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Dickie Cornish, a homeless man with unusual gifts, a heroin habit, and a recent brush with a bad batch of fentanyl is hired for a job that people like him line up for on the corner, hoping to be chosen to join a crew that empties properties where impoverished residents have recently been evicted. It's the kind of moral conundrum he can't seem to avoid, not if he wants to survive. When he finds a cache of gold coins linked to a high-powered politician and is offered a chance to kick his habit and start over, his moral quagmire gets considerably deeper. He knows he's working for bad guys, and the "cure" they offer him is a chemical leash to keep him under control, but he doesn't see a way out. Then two of his best friends are murdered, he's threatened with prison, his ex-girlfriend may be involved, and something really bad is happening to women caught up in ICE raids. And then things get complicated.
Readers may have some difficulty navigating this wild plot, partly because so much is going on and largely because the story is told in a voice that is distinctive, expressive, and is unafraid to challenge readers who may find the street patois hard to interpret. That's kind of the point. Dickie Cornish's world is far from most readers' lived experience, and it is his compelling voice and the dialogue of a vast cast of memorable street characters that helps immerse the intrepid armchair traveler in a world that's mostly invisible but just around the corner and down the alley from DC's halls of power.
The plot stitches together a pastiche of stories ripped from the headlines, conspiracy theories popular on social media, and action scenes that have a tendency to go right over the top, but it's a colorful and linguistically daring if often bewildering ride. It's a little as if, instead of gold coins, Dickie Cornish found the plot of a standard action thriller in a derelict house, dusted it off and took it back to the shelter to hand out parts to a cast of street folks who made it into their own weird drama. It's not an entirely successful production, but it's far from run-of-the-mill.
§ Barbara Fister is an academic librarian, columnist, and author of the Anni Koskinen mystery series.
constant cloud of suspicion? These questions keep us engaged to the very end—and beyond.
Reviewed by Barbara Fister, September 2020
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