THE MESSENGER

Gangsters, former beauty queens, bombshell blondes, thugs, thieves, assassins and snitches: they’re all in day’s work for Mike Miller.

In Perry's (Cat Flight from Birdland, 2011, etc.) latest novel, Mike Miller makes decisions on a daily basis that keep him in hot water. He’s a smart guy who’s sometimes too cynical and sarcastic for his own good, but it's not his fault that he fell in to his line of work. Half a lifetime ago, he just was another Joe Schmoe with a degree in philosophy he never wanted and wasting away at a dead-end job. Then he encountered some famous mobsters and got caught up in the middle of a murder case. However, he managed to keep his mouth shut to the cops. Ever since then, he has made a lucrative career out of being a mouthpiece for anyone who will pay top dollar. Acting as the string between two tin cans isn’t as easy as it sounds; sometimes the intended recipient of the message is dead. To cope with his oddball clients, Miller nicknames them after philosophers he admires like Confucius, Schopenhauer, Descartes, Siddhartha and Hobbes. Compounding matters is his gorgeous wife, a television news reporter named Tuesday. Miller loves her deeply and lusts for her insatiably, but they clash constantly. This gives the story the feeling of a familiar film noir but is not in the least clichéd. Miller is an anti-hero who readers will find themselves rooting for. Perry is painstaking with his word play and attention to detail given not only to Miller, but every character and setting. The the plot feels wonderfully precise, and this extends from Perry's clever nom-de-plume to the use of the infinity symbol on every page.

An absorbing read for lovers of great writing, the philosophically minded and appreciators of slick dramas.