My new novel, THE GENUINE, IMITATION, PLASTIC KIDNAPPING just snagged a terrific review over at author Carl Brush's review blog.
LOVE, LAUGHS, AND CRIME IN THE BIG EASY
Posted on October 22, 2014 by carlrbrush
No novel ever deserved the “couldn’t put it down” label more
than Les Edgeton’s The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping. This
black comedy thriller will keep you laughing your way through your fear from
first page to last. Your guide through the amazing set of cons and mishaps is
Pete Halliday, a major league pitcher (for a moment) fallen on hard times and
looking for a score. Pete is earnest and funny and likable, but a more than a
tad gullible. His partner/buddy keeps dreaming up new capers. Pete keeps
falling for them. Complications ensue, and the results are both
life-threatening (to the characters) and hilarious. The biggest caper of all is
referenced in the title, and I’m not saying a word more about it for fear of
spoiling everything. Read it to find out, and I’ll guarantee you’ll be ever and
always glad you did. Pete’s cup of coffee in the majors happens with the Giants
back a ways. It helps a bit if you’re a fan, as I am, so that when you get
references to such as “Dusty” and “Kurt Manwarring,” you’ll know what ‘s up.
However, it’s not at all necessary for understanding when and how the team
dumps him nor will it dampen your laughs over the couple of the incidents
leading up to the rejection.
The opening sequence that occurs on
“A Streetcar Not Named Desire” is an unparalleled original, even for Edgerton.
Throughout, we get how deeply both narrator (and, we suspect, the author)
understand and care about the wonders of New Orleans. Again, I will say nothing
more about the events and characters for fear of spoilage. In fact, it seems
almost impossible to comment on Plastic and still keep the way clear and
fresh for the uninitiated. I can comment on how deftly Edgerton integrates a
reference to his most excellent, must-read work, The
Rapist, into the action. Again, you don’t have to have read The
Rapist to love Kidnap, but if you have–and you should–you’ll
enjoy it all the more. I can–and will–also say that if you’re up for a love
story between a witty, low-level crook and a loveable prostitute who together
get involved in slapstick felonies beyond any pale whatsoever, you need to get
this one. You really, really do.
Made my day!
Blue skies,
Les
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment