A clever tale about a detective’s daunting case from a promising author.
In this debut novel, Mason Burr resembles no other private eye in the much-loved genre; the bad guys he targets turn out to be his clients’ hang-ups.
Burr’s latest case involves Jerry Zobec, a classic schlub. Zobec hires Burr, who claims he can “debug personalities” in 24 hours, because he’s desperate. Zobec hates his job; his girlfriend, Amy McFine, has left him; and he lacks friends. Weltschmerz—the feeling that the world is going to hell and that any good guy is hopelessly beleaguered—is Burr’s diagnosis. Thus begins the detective’s mission to rid Zobec of this feeling or at least show him how to cope with it. Burr and Zobec will commune for 24 hours; they will even eat together—at the Acid Reflux Cafe, where world-weary Louie, the proprietor, dispenses tough love. Zobec harbors resources, however. He is a real motor mouth, but what comes out of that mouth is killingly funny and shows a deep interest in the world, even if that engagement remains negative. His monologues consist of well-informed rants about the health care crisis, the out-of-control gun culture, the Middle East—and many other topics. In short, Zobec hasn’t really given up, though he doesn’t realize it yet. With a deadline looming, Burr faces a formidable task: “What in the hell have you done?” he asks himself, fearing that Zobec might be certifiable. But the investigator soon grasps his client’s potential. Smith exploits an ingenious idea here. For starters, she concocts a wonderful sendup of the detective noir genre (Burr toils in a seedy walk-up, locals call the neighborhood the Crosshairs District, gunfire sometimes breaks out, etc.). In addition, the author has invented some colorful characters. The private eye’s name is a witty homage to Perry Mason and Raymond Burr. Clyde the Psychic, who works in the gumshoe’s building, sometimes appears on “Seer Sucker,” a radio show. A pigeon with attitude named Drake assists Burr. Best of all is Zobec, who is irritating but basically lovable and a useful platform for Smith’s political and social views. And for her jokes: “Can you believe they demoted Pluto to a dwarf planet?” Zobec complains to Burr. “It should go rogue and get the fuck out of the whole solar system. Start someplace new.”
A clever tale about a detective’s daunting case from a promising author.Pub Date: April 7, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9858224-4-6
Page Count: 206
Publisher: McLarals
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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