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''Here's the problem, darling. Both of us want to get laid, but no one wants to get fucked. Where is there a dyke when you actually finally need one?"
I have reviewed an obscene amount of hardboiled thrillers and detective novels over the last six years. They're great, they're probably my favorite literary genre, but passed a certain number read, they all start to feel a little bit samey. It's because a lot of them are narrated by the same type of tough guy, with a first person point of view. If you think outside the box, it's possible to write exactly that type of book and make memorable. Rob Hart's first novel NEW YORKED is as straight of a hardboiled grind as you can find, the plot is unnecessarily winding, but it's told in such a unique, booming voice that it stands out. It's a novel that refreshingly explores ideas and narrative techniques rarely found in hardboiled fiction and I thought it was quite refreshing.
Ash McKenna woke up from a drinking binge to three voicemails, including two from his ladyfriend Chell, who was murdered that night. Ash cannot account for his whereabouts and has no idea what he was doing at the time of the murder, but he's not really concerned by that. All he wants to do is find Chell's murderer, beat a confession out of him and end his miserable life in spectacular fashion. So, he hits the street, knocks on some doors and calls in favors in order to find the killer. But Chell was a complicated girl, lost in the underbelly of New York and she seems to have died a complicated death at the hands of a sexual sadist. The deeper Ash descends into the bowels of the city, the deeper he sinks into an overbearing depression and his personal demons start surfacing.
NEW YORKED is one of the rare hardboiled novels that uses the principle of the unreliable narrator to its full potential. What makes Ash McKenna such an engaging protagonist is that he keeps you guessing: is he just a self-righteous thug or does he have psychological issues? He constantly contradicts himself, brags a lot, indulges in self-destructive drug binges, all symptoms of a severe personality disorder. Most authors are too enamored with their protagonist to design their novel around an actual flaw, but Rob Hart does it with an unflinching honesty and a level of realism that'll make you wonder if it's him that actually has issues. It really is the support cast that voice their concern over Ash's actions and continuously challenge his irrational thinking, that make his torments come alive and give NEW YORKED its heartbreaking depth.
Ash McKenna woke up from a drinking binge to three voicemails, including two from his ladyfriend Chell, who was murdered that night. Ash cannot account for his whereabouts and has no idea what he was doing at the time of the murder, but he's not really concerned by that. All he wants to do is find Chell's murderer, beat a confession out of him and end his miserable life in spectacular fashion. So, he hits the street, knocks on some doors and calls in favors in order to find the killer. But Chell was a complicated girl, lost in the underbelly of New York and she seems to have died a complicated death at the hands of a sexual sadist. The deeper Ash descends into the bowels of the city, the deeper he sinks into an overbearing depression and his personal demons start surfacing.
NEW YORKED is one of the rare hardboiled novels that uses the principle of the unreliable narrator to its full potential. What makes Ash McKenna such an engaging protagonist is that he keeps you guessing: is he just a self-righteous thug or does he have psychological issues? He constantly contradicts himself, brags a lot, indulges in self-destructive drug binges, all symptoms of a severe personality disorder. Most authors are too enamored with their protagonist to design their novel around an actual flaw, but Rob Hart does it with an unflinching honesty and a level of realism that'll make you wonder if it's him that actually has issues. It really is the support cast that voice their concern over Ash's actions and continuously challenge his irrational thinking, that make his torments come alive and give NEW YORKED its heartbreaking depth.
''Great.'' I light my own cigarette. ''Samson has the nicest trunk I've ever been in.''
''He made you ride the trunk?"
"Didn't give me much choice.''
''I'm sorry for that. I told him you were irrational and that you might not come easily. I guess he decided to take liberties with my instructions.''
Another aspect of NEW YORKED I thought complemented its protagonist's dark inner journey well was the cartoonish, borderline Sin City'esque approach to the setting. The New York of Ash McKenna is under the stranglehold of a depraved underground art scene. I thought it was a smart and colourful way to keep the protagonist in perspective, since the novel is told in such an intense first person voice. There are some noticeable plot issues that prompted a certain trade pub to write a horrible, unfair review of NEW YORKED, I thought there were a lot of passages that existed only to make Ash travel to different parts of New York and that it just made the mystery needlessly winding and complicated. Part of the fun of reading a mystery is the rewarding feeling of noticing details and figuring things out, but NEW YORKED doesn't offer you that. It makes you feel a rat in a maze, following narrow corridors.
The reason why I mentioned the dismissive, disrespectful Kirkus review of NEW YORKED is that I don't think it ''got'' the book. The plot has flaws, sure. It's a multidimensional novel that has a lot more to offer though. It's a first person hardboiled grind that feels unique (and that's rare) and its use of the unreliable narrator is one of the most compelling I've read since FIGHT CLUB. Tough guys novel don't feature a protagonist so textured and vulnerable. NEW YORKED is well worth a read, and although it has flaws that are common to first time novelists, I thought it did enough to carry its own weight. It's a psychologically complex novel, a dark and brutal inner journey and a dynamic reimagining of traditional hardboiled that emphasizes its existential and psychological elements. NEW YORKED will be officially released tomorrow, but you can already order your copy.
