You know summer officially started this week and man is Ransom Notes reflecting that. This is easily the most pure fun week of posting I've had in a while. Kicked off with Duane Swierczynski's sugar-rush Fun and Games, and today we're looking at Lake Charles, the latest from Ed Lynskey. It has the most fun traipsing along the muggy, rugged backroads of Appalachia since John Boorman sent Burt Reynolds and Jon Voight on that little float trip.
James Dickey's novel Deliverance remains the gold standard for the backwood thriller to me and certainly its literary merit should keep it in high regard among twentieth-century American word appreciators, but the sub-genre is well-suited for pulpy detours into horror, mystery and humor.
Elmore Leonard's most famous rule for writing is if it sounds like writing, rewrite it. I think many authors would do well to take that gem to heart, though Lynskey has not, and I'm kinda glad. His book is packed full of Writing with a capital 'W,' neither as completely wise-acre nor half as earnest as you'd be tempted to believe. The characters have names like Cobb and Mama Jo, and they think and speak as if they were in competition for bawdy, wry, folksy observations. It's like they grew up watching Road House and Southern Comfort over and over again like I did (which would be impossible as the book takes place in 1979), idolized Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce as much as Billy Jack and Joe Don Baker, and as much as that kind of thing could drive me crazy, I had a blast, and I'll leave it to the nerds to work out why it was uh, Justified or not.
The story concerns Brendan, a good ol' boy who recently snagged his nethers in tight spot, legally speaking. He woke up after a one night stand in a seedy motel with a dead party girl whose daddy happens to be big fish 'round these parts. Arrested, charged and now out on bail, Brendan would love nothing more than to forget his troubles on a fishing trip with his best friend and his sister. But relaxing aint in the cards. When Brendan's sister Edna goes missing, he and Cobb go a'huntin. Very quickly they run across fields of controlled-substance crops and formulate theories about what happened to Edna (none too cheery.) Soon enough gunfire is exchanged, bodies are dropped and rather than retreat and get the law involved in a fair fight, they call in reinforcements of their own.
The plot snakes about, the relationships of the characters are revealed and tried, but what never lets up is the let's-get-to-it-ness of the characters' willingness to stake everything on the moment. Refreshingly bold action, which I will take over genius-level, patience-of-Job sporting, protagonists biding their time and methodically executing their master plans over a loooong period of time almost every time I'm given a choice. 'Cause let's face it, people act rashly, emotionally and not logically most times and the sticky places that lands em - those are some intriguing and relatable dramatic positions.
Now, I'm all worked up to watch Smokey and the Bandit or hmmm maybe Next of Kin (looking at you for support on that one - Kent Gowran.) I'll also be hanging out at Rusty Barnes' Fried Chicken and Coffee site, soaking up the vibe, fumes and culture.
