The cover of THE LAST STRAIGHT FACE states that “revenge is a serious business.” Too bad that business never really materializes until the final pages. Bruce Kennedy Jones and Eric Allison’s novel opens with an unnamed narrator just being released from Strangeways prison to a world that really doesn’t want him back; he learns that his nephew was killed, with drugs playing a central part, and that his wife and children have left him high and dry, with no idea of where they went.
The novel has some major stumbling blocks for American readers — namely, it is in dire need of a glossary. This book is littered with so much English slang, it becomes frustrating. Also, what claims to be a hard-hitting revenger felt more like a car stuck in a snow bank, making very slow progress.
It literally felt like I was slogging through this book, rather than reading it. Maybe it’s just too set in the world of British crime, filled with crooked cops and even more criminals who want our narrator out of the picture. The plot moves along like a turtle in molasses when we see one of our narrator’s best friends get killed. From this point on, don’t expect anything to hold your attention to the fizzled-out ending. I was waiting for all this promised action or even tension to turn up, but it was all just a giant tease.
The few things that held my interest were the moments that really show the criminal mind, expounding on things like those little telltale signs of knowing someone has looked through your apartment. But those moments can’t carry a story very far. What frustrated me is that both authors know of crime world intimately, since Jones is a long-time crime reporter and Allison is the real deal when it comes to criminals. Their combined style tries hard, but fails more often than not.
It really feels as though they had a great germ of an idea, and maybe if the novel’s length were edited severely, it would make an engaging read. But more than anything else, it feels like the word “edit” was never used when it was finished. More than likely, THE LAST STRAIGHT FACE simply doesn’t translate well for these shores. Even for people who have read countless British crime novels will find themselves irritated. —Bruce Grossman
Related posts:
- Straight Cut
- A Pretty Face
- The Hunter / The Man with the Getaway Face / The Outfit
- Face of a Killer
- The Face of Fear
