One part Willeford, one part Woodrell, one part, well, whoever
fits the bill (it's the bit with all the plot at the very end;
after we've had our fun), A Firing Offense is more - much
more - than just the sum of its parts.
Washington D.C. "A city where the only common community interest
was to get safely through another day." Mid-80s. Thirtysomething
Nick Stefanos works advertising paste-ups for Nutty Nathan's:
blow-out sales and shady deals. Swap the strap-lines. Oh yes.
Then he gets this call from the grandfather of a kid he befriended
at work. Jimmy Pence's gone missing. Sure, he shaved his head
and hung with that punk crowd, but that doesn't MEAN he'd go missing.
And he kissed grandpappy at the door that last time. So, can Nick
help? Being buddies and all, and being as how Jimmy and Nick are
- were - alike: speed metal, rec-drugs, rebel-boy shit.
That's your plot. Which is perfunctory. As Pelecanos well knows.
Because almost as soon as it's introduced, he forgets about it.
Much of the first third of A Firing Offense is about drinking
and drugs and BB guns and casual abuse in the electrical retail
trade. Honest. The spiralling madness of wild days and crazy nights
on the floor, selling you - us - what we don't need. Sound dull?
It's (pardon me) electrifying, gill-packed with the coal-hearted
misanthropy of Charles Willeford on a bad, black day. THAT good.
Daniel Woodrell we think of when Nick and his buddy take off for
a brief sojourn in country. Highways, bars and beers. Slack, loose,
all but pointless - and absolutely riveting.
Getting the idea yet? Pelecanos keeps plot afloat only long enough
to get us aboard the boat. It's the bait, not the hook. Which
is why the book's at its slackest - that's slack like a taut fishing-line
is slack - at the end, when he suddenly realises he ought to tie
something up. So he wastes half a dozen bad guys and gives Nick
a reason to go on. All's fair.
No, forget that and just know Pelecanos is GREAT. There's some
sly politics, some smart action stuff, his writing tight, full
of personality but never showy. And, like prime-rib Willeford,
his audacity can fair take your breath away. Great because any
book where the lead listens to Public Enemy, Billy Bragg and Pere
Ubu can't be all bad, right? Right. And if nothing else it'll
make you think twice about shopping in Dixons ever again.
