I may have come late to the Thomas Perry bandwagon, but after reading STRIP, I’m hanging onto the outside handrail and not letting go. The brilliant, 12-page opening chapter drew me completely into his world of small-time crooks and big-time trouble.
Joe Carver has been living rough after he moved to Los Angeles, and sets up his nightly camp in the cab of a 250-foot tall crane at a construction site. Bored, he’s read all the operation manuals and come to identify with the daytime operator of the cab, who he believes is called Mitch. When he’s up there one night, two Hummers come to the site and disgorge five dangerous-looking thugs.
Carver knows who they are: They’re Mancu Kapak’s men, and they’re here to kill him. Kapak believes Carver is the man who robbed him while depositing the nightly receipts from Kapak’s nightclubs at the bank. But Carver is innocent, a case of mistaken identity … which doesn’t really concern Kapak’s men.
At first, he tries to climb down the crane, but realizes that the crane itself is his only weapon. Things are about to get real ugly. The nicest touch — the extra detail that Perry consistently adds to his vignettes — is that when the carnage is over, Carver realizes the cops will be on their way and will investigate the cab. “Mitch” has a couple of nude pictures of his wife taped up there, and Carver doesn’t want the police pawing over them, so he pulls them down and builds a little fire to destroy that particular piece of evidence.
And then he slips into the night. Perhaps he can meet up with Kapak and tell him the truth, but that’s probably a bad idea.
The story continues to spiral in ever more surprising directions. Whether it’s LAPD Lt. Nick Slosser and his unique secret; the rather sympathetic Mancu and his illegitimate business troubles; the enigmatic Carver; the real robber, Jefferson Davis Falkins; or his straight-up-crazy girlfriend, Carrie, the reader is exposed to so much more going on beyond just the surface petty crimes and frantic sex.
With all the twists and turns, and the core story of a man wrongfully accused who is trying to clear his name, it’s almost Hitchcockian in style. It’s also funny in a droll sort of way, as great plans go awry or when crazy chicks like Carrie get involved, so maybe it’s more of a Coen brothers film. Either way, Perry’s descriptive talents are evocative, but short and sweet, and his deeply drawn characters almost seem to have souls.
Readers should know that this is not part of the Jane Whitefield series for which Perry is well-known, but it is a marvelous one-off. It’s really, really good stuff and highly recommended. —Mark Rose
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• RUNNER by Thomas Perry
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