheon of great hardboiled investigators. Block claimed a few years back he was to quit writing. But even if it turned out to merely a rest, it’s clear that he and Scudder are not only back, but they’re firing on all cylinders.

Russel D McLean for crimescenescotland, 27/01/11