Low Rider by
Philip Reed
pbk out January 99
(NEL)
at £5.99
‘This old guy’s a real loser’ says a character of ex-car salesman Harold Dodge. But Harold didn’t do so badly in his first outing, Reed’s well-received debut Bird Dog. That visit he had at the close of the previous book from Vikki, the 'killer blonde' (but grieving) widow - that insurance money would come in real handy! - clearly got to him. So he abandons his cash-strapped idyll in Chile with the uncompromising Marianna (now apparently crippled) and returns to LA, looking for a piece of the action. Unfortunately, the death of Vikki's husband is down as a suicide and the insurance company won't pay up...
In short sharp scenes each written from the point-of-view of its lead player, Reed expertly assembles a memorable cast. In addition to Harold and Vikki, the externally tough but vulnerable widow, there are the dogged detectives Torres and Gammon, the double-dealing insurance agent Dash Schaffner, together with Bobby Skura, crooked boss of the Dent Doctor Auto Body Shop (or 'chop shop' in the jargon) his psycho opera-loving brother Fabian, and other Hiaasen-like low-lifes.
Harold, in particular is an intriguing character. Whilst this book is less concerned with the lore of the used car trade than Bird Dog (though you still risk the occasional conversation about carburetors), Harold's quick-witted 'on the make' morality (or lack of it) lives on. So when, for instance, Vikki comes on to him, like a lot of us old guys, he just naturally wants to see just where the affair might lead.
But it's not just Harold who 'lives day to day, always afraid of going flat broke, falling on his face and slipping through the cracks for ever'. Everyone is scrabbling for a buck. Yes folks, it's another parable of late 90's capitalism. Will the action slow up just enough for Harold to decide where he stands? Read it and find out...
As this novel moves to its superbly engineered but lightly ironic climax, Detective Gammon remarks that ‘it’s weird, but half the world wants what we’ve got right here’. It sure is, but what we’ve got here is a supercharged narrative that will quickly have you pinned to the sofa - and you don’t have to be weird to want it. But read Bird Dog first.
Low Rider by
Philip Reed