Potboiler, by Jesse Kellerman (Putnam, July 2012)
Reviewed by Ann Snuggs
So many adjectives to use! Jesse Kellerman's Potboiler is quirky, absurd, intriguing, engrossing, surreal and utterly delightful. Believe me! Many more words would fit this entertaining tale.
Suspend disbelief and come along for the fun read of the summer.
Arthur Pfefferkorn is a college professor of creative writing with one lone published book in his vita - a serious novel from his youth, praised by some critics but not a great seller.
His buddy from junior high school, Bill Kowalczyk, nom de plume William de Vallee, has the life Arthur would have wanted - famous author of many best-sellers, married to the woman Pfefferkorn loved first, wealthy, prestigious. Now Bill is missing in a boating accident, presumed dead.
Despite the cost of the trip, Arthur knows he must go to the funeral. It's invitation only - and he has one. He knows he will incur expenses other than transportation and hostelry. Among other things, his wardrobe must be spruced up before going. But whether or not he can afford to go, Pfefferkorn must see Carlotta, the love of his life, now the widow of his best friend.
Carlotta is as beautiful as ever and grateful that Bill's oldest and dearest friend came.
Potboiler could have turned into a nice little relationship novel but things are not what they seem. Before Arthur knows what's happening, he is giving in to his baser instincts and finds himself caught up in danger, intrigue, conspiracy, international plotting - he's way over his head.
My opting to review this book was chiefly prompted by the profession of the protagonist. Just as
filmmakers have a deeper appreciation of films about filmmaking, so writers have a built-in empathy for books about writers. Probably I did relate to Arthur better than the reader who has no interest in writing his own stories. When he looked at what he was experiencing with the thought, "this could be a good premise for a book," I laughed out loud, knowing the feeling only too well.
However, all readers who enjoy a well-plotted - but over-the-top - story will find this a fun read. Yes, I did react with an "oh, brother," and roll my eyes at some of the absurd plot turns and also knew from the get-go where in the world this story had to take us, but who cares. It was too much fun to quibble and there's not a single thing wrong with escaping into a fantasy world for a few hours of pure amusement.
Arthur himself ponders that ". . . the stuff of bad novels was far more likely to occur in real life than the stuff of good novels. . . ." If he's right Potboiler is a very good novel indeed. This is not real life.
The only problem with calling Potboiler a beach novel is that sitting on the beach long enough to read the whole book - it's not easy to put down - would result in third-degree sunburn. Stay out of the sun to read and don't miss this one.
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Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, by Horace McCoy (Open Road, ebook, 2012)
Reviewed by Ann Snuggs
The ebook publication of Horace McCoy's Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye - basis for the 1950 James Cagney movie of the same name - is good news for fans of noir fiction.
Ralph Cotter lies in his bunk in prison awaiting the dawn with great anticipation. This is breakout day for him, courtesy of Holiday, a woman who wants a smart operator with her brother to help him escape. Details have been carefully timed and laid out, but Cotter has a few plans of his own that were not in the program - including killing a man or two, either for revenge or expediency.
He knows he can pull it off. After all, he's a college grad - Phi Beta Kappa. Much smarter than anyone he meets.
Cotter escapes, but the brother and others die in the process.
Using Holiday's connections, including her wheel man Jinx, Cotter begins planning new crimes. It's all about the money and he wants it all.
He's crafty. He's conscienceless. His answer for loose ends is "kill 'em." But like all noir protagonists, Cotter is too smart for his own good.
He plots carefully and convinces reluctant associates to go along when they doubt, but he can't outsmart the world. Nor can he control the two women for whom he lusts.
Satisfied that he controls the mechanisms - from the police to his fellow criminals - he boldly strikes out to have his own way, but he can't see all the contingencies. Following the story of his twisted maneuverings is gripping.
Written in 1948, the Golden Age of noir - if "golden" may be applied to the dinginess of the genre - its brutal protagonist, Ralph Cotter; no, Paul Murphy; no, whatever name was inscribed on his birth certificate, has no milk of human kindness anywhere in his being.
His arrogance is that of the classic noir male. He can beat the odds. Everyone he meets is a lesser man. However, unlike many noir characters, he needs no femme fatale to entice him. Corruption and viciousness seethe within him. He may seem to be caught in some dark female's web but, in the end, he is his own man, self-made and self-deluding.
McCoy's dark story is fascinating noir, of another era. And therein lies the rub. His writing style is of another time when readers of even the pulps had a vocabulary of greater depth than many readers of the twenty-first century. Dated and esoteric words are sprinkled throughout the novel. His prose, though strong, holds a wordiness characteristic of writing styles of the past.
A definite plus to the techniques of yesteryear is the lack of graphicness. All of the sex and violence is there but the scenes don't beat the reader over the head with explicit details. Leaving a little to the imagination makes the story much richer and more effective.
