Crime novels that dwell in the drug world seem to think adding more plots equals standing out. Well, in William C. Duncan’s SIX-GUN TWO-STEP, it just makes the reader throw out his suspension of disbelief a few too many times.
Wade Thomas is a straight-laced businessman and a pillar of the community, while his brother Tim is a total screw-up junkie … until Tim’s girlfriend stumbles upon their drug dealers dead — one from an overdose and the other from what looks likes a self-inflicted gunshot. Tim figures their stash must still be there. He scores all right: How about a suitcase filled with pure, uncut heroin?
This sets off what could be a real gritty crime story, since Tim unwittingly steals from a Hispanic gang that supplied the dealers and want their product back. But Duncan feels that is not enough, so he sends Tim and his girlfriend off to New York City, while anyone associated with them become sitting ducks for the gang.
Meanwhile, Wade is pissed that he finds out their mother is making Tim’s car payments, so he goes to NYC to track Tim down. Duncan adds to all of this by throwing in Mafia goons, a slick-talking Harlem dealer and a sex-crazed stripper. This is only halfway through, and we’re not even finished with the subplots. Throughout, you feel as though these characters are living some sort of B-grade action movie.
Again and again, I felt as if all these things were just a bit too beyond reality, especially for what we are to believe are people who have never been affected by these kinds of things before — namely, all the gunplay and brutal violence. It’s very much a check-your-brain-at-the-door situation, and Duncan tries really hard by throwing all this in, even adding another plot point at the end which comes off as just a cheap thrill.
SIX-GUN could have easily been trimmed down with some of these subplots taken out. It’s a valid first attempt, but you get the feeling Duncan was trying to cram every idea he had into this novel, just in case there wouldn’t be a second one. —Bruce Grossman
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Its a self-published novel, what did you expect?
A self-published novel doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad. Poorly edited, maybe (because they often don’t have access to the real skills an editor can provide), but some novels from mainstream publishers are just as incoherent or badly plotted as the worst of the vanity presses. Sadly, having the imprimatur of a Harcourt Brace Jovanovich or a Doubleday or whatever you will doesn’t mean as much as it once did. So I would expect from either a self-published novel or a novel published by one of the regular publishers, a competent plot, an intriguing story, and not so much smoke-and-mirrors that I’m bored by the over-the-top result. Not too much to ask, one would think.
Most self-published novels I’ve run across are poorly edited or, worse, not edited at all. A few of them have been gems, but yes, a majority are self-published for a reason.