The Perpetrators

Gary Phillips' latest release, brought to us by cool new publishing house Ugly Town, reminds me of the chase scene in To Live and Die in L.A. - it's like getting on the Santa Monica freeway going the wrong way. In real time, it chronicles the trek of lovely Lina Guzman, "the fine-ass drug cartel queen who doesn't take shit from anyone," from Tijuana to Sacramento with a 32-hour deadline. She is ushered, chaperoned, protected, loved, and hated, by Marley, "the thinking man's roughneck in a Hugo Boss suit."

Lina has to get to Sacramento to testify, but her rival in the drug business throws everything he's got at her and Marley, trying to keep her from making her deadline. If she dies in the process, all the better.

In the Perpetrators, Mr. Phillips has created some of the most wonderfully evil roadblocks ever to stop this dispeptic duo. Mirroring the best of the recent comic book noir genre, we have villains like The Furies, a female team of assassins dressed in disco day-glo and government trained, and former members of the same elite black-ops squad as Marley.Other roadblocks include moms in bimbo boxes, and a sadistic goth team big on theatrics.

The book is very quick read - no fluff, no flowers, no burying of the dead. Or as the flyleaf says..."What this shit is about... Sharp knives, Semi-naked women, Armor-plated muscle cars, Funky attitudes, Shotguns, Pimp slapping, Backstabbing, Bloodthirsty housewives, Greed, Sex, Sharp teeth." Complete with great graphics by Paul Pope.

Thoroughly enjoyable and highly recommended!

reviewed by Tim

The Jook

Zelmont Raines was once a Super Bowl-winning wide receiver. But recurring injuries, a self-destructive lifestyle and too many run-ins with the law have submarined his career. Back in L.A. after bombing out of the European League, his one last chance is the expansion team in town, the Barons. Unfortunately for Zelmont, the roar of the crowds and the adulation of the fans-not to mention the money and the honeys that go with it-are no longer his for the taking. Bumped, the bitter athlete falls in with Wilma Wells, the smart (and fine) lawyer for the Barons. She's got ideas Zelmont likes...and not just in the bedroom. Soon he and his friend, the switch-hitting ex-pro defensive tackle Napoleon Graham, throw in with Wells to rip off the mobbed-up owner of the Barons. It's only then that Zelmont discovers that no matter how fast he can jook, no matter how tough he can fake, trouble is closing in on him way too fast. Mix elements of Jim Thompson with the street-smart verve of Donald Goines, add a couple of dashes of the compact delivery of Richard Stark, and you get The Jook: a crime novel where football and venal ambitions collide in the end zone.

Perdition, U.S.A

Hired for next-to-nothing by an unwed teenaged mother, L.A. PI Ivan Monk assumes little can be done to find the killers of petty thief Scatterboy Williams. But more young black men are gunned down, and Monk, sheriff's deputies, and members of a community in need of hope are now looking for a serial killer with a bleached face. Events take the detective on the road to Perdition, a town in the Pacific Northwest. He encounters a crucible of skinhead activity, both supremacist and multi-racial. Then a whites' right rally leads to a riot. Amid the chaos, Monk uncovers larger political machinations which take him back to Los Angeles -- to confront manipulators willing to destroy any who would stand in the way of their cause.

Bad Night is Falling

Once again the heat is building in the Rancho Tajuata Housing Projects. And it's not just because it's summer in L.A. Racial tension and gang violence are menacing the city streets - and when three members of a Mexican family - including a little girl - are killed by a firebombing - local hostility threatens to rage out of control. At the request of the tenants' security force, PI Ivan Monk is called in to find the killer. But to track him down, Monk must delve into a tangled history leading back to the Watts riots, revealing layers of racism and corruption. Monk sorts through the complexities of gang conflicts and governmental kickbacks, only to find himself at odds with the police, disillusioned by his mentor - and, after a fierce struggle with some gang members, under indictment for murder.

Only the Wicked

Yay Gary! It's been a while since Mr. Phillips has hit the bookstands. It's been a while since I read a book this good. I'd wait again for both.

The latest entry in the Ivan Monk series is far & away his best to date. While the first 3 were well worth reading and keeping my eyes peeled for the next, it wasn't until "The Jook", Mr. Phillips first departure from the series, that he hooked me.

"Only the Wicked" has a deep morality and maturity only hinted at in earlier books. It's tempting to make comparisons to Walter Mosley's protagonist, Easy Rawlins - same profession, race, geography - but the differences outnumber the similarities.

Monk's Los Angeles is much closer to home, his neighborhood is just that. Monk's view of things overall is the long view - both forward and back. Monk's collecting of information, his patient spider-checking-the-lines attitude, and the way he assembles it and desembles with it, are a joy to anticipate. Monk's encroaching age comes to the fore in this one, which adds much to the character, pain, battles won and battles lost, what it means and what it cost. These, along with longtime mate Judge Jill Kodama's desire for a kid makes Monk a flesh and blood character, much more so than in previous books. Add to this a sub-plot of behind the scenes Negro-league baseball history and the introduction of Ivan's family tree, and you have a book that goes on the favorites shelf. (I can't wait to read his next, "High Hand", introducing courier Marth Chainey - alas, it's 'Vegas, Baby', not L.A.)

Ivan Monk and Gary Phillips have come of age.

reviewed by Tim