Never read, never even heard of the author and with a name like Jocko I’m sure I’d remember, but the book sounded appealing. And sure enough…
Final Spin is technically a crime novel, but it’s certainly not a typical one. Which is to say it can just as easily and accurately be described as a proper character driven dramatic literature. It features a 23 year old protagonist who, despite having both good looks and good brains, haven’t done much with either. Instead, he lives with his alcoholic mother (absent in any way that has meaning from his life and this novel) and his older brother (a spectrumish 29 years old obsessed with cleaning clothes), stacks the shelves in a local supermart and spends time with his gf and his bff. And then a catalyst…his brother’s place of employment, a laundromat owned by a Dutch couple is going up for sale, the owners desperately need 40K and a plan forms. A plan to rob the supermart with his best friend, buy the laundromat and take off for Mexico. It’s an admirable plan in a way that its motivations are pure, a man who has failed to get places at life is determined to at least maintain and preserve the sole joy and happy place of his brother’s life, but it’s a rushed plan, the kind where all things that can go wrong do. So it’s that kind of a novel. And a very compelling one at that. There’s an interesting narrative structure here that the author utilizes, it’s somewhere between a poem and a play both stylistically and in its sparseness, dialogue driven composition, but it’s surprisingly effective, and dynamic (which makes it a step up on most poems and plays) and the sparsity of text takes away nothing you need. I suppose, that’s minimalism at its finest. Plus it makes for an exceptionally quick read for the page count. All in all, an enjoyable read and a great introduction to a new author. One I would certainly read more of, given a chance. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2023
Categories |