If you’re offended easily, skip PAIN KILLERS, since Jerry Stahl’s novel is steeped in black humor playing on the fact that one of its main characters might be Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who performed all sorts of horrific experiments, as detailed throughout. But as awful as he is, he is only one part of the horrific crew we come to face-to-face with, including some characters from his earlier book, PLAINCLOTHES NAKED, like his lead, former policeman and addict Manny Rubert, and his ex-wife, Tina.
The story opens with Manny getting knocked out by a client named Zell, who wants Manny to find out the identity of a certain San Quentin prisoner: an old man who claims he is Mengele. Why Zell wants Manny to find out is not explained to our detective — nor is how Zell has pulled so many strings so that Manny even gets into San Quentin, under the guise of a drug counselor.
From this point on, the book just gets weirder, in not only the humor, but the plot totally taking some major jumps … which is one of the few problems I found with Stahl’s writing. In those portions, it seems everyone we have come to meet literally just walked out of prison for the climax, with Stahl inserting one character who says two sentences that somehow are to clear up the confusion for the reader. But that person does not turn up until literally pages after a lot of action.
Long before that, Manny has a lot on his plate, with some of the prisoners he has in his group, including a reverend who runs an escort service; a boy who has half a face, thanks to a gun incident; the aforementioned old Nazi; a white rasta who seems to know a bit too much about Manny; and a roided-up Aryan member who is also Jewish.
PAIN KILLERS never lets up in this type of humor or discourse, with Mengele portraying himself as a true man of science who was helped by massive corporations. But as disturbing as all that is, it just gets even more bizarre before it’s all said and done, when the true nature of Zell is revealed, and the real reason he hired Manny for this case.
I can safely say this one is not going to be a feel-good read that masses will embrace, but for those who love gallows humor and are willing to ride in the underbelly of the lowest of society are going to eat it up, plus want a second helping once they’re finished. —Bruce Grossman
