Back on April Fool's Day of 2005, I recommended that you read Duane Swierczynski's first novel, Secret Dead Men. In October of that same year, I exhorted you to read The Wheelman. And now it's time for me to tell you about The Blonde. I feel kind of sorry for you, since you're going to have to wait until November to read it, whereas I got this cool review copy, nyah, nyah, nyah.
This is a terrific book. It's not at all like either of the the others I mentioned, and yet it is. You might even recognize a character or two. But you won't recognize the plot, which is absolutely nonstop action from first page to last. If the movies don't jump on this one, then the guys in Hollywood are crazier than I think they are.
The book begins at 9:13 P.M. and ends the next morning at 7:58 (except for a couple of short but necessary codas). It begins in the airport in Philadelphia when a woman tells a guy named Jack that she's poisoned his drink. After that come your nanobots, your decapitations, your Sybians (I'm sure Duane heard about this on Howard Stern's show rather than having been around one himself), your secret agents, your Mad Doctors, your doomsday scenario, your Executioner-style War on the Mafia. And then, as I said of Secret Dead Men, it gets really wild.
All you have do to love this book is accept one truly outrageous premise, which I was happy to do. After that, batten down the hatches and hang on for the ride. In November, that is. When you can finally get your hands on a copy.
2 comments:
And, amazingly, he will be at ConMisterio in Austin which starts tomorrow with your humble blogmaster as Toastmaster.
Should be fun. If following Joe Lansdale in any role can be called fun.
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