Daniel Depp’s debut novel LOSER’S TOWN deals with the world of Hollywood through the jaded eye of ex-stuntman turned private investigator David Spandau. He’s called upon by rising star Bobby Dye, who claims to have been getting threatening letters — the last being shoved under the door of his trailer. But it’s obvious that Dye is calling attention to himself.
Spandau is just wasting his time with this character until Bobby tells him the real story: that Dye is actually being blackmailed with a set of photos that were taken at his home. The blackmailer in question is a local wannabe mobster named Jack Ritchie, who has the idea that these pics will lock Dye into a movie Ritchie has eyes on producing.
The story moves along from there, with Spandau and Ritchie butting heads along the way, alongside the constant interference of other studio heads trying to split Spandau from Dye, since they believe Spandau might be a dangerous influence. But it just becomes more apparent as the story moves along that all these studio bosses really want is more publicity before Dye’s newest movie — a retelling of ROBINSON CRUSOE — is about to screen.
But as Spandau does his job of retrieving the photos from Ritchie, he calls upon a friend named Terry, who, for his short stature, is a terror to fight. They come up with a plan they believe will get Ritchie to give up the photos, but things don’t go as well as expected.
It will dawn on most readers that Depp is trying to cop the style of certain writers, with the inclusion of several plot threads that, for all accounts, could have easily been removed without losing one bit from the story. It’s really as though Depp is trying to force the issues of caring for some of these people, which, in all honesty, have really nothing of value to like. But what is really glaring is how much the book felt like a retread of Elmore Leonard’s GET SHORTY; on the last few pages, it’s painfully obvious, which is a shame since Depp seems to have his own style with an interesting character. It’s just that this territory has already been marked in a vastly superior book. —Bruce Grossman
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- Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town
- Ghost Town
- A Dog About Town
- The Prince of Bagram Prison
- Shakedown
