The Naked Eye by William J. Reynolds

​Brash Publishers are digitally reissuing these oldies but goodies, though the only listing for this book on GR currently is that of an old paperback. Ok, let’s go with that, then. There’s also only one review, which doesn’t speak volume to the book’s popularity. Then book has been out for decades.
This is the fifth volume in Reynolds’ Nebraska series. It’s also a good indicator of why there were only ever six of them for it is much too long and drawn out of a story. The strategically never first named Nebraska has originally attracted me with his wham-bam thank you m’am approach. His neo-noir adventures were fun and succinct, entertaining while never overstaying their welcome. And Nebraska is a fun - and funny - guy, always juggling his aspiring writing career with his reluctant private eye work.
This time, though, there’s less of the juggling, virtually none of the clever meta detective talk, less jokes and more words, great many words.
It begins with Nebraska saving a teenage gay boy from lechery – kudos for Nebraska and how very progressive for the time. But by doing so, Nebraska steps on some toes he maybe shouldn’t have. The toes trace back to a wealthy connected family in Minneapolis and soon Nebraska finds himself at the proverbial crosshairs as a target of revenge. Nebraska is exposed now...hence the title. Get it? Get it? Good.
In order to get out of this bind, Nebraska assumes one of his secret perfectly documented other lives (of which he has four…what? overkill? this has never been mentioned before), goes to Minneapolis and inveigles himself into the family that’s after him. And if he has to work out and get fit to do it (they own a gym among other things), so be it.
And then for great many chapters Nebraska toes the line while trying to figure out how to get the target sights off of him. Which kind of makes it slower than usual, less fun than usual, less clever than usual even.
Nebraska is still fun, but this volume seems to almost entirely rely on its protagonist’s inherent charms, which kinda sorta makes for a less far, less balanced and less interesting of a read. There’s virtually no mystery in here either. Just a sort of play by play games of power and manipulation. It’s still entertaining enough, but it leaves a lot to be desired, especially when compared to its predecessors. Many thanks to Brash publishers for providing a free copy for review purposes.