The Case of the Purloined Painting, The Case of the Great Train Robbery, Reunion, Red Sky. Reviewed by Carl Brookins, September 2016. A well-conceived, finely written effort that somehow seems peculiarly relevant in today’s world. Of course, it is the skill and talent of the author that helps persuade us to continue to pay attention to this most reprehensible of characters and to give his oft-times hare-brained philosophizing serious consideration. Yet he is a charmer and as pursued by his chronicler, author, Caroline Kepner, he is successful in persuading a great many people to buy at least some of his arguments and actions. And he pursues a distorted nihilistic philosophy of life that leads him into a morass of morally questionable actions that take place in often unusual and well-described locations. In between, Joe rambles both physically and intellectually about the human condition, about relationships and about what he should do next. The story begins in a New York bookstore and ends in a California lockup. He is an extremely engaging modern character. As an adept seducer of women, he travels the nation, expounding on his distorted philosophy, scamming various people and murdering those who get in his way, often for the flimsiest of reasons. He is also misogynistic, athletic, immoral, talented and a serial killer. Joe, narrator and protagonist of this turbulent novel is arrogant, smart, clever and well educated.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |