Duane Swierczynski
A timely review of Duane Swierczynski's 2005 crime-noir thriller, The Wheel Man.
Progress with regards to my list of to-reads didn't receive any particular shot in the arm this year as things like relocating to Collingswood, my introduction to podcasts, a personal video game rennaisance, beer blogging, and youtube on the projection screen of my new man-cave largely took over the main focus of my culture-time expenditure. The fact that I actually read all 220 pages of this lightning fast thriller smack in the middle of Philly Beer Week--a week when very little ought to be getting accomplished--should illustrate exactly how quickly this book moves.
It seemed as though the odds were stacked in my favor to love The Wheel Man because: it serves as a noir-tastic travelogue in and about my nearby metropolis--including a few stops in at my old dorm; it features characters with (at best) blurred ethical compasses; and it reads like a transcript of Tom Waits muttering in his sleep. On top of all that, the author himself is my former journalism professor, which, in a way, makes him partially responsible for quality of this website. hAHAHAHA FART@@
A lot of common adjectives are used to describe Duane Swierczynsky's works--gritty, sharp, violent, pulpy, clever, dark, slick. I'm going to pitch a few new ones: Funky, soulful, jazzy... Is Swierczynski the Herbie Hancock of modern crime-noir? It would be rude of me to say "definitely, yes" having only gotten around to reading a pathetic (1) of his prolific (5) fictions per presidential term. But there definitely is a certain rhythmic quality to this heisty shoot-em-up.
Just as Guy Ritchie will slow a bullet down so you can admire the art on the wall behind it, Swierczynski goes from cut-the-crap plot-points to savoring the little details... then right back to business. This creates a pace that would be dizzying, but the narrative has enough meat to dig into that you never spin out or lose comprehension of a plot-twist. The arrangement of these pace-change-moments add just the appropriate amount of flesh and never seem merely like sprinkles of humanity-dust atop a 90-foot steel nihilism-coaster.
By the way, Swierczynski never lets us forget that he's in love with heistery on a grandiose scale. The closest that this theft-loving romp comes to being boring is when Duane stops to lists six or ten of his favorite bank robbery books that a particular character (read: Duane) read when he was growing up. But I admire Duane's indulging in his passion (as well as--most likely--the passion of many of his readers!). Besides, the only reason this seems boring to me is because the titles are all about bank robbing, instead of, say, the history of dry-hopping.
I think the coolest thing about The Wheel Man is that so many different characters come and go--a total quantity which, normally, would be overwhelming. Swierczynski manages to weave your interest into the fates of these different characters like a lazer surgeon. But he never over-does or under-does a particular character's development, and that includes characters we only meet in the final pages. On back cover, Duane thanks his editor "Marc". I can tell that "Marc" had a big hand in helping Duane look good, because this book could be a 700 page project to read. Instead I got a huge novel's worth of thrills and depth, but it took me a day and a half. This "Marc" seems like a good professional, and I look forward to sending him a few of my still-up-for-grabs manuscripts such as, The Over-Eater, The Problem Drinker, and Unemployed: Mom, would you like to buy a Young Writer Bond?
Las thing I'd like to mention is how flat out funny this book is at times. Duane's blend of humor, which I like to call SophistiFrat™ suits the over-all tone of the work just about perfectly. The characters are a fun array of archetypes that sometimes rely on cheap laughs just so as not to wander off-topic, and other times work the context of their relationships to humor's advantage. Even though I wouldn't call this a comedy by any stretch, there were certainly at least a few out-loud-laughs (or "oll", for those of you who are hip to texting).
What's next for my Duane-queue? Might as well start with the titular book from his blog, Secret Dead Men, although I'll certainly have to czech them all out at some point. Only worry is I hope I can get to finish before he cranks more out, and no, that wasn't meant to sound dirty!
Visit Duane on the Internet!
Buy his Books!
editor@MarginalMinds.com
I think the coolest thing about The Wheel Man is that so many different characters come and go--a total quantity which, normally, would be overwhelming. Swierczynski manages to weave your interest into the fates of these different characters like a lazer surgeon. But he never over-does or under-does a particular character's development, and that includes characters we only meet in the final pages. On back cover, Duane thanks his editor "Marc". I can tell that "Marc" had a big hand in helping Duane look good, because this book could be a 700 page project to read. Instead I got a huge novel's worth of thrills and depth, but it took me a day and a half. This "Marc" seems like a good professional, and I look forward to sending him a few of my still-up-for-grabs manuscripts such as, The Over-Eater, The Problem Drinker, and Unemployed: Mom, would you like to buy a Young Writer Bond?
Las thing I'd like to mention is how flat out funny this book is at times. Duane's blend of humor, which I like to call SophistiFrat™ suits the over-all tone of the work just about perfectly. The characters are a fun array of archetypes that sometimes rely on cheap laughs just so as not to wander off-topic, and other times work the context of their relationships to humor's advantage. Even though I wouldn't call this a comedy by any stretch, there were certainly at least a few out-loud-laughs (or "oll", for those of you who are hip to texting).
What's next for my Duane-queue? Might as well start with the titular book from his blog, Secret Dead Men, although I'll certainly have to czech them all out at some point. Only worry is I hope I can get to finish before he cranks more out, and no, that wasn't meant to sound dirty!
Visit Duane on the Internet!
Buy his Books!
editor@MarginalMinds.com
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