|
|
|
Final Country
James Crumley
HarperCollins £12.99 |
 |
Reviewed by Russell James |
 |
James PI Milo
Milodragovitch reaches sixty, but in his latest case still
manages to bed at least four different women - two at the same
time - to get shot, two-timed and arrested, and to survive fist
fights so savage they'd make a round with Mike Tyson seem a
welcome break. He drinks, drives fast and, in this book, snorts
more cocaine than a London DJ might in a lifetime. And in case
you were picturing Milo as a regular kind of hero, he lives off
a huge stash of off-shore cash he stole in a previous book from
the contrabandistas. He also lives now, against his better
judgement, in sun-dried Austin Texas, host city for this year's
Bouchercon. If you've not met Milo before you'd be forgiven for
deciding there wasn't a lot to like about the guy (or maybe
you'd think there was everything to like about him) and to be
honest, his suit is not advanced by his having all that money.
He starts this latest case for kicks and ends it for revenge.
Along the way he is able to buy some expensive favors. But then,
if you're up against the incestuous, murderous, scheming
gangsters who, Crumley says, run Texas - and if you're
approaching sixty - you'll need some help.
The case? Oh, the usual impossibly complex
warring family tangle concerning land rights, missing wives and
daughters, oversize hoodlums, and any number of well-armed
killers (and I'm not just talking about the women). There are a
lot of tough-guy writers around today but they don't come
tougher than James Crumley. The plot takes fifty pages to sort
out where it's heading but once it does, it delivers an
unstoppable, bleakly atmospheric, coming of old age odyssey,
culminating in a more than usually pain-wracked climax. It'll
make you think twice about stepping outside at night at
Bouchercon.
 |
|
|