Order THE PLAYER here
Essayist Alberto Manguel said in A HISTORY OF READING * that according to author Franz Kafka's correspondence, nobody really ''got'' his novel. Manguel quoted passages where Kafka himself read his work out loud to his friends and had them rolling over laughing **. It's difficult to ''get'' irony out of context, in literature. It requires a standout author and maybe the help of a clever graphic designer. Brad Parks' latest novel THE PLAYER dropped on my reading desk when I wasn't looking and from looking at the cover and reading bite-sized synopsis on the back cover, it didn't occur to me this novel had a single drop of humour in it. THE PLAYER is a little more than meets the eye. It's a comedic mystery/thriller with a keen understanding of the fundamentals of its own genre.
THE PLAYER is the 5th Carter Ross novel. He's an investigative reporter at the Newark Eagle Examiner, in New Jersey. He gets a call from a resident of an old neighbourhood about people getting mysteriously sick. When he starts digging into the construction/real estate background of the place, Ross realizes things aren't adding up, parties have hidden some information, bodies are dropping and people want him to stop sniffing around. That's his cue to keep digging some more. Ross also has a problem with his love life. He's spending his time between his girlfriend, his intern and his editor (who also happens to be his ex), who wants back into his life. It takes a man like Carter Ross to juggle a tanker-sized investigation and an already busy personal life.
It took me about 50 pages to understand what was going on in THE PLAYER. Before reaching this critical milestone, there was a lot of : ''is he serious?'', ''no fucking way'' and ''is this guy pulling my leg? Nobody right in their mind writes that stuff.'' Turns out that yes, yes fucking way and he was absolutely pulling my leg. Let me explain. THE PLAYER is written in first person POV and it's a very deliberate choice. You know that story that your friend tells a hundred times, that becomes more fun and spectacular every time he tells it, so it becomes a better memory for you every time he narrates the story, even if you were there and it wasn't all that great? You have to put yourself in that very specific mindset to fully enjoy THE PLAYER. It is imbued with that crazy hyperreality that only exists in bar stories. These stories were a part of how I was raised, so Carter Ross immediatly spoke to me.
That comedic varnish is, what I believe, makes Carter Ross an interesting protagonist. THE PLAYER would have been a pretty conventional mystery without it. It pits the working class against the opportunistic developers, has a bilateral intrigue and the usual suspects. I felt like Brad Parks was aware of that, so he kept the focus close to his protagonist, who has the strength to carry anything, really. Carter Ross is ''that guy'' who could turn anything into an absolute riot. That friend who's presence makes every night out legendary. I was fully aware that the plot of THE PLAYER was a little worn, I made peace with it early because it was filtered through the eyes of Carter Ross and the protagonist's perception of the events was all I wanted out of it. THE PLAYER is the most commanding first person narration I've read since Richard Godwin's excellent ONE LOST SUMMER and Ryan Sayles' THE SUBTLE ART OF BRUTALITY, last year ***.
Brad Parks' THE PLAYER was an unexpected blast. Serial mysteries often have very little surprises to offer, but Carter Ross is an original element in himself. The novel in itself had very little surprises for the curious and experienced crime readers, but Ross could read me his telephone bill and make it entertaining. If anything, THE PLAYER is a testament to the power of a good first person narration. When the story told is the story PERCEIVED by the character and not necessarily what might've happened, first person narration has a power that third person will never come close to. Brad Parks is a talented author who built a character he understands extremely well. I would read some more Carter Ross fiction eventually.
* Although I think I'm right, I MAY have the book wrong. The source of this anecdote is not vital to this review.
** If you say that to a literature teacher, whether or not he read Manguel's essay, he or she will tell you: ''But of couse, I always thought he hilarious.''
*** I would put those two slightly above THE PLAYER though, for the originality of their storylines.