On a personal note: I loved the writing. It was a return to the language of literature classes. Still, it is unfair to review without noting such aspects of a book to make those who want basic, explicit and streamlined aware before they plunge in, only to be irritated rather than entertained.
Lovers of classic noir have a great opportunity with the release of Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in ebook format. It is not to be missed.
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Last Call For The Living (Forge Books, May 2012)
Reviewed by Ben Springer
Peter Farris’ debut novel “Last Call For The Living” is definitely a book
you’re going to want to seek out for your summer reading pleasure.
Fresh out of prison Hobe Hicklin, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, decides to betray his “brothers” when he takes the jump on a bank robbery that they had planned in Georgia, doing the job himself, and keeping all the money. Things don’t go quite as planned, and Hicklin’s forced to shoot one of the bank tellers, and take the other one hostage where they hide out in a cabin in the deep woods. What follows is a cat and mouse chase between Hicklin, the law, and the angry Brotherhood trying to get back what’s theirs.
A novel this well seasoned, with the rich characterization, tight plotting, and poetic prose doesn’t happen very often with debut works. Even veteran authors would be hard pressed to outdo this.
I really liked the way Farris made each character, even bit parts, feel fully fleshed out and real. He also managed to take the lush Georgia backdrop almost come alive as another character in the book. It really made you feel engrossed in the story.
I urge everyone to pick up this great novel if you’re looking for a violent, gritty, action-packed Southern noir. You won’t be disappointed.
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TWO REVIEWS OF:
False Negative, by Joseph Koenig (Hard Case Crime, June 2012)
Review #1, by Richard Reeder
Joseph Koenig was the master of the sensationalist stories that appeared in potboiler “true crime” magazines so prominently featured at newsstands three or four decades ago. Most of Koenig’s stories appeared in Front Page Detective, perhaps the best of that now long-gone magazine genre. Koenig also wrote three novels that were basically expanded crime stories, receiving some notoriety for these, and then he disappeared from the literary sleaze scene for over twenty years.
Now Koenig has resurfaced with a new novel, False Negative, set in the Atlantic City and New York City of the early 1950s. It was the time of Senator Joe McCarthy and Charlie Parker, an era of paranoia and indulgence. Koenig captures this time and place brilliantly, and the reader is taken on a titillating rollercoaster ride for 251 pages. The protagonist, Adam Jordan, is a crime writer turned magazine editor. A quirky guy and jazz aficionado, one wonders how much of Jordan’s persona reflects Koenig himself.
Jordan becomes involved investigating and reporting two murders of beautiful young women in and around Atlantic City. One victim is an aspiring Miss America beauty queen married to a major league ballplayer. The other is a showgirl entertaining wealthy men in the private entertainment venues of Atlantic City. Both of these young women are hustlers, and both fall victim to an unlikely predator. Jordan, the cool hipster writer/editor finally finds the perpetrator, making him the book’s unlikely hero.
So welcome back to the contemporary noir scene, Mr. Koenig. False Negative is a fun read, that I truly enjoyed, and I highly recommend it to others.
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False Negative
Review #2, by Ann Snuggs
It's amazing how what seems to be an insignificant decision can completely change a life.
So Atlantic City Press police reporter Adam Jordan learns when he decides to skip a routine political speech in favor of a few hours of rest. After all, his recent stories - one covering an execution, the other the discovery of dead girl at Little Egg Harbor -gained the attention of a New York pulp magazine editor, who has offered him the opportunity to write for Real Detective. No one will ever notice if he tacks a new lead paragraph onto a rehash of this politician's old speeches.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The congressman double crosses him and drops dead before ever opening his mouth. Jordan is fired for fabricating a story detailing the man‘s speech that was never given.
Suddenly the magazine offer is more appealing, though still beneath his talents - in his opinion. But for now, Jordan uses his meticulous research skills and his gift for writing to create tales for the readers of Real Detective.
Some stories are suggested and some he digs up on his own. One won't let him alone, even though he's been warned off.
Jordan's tenacity in investigating a series of murders of young, beautiful women - beginning with one of his last stories for the Press, the Little Egg Harbor killing - takes him into dangerous waters. The dead are of different backgrounds, associations, races - but they have something in common: All are beautiful and ambitious.
Adam knows the killer is the same person - these are not random killings - and is determined to find out who and why. Proving it may be the last thing he ever does.
Joseph Koenig's False Negative is classic crime material. Reporter Adam Jordan is not an official investigator but he works in a manner that would do credit to a private detective of the old school. Set in the early 1950s, the novel utilizes the aura of the time. Nicely paced, the story engrosses the reader and keeps the pages turning as Jordan delves into whatever connections may exist between the women who died.
False Negative is a great read for fans of crime fiction. (I sat up late to finish it.)
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<Thanks to the publishers, authors, and publicists who provided the review copies for all of these books.>
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